Kirkstall Abbey Deli Market: Leeds

It's a Saturday in Leeds and the sun is out Leeds List tweeted about Kirkstall Deli Market and we decided this was a good place to check out. It is on from 12-3 on the last Saturday of every month - check out the website for more details.
I love markets with local fresh produce, but also cuisines from around the world and this is what we found here. 

 Canadian stall - just in time for Canadian Day!

 Yorkshire Pies

 Salts Bakery

 Stalls selling local produce from their allotments

 Plenty of tasters and free samples - this chipolata ketchup was seriously spicy but very tasty

 My husband's lunch of Nepalese curry from The Hungry Buddha

 My personal favourite stall - The Yummy Yank

 In the gorgeous surrounding of the Abbey

 Yummy brownies from the Yummy Yank (find her on twitter here: Lisa Gair @TheYummyYank)

 These slices with reeses pieces and oreo are the tastiest thing on her stall

 This is where I got my lunch - a sweet potato falafal wrap with hummus and taziki

The Hungry Buddha

We are definitely going again in July and I look forward to trying out some of the Mexican food then...

Red's True BBQ: Leeds city centre

Having read rave reviews of trip advisor and loving all things Americano I was keen to try this new BBQ restaurant. It is opposite the Corn Exchange - on the corner of Call Lane.

Veggemac and two sides

Having read the reviews I was aware that they run a no booking policy and you have to turn up and give your name and number and then they let you know how long the wait will be, they also offer to call if a table becomes available sooner. We arrived at 3ish and were told we could be seated at 4.45. We didn't mind as we had shopping to do and so we went off and came back and were seated about 4.30. However I did see quite a few customers quite disgruntled at being told there was a three hour wait. Basically you have to plan your day or evening around it - don't turn up starving already!

Highlights:

• Howdy Doody shake (peanut butter, banana and maple) served in a vintage milk bottle was not too sickly or thick and just delicious
• Great choice of side dishes and good value for money - best side dish by far was the BBQ Pit beans and the sweet potatoe fries were tasty too. If you get the 'plates' (prices between £8.50 - £17.95) you get two side dishes with it and this is plenty of food. Too much really!
• My husband raved of the beef brisket and it looked really tender
• Quite prompt service - despite the fact that your table was not assigned a specific waiter or waitress

Low points?

• I was really looking forward to trying the deep fried pickles, but the pickle just slipped out and you were left with just batter
• I am veggie (so not the best place to go really!) and the veggemac was a bit sloppy and disappointing
• Quite smokey- try to  get a table away from the kitchen. We managed this as i had read that recommendation in a review online.

Sweet potatoe fries

Deep fried pickles

Big plate  Beef Brisket and two sides

Close-up of the veggemac

Delicious peanut butter, maple syrup and banana shake

Assortment of sauces at your table

Overall:

• Quite good value for money as you get so much food
• Be patient and expect to have to book in person two hours in advance
• Great milkshakes and sides
• Brilliant for meat lovers and good deal platters for big groups 

Website:  http://truebarbecue.com/

Krispy kreme: Birstall Royal Donuts

Have you tried the new bite and reveal donuts? They've been released to coincide with the royal baby, but i am due three days before Kate. We haven't found out what we're having and our server, who was very friendly, said that it was 75% effective! So apparantly its a...girl. We shall see.
We each tried their new summer coolers i had raspberry ripple cream and it was very sweet, but I have a sweet tooth and loved it. The Belgian had the pink lemonaid and found it quite sour-but also liked it.
A fun thing to do with the kids this summer.

Macy's: Headingley, Leeds

So glad that this cute little independant cafe opened and replaced the predictable starbucks. It is decorated in a vintage and laid back style. My first visit i enjoyed this deliciously indulgent hot chocolate and a toblerone brownie. Their huge range of flavours and speciality brownies was a huge attraction. The service was really friendly. So much so that when my sister came to visit we went for lunch. I had pumpkin and apple spiced soup and it was a really unique flavour and the bread was soft and fresh. My sister had a chicken and mayonaise sandwich which looked tasty. We both got fresh juices and really enjoyed the combination of flavours. Highly recommended and a grill opening in the evenings so expect another review soon.

All Star Lanes Diner: Holborn London

On our recent trip to London for the Olympics we got a 'secret hotel room' (have you ever used this service - it's great!) on lastminute.com and were told it was in the West End and it turned out to be in Holborn and round the corner from the All Star Lanes - which is a fav in my family as we love anywhere that serves rootbeer!

We had a mixed experience this time around as the food was delicious, but the service was awful. We arrived around 8ish and we were famished. We were told that since we hadn't booked we may have to wait up to an hour, but that we could get drinks in the bar area and even order and start eating our food there if we wished. We said we would order drinks and wait for a table. I immeadiately dived into a rootbeer float and it was yummy! The bar area was full on hen parties and some of them were playing quite crude games and is was difficult to just chat and have a romantic evening with all that madness going on. After thirty minutes it seemed that some tables we free and so we went to check and they said we would have to wait longer. Another fifteen mins rolled by and other couples seemed to be getting seated before us. My husband went to investigate and this time they said that whoever we had spoken to had not registered our booking and that tables had been empty for the last half an hour - we were pretty annoyed and they seated us quickly. I felt that they could have given us free drinks or side or side orders and this would have placated me.

The menu does have a few dishes that your standard American style diner in England doesn't. My husband had the basket of fried buttermilk chicken and found that really tasty and filling. I am veggie and although they do have a veggie 'burger' stack of halloumi and quorn etc I am not the biggest fan of substitute meat. Instead I got a variety of their starters as pictured below...

Holding up my huge onion ring - a nice crispy ring

The sweet potatoe fries which were served with the buttermilk chicken were my fav part of the whole meal

The mini mac'n'cheese was creamy and very indulent - but just the right size

Candied beetroot, mixed nut and goats cheese salad was a really satisfying mix of flavours

Overall:
* Varied menu with some interesting dishes
* Great choice of side dishes and appetisers
* Rootbeer floats just like in the states
* Service a bit ropey or over the top and cheesy
* Great place to go with a big groups of friends or on a hen party

Krispy Kremes: Birstall, Leeds

Ever since my exchange to UGA near Atlanta Georgia I have loved these babies. My roomate's family took me here and we got a dozen glazed and I fell it love with the sugary sweetness. They were nothing like the sugared jam donuts that I knew from kids parties where we had to compete not to lick our lips.
The fun thing about KK is that when the light is on you can get a free hot one straight off the conveyor belt. In the bigger stores they have a big window where you can see them making the donuts and follow the process - which is cool for little and big kids. They have a huge range of flavours and often seasonal specialities - like Sundaes for summer. This is good as there is always something new to try.
On this visit we got a great deal of a four donuts and summer smoothy for around £10 - I think it was less. I had a mango cooler and it was refreshing and not too sweet - so a nice contrast to the donuts. On the donut front he had a plain (as he's vanilla kinda guy) and a lemon meringue pie which I thought looked very tasty and he confirmed it was - nice and tangy with that meringuey crunch on top. I went for my usual the sprinkles and then tried the millinaire shortbread which had a delicious caramel centre and was generously topped with dark chocolate glaze and nuggets of shortbread. I would highly recommend it.

Overall:

• Great for a snack when out shopping in Birstall
• They have drive-through if you are just out cruising and want something sweet
• They do seasonal specials and are always revising their menus
• If you go when the light is on you get a freeby

• 
  

Outsider Tart: Chiswick London

So a few months back I was in London staying with my sister and she was working so I had the day to myself. She suggested I braved the Circle and District line and went to explore Outsider Tart. It is a cute little local bakery owned by two American guys who she said are a real scream as she had attended one of their cookery demonstrations. They are called David and David and she felt I would particularly enjoy chatting to the Southern David who is a real joker and we could have chatted about my days at UGA! Sadly after the trek from North London they weren't in the shop but I settled on a carrot cake whoopee pie and a key lime pie soda (they have a great range of American sodas) and sat for an hour chatted away to the waitress and a local who was a real hoot (as if I can't remember her name - I can do a great impression of her east end accent though!) and she even walked me to the nearest tube stop afterwards. I think this community sense is what they are all about and what they stand for - perhaps why they opted to open their shop in 'local' area as opposed to central London where it would be mostly tourists not local customers.
Since publishing their book they said many fans are making it an essential stop whilst visiting London, despite it's less than central location. They have a delicious range of bakes and I also tried their Mile High Club slice which had oatmeal and raisin cookie dough chunks and was gorgeous. Their bakes are all inventively named and all look just as tasty and full of different American style flavours and a refreshing break from cupcakes and other recent baking trends.
Their signature bake is their Hepburn brownie which has a delicate Cinnamon flavour and is pictured in the middle (I picked up these slices at their market stall - check out their blog for details of when they will be a food markets).

 

They have won an award for best shop design and I believe non-Southern David was formerly an architect. It has got a very welcoming feel with the bar with cakes on and stools so that everyone is sat together and can chat - as we did. Lots of locals popped in as they stock lots of American goodies like pancake batter, American sodas and lots of cake mixes etc.
So if you're in London I would highly recommend a visit - if not check them out at one of the many foodie markets.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen: London

This restaurant always seems to be doing special deals and vouchers - always a bonus. The first time I came I ordered a veggie burger (as I am *largely* veggie - or flexitarian!) and was not that impressed, although my husband really enjoyed his actual burger. On this second visit though I seemed to have made a better choice. You order at the counter and the service was quite speedy and friendly. This time I had The Billy with aubergine, panko crumbed goats cheese, oven roasted tomatoes, rocket, mayo & relish. It was a really nice combo and nice change to a usual boring veggie burger. My mom and sister both really enjoyed their choices - the kiwiburger and the taxidriver. The chips are chunky and quite a good portion and they have tasty milkshakes. We had a lime shake on the house because the rugby was on that day.

In summary:

• good deals and reasonable prices
• family friendly
• tasty milkshakes
• good variety of burgers

What do you think of GBK?

Jiving at Jonny Fontane's: Leeds City Centre

DISCLAIMER: This restaurant has now closed down!

So my sisters and I are all pretty crazy about American diners and so I was very excited when I saw that one was opening up in Leeds City Centre. Last night my husband and I decided to go and try out Jonny Fontane's as he had a craving for burgers. I understood from their twitter that they were experiencing some teething problems like running out of buns one day and that they were open to feedback and had already made some changes like bigger portion sizes and more meat in the burgers. The decor was quite cool and they had the checked red and white plastic tablecloths, bar stools and the sugar and napkin dispensers just like a traditional fifties diner. They had a good soundtrack and I love the huge windows as it's very light and airy. It is order at the counter 'like Nandos' as the waiter told me!
Now having patronised many true American diners in my travels I felt that the food was quite average. I had cajun fries which were a bit over spiced - like the lid had come off the shaker and loads of spice had been dumped on top and they were a bit too greasy for my liking. The hot dog was quite small and not very American hot doggy style - more like a sausage. However my chocolate shake was very tasty and my husband had an impressive looking rootbeer float - we love a good root beer. And it was A&Ws the best for floats as its the sweetest of the lot. My husband had the burger and he said it was greasy and the bun was soggy. I am sure they still need to iron out these problems - but it was a shame that the decor promised so much, but the food let it down.

Overall:

• Ideal for big groups for a casual bite
• Great decor and atmosphere
• Yummy drinks like milkshakes and floats
• Overly greasy and soggy food

Have you been? What did you think? Some people on twitter are raving about it....

Victory at Victus: Harrogate

Sadly this place has now closed down due to recession and finance issues - what a shame!
I always felt that West Yorkshire was in need of more American food places and so was pleased to see this casual dining place, Victus, open in Harrogate. It is part owned by the racer Jenson Button and has a really relaxed vibe with a mish mash of tables, sofas, books and board games. I have been twice and first time I had a delicious chilly, cheese dog and fries and the second time a spicy flafal wrap. The wrap was very spicy but full of yummy salad and lots of goodies. The fries are huge and really tasty - we got one each but I would recommend one between two as the portions are huge! My dining buddy had the Victus burger and would fully recommend it.I had the marshmallow shake - which was their shake of the week, they also do root beer which gets a thumbs up from me.

I forgot to take pics on the day, but this is the outside from a google pic by JM:

Overall summary:

• Perfect for a lazy lunch (or brunch they do tasty looking pancake stacks)
• Great portions
• Quite slow service - you have to order at the counter
• Exciting drinks menu
• Reasonable prices
• Share the fries!

Let me know if you have been and what you thought of it.
Over and eat!