Sometimes you visit a new city and don’t know where to go. Sometimes you visit a city that you’ve been to dozens of times and realise that there is still so much more to see. Well, if Leeds, Harrogate or York are any of the cities in question then Leeds Food Tours are an absolute must.
There are two options, a guided tour and a self-guided tour. We did the self-guided tour, “Leeds Street Food” which works out at £55 per person and doesn’t include drinks. Other self-guided tours include Leeds Hidden Gems (£55pp) and the Ultimate Food & Drink Tour which is £95pp but has 10 stops and includes some drinks.
How it works is this: You sign up and get given a code to access the app. Once in, the app will direct you to the first of six stops. It gives you live directions and tells you a little about the area that you are in and some foodie insights and history. Once at the venue you show them a QR code and then you get a choice of sharing plates. Each venue also has a bar, or is in a venue which has a bar, and you can eat and drink at your leisure before telling the app to take you onto the next venue.
Given that some of the later venues are open until the wee small hours it can be done in day. For those that lack stamina (both physical and dietary) you can, mercifully, do the tour over more than one day giving your body time to recover between sessions.
Our first stop was the Northern Market near to Millenium Square. It’s downstairs and is a conglomerate of bars and eateries all sharing the same space. Our destination was Big Buns where we announced ourselves as app users and they confirmed that it was a sharing portion but we obviously looked hungry as he made it a generous portion which made us glad that the tour involved plenty of walking. It was all washed down with a pint of Northern Monk’s finest.
Feeling quite full already the app directed us down to the Trinity Centre where, for once, we didn’t do any shopping but headed to the Trinity Kitchen and found Rola Wala which serves “Epic Indian Street Food, made fresh”. They weren’t wrong. We had a taco each, butter chicken for Mrs Punter and lamb for me. Both were delicious and were eased down the gullet with a pint and a Prosecco.
The next part of the tour was worth the money by itself. Despite having been regular visitors to Leeds over the years we had never sampled the delights of Call Lane. The venue for leg three was Power, Corruption and Lies which is a cocktail bar which also has a wonderful menu of Japanese and Oriental delights with a range of bao buns, dim sum and xiaochi. We opted for the Panko Oyster Mushroom bao with a sweet Korean glaze and a coriander mayo. It was an absolute knockout, as were the cocktails of which we sampled plenty and the highlight was “Bangkok Has Him Now”. We should also mention that there is a definite 80’s vibe to the music and singing along is very much encouraged.
As the night was still young (unlike us) we opted for one more stop which was Neon Cactus. We didn’t have far to go though as it was only just across the road. The two venues couldn’t have been more different. As PCL was all smooth lines with a chic industrial edge, Neon Cactus was absolutely in your face with décor with more colours than we even existed in the world.
The tastes of Mexico awaited us and we opted for Birria Chicken tacos which carried just enough kick to keep the asbestos mouthed Mrs Punter happy but no so much as to have the lightweight Mr Punter wondering if the next day would involve anything other than a toilet. A couple more cocktails were required to wash it down before we had to go as the décor was giving us a headache. On reflection, however, we have to accept that the headache may well not have had anything to do with the décor and may have been more to do with the lack of restraint shown in relation to cocktails throughout the day.
That should have been enough for the day but we did feel compelled to go back to PCL for “one for the road”. The road in question was the M25 which, as it is circular, is never ending.
The next day, after a cracking brunch at the Cosy Club, we resumed our app-based food meander but did take the time to go back to PCL just to make sure it was as good as the day before. It was.
On then to Little Bao Boy which is towards the bottom end of Town, around the back of the train station. It’s an independent venue which specialises in bao and Asian food and an excellent selection of local craft beers.
Being a sucker for a marketing ploy I had to go for “The Square Ball” by the North Brewing Co. as it was produced with The Square Ball, a Leeds United fanzine for which Mr Punter used to write back in the days when Leeds United were really good. Regrettably Leeds United are not as good as they used to be but that didn’t dampen the day as the Pulled Teriyaki Mushroom bao produced a feeling akin to watching a Tony Yeboah volley hitting the back of the next.
Our last stop before the train home was Granary Wharf, a relatively new addition to the Leeds drinking and dining scene. Based on the waterfront there are a number of bars and eateries including the SALT brewery and Falafel Guys (who also have a truck in the City Centre). We shared a Shwarma and a side bowl of wings (although there wasn’t much sharing of the wings by Mr Punter). We devoured these with some of SALT’s ale and gave great consideration to the thorny issue of whether to get the next train home (as we were next to the station) or head back to PCL? We will leave you to decide which choice we made.
For more information about Leeds Food Tours check out: leedsfoodtours.com
