Eating out and restaurant reviews and recommendations

Restaurant reviews and recommendations – good places to eat out in Leeds, Bradford, West Yorkshire in general and sometimes further afield.

Kendells Bistro, Leeds

May 29, 2011
Kendells French Bistro Leeds

We ate at Kendells Bistro last week, and managed to spend a paltry £56 for a meal that I’d happily have paid double for*. Here’s how it went… Kendells is tucked away between the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the new BBC building.  It looks fairly low-key and unpromising from the street, but step through the [...]

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The Engine House Cafe, Holbeck, Leeds – decent breakfast 10 minutes from the station

May 23, 2011
The Engine House Cafe, Holbeck, Leeds - decent breakfast 10 minutes from the station, off Water Lane

Last week, I made one of those freak miscalculations that left me stranded in Leeds Station fairly early in the morning with nothing to do. My train left at 10am, so I had an hour to wander around and explore the parts of the city south of the River Aire around Holbeck. Breakfast seemed like [...]

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La Rue, Saltaire

May 7, 2011
La Rue restaurant Saltaire

French? Well, no, not really…more like one of those ‘modern British’ places.  There’s a lot of belly pork, lamb, black pudding and the like, with the odd Mediterranean dish and some Asian flavours here and there, too.  Mainly though, think classic British ingredients and you’ll be close to the mark. It’s been there for years, [...]

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The International, Bradford

March 10, 2011
The International curry house, Bradford

I said the other week that the standard of Asian restaurants in Bradford was on the slide.  It’s not that there aren’t good places out there, it’s just that some of them don’t seem to be trying very hard anymore. I forgot that whenever I say something like that, the opposite is normally proved right, [...]

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Shimla Kebab House, Bradford

February 6, 2011
Thumbnail image for Shimla Kebab House, Bradford

Bradford is rightly famous for it’s Asian restaurants. There are some very, very good places, ranging from the ambitious restaurant groups like the Aagrah or the Mumtaz, right through to tiny back street cafes. Some are outstanding, cooking exceptional food, but – whisper this very quietly – some are terrible, serving little more than vaguely [...]

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The Midnight Bell, Leeds…could do better?

January 29, 2011
The Midnight Bell, Leeds Brewery's flagship pub

In retrospect, last Wednesday evening wasn’t the best night for our first visit to the Midnight Bell. The presence of Arsenal football club at nearby Elland Road for an FA Cup replay against the mighty Leeds United meant that the Bell was packed to the rafters with Leeds fans out for a pre-match drink before [...]

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Sela Restaurant, Leeds

December 31, 2010
Thumbnail image for Sela Restaurant, Leeds

I’m not very good at planning things properly, which is how we ended up at Sela the other night. It was quite accidental. We’d planned to eat at The Reliance, but found it stuffed to the rafters with Christmas party type people, with a table waiting list that may have stretched into January.  So, we [...]

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Jaldi Jaldi, the Mumtaz take on take away

November 26, 2010
Mumtaz's Jaldi Jaldi - a new take on take away

Around West Yorkshire, there are a couple of really very successful Asian restaurant empires.  The Mumtaz group are one of them, with two restaurants – a huge place in Bradford and an impressive new dining room on Clarence Dock in Leeds – and a reputation for first rate food.  Their bold claim to be ‘world [...]

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