The Arts Cafe, Leeds

I love the Arts Cafe. It has been a staple of Leeds for many years now and can always be relied upon to produce quality food in lovely surroundings. Nestled down Call Lane, very near the Corn Exchange, the Arts has art work from local artists displayed on the walls, usually for sale.

We decided to go for Sunday lunch last weekend. They have their usual menu - a range of lunch plates, sandwiches and salads, along with the a la carte menu. On Sundays, they also have a choice of a beef or lamb roast. There is a also a special offer on a Sunday where you can have 2 courses for £12.95 or 3 for £15 (prices approximate – they don’t seem to mention this deal on their website).

I had the goat’s cheese starter, which came with crostini, and A had the haddock fillet on a bed of green beans with quail eggs. The haddock was perfectly cooked, and went well with the tiny eggs.



The goat's cheese...



We both then chose the Sunday roast beef. All I can say is that it was a great Sunday roast – homemade Yorkshires, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and a mix of vegetables. In fact, we would go so far as to say it is right up there with the Cross Keys on Water Lane, which seems to be booked out every Sunday since it won a Best Sunday Lunch Award in the Observer Food Monthly Magazine.



So well done, the Arts. Consistent, reliable, quality – and now I find a great choice for Sunday lunch!

Oh, and they do a nice Pinot Grigio.

The Midnight Bell, Leeds

The Midnight Bell is one of a number of pubs and restaurants that have appeared in the last few years in Holbeck Urban Village. Turn right at the “Dalek” as you come out of Leeds on Neville Street, into Water Lane, and there it is!

The pub is part of the Leeds Brewery chain which includes the Brewery Tap and Pin. We have dined here before, usually for Sunday lunch, and it has always been good. Today, we fancied a return visit, and discovered the place was empty, probably due to the fact it was tipping down with rain! I don’t believe the lack of customers is a reflection on the food, as we have always had a good experience here.

Sunday lunch was available, but we both decided to go non-traditional, A ordering fish and chips, me ordering a burger.

The fish and chips came with pea puree – excellent in A’s opinion, and he doesn’t like traditional mushy peas. Chips were homemade.



My burger was homemade as well, presented in a seeded bun with salad and cheese. A side of relish was also provided, along with the chips. The picture below is not great – you can’t really see the burger under the huge bun, but I was so eager to tuck in I didn’t notice when I took it!



Other options on the Sunday menu included traditional roasts, sausage and mash, a veggie pasta, along with a few starters and puddings.

Another bonus of this area of Leeds is that you can park for free on a Sunday, just over the road.

Donington Manor, Castle Donington

A trip to Birmingham to drop off a keyboard (don’t ask!) involved a stopover in Castle Donington. I found the Donington Manor Hotel by googling the journey and working out a good place to stay on the way.

We arrived just before 7pm (with the keyboard – the band has arrived!) For £99 we acquired a suite (with its own patio), dinner and breakfast.

The entire hotel was lovely – quiet on a Thursday night – with very obliging staff. After checking out the room (switching lights on and off, opening cupboards, looking what toiletries are in the bathroom) we went down to the bar and had a couple of drinks in the garden before sitting down to dinner.

Three courses were on offer, with a good choice of dishes. I could have eaten every one of the starters, but opted for the smoked salmon and cream cheese, a light start to the meal.



A ordered pigeon – he wasn’t overly keen – it was very gamey. However, this was due to A never having eaten this meat before, rather than there being something wrong with the way it was cooked.



For main, I ordered lamb, which was presented on a pea puree base. A had the duck. This all came with vegetables and potatoes on the side. Both dishes were lovely and full of flavour.

The duck.....



The lamb......



Pudding was blueberry crème brule for A and cheese for me. Both good.......





The food overall was outstanding – best meal I have had in ages. I couldn’t believe that this was included in the special offer price, particularly with breakfast as well. The hotel staff were friendly and hospitable – you couldn’t really fault it in any way. Breakfast was excellent as well – a full English fry-up!

The hotel is a couple of miles away from East Midlands airport, so a good place to stay if you ever have an early morning flight from there.

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.

The Brown Cow and Dragon, Crossgates

This is a pub I used to go to for birthday dinners as a kid. It was a Beefeater or something back then, so it was prawn cocktails and scampi in a basket all round! Now it is still a pub but with a Thai restaurant upstairs. This was the venue for Sarah T’s birthday, and we were a group of nine.

The menu is extensive. I am no expert on Thai food but the options looked great. The obligatory Pinot Grigio was on the menu at a reasonable price so that was duly ordered first.



I chose Tempura vegetables for first course. This is a favourite of mine from visits to Japanese restaurants. The portion was huge, and included broccoli, carrot, mushrooms and onions. The batter was light and the dish came with a side dish of sweet chilli sauce.



A ordered spare ribs, which he quickly polished off. Lovely tender meat.



For main course, I ordered a chicken dish with black mushrooms and spring onions. This felt similar to a Chinese dish, so I had coconut rice on the side, for a more significant nod in the Thai direction. The rice was very sweet, but went well with the chicken.





A ordered Singapore Vermicelli. This is a favourite of his from our local takeaway – a mix of very thin noodles, pork, chicken, prawns and veg, with a bit of a spicy flavour. He pronounced it better than the one we have from the takeaway, high praise indeed.



Everyone in the group had drinks, first and main course and the bill came to £25 a head, including tip, which we thought was good value.

We didn’t stay to sample the pub downstairs, as there were drinks waiting back at the birthday girl’s house. I understand they have a limited Thai menu downstairs, with a more typical pub grub menu.

Bar 166 & Bistro, Horsforth

Bar 166 is at the top end of Town Street in Horsforth and we decided to try their Sunday Lunch today. The bistro was closed for a function, so we sat in the bar with a few customers finishing off their breakfasts, which looked great and are served til 1pm. The Sunday menu has the option of one course for £9, two courses for £11 or three for £14, which is really good value. We decided to go with just one course and ordered the traditional roast dinner - beef, lamb or a bit of both were the options.

Both dishes came with a large Yorkshire pudding, potatoes and gravy.

The beef......



The lamb......



The vegetables came in a side dish and were carrots, broccoli and mange tout.....



The food was excellent - just what you want from a Sunday lunch. The starters and puddings looked great too but we didn't want to overdo it, today.

Service was very friendly and polite. With a glass of Pinot Grigio and a beer, the bill came to around £25.

A lovely place to sit, read the papers and enjoy good food.