A truly great place to share

Preventing being ground down by the daily grind.

All are preoccupations for even those of us lucky enough to have an interesting job – or, let’s face it, a job.

Many of us juggle family with the struggle to earn a crust and if we’re lucky we can fit in hobbies, sport of some of the other things that make life interesting.

For some part-timers, a jobshare can be a satisfying way to get those work-life scales to balance.

And it’s a rather unconventional job share that keeps things fresh for Cafe Lilli co-owners Roberto Pittalis and Daryl Chadwick.

They’d worked together in the 1990s at Darlington’s respected Imperial Express and run successful businesses of their own.

But they’d also got fed up of the fact that no matter how much they strove for high standards, particularly front of house, attention to detail inevitably dipped when they weren’t around. Even overworked restaurateurs take the odd day off.

Coming together ten years ago, they hatched a great solution when they opened up in Norton High Street. Now each works an intense month in the bustling bistro, before swapping over – one to a month off, the other back to work with batteries recharged and a fresh eye for the business.

And it’s this freshness that stood out on a return visit last week. In June, the cafe is celebrating its 10th birthday with a “retro” menu revisiting favourites from the decade and live music on Wednesday evenings. On Friday, as eight years ago when we first went, the joint was jumping, even early doors. They don’t take bookings after 6.30pm on weekend nights, but the turnover of tables is rapid and efficient.

That’s not to say you feel rushed – every single table around us had been turned over in the time it took us to take in three courses, but Roberto still took time to come and chat to us and make sure we’d enjoyed our meal. And this wasn’t special treatment – as always, we were there incognito.

It was a family outing, with a school friend joining my daughter and her brothers.

Tilly’s teacher mother even inflicted some science revision in between courses. The children loved the opportunity to try some new variations of old favourites, wolfing down bread, butter and great tapenade as they deliberated.

We picked and chose from two menus – a fixed price sheet of two courses for £15.95, three for £18.95 and a la carte, sharing across dishes.

Ted’s oak smoked and home cured salmon, with cucumber, watercress and creme fraiche (£7.95) was fine flavoured and good looking; its thick slice of smoked fish furled to resemble a rosebud.

Asa chose from the fixed price list a mezze of meaty, soft Ascolane olives, zingy wholesome hummus, warm Mediterranean bread, pickles and feta. A good plateful for a man-sized 16-year-old.

Anna and the girls shared a similarly generous antipasto plate of cured meats, marinated artichoke, semidried tomatoes and honey ricotta with olive toast (£7.95).

My wife was particularly excited by the bee-sweet soft cheese.

I’d been intrigued by the idea of home-smoked beetroot with its grilled goat’s cheese, but then realised that such a novelty was probably aimed at vegetarians denied the pleasure of smoked fish or meat. The cheese had a gorgeous texture, its rocket and walnut salad bed was well dressed, but the smoky red root didn’t excite.

Eating Out by Gareth Dant My eldest and I both enjoyed chargrilled burgers with its smoked applewood cheese, Dijon mustard and truffle rarebit, spiced ketchup and parmesan roast potatoes, served in a ciabatta roll. Books put away again, the schoolgirls both opted for pappardelle pasta with saute chicken livers and sage butter (£12.95).

From the specials board, Anna opted for grilled sea bream fillets with Bombay potatoes and a roast pepper and spinach curry (£16.95). The spices were fresh, the Bombay presenting kick of chilli.

But it was “little” Ted who had the flashiest dish of the night – prawn saganaki saute with tomato, chilli, soft herbs and feta (£16.95). Saganaki, I later learn, refers to Greek dishes prepared in a small twohandled pan or pot – known as a saganaki after the fried cheese appetiser it produces.

This had a seemingly endless number of huge shell-on prawns. A rich crumbling of feta and a strongly-flavoured base was complemented by masses of fabulous salty flatbread. Superb.

When it came to desserts, Holly chose “Liz’s” chocolate brownie, with choc sauce and vanilla ice cream – Liz had done a great job – while Tilly enjoyed a classic sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and ice cream. The rest of us shared a dessert assiette for two (£14.95), which easily stretched to three-and-a-bit, by the time mum stuck a spoon in. Chocolate mousse, brownie, meringues and what I think was mango creme brulee with passion fruit coulis. Storming.

Whether it was because the bill very generously translated our mix-and-match approach into fixed price menus, or because no one had been drinking (I looked at the wine list but was asked to drive – Anna doesn’t drink) the bill for six came to just shy of £95.

And that’s with expensive mineral waters and several other soft drinks.

Any criticisms at all? Very few.

Because it was a warm night with doors flung open at first, we did get the unwelcome whiff of fag smoke, and thesheer volume of a large, happy Friday night crowd in such a wide open room was slightly overwhelming, but on the other hand it is a pleasure to be part of a place that’s buzzing.

Right, I’m off to hunt for someone who wants to share my job, month-on, month-off.

Ratings:

Food Quality: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Surroundings: 7/10

Value: 8/10