Ambiente Tapas Dining, York

Lucky York when this Yorkshire tapas restaurant relocated from sleepy Malton for the busier footfall of Goodramgate close to the Minster and City Walls.

This is no dozy, off the shelf tapas joint, all albondigas and patatas bravas. It’s much smarter than that. There are big sofas strewn with cushions to lounge about on in the bar, tasteful wooden booths beyond. Open all day from 10am to 9.30pm, it’s equally at ease with mid-morning mums with prams or a more clubby crowd winding up at night.

The kitchen’s just as sharp. We rated judias verdas – green beans with sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts; a vegetable tagine of squash, sultanas and almonds; chicken cooked in Moorish spices, pan Catalan – bread with tomato and garlic and their best selling caramelised chorizo and potatoes. All our dishes, averaging around the £4 mark, were lifting with authentic Spanish and Middle Eastern spicing; think saffron, cinnamon, paprika and chilli.

More thoughtful touches include loads of vegetarian choices, dishes for special diets, good coffee. Apart from tapas, there are breakfast and brunch dishes: huevos rancheros, scrambled eggs with onions, peppers and paprika, sandwiches and salads and in the evening a chicken or vegetable paella for sharing. Bring it on.

Other branches of Ambiente tapas dining in Fossgate York, The Calls, Leeds and Humber Street Hull.