Review: Little Rose restaurant, Cambridge

Having reopened as Little Rose in January, the restaurant previously known as Loch Fyne is located on Trumpington Street in Cambridge - opposite the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The exterior of the building has been completely remodelled and a new entrance leads through to The Little Rose’s new courtyard area, which has been decorated and enhanced with festoon lighting.

Inside, the old bar has been replaced by a new space, complete with a tiled bar front, while the restaurant area has also been renovated, with new timber panelling featuring a floral pattern.

The restaurant is certainly very inviting and, having arrived at 5.30pm, we imagined it wouldn’t fill up until later on - how wrong we were. In almost no time at all, the whole space was packed.

The menu consists mainly of seafood dishes but there are also plenty of other options available. To begin with, we had the Thai prawn toast to share, which was amazing, and then I chose the smoked salmon from the starter menu, which came beautifully presented atop scotch apple pancakes and with pickles and a yoghurt-y sauce.

It was as good as it sounds, the apple adding a really pleasant flavour. My wife opted for the Roast Jerusalem artichoke and mushroom soup, which she loved. Despite not liking mushrooms, I sampled a bit of it and reacted positively.

When it came to the main course, my wife had the rib-eye steak, which came with beef dripping chips, roast shallot and truffle butter, while I, after some deliberation, went for the herb roast chicken breast, gnocchi and peas which came in a smoked pancetta broth.

Often in restaurants, I tend to go for elaborate sauces, slightly off-the-wall combinations and dishes with fancy names, but there was something wonderful about the comparative simplicity of this dish, the gnocchi and the broth really adding to the overall taste - so much so, that no other sauces were needed. My wife also very much enjoyed the steak.

[Read more: Loch Fyne restaurant and bar in Cambridge reopens as The Little Rose]

Pudding-wise, I had the chocolate mousse, with came with cherries and a cocoa nib crisp and my wife had the roast plum pavlova, served with honey and mascarpone cream. We both agreed that our choices were the ideal way to round off a first-rate meal.

For more on Little Rose, visit littlerosecambridge.com.