The Arches Café Bar & Restaurant

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

The Arches has long held a reputation for being one of the coolest venues in the city. Its club nights are legendary, its music programme adventurous, its theatre daring and eclectic. Various events and festivals throughout the year, such as Arches Live! and Instal, to give but two examples, keep this venue at the top of its game, which gives its café bar and restaurant a lot to live up to. There's a massive lunch menu that's big on burgers and sandwiches, but with plenty of variety, much of it Italian-inspired, such as risottos and pastas and including build-your-own fajitas. The evening menu has more in the way of dedicated main courses such as seared tuna with a musky, smoky lentil salsa, or a buttery chicken breast with parmesan mash. Starters offer interesting combinations such as cured ham and black pudding salad, and chorizo and chickpea gratin. Desserts only seem to exist on the pre-theatre menu, but if a chalky wedge of cheesecake is representative they're not that essential. On weekends and before performances the bar area can get mobbed, but the restaurant, tucked away under the stairs, is usually calmer with relaxed, friendly service.

• High point: Cultural hotspot…
• Low point: …but the restaurant can get overheated