Lightly Grilled Citrus

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Lightly Grilled: Citrus

Sitting right in the middle of Headingley’s vibrant town centre, Citrus has been a resident of the venue-packed North Lane for years. From its humble cafe beginnings, it has expanded outwards and upwards. Surrounded on all sides by competitors, we spoke to the new managers, Ronnie Cavanagh and Emanuele Dini, to see what splits Citrus apart from the pack.

How did Citrus start out?
Emanuele: Citrus has always been here in Headingley, it used to be a smaller cafe right next door, with a kitchen upstairs, and then it moved over here to the bigger location. It’s been here for around eight or nine years, but it’s always been changing, and upgrading, it’s a work in progress.

What brought you to Citrus?
Emanuele I’ve worked in a lot of places, originally I come from Rimini, it’s a tourism packed city in east Italy, I moved over to Brighton, and then I came here, Citrus has great potential. I worked here for a few months before I was asked to manage the place back in October. I really liked the place, but I wanted to change it, starting with the restaurant. We changed a lot down there, I’ve made it my own. When it came to the bar upstairs, it was difficult, that’s where Ronnie came in, he is a big help, because he knows a lot than me about nightclubs and bars.

Where are you going with the refurb?
Ronnie: It’s easy to see the potential here, Citrus has a great location, and it has plenty of room, we’re currently in the process of upgrading the bar area upstairs. The angle I want to take is a sports bar - I think Headingley needs a good sports venue. We’re bringing in loads of new furniture, new menus and some big plasma TVs to go with the new American pool tables we have upstairs. Once we’re done with that, we’ll be upgrading the restaurant, and putting a new front on the place.

Tell us about your new menu
Ronnie: The menu is a mix of Italian and English food. We’ve got fresh lasagne, and great home made pizza dough. At the moment I’m working with the head chef, Michael Graham, to update it, but it will be very similar. I haven’t tasted a dish I didn’t like here, if I had to pick one, it would have to be the Italian sausage and meatball bake, its just divine. As far as drinks go, we’ve got a great selection: the new cocktail menu has just been launched, and were looking into stocking some real ale in the future.

What makes Citrus unique?
Emanuele: The great thing about having a restaurant and a bar is the customers can do their own thing, if they want to eat downstairs in the restaurant, that’s fine, or if they prefer they can come upstairs and relax on the sofa’s or watch the TV while they eat. It’s always packed during breakfasts, weekends are always busy, and the Sunday dinners are fantastic.

Posted on Wednesday 4th March 2009
Louis Ashworth

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