Casa Mia Millenium, Leeds

Out for lunch a few Saturdays ago with Psycho Psu and Miss Babs, we decided to eat at Casa Mia Millenium, given that we had met for a few drinks round the corner at All Bar One.


The interior is slightly alarming – lots of pink and purple, from the walls through to the exceptionally hard chairs. Thankfully, your eyes are drawn to the big glass displays of cakes and pastries, which help distract you from the “disco” decor.

We ordered a bottle of pinot grigio which at £23, was a bit more than I would usually pay. Sadly when it came, it wasn’t chilled very well and we asked for a glass of ice to cool it down.

Antipasti

We decided to share starters. We ordered the Italian antipasto, along with pate della casa, which was a duck pate with ciabatta and chutney. The antipasti was not very well presented and a bit “heaped” on the plate. A bit tricky when you are sharing to dig out the food! The pate was good.

Pate

A great thing about Casa Mia, is that that they do my favourite pasta dish – Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino & Pinoli - This is a very simple spaghetti with garlic, chilli, pine kernels and olive oil. You don’t see it everywhere, as I imagine it doesn’t appeal to the British way of drowning pasta in sauce, so I am always impressed to see it on an Italian restaurant menu. Casa Mia do it very well.

Miss Babs had Pizza Italiano – a pesto base with tomato, shaved parmesan, mozzarella and rocket leaves. She reported it good.

Casa Mia is authentic Italian, and is in a great position on Millenium Square. The food is good, although a little expensive. Pasta dishes are between £9 and £11 which is about the same price as Bibi’s.

Frankie & Benny's, Kirkstall

Frankie and Benny’s asked me to try out their new menus quite some time ago, but with moving house and generally being stressed up to the eyes, I didn’t get a chance to pay them a visit until last Sunday. We went to the one in Kirkstall, with a loose plan to see a film at the same time. Sadly the cinema listings lived up to my claim that “Most films are now crap” and so we just went for lunch instead.


I am glad we had time to linger over a three course lunch, however, as we were pleasantly surprised. It’s not that we were expecting anything bad, rather that I often have pre-conceptions about chain restaurants, especially the ones that pop up at those out of town cinema-parks. You know the sort of thing – lots of children and deep fried food. I am pleased to say that we were wrong on both counts.

Having said that, there was a children’s party going on when we walked in. But when the waiter who greeted us asked where we wanted to sit, A took the initiative and said “Not near them!” Now that may seem rude to some, but the waiter laughed and took us to a quiet table near the kitchen, well away from the kids’ party.



Crab cake



I had a look at the new lunch menu, which was £8.25 for 2 courses, £9.25 for 3, which seemed like brilliant value. But it was available Mon-Fri only, so we focused our attention on the main menu. For starter, I went for the “Lighter Option” Crab Cake. This came on a bed of rocket with a tomato chilli sauce. It was packed with flavour, particularly considering it was from the low calorie section.

A had the Calamari, which can be a risk. Not the frozen ring style calamari here, though. Instead, they came freshly cooked and even with some tentacles, just as A likes them. These were served with a Neopolitan dip, which is also tomato based. I would have preferred a mayonnaise, or tartare dip, but that’s just my personal preference.



Calamari

For main, I ordered the cheeseburger. I just fancied something plain and simple, and I have to say, they do a great burger! Served with some crispy fries, it was just right.

A ordered BBQ chicken and ribs, which came with corn on the cob, coleslaw and fries. All good, he reported. A real meat-fest on a plate!

We decided to go mad and have a pudding. I chose the caramel pecan cheesecake, which came with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. The cheesecake was fantastic, although I prefer cream rather than ice cream to go with it.


Cheesecake



3 scoops!



A had 3 scoops of ice cream. They need to invest in peanut butter ice cream, in his opinion, as he still has dreams about it since that dessert in Lindeth Howe.

On the whole, I would say we had a good Frankie and Benny’s experience. Again, my preconceptions about it being a chain were banished. It was a better meal than I have had at some so-called “authentic” Italians. It is definitely a family-friendly restaurant, so people can take their kids out for lunch, but it is big enough that you can be seated in a quieter spot if you prefer (as we did!). The decor is very American-Italian, with Frank Sinatra crooning in the background. In fact, F&Bs reminded me of some of the American restaurants we have visited in Vegas, which do huge menus with good value and quality food. I may have a try of their breakfast next time.

Viva, Leeds City Centre

On Leeds Bridge sits Viva, a traditional Italian restaurant with a nice old-fashioned feel. We decided to give it a try on a recommendation, so a last minute reservation was made for a Saturday night.


The owner (at least we think he was the owner!) meets you at the door and a firm handshake is followed by the offer of a drink. The wine list was mainly “by the bottle” and only house wine served by the glass. I decided to risk it and it was ok but not brilliant, so my second glass later on was a rose (harder to be awful, I find, than white).

For starter, I had the mussels. Very tasty in a garlic and wine broth – I do like the version where they add cream to the sauce, but it can sometimes be a bit heavy for a starter.
A had the calamari, which he was very positive about, especially that they included the tentacles and not just the usual “squid rings”.

Main courses were spaghetti al pesto for me, served with pine kernals, parmesan, caprino cheese and olive oil. Also, small sliced potatoes are added to the mix, a rather strange contribution to a carb-overload but it worked well.

A had a pizza – the Dolcelatte – with pepperoni, mushrooms and gorgonzola cheese. Very good pizza.

So the food was pretty good Italian fayre. The service, however, was rather rushed. When I was eating my starter, I saw a waiter’s head peer round the corner several times, to see if I was done with my mussels, and when I had finished, it became clear why. The main course was served straight away, with literally no break whatsoever. Now this might be down to the fact we had booked late, and they were “squeezing us in”. But it was the most rapid service I had ever seen! This is a good thing if you are having lunch and need to rush back to work, but is not so good if you are out for the evening and are in and out in less than an hour.

Carluccio's, Leeds City Centre

When you have a vegetarian in your midst, an Italian restaurant is a good choice. One of the school friends has not eaten meat or fish since the age of 13, and unlike lots of other vegetarians and even vegans I have known, she has never buckled. This is admirable, but it means that when we plan the school friends’ lunches, we have to avoid any restaurants with “Grill” or “Steak” in the name, or as the Veggie calls them, “Evil parlours of cow-death”.


Anyway, we have generally found that Italian restaurants are very vegetarian friendly – pizza and pasta can be done equally well without meat. So we decided to try Carluccio’s, the new place on Greek Street.

On entering, there is a shop/deli area, where you can pick up coffee, a drink or even buy some Italian ingredients (the olive oils looked great!). To the left is the restaurant. I had booked online so we were quickly shown to one of the booths.

I ordered Pasta Crisps to start, just to see what they were! I shared them with the veggie. A little dry, and probably more suited to a side dish, not a starter.

For main, I had Milanese di Pollo - breaded chicken, served with a green salad. I also ordered rosemary new potatoes on the side. Although it was a fairly plain dish, it was very pleasant. I have a bit of a weakness for anything in breadcrumbs, probably a throwback to my love of fishfingers and chicken burgers as a kid (although this was much better quality, of course). The veggie enjoyed the spinach and ricotta ravioli.

A bottle of Pinot Grigio was ordered for the table. We managed to sink a fair few glasses before moving on.

I have since revisited Carluccio’s twice: once for after dinner cheese with some wine (sat outside and watched the world go by); and once for morning coffee (sat at the bar in the deli). It is a really pleasant restaurant with lots of outdoor seating for the summer months. Service is excellent and the prices are pretty standard for Italian food.

Brio, The Light, Leeds city centre

Brio is great if you are starving. I was starving as I had been up at the crack of dawn and not considered breakfast. So when I arrived at 12pm, I was determined to order a big bowl of pasta. I wasn’t disappointed – the Rigatoni Bolognese was a huge portion and generous on the meat Bolognese sauce. We also shared a side dish of garlic tomato bread which is excellent at Brio – a very thin base which is just how it should be.

Another plus is that they serve tea. I have decided that I don’t like soft drinks – fizzy pop and the like. If I am not on the wine, I would rather drink what I would drink at home – tea or coffee. So far this new plan is going well – the Roundhay Fox made tea for me, as did Brio.

This was a half term lunch with mum, sis and the nieces. Brio is a very family friendly place and lots of families were taking advantage of the children’s menu. It is not somewhere I would go to for a nice evening meal out, but for a hearty lunch during a shopping trip or before a visit to the Light’s cinema, it fits the bill.

My only criticism is that there was a bit of a “held-hostage” moment at the end. This is a Leeds Food Leads pet peeve. Despite mum practically waving the bill and her card in the air, and me pointedly standing up and putting my coat on, it took a while for someone to arrive and let us pay. Who knew it was so hard to part with your cash in Leeds?

La Rosa, Pudsey

La Rosa is an Italian that replaced the old Aagrah on Bradford Road, when it moved to its fancy new location behind the cinema in Thornbury. It was Saturday evening, and we really fancied a meal out, but nothing too far away or too expensive, so off to our latest local Italian!

The layout is similar to the old Aagrah but the restaurant has been done up in a new style. We were quickly seated and a small portion of bruscetta was immediately brought to the table and drinks orders taken.

Calamari (£5.95) to share was a lovely first course, clearly home made with a side salad – very good.



Main courses were Napoli pizza (olives, capers, anchovies and oregano - £7.25). Good quality pizza....



And for me it was the spaghetti con polpette (meatballs, chilli , pepperoni and tomato - £7.50). A really good pasta dish! Garlic pizza bread on the side was great for dipping in the sauce.





As well as the bruscetta when we arrived, a basket of bread was put on the table when our first course arrived. Again, this is a Leeds Food Leads plus point. Bread as a staple, not an addition to the bill!

The restaurant seemed very family-friendly, with a fair number of families dining on a Saturday night. It is a bit out-on-a-limb on Bradford Road, and you really need to drive there (or get a cab, as we did). It wasn’t packed out on a Saturday night, and the food is great, so it deserves to get local support.

Service is friendly and efficient. And they do doggy-bags so the left-over garlic bread came home with us!

Diva Italiana, Pudsey

We booked a table at Diva Italiana for a Friday night, dinner with G and V. Having read good things about this restaurant I have been keen to try it for a while.

The restaurant is tucked away down Booth’s Yard in Pudsey, and sells itself as a traditional Italian-owned trattoria.

They have a small outdoor patio so drinks were taken here, on one of the hottest days of the year so far (at last!). So Peroni beer and Bellinis were served all round. I went with the traditional peach bellini but V went with the watermelon bellini, served in a tumbler, with gold leaf topping. We all had to stick our fingers in poor V’s drink to see what the gold leaf tasted of. Nothing is the answer, more for decoration than flavour!



We were seated upstairs promptly at 8pm. I had already checked out the menu online but it was slightly different when we arrived – more decisions to make! The menu contains pizza, pasta and a range of meat and fish dishes plus a few specials were explained by our waiter. A huge selling point for this restaurant is that the pasta is made in-house, using imported Italian eggs and I was determined to try it. It also says on their website that if you want something special not on the menu, like Lobster or Dover Sole, to let them know in advance and they will cook it for you.

They also bring bread to the table and everyone gets a plate with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. I am always impressed by this gesture, as many restaurants expect you to order bread and it is put on the bill.

A and I chose to share the antipasti plate for starter. It seems to change depending on what is in the kitchen on a given night – we had a selection of ham, mushroom and tomato bruscetta and a tomato flavoured rice in breadcrumbs (I am sure this has an Italian name but am not sure what it is!). Overall, this was a lovely light starter and feels very traditionally Italian.



G had the goat’s cheese in pastry starter and V had the mushrooms in a puff pastry basket. These were good although V commented she had hoped for more flavour from the mushrooms.



For mains, I chose the tagliatelle with sea bass. Time to try the homemade pasta! It was excellent. Small chunks of sea bass with olive oil. A nice dish, not over-sauced so you can really appreciate the pasta.



A had salami pizza which was good. He ordered some chips to go with it.



V ordered lasagne, which she commented she wouldn’t normally order as she can make it at home. This was great lasagne, though, with many layers of pasta. It looked very similar to the one I had in Venice a few years ago – lots of pasta and not too much meat.

G had suckling pig – no photo of that, but G said it was outstanding, and passed on compliments to the chef!

The lasagne......



We also had garlic pizza bread to go with our mains. There is a handy metal frame that they place in the middle of the table to balance it on!

V and I had pudding. Another chance for me to have panna cotta, which I also had at Jamie’s Italian last week. It was good but a bit of an overkill on the strawberry sauce.



V had the cheesecake, which also looked homemade and very tasty.



We managed to get through two bottles of reasonably priced pinot grigio with the meal, and the lads got through a fair bit of peroni.

I would highly recommend this restaurant – it is probably Pudsey’s best kept secret. The place was full on a Friday night, and this is not surprising. The food is very authentic and service is efficient and friendly. The bill came to around £40 each, but that included a lot of wine and food. You could have a much cheaper meal here, however, if you don’t drink as much as we do, or take advantage of the early bird special.

A side issue - G is on a mission to find Banoffee pie in Leeds - he says he is always disappointed when it doesn't appear on a pudding menu. Any ideas, post a comment!

Jamie's Italian, Leeds city centre

Because this is a “big name” restaurant, the plan was to go in and sample everything that is on offer - starter, main, pudding, wine, martinis (both before and after).

To set the scene, I had already been shopping and bought two pairs of shoes, so the “take home message” was that I was willing to spend a fair bit today on lunch.

Psycho Psu was the lunch companion and a good one to sample a new restaurant. She manages to put away three courses without wincing, and regards anything less than a bottle of wine with lunch as the wimp’s option.

The restaurant is busy, as it only opened last Sunday. There is an open kitchen when you walk in, where a lot of chefs grapple for space. Lots of shouting and movement – a busy kitchen. Luckily we were seated on the ground floor near all the action. There is further seating upstairs.

Once seated, we ordered the grape and cucumber martinis to start which came very well recommended from the waitress, a friendly young woman who was very knowledgeable about the menu. These arrived with a slice of cucumber on the rim and were very refreshing – a clear taste of grape juice.



The menu is typical Jamie Oliver (lots of chilli and olive oil) – a few of the dishes seem familiar from either his TV shows or his cookbooks. Starters are dominated by antipasti – meat and vegetarian. Psycho Psu ordered the meat “plank” and I ordered the mushroom bruscetta. I found it slightly strange that the mushrooms were served cold on the bruscetta – I expected them to be warm. The antipasti was good, though, with salami, parma ham and cheese. It really needs to be served with bread which you had to order separately. We quickly ordered it. They have this strange presentation style where they bring two full tins of Italian tomatoes and balance the antipasti plank on them. We didn’t get to keep the tins.

The antipasti plank.....



The mushroom bruscetta....



We both decided on pasta for main course, although the mackerel special was tempting. I had Truffle Tagliatelle and Psycho Psu had the Carbonara. My tagliatelle was good. The Carbonara was thick tube pasta, slightly different than you would expect. Psu said the bacon made it really salty but generally pleasant. The only criticism was that the food was warm, not particularly hot, and not warm at all by the time we had finished.

The Truffle Tagliatelle.....



The Carbonara.....



We ordered a green salad on the side. The general agreement was that it was too drenched in yogurt and mint dressing....



The pudding menu is very tempting. Lots of lovely desserts on offer. The panna cotta was outstanding, with strawberry coulis on the side. The chocolate and hazelnut cake was tasty. We thought it would be a chocolate sponge, but it was actually plain, with a chocolate topping. Not what was expected, but good none the less.





We ordered an espresso martini to go with the puddings. These were lovely, with a foamy topping and a couple of coffee beans. A bit more alcoholic that your average coffee.



Overall we had a good experience at Jamie’s Italian. Service was a little slow at times. When we ordered bread to go with the antipasti, it took a while. (There is a bread “area” where waiters cut it up ready to serve). However, our friendly waitress was knowledgeable about the menu and clearly was interested in our enjoyment and experience of the food and drink.

Portofino, Leeds city centre

Shopping in Leeds is made more bearable by lunch. Often, this involves a walk away from shop central and out into the peripheral areas of Greek street, Millennium Square or the Calls. Portofino, however, is very conveniently located on Albion Place, one of the short streets that links Lands Lane with Albion Street.

My two lunch partners arrived first and were sipping the first Pinot Grigio of the day. I quickly sat down but had to ask a waiter for the same, as no offer was forthcoming. My partners whispered that they had been left without drinks when they arrived too, and had to request them. Not a great start.

The menu is extensive. Lots of pasta and pizza choices, meat and fish. Portofino also does an express lunchtime special for £7.95, which contains a number of main menu dishes. We chose to go a la carte, however.

We decided to forgo a first course although the “antipasti” on the menu looked very tempting, particularly the Funghi Al Forno (field mushrooms baked with ratatouille and dolce latte) at £4.95.

My vitello alla parmigiana (£14.95) was a breadcrumbed veal fillet topped with tomatoes and mozzarella, with a generous spaghetti Napolitana on the side. I have a weakness for breadcrumbs or batter so this was a good choice.



My dining companions both had the chicken and chorizo salad special, again a generous serving with big chunks of chorizo.



Pudding was sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. Again, a very sizable portion.



Also, the cheese selection, which included brie and a blue (not stilton but not sure what it was). This can be served in an individual or sharing portion.



Lunch was accompanied by two bottles of Italian wine – a Pinot Grigio and a Soave (because they had run out of Pinot!)

Overall, Portofino is a great place for a traditional Italian lunch. The red and black interior is modern without trying too hard. Portions are generous and meals are well presented and tasty. Service is generally swift and efficient. Outside, there are tables set up ready for the warmer weather and it will be interesting to see this area filling up in the next few months.

Carmelo's, Pudsey

This is an Italian restaurant on Richardshaw Lane, Pudsey which I believe has recently opened. Not only was it Friday, it was pay day, so off we went with G and V for a nice dinner.

It’s a fairly small place that used to be the The Last Viceroy Indian Restaurant. Plenty of customers already in when we got there around 8pm. Customers came and went, not packed out, but not dead either. The menu is typical Italian - pizza, pasta and some meat dishes. There is also a specials board. Reasonable prices, with pizza or pasta dishes coming in around £7-8.

I skipped the starter, but the company had barbecue spare ribs and garlic mushrooms. Good flavour for the mushrooms. The ribs had a “secret” special barbecue sauce, which we believe included aniseed (beware if you hate the stuff, like me!).

Main courses included sea bass for G (good), Napolitano pizza for A (anchovies, capers and olives), chicken with a cream sauce for V, and I had linguine with chicken, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and a cream sauce – very tasty. Garlic tomato pizza bread ordered as a side with the main dishes was excellent.

Wine with the dinner was pinot grigio (the old staple). Very good at around £15 a bottle.

The service, in particular, is excellent – staff are very friendly and like a joke with the customers.

A slight “held hostage” moment at the end of the meal, waiting for the bill. I am just very impatient and after a meal, I like to get out pronto (usually for a cigarette!). In addition, A likes to stand up and have a stretch!!! We have been known to get up and pay at the bar or till when we have been kept waiting for the bill in restaurants. Not the case here, though. A short wait and then off to the pub over the road for an end of night whiskey.