Pomegranate

It's not often we go back to a place almost within six months for a review. But here we are back in Kingston, walking up the steps outside the York Hotel. Last year this place was Artespresso, a few months ago it was The European, and now it's Pomegranate, with a Mediterranean-style menu influenced by chef Erkin Esen's pedigree at Ottoman.

The fitout remains largely the same as The European – dark tables and dividers filled with plants, cookbooks and bicycle parts – and it's warm and inviting on a cold night. It's well filled but not so full that we can't walk in off the street and get a table.

The service is pleasant but perhaps a little inexperienced. We get the specials repeated to us a couple of times by different waiters and one waiter interrupts a colleague to pour wine. Still, we can't fault the good cheer and the friendliness and I'd rather have too much interest from the wait staff than be left hanging.

Among the specials is an Atlantic salmon carpaccio, which turns out to be a lovely thick slice of pink salmon, cured well so it has just a bit of chew and yield. It's seasoned with balsamic vinegar which is sometimes unevenly distributed – a couple of mouthfuls have too much vinegar, leaving them sour, but the rest of the salmon is coated with lashings of olive oil and is rich and luxurious.

The other starter is a Mediterranean classic: zucchini flowers which are covered in perfectly crispy batter and lightly dusted with dukkah. The shell is delicate and filled with a burst of creamy goat's cheese and bocconcini that oozes out when you bite into it. A little aioli adds zing to counter the richness of the cheese.

Chargrilled sliced chicken breast ($29) is the most intriguing main: ribbons of thinly sliced chicken cooked almost to the point of bacon, beautifully striped from the grill. The risk with grilling such thin pieces of meat is that the chicken might get rubbery but this is perfectly tender and easy. It has a simple lemon, pepper and spice treatment and is accompanied by a couple of pieces of eggplant and tomato. It's a surprising dish but also wonderfully executed.

It's very greedy but we end with a saucer of Turkish delight which is full of rosewater and spice with a fresh, light texture.

We also can't go past anything that says "crispy" and "duck". The crispy skin duck leg ($31) is rich and tasty on a bed of celeriac puree. If you're an umami fan, the mushrooms that accompany the duck are stars, sauteed until they're dark and meaty. Then there's a little dish of deconstructed moussaka with stacks of haloumi and eggplant, which are lightly golden and squeak happily under the knife and fork.

How to finish? There are a number of tempting items on the dessert menu. A mixed nut ice-cream ($14) sounds puzzling but the waitress promises that it's one of the most popular things on the sweets list and she's right. It turns out to be a little stunner of a dessert. Take some rich vanilla ice-cream and pack it full of crunchy nuts and spicy cinnamony crumble, like a nutty rocky road or a nougat. It's the kind of dessert you find yourself occasionally thinking about in idle moments.

In another little glass is a cheesecake with berries and a granola crumble ($14). You could almost fool yourself into thinking you're eating one of those super healthy granola parfaits that paleo cafes serve for breakfast. Except it's much more decadent.

But not as decadent as the bar of chocolate mousse cake in a puddle of glossy sauce ($14) that dominates the other end of the dessert menu. It's properly rich and accented nicely with a scoop of berry sorbet.

Alright, it's very greedy but we end with a saucer of Turkish delight which is full of rosewater and spice with a fresh, light texture. Because we need more sugar after all those sweets. But we regret nothing. This is high quality modern food with a Mediterranean flavour that's understated and quietly confident.