Power, Corruption and Lies
Dan Curley
Leeds-based New Order fans and partakers in small pan-Asian dishes – rejoice! The Akito Group has expanded its cluster of Call Lane venues (including Oporto, Knave’s Kitchen and Neon Cactus) with a bar/restaurant named after the early ‘80s synth-pop album, Power, Corruption and Lies. It opened November last year, so we’ve popped down to see how the place has settled a few months open.
As well as being a restaurant, Power, Corruption and Lies is a late-night bar, but we’re not here on a weekend night to dance around its dancefloor and sup cocktails. It’s a wet and windy Tuesday evening, in a place left almost empty by Storm Ciara. It’s early February and as a pescetarian who spent January (mostly) succeeding to stay vegan – I want seafood. Lots of it.
Regular three-course meal structure goes out of the window here – it’s all small plates designed that you order a few and jump between them. I order the XO prawns that come with bacon (which they removed for me) with chives and fermented chilli and a huge salad, that was a little too sharp. The prawns are big and juicy, salty and sticky, as is the char sui mushrooms, a vegan option that looks like a posh McMuffin that’s dripping with soy (you’ll need your napkin constantly).
Next up, the salmon tartare, a perfectly formed mound of salmon, prawns, edamame and spring onions served with a fan of prawn crackers to scoop it up with, alongside a portion of salmon and prawn gyoza – four of them with a pot of soy and black vinegar to dip in. Both of these dishes are glorious – the texture of the gyoza is enough to make you weep (my standout dish). Needing some veg I get a side of gona-ae broccoli and bok choy – creamy, garlic-coated and utterly delicious.
I don’t booze on school nights so I order a soft cocktail to wash it all down with. The orchard temperance drink – mango, lime, apple, pineapple and a stick of ginger – oddly reminded me of eating Blackpool rock. After some thought, I realise it was the lime that brought back that childhood memory.
Food is served until 10 pm but the bar is open until 2 am (3 am at the weekends) if you’re after a night out. The food changes regularly (so often the menu on the website I checked that morning was different to the one on the tables) so we recommend you pop your head in to see what’s on offer.
