Afternoon Tea at Flannels

The afternoon tea saga continues. Where is the best place to go?

The newly opened Food Academy (review here from the other week) offers afternoon tea for £10 per person.

Again the service was very good, although the restaurant was fairly quiet at the time so we didn't have to fight for attention.

We ordered afternoon tea x2. This came with a large pot of tea. The request for extra hot water was met without challenge (I am a bit of an old lady about this... I would seriously mark down somewhere that grumbled about giving extra hot water).

The afternoon teas came served in a modern way laid out on a piece of slate. So its not a tiered cake stand, but it did look good and had the wow factor as it was served, which is what you want really.

The butter and jam pots came served on their own little slates which was nice too. I do love a proper china tea cup. Flannels have lovely stylish modern crockery which I really like, just not totally perfect for afternoon tea.

Sandwiches contained beef, cucumber & cream cheese and salmon. The mini lemon meringue was amazing as were the other little cakes. The scone was ok - which disappointingly seems to be the standard. I am yet to find a scone that matches what Grandma used to make!

Overall really good for £10

In order to start comparing afteroon teas I have developed a 'T factor' score which is:
                                                             
                                                              Score out of 20/Price in £

The scores:
Ambience: Relaxed and quite smart 5/5
Service: Faultless 5/5
Presentation: Very good but not totally frivolous so marked down 4/5
Food quality: Marked down for scone 4/5
Price £10

                                                        Total 18 % 10 = T factor of 1.8

Third Floor, Flannels
Vicar Lane
Leeds
LS1 7JH

(0113) 243 4898

Website

The Maven

ma·ven/ˈmāvən/
Noun: An expert or connoisseur

The Maven is a new bar that has been open a couple of months now, run by Nino a bartender with 15 years experience. Its been launched 'speakeasy' style that is, with little fanfare, an almost non existent website and not even a sign above the door.

As a result the bar is quiet and relaxed and feels almost like a private club.

It's a cocktail bar, the menu is concise but has something for everyone including 'Mothers Ruin' a £25 punch bowl of gin and 'other lovely things'.

One of my drinks came served in a vintage teacup attached to a wine glass stem and other drinks came served in thoughtful and fun ways to make each drink unique (as well as delicious, as all the ones we tried were).

The decor is quite simple but cosy and the staff are lovely. We were greeted as we arrived, chatted to as if we were old friends and we were impressed with the simple touches like glasses of water being poured for us as we were looking at the menu.

Worth checking out if you are fed up of the noise and crush of other cocktail bars in the city, and just want a civilised, relaxed drink in nice surroundings.

Cocktails start at £6.

The Maven
*Understated cool bar
*Amazing drinks
*Lovely staff & atmosphere

The Little Yorkshire Pie Company

The latest venture to open in Leeds Kirkgate market is the Little Yorkshire Pie shop.

Its a little shop, that sells pies, made in Yorkshire.

It's not that flash at the moment, the shop consists of a couple of fridges in a previously vacant unit on butchers row. Pies are hand made locally. There is a huge rage of flavours, including venison, pork and Stilton and black pudding.Prices start at a quid. Can't say fairer than that.

At a time when there is a lot of hoo-ha about the threat of the market being over gentrified with upmarket fancy shops, this little pie shop proves that good food can be affordable and unpretentious.

Little Yorkshire Pie shop
*Handmade Pies
*Inexpensive
*Great range of flavours

7 Butchers Row
Kirgate Market
Leeds
LS2 7HY

The Academy at Flannels

There has been a restaurant upstairs in this luxury fashion shop for a long time. It was run by Anthony's previously but has been vacant in the months since that shut.

Last week the restaurant was relaunched as 'The Food Academy'.

I went to the press launch and that was all very nice as I got to try canape versions of all the main course dishes (have the lamb, its amazing).

I also had the signature pudding 'Duck eggs and soldiers with a taste of lemon' where a real duck egg shell is filled with soft meringue and lemon curd to make the egg, served with shortbread soldiers. This comes with a small scoop of lemon sorbet and a bite of lemon drizzle cake to finish the plate. Fun, imaginative and most of all delicious.

The restaurant is only open at the moment from 10 am - 4pm serving breakfast and brunches, sandwiches from £5, afternoon tea for £10 and a full A la Carte lunch menu.

I went back unannounced on Saturday morning for my birthday breakfast. We were warmly greeted and sat by a window that overlooks the shoppers on Vicar lane. The dining room is light and airy (it was light even on Wednesday when it was grey and overcast outside) and has a serene feel to it.

We were provided with drinks, orange juice and bucks fizz and chose from the varied breakfast menu. Pastries start at just £2 up to £7 for smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. I had my favourite, Eggs Benedict for £6.

The food was nicely presented on modern plates- good sized portion with 2 eggs, perfectly runny in the middle and plenty of hollandaise sauce. Fantastic.

The bill for our special breakfast was £20. Worth it for the lovely food and the added value of the classy surroundings and the fun feeling of sitting at the top of a fancy shop with a bucks fizz peering down at the masses below.

As a foot note, The Food Academy is run in conjunction with Leeds City College providing apprenticeships for the top graduates from the catering and hospitality courses. The bread is made in the college, the flower arrangements provided by the horticultural department. A section of the dining room is an art gallery that is soon to display works from the art students and there are plans for musical performances by the students too. As well as being a great restaurant, this Food Academy will hopefully develop into a showcase for the most talented young people that Leeds has to offer.

The Food Academy at Flannels
*Reasonably priced
*Serene surroundings
*Providing opportunities for talented young people

Third Floor, Flannels
Vicar Lane
Leeds
LS1 7JH

(0113) 243 4898

Website

River Plate

Its almost two years to the day since I reviewed River Plate the last time. This weekend sees the restaurant's 5th anniversary. As it was 'Birthday Week' for Liam and I, we thought a steak dinner on a Wednesday was perfectly justified!

I really like the interior of this restaurant, its a mix of bare brick and scrubbed wooden tables with a few candles twinkling away on the tables. The interior of the old mill building is not disguised, making a feature of the old industrial strength pillars and beams. The pipes from the extractor fans running from the open fronted kitchen even run through the dining room but some how they manage to not look out of place.

The open kitchen also means that the tempting smell of charred meat permeates the room.

For starters Liam had the mussels which were a generous size and came in a rich cream sauce, tasty but not overpowered by garlic like some of these dishes can be.

I had the ribs which were so tender that they couldn't be picked up by the bone as the meat just came straight away and I was left with a clean bone in my hand! These were smothered in BBQ sauce. Just perfect.

I ordered a rib eye steak cooked medium rare on the advice of the waitress. (any less cooking than this doesn't give the fat a chance to melt). Liam had the full rack of ribs that were just the same as mine but in a caveman sized portion.

The steak was very thick and as a result was still rare right in the middle meaning that there were some fatty sinews still present in the cut. Disappointing but not disastrous as it was only in one small part of the steak that I just cut away and left. The fries, peppercorn sauce and sweet potato mash that we had as sides were all spot on (and probably a bit excessive given the size of the main courses).

We skipped pudding as we were stuffed.

The service was really friendly and attentive and the food arrived fairly quickly.

This place was busy even though it was early on a Wednesday night, which I think is testament to the fact that this is a quality steak house with a great atmosphere. It wasn't cheap - steak never is, but the bill was comparable to other similar places- £65 for the both of us, with drinks too.

*UPDATE: My friend Gev attended the restaurants 5th Birthday party last night, where she got to take a sneaky peak at the new menu, apparently there are some amazing new dishes on their way- keep an eye on the restaurant's website for details.*

River Plate
*Amazing ribs
*Averagely priced for steak
*Good service

36-38 The Calls
Leeds,
West Yorkshire
LS2 7EW

0113 391 2792

iCandy

Having opened in the past couple of months iCandy is probably the only dessert/ ice cream parlour in the city centre.

The target is obviously at the youth market with the trendy hot pink, black gloss and mirrored interior looking like the life-sized version of a Barbie Doll set. The menu is all puddings: ice creams, cakes, waffles, sundaes, crepes, milkshakes and mocktails (and proper coffee too).

Prices are reasonable, I got 2 slices of cake and a coffee for £7.80. Most of the things on the menu were between £2 and £4 and the portions were a decent size.

The cakes are from 'a supplier' (they were not any more specific than that) so not made in house but this is not trying to be an artisan patisserie. It's a novelty destination, the kind of place a teenager would go on a date or somewhere you could take the kids after school for a birthday treat. (Or somewhere a grown up goes for a sneaky bit of cake on a Tuesday night).

Nevertheless the cakes look impressive, topped with profiteroles, Oreo cookies, chocolate shavings and glitter. There is a full range of ice cream flavours with e-number laden sprinkles to go on top. I can vouch for the fact that the Oreo cheesecake and peanut stack are immense (and VERY sweet).

Novelty, fun, fantastic for a treat for kids aged 6 to 26 (and the rest). Open until at least 8pm (possibly later at the weekends, but they don't have a website for me to check).

iCandy
*Novelty dessert parlour
*Reasonably prices
*Amazing array of cakes and puddings

14 New Briggate
Leeds
LS1 6NU

Street food at the Source

The latest business person to set up shop at the Source stall in Kirkgate Market is Mr Peshwari (AKA Harvi). He is making classic meat and vegetarian curries combining his Indian and Ugandan heritage in the dishes.

Simple, healthy home made curries, with rice for a fiver. Available every Monday and Tuesday for the next month.

If this venture goes well Harvi hopes to take away another stall on a permanent basis.

For the rest of the week at the source you will find Dean and his Caribbean food. Again all home cooked to traditional Creole recipes I tried some melt in the mouth goat curry with rice.

Both worth checking out for lunch as a fresh tasty alternative to a Gregg's meal deal!

The source website 

Riveresque

This cafe is a favourite for me, bright and bustling, its only small but you can usually find a table. The big windows over look the river, bridge and the sides of the old industrial buildings you cant usually see from the street.

The menu is all classic cafe stuff, sandwiches and jacket potatoes, most less than £3 and huge fry ups. It was Liam's birthday so we went for a celebratory breakfast.

I ordered two breakfasts with tea and accepted the extra hash browns and black pudding when offered and was charged £14. It was late in the morning and the lunch rush had started so we had to wait a little while for the food to arrive.

We were presented with huge platters of food (it was only then I looked at the menu and realised that we should have ordered the 'small breakfast'). The meat for that price was obviously not going to be of a great quality but the sausages and bacon were reasonable and you cant go far wrong with beans/ mushrooms/ tinned tomatoes, and the hash browns were great.

A classic greasy spoon cafe doing it well.

Riveresque
*Cheap and cheerful
*Classic cafe
*Enormous fry ups

15 Bridge End
City Centre,
Leeds
LS1 7HG
0113 244 5846

Website

Leeds Ceilidh

This is a plug for an event I am hosting. A ceilidh... (pronounced kay-lee). Its a social dance event and loads of fun.

Thursday 10th November, 7.30pm-10.30pm, Left Bank Leeds, Cardigan road, LS6 1LJ

You might have been to a ceilidh before at a wedding reception or you may have never even heard of one before. Its a bit like a barn dance, but its not line dancing, or morris dancing (so don't panic!).

But I can't dance/ won't know what to do....
It's ok, the band has a caller, a guy who teaches each dance and then shouts out the moves as you dance. The steps are really simple.

If I come I will be forced to dance...
Maybe by your mates but not by us, if you want to sit at the side with a beer that is fine, you wont be picked out by the band or pressured to get up and dance.

But I will look stupid if I get it wrong...
Everyone gets it wrong at some point- I do all of the time, its part of the fun.

Its only £6 a ticket, there is a bar, £2-£2.50 a drink. The band are the awesome Blackbeard's Tea Party, a really young, lively fun band, worth  coming to listen to even if you don't want to dance.

Great as a work or club social, and also enjoyed by older kids (who are welcome 1/2 price).

Any profits will be donated to 'Life for African Mothers' a fantastic worthwhile charity that provides life saving medications to pregnant women in sub Saharan Africa.

Join the facebook group, message, text, phone or email me if you want a ticket or just to ask more questions.

1875 Restaurant, Menston

I was invited, along with a group of other food bloggers to visit 1875 in Menston.

Located conveniently on the top floor of the Menston railway station building this restaurant, although a bit out of the way out benefits from a large car park and direct bus and rail links!

The owner who invited us was keen to stress 'This is not your usual curry house'. This is an Indian restaurant where the chefs have been hand picked from the best restaurants and hotels in India.

The menu is a range of traditional dishes from all regions of India.

scarily hot tandoori oven

As this was a bloggers event we were allowed to have a tour of the kitchen. After putting on aprons and hairnets, the chef showed us the spices he used and how he rolled chapatti put them in the searing hot tandoori oven.

the aftermath- scraped plates!

We were then sat down in the restaurant for a meal, we were given a mixture of dishes, starters of samosas, Murg Tikka (tandoori chicken) which were really tasty, a couple of vegetable curries, a beef masala and pork vindaloo. Yes beef and pork in a curry (apparently this is not that unusual in Christian areas of India, we are just used to curries cooked by Muslims in the UK).

The prices are more than a usual curry... but that is ok as this is more than a usual curry. I will be going back to have a proper meal there.

Website