RESTAURANT Do-it-yourself fun at Joya

JOYA There’s a new sizzle at this popular Italian, now reborn as an entertainingly interactive do-it-yourself steak house By Matt Bielby

Back in the day, the space that is currently Joya – tucked between Framptons and Cappadocia (Marmaris as was) on Newmarket Row at the back of the Guildhall, and overlooking a frankly terrifying surge of brown water where the weir used to be – was a pub called The Rummer; I’d occasionally have a pint there after playing squash at the sports centre, doubtless undoing all my good work. More recently, it’s been an Italian restaurant, offering pasta and pizzas and other crowd-pleasing fare, which has just enjoyed a modest but significant mid-life refresh, like when they facelift an existing model of car.

Though still obviously an ex-pub in shape – narrow and quite deep, with two additional dining rooms upstairs – Joya has changed its look and feel these past couple of months, now being a pleasing Georgian-style dark green-grey inside, offset by light brown leather chairs, handsome and impressively comfortable. There’s new lighting too, fresh pictures on the walls, and a roaring fire near the entrance, most welcome considering the occasionally icy gust when someone new wanders in. Which happens quite a lot, as it goes – for a chilly February Wednesday, most of the downstairs tables were full, and it’s clear that this place already has a loyal audience.

Joya has subtly changed its name too. Now known as ‘Joya Italian Steakhouse’, it’s imported a New York tradition that’s been gaining some traction in London of late, booting pizzas off the menu entirely and replacing them with impressive slabs of meat. It’s not a radical change, but it is a clever one. Let me explain.

What they’ve come up with here is a happy combination of the best of the old Joya and something entirely new. There’s certainly no shortage of pasta dishes still available – maybe a dozen of them as mains, running from simple linguine al pesto (£12.95) to the likes of spaghetti with homemade meatballs at £14.95, all generously proportioned by the look of things – but these days it’s hard to look away from the steak offer, given pride of place in the middle of the menu. They used to have a couple on before, but now there are four of them, running from a 8oz flat iron steak (£19.95) through £24.95 rib eyes and sirloins, to an 8oz prime centre cut fillet at £29.95; all are supplied by top local butcher Walter Rose & Son of Devizes.

With each, there’s a choice of nine different flavours included in the price – red wine sea salt or truffle butter, say, or maybe a mushroom and brandy sauce – but you’ll have to add your sides from a selection of a dozen or so, running from onion rings to slow cooked chips, creamed spinach to garlic mushrooms, mostly at £3.50 a pop. (This range is one of the areas where the rest of the menu has been most obviously revised, now rotating around a simple question: ‘What goes well with steak?’)

The most innovative and exciting of the steak choices you’re going to have to make, though, is this: do you want it cooked in the kitchen, or to enjoy the ‘Hotstone Steak Experience’, right there at your table? “My dish was a tonne of fun, in the same way as eating a fondue can be”

Yes please, I said. “No, thanks,” said my companion. “I want the professionals to do mine in the kitchen, as God and nature intended.” And from that point on, an intellect vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded my plate with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew her plans against me. Or, in other words, I made the right choice, and she – though her 10oz rib eye with extra marbling (£24.95) was certainly top quality and expertly cooked – had not.

Basically, my dish was a tonne of fun, in the same way as eating a fondue can be. In front of me: my meat, raw, on a plate; a little row of dips to flavour it (things like red wine sea salt and garlic and parsley butter); and a whopping great black square of lava stone, perhaps the size of a small iPad, heated to 440C. (This being the case, drunks and small children will perhaps require some adult supervision.)

The advantages are clear – not least that you only have yourself to blame for overcooking or undercooking your meat, but also taking in the fact that each mouthful will be sizzling hot, the way you can mix and match flavour combinations constantly, but mostly the sheer proactive theatricality of it all. For a second date, say, this would be an amazing choice.

Other thoughts on the new Joya offering: the crispy, flavour-packed sweet potato fries (£3.50) are perhaps the best I’ve ever tasted, the creamed spinach (£3.95) provided a pleasing contrast in terms of textures and flavours, and the starters we picked both rocked. Gamberoni (£8.95) saw three king prawns resting on leaves, adorned with edible flowers, and covered in a punchy and delicious white wine, garlic, chilli, parsley and butter sauce – we had one each and fought over the last – and though pizzas have now been banished, it’s nice to see an old favourite, the panzerottini de Puglia (£6.95), still on the menu. Basically pizza dough rolled into parcels with tomato and mozzarella in the middle, then fried like a doughnut, they’re as comforting and fun to eat as ever.

We washed it all down with a nice bottle of Argentinian Merlot – new to a wine menu that was strictly Italian-only before, alongside a South African Shiraz, an Australian Sauvignon Blanc and others – then manfully struggled through two delicious, beautifully presented but extremely large puds from an extensive ‘Dolci’ menu: the homemade tiramisu (£5.95, huge and highly recommended) and a panna cotta (£5.95) with just the right amount of wobble. Finally, a rather fab dessert wine from Italy.

This place remains very much a friendly, family-run gaff, sister to The Herd nearby – a pure steak-only experience – and everyone involved clearly knows what they’re doing, be it owners Tim and Francesca, the admirable and friendly new manager, Iveta, or head chef Thomas in the kitchen, working alongside executive chef Paola to perfect new recipes. (These aforementioned meatballs? Only Paola’s own family favourite.) As with any steak-based offering, it’s not going to be a cheap night if you go to town, but there were plenty here just tucking into big plates of affordable pasta, and looking mighty happy with that too.

That said, if you’re a red meat eater, you really owe it to yourself it give ‘getting stoned’ a try. n

DINING DETAILS Joya, 6 Newmarket Row, Bath, BA2 4AN; 01225 460240; www.joyarestaurant.co.uk We ate Two different ways of serving steak (hint: hot stone is best, not least for the entertainment value), plus a number of different ways of having chips (another hint: go sweet potato), and a couple of starters and puds (a third and last hint: we suspect a few of them are worth trying, so you’ll probably have to visit more than once). Vegetarian options About half the dozen or so pasta dishes are veggie or vegan – including a vegetable lasagne, and cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese (both £12.95) – and there’s a warm roasted vegetable salad, a vegetarian platter, and a number of antipasto dishes for starters too.

Prices Breads under a fiver, most antipasti dishes £6.95, and pasta dishes £12.95-£14.95. Steaks are between £20 and £30, and sides are around £3.50; most of the desserts are £5.95. Drinks More in the way of international wine offerings than before, alongside the existing Italian options, plus Moscato Passito Palazzina (£5.75 per glass), a great Italian dessert wine with a delightfully marmalade taste, and your regular grappas, limoncellos and Italian liqueurs. Service / atmosphere Friendly, knowledgeable and properly attentive; we were done for the evening, but still had our table water jug topped up, unbidden, just before we left. What else? Hosting a private dinner party? One of the two extra rooms upstairs look ideal.