Pickled Pepper, Holbeck, Leeds

We're getting spoilt for choice with good quality lunch spots on the South side of Leeds city centre. After recent successful trips to Riverside Sourdough Bakery, La Bottega Milanese and Wokon Noodle Bar I stopped off in Holbeck last Friday to give Pickled Pepper a try.

The dining area was full when I arrived, but all of the hot food is available to takeaway in addition to a range of sandwiches and salads. Dishes costing around £5.50 to eat in are all priced at a very reasonable £3.50 to go. I chose the pie and peas.

The pie was meat and potato, a good hefty wedge with a nice short pastry. The filling was very good, comprising big chunks of tender beef alongside the potato with just a touch of gravy. The peas were little petit pois rather than mushy peas, the sweetness of them worked well with the savoury beefiness of the pie. My only slight criticism is that it could have done with a bit more gravy.

The guys behind the counter were very friendly and the salads in the counter looked fresh and interesting too. I'll almost certainly be back.

7/10

Pickled Pepper
3 Saw Mill Yard
Holbeck
Leeds
LS11 5WH

Pickled Pepper, Holbeck, Leeds

We're getting spoilt for choice with good quality lunch spots on the South side of Leeds city centre. After recent successful trips to Riverside Sourdough Bakery, La Bottega Milanese and Wokon Noodle Bar I stopped off in Holbeck last Friday to give Pickled Pepper a try.

The dining area was full when I arrived, but all of the hot food is available to takeaway in addition to a range of sandwiches and salads. Dishes costing around £5.50 to eat in are all priced at a very reasonable £3.50 to go. I chose the pie and peas.

The pie was meat and potato, a good hefty wedge with a nice short pastry. The filling was very good, comprising big chunks of tender beef alongside the potato with just a touch of gravy. The peas were little petit pois rather than mushy peas, the sweetness of them worked well with the savoury beefiness of the pie. My only slight criticism is that it could have done with a bit more gravy.

The guys behind the counter were very friendly and the salads in the counter looked fresh and interesting too. I'll almost certainly be back.

7/10

Pickled Pepper
3 Saw Mill Yard
Holbeck
Leeds
LS11 5WH

Sheesh Mahal, Leeds

As far as I'm concerned Azram's Sheesh Mahal is a genuine Leeds institution. If you're not already familiar with the place, and you live in Leeds, then you either don't like curry, or you've been asleep for the past twenty years.

The Sheesh Mahal is an authentic British curry house. I would normally mean that as an insult, because many of them are rubbish. Curries that are all the same slop in various colours and various levels of chilli heat, flock wallpaper, drunk people, jazzy carpets, dry bright red tikka, too many pints of gassy lager, you know the sort of thing. (I don't really know what flock wallpaper is by the way, it's just always included in the crap curry house clichés, so it seemed a shame to miss it out).

Although Sheesh Mahal looks the part, the crucial difference is that the food is good. Not the best curry you've ever had good, but solid, reliable, always glad you went good. I've been dining there from time to time for over 12 years now, and hopefully will be for another 12 and more.

My most recent visit was last Friday night, after a trip to the Leeds Beer, Cider and Perry Festival. As you can probably imagine, myself and my dining companion had been drinking beer, cider and perry, so a curry was called for to soak up the booze.

We were a bit late arriving (they close at midnight and we didn't arrive until gone half eleven), so skipped starters and ordered a meat laziz special, a chicken chana balti, a pilau rice, a plain nan and a couple of chapattis. And two pints of lager of course.

As expected everything was reliably good. The meat laziz special is a dish of slow cooked lamb chunks in a nice tangy, reduced sauce with a lot of lemon and pepper in it. The balti came sizzling in its pot and was very gingery and garlicky. I think they use chicken thigh pieces too, a much better option than breast which dries out far too easily (this is another sign they are not a rubbish authentic british curry house - many of these advertise that they only use chicken breast as a selling point). The nan bread was great too, nicely crisped and not too doughy.

Sorry about the poor photo quality, it was dark and I'd had a few ales. But as you can just about see we polished off the lot. The bill came to not particularly much, and service was as efficient as ever. They also didn't rush us out too quickly even though we were in there way after closing time. The food is probably worth a 7, you can get a better curry in Leeds, but I'm going to bump them up a mark for their enduring consistency and reliability.

8/10

346-348 Kirkstall Road
Leeds
LS4 2DS

There's another branch in Chapel Allerton, but I've only ever been to Kirkstall Road.


http://www.sheeshmahal.co.uk/

Sheesh Mahal, Leeds

As far as I'm concerned Azram's Sheesh Mahal is a genuine Leeds institution. If you're not already familiar with the place, and you live in Leeds, then you either don't like curry, or you've been asleep for the past twenty years.

The Sheesh Mahal is an authentic British curry house. I would normally mean that as an insult, because many of them are rubbish. Curries that are all the same slop in various colours and various levels of chilli heat, flock wallpaper, drunk people, jazzy carpets, dry bright red tikka, too many pints of gassy lager, you know the sort of thing. (I don't really know what flock wallpaper is by the way, it's just always included in the crap curry house clichés, so it seemed a shame to miss it out).

Although Sheesh Mahal looks the part, the crucial difference is that the food is good. Not the best curry you've ever had good, but solid, reliable, always glad you went good. I've been dining there from time to time for over 12 years now, and hopefully will be for another 12 and more.

My most recent visit was last Friday night, after a trip to the Leeds Beer, Cider and Perry Festival. As you can probably imagine, myself and my dining companion had been drinking beer, cider and perry, so a curry was called for to soak up the booze.

We were a bit late arriving (they close at midnight and we didn't arrive until gone half eleven), so skipped starters and ordered a meat laziz special, a chicken chana balti, a pilau rice, a plain nan and a couple of chapattis. And two pints of lager of course.

As expected everything was reliably good. The meat laziz special is a dish of slow cooked lamb chunks in a nice tangy, reduced sauce with a lot of lemon and pepper in it. The balti came sizzling in its pot and was very gingery and garlicky. I think they use chicken thigh pieces too, a much better option than breast which dries out far too easily (this is another sign they are not a rubbish authentic british curry house - many of these advertise that they only use chicken breast as a selling point). The nan bread was great too, nicely crisped and not too doughy.

Sorry about the poor photo quality, it was dark and I'd had a few ales. But as you can just about see we polished off the lot. The bill came to not particularly much, and service was as efficient as ever. They also didn't rush us out too quickly even though we were in there way after closing time. The food is probably worth a 7, you can get a better curry in Leeds, but I'm going to bump them up a mark for their enduring consistency and reliability.

8/10

346-348 Kirkstall Road
Leeds
LS4 2DS

There's another branch in Chapel Allerton, but I've only ever been to Kirkstall Road.


http://www.sheeshmahal.co.uk/

Leeds Beer Festival

I went to the annual Leeds Beer, Cider and Perry Festival last night, and had a very merry time. I've written a guest post about it for the website my life in Leeds. Read all about it here.

 

Photo attribution: Rob Sexton

Leeds Beer Festival

I went to the annual Leeds Beer, Cider and Perry Festival last night, and had a very merry time. I've written a guest post about it for the website my life in Leeds. Read all about it here.

 

Photo attribution: Rob Sexton

A few good things to eat (volume 2)

Here is the second edition in what might turn into a regular series of posts singing the praises of food I've eaten, and possibly a few drinks I've imbibed. The first edition can be found here.

Stinking Bishop, available at good cheesemongers

Stinking bishop is a rather pungent washed rind cheese. The name is actually nothing to do with the smell, but comes from the name of the stinking bishop pear used to make the perry that the cheese is then washed in. Cheese rinsed in booze. Mmmm. It does stink though, so the name is apt. The flavour of the cheese rather belies the strong odour, as it's actually quite mellow and fruity. It also has a very smooth, shiny, spreadable texture that reminds me of processed cheese spread. I like to think of it as a sort of turbo dairylea (in a good way).

It's very good when left at room temperature to ooze for a while, then scooped up with some plain oatcakes. I also ate some stuffed in pancakes, which was a rather decadent pancake day treat. I bought mine from the Westmorland Farm Shop services (Tebay) on the M6. It seems to be fairly widely available so you can probably find it in a good cheesemonger.

Wilsons Pies, Crossgates, Armley & Morley

Wilsons of Crossgates are butchers renowned for their pork pies. I first fell in love with them while living in the Crossgates area some years ago. The Crossgates centre is pie heaven. Unless things have changed there are about 17 assorted bakeries and butchers within a 200 yard radius.

In recent years Wilson's seem to have expanded the pie side of the business. Their other shops in Armley and Morley focus on the pastries rather than the meat, and they also have a mobile pie van that can be found at all Leeds Rhinos home games.

The pies are not what I'd describe as a gourmet product, but they are bloody lovely. They're salty, porky, a bit greasy, have a nice, crisp crust, and are just delicious. Small pork pies are 95p each. I suggest you go buy one, or maybe several. Preferably several.


The Gentleman's Relish (Patum Peperium), widely available

The fish version of marmite. As a dedicated lover of all things fishy (thai fish sauce, asian shrimp pastes, anchovies etc etc) what's not to like. It's a simple concoction of anchovies, butter and seasoning of some sort ground into a fine paste. Stick to the recommendation on the tub and eat it spread sparingly on hot, buttered toast. I prefer it on granary. Yum.

Bundaberg Ginger Beer, available in deli's, posh sandwich shops, etc.

I like this. It's not gingery enough but it has a rather lovely aftertaste of toffee and is more refreshing than the colossal sugar content would suggest. Try as an alternative to Irn-Bru when feeling delicate! Probably not worth importing from Australia though... Fentimans is better and comes from Newcastle.

A few good things to eat (volume 2)

Here is the second edition in what might turn into a regular series of posts singing the praises of food I've eaten, and possibly a few drinks I've imbibed. The first edition can be found here.

Stinking Bishop, available at good cheesemongers

Stinking bishop is a rather pungent washed rind cheese. The name is actually nothing to do with the smell, but comes from the name of the stinking bishop pear used to make the perry that the cheese is then washed in. Cheese rinsed in booze. Mmmm. It does stink though, so the name is apt. The flavour of the cheese rather belies the strong odour, as it's actually quite mellow and fruity. It also has a very smooth, shiny, spreadable texture that reminds me of processed cheese spread. I like to think of it as a sort of turbo dairylea (in a good way).

It's very good when left at room temperature to ooze for a while, then scooped up with some plain oatcakes. I also ate some stuffed in pancakes, which was a rather decadent pancake day treat. I bought mine from the Westmorland Farm Shop services (Tebay) on the M6. It seems to be fairly widely available so you can probably find it in a good cheesemonger.

Wilsons Pies, Crossgates, Armley & Morley

Wilsons of Crossgates are butchers renowned for their pork pies. I first fell in love with them while living in the Crossgates area some years ago. The Crossgates centre is pie heaven. Unless things have changed there are about 17 assorted bakeries and butchers within a 200 yard radius.

In recent years Wilson's seem to have expanded the pie side of the business. Their other shops in Armley and Morley focus on the pastries rather than the meat, and they also have a mobile pie van that can be found at all Leeds Rhinos home games.

The pies are not what I'd describe as a gourmet product, but they are bloody lovely. They're salty, porky, a bit greasy, have a nice, crisp crust, and are just delicious. Small pork pies are 95p each. I suggest you go buy one, or maybe several. Preferably several.


The Gentleman's Relish (Patum Peperium), widely available

The fish version of marmite. As a dedicated lover of all things fishy (thai fish sauce, asian shrimp pastes, anchovies etc etc) what's not to like. It's a simple concoction of anchovies, butter and seasoning of some sort ground into a fine paste. Stick to the recommendation on the tub and eat it spread sparingly on hot, buttered toast. I prefer it on granary. Yum.

Bundaberg Ginger Beer, available in deli's, posh sandwich shops, etc.

I like this. It's not gingery enough but it has a rather lovely aftertaste of toffee and is more refreshing than the colossal sugar content would suggest. Try as an alternative to Irn-Bru when feeling delicate! Probably not worth importing from Australia though... Fentimans is better and comes from Newcastle.

The Reliance, Leeds

I've been to the Reliance once before, what must be seven years ago or more. I went for breakfast with friends, on a Sunday, all of us with significant hangovers. At the time they offered unlimited toast with the cooked breakfasts, and so it was that we loafed about, drinking tea, reading the papers and munching toast for what seemed like about five hours. I don't recall that we were asked to leave at any stage for eating them out of bread and butter, and while my memory for the details might be a bit sketchy it was definitely a long, leisurely and rather pleasurable brunch. It's a nice space too, tall windows making it light and airy with lots of blonde, unfinished wood inside. The upshot of this is that I've been holding the place in high esteem (lots of toast with lots of butter is a wonderful thing) and planning to go back ever since. I finally made it back last night.

I was feeling vaguely celebratory as it was my Birthday so three courses were always likely to be ordered. While the three of us perused the menu some good quality bread, butter and olives were brought to the table. The Reliance 10th anniversary celebration beer on draught was also very good.

To start with I opted for the mussels only to be informed a few minutes later that there were none. Slightly strange this, as a chap on the next table who arrived at least half an hour after us was later spotted slurping a great big bowl full of them. I did consider chinning him and stealing them, but I don't like to cause a fuss. No matter, game terrine wrapped in reliance home cured bacon, cumberland sauce and sourdough toast it was then.

Game terrine

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo's on this post. The room was fairly dark and using a flash can be a bit rude and intrusive for other diners. The terrine was a little disappointing, it was pleasant enough but not very gamey. I would have guessed it was a coarse porky pate if I hadn't known otherwise. It was also served a bit too cold. The cumberland sauce tasted exactly like marmalade, and was a nice tart, bitter foil to the meatiness. The sourdough toast was fine and cut from a decent bit of bread.

Shoulder of mutton

For my main course I opted for Roast shoulder of mutton with a haggis, swede & potato cake & lamb reduction. This was the best main of the three, the mutton was tender and deeply flavoured, like lamb but somehow stronger and earthier. The lamb reduction (gravy) didn't quite match up to the meat for depth of flavour, I'm not sure why they didn't serve a mutton reduction (gravy) with mutton. The potato cake was sweet, meaty, nicely caramelised at the edges and worked well with the meat. The other main courses were less successful. A rump steak was cooked as requested and full of flavour, but it was a very sinewy, chewy piece of meat for the price, even for rump. A special of pork cheeks were the opposite, slow cooked to lovely soft, fibrous strands but tasting rather bland.

Rum and ginger cake

And finally pudding. Just the one to share between us, a rum and ginger cake with pouring cream. What appeared wasn't really what I was expecting. The description suggested something dark and treacley looking, whereas this was a pale, plain looking slice of cake. It was doused in rum, but I couldn't detect any ginger in there at all. A thicker pouring cream would also have been better, as this was very much single cream and made the whole thing a touch soggy.

Overall this was a pleasant meal, with one particular high point (my mutton main course). Some of the other dishes were a bit hit and miss though, and it didn't really live up to my high expectations. Our bill came to £63 for 2 starters, 3 mains, 1 dessert and 3 beers, but before service (which was fine). It's not cheap but probably par for the course for a gastropub sort of menu. I would definitely return, but probably for a weekend brunch and papers session rather than an evening meal. If they still do unlimited toast I'm there tomorrow...


6/10


76-78 North Street
Leeds
LS2 7PN

http://www.the-reliance.co.uk/

The Reliance, Leeds

I've been to the Reliance once before, what must be seven years ago or more. I went for breakfast with friends, on a Sunday, all of us with significant hangovers. At the time they offered unlimited toast with the cooked breakfasts, and so it was that we loafed about, drinking tea, reading the papers and munching toast for what seemed like about five hours. I don't recall that we were asked to leave at any stage for eating them out of bread and butter, and while my memory for the details might be a bit sketchy it was definitely a long, leisurely and rather pleasurable brunch. It's a nice space too, tall windows making it light and airy with lots of blonde, unfinished wood inside. The upshot of this is that I've been holding the place in high esteem (lots of toast with lots of butter is a wonderful thing) and planning to go back ever since. I finally made it back last night.

I was feeling vaguely celebratory as it was my Birthday so three courses were always likely to be ordered. While the three of us perused the menu some good quality bread, butter and olives were brought to the table. The Reliance 10th anniversary celebration beer on draught was also very good.

To start with I opted for the mussels only to be informed a few minutes later that there were none. Slightly strange this, as a chap on the next table who arrived at least half an hour after us was later spotted slurping a great big bowl full of them. I did consider chinning him and stealing them, but I don't like to cause a fuss. No matter, game terrine wrapped in reliance home cured bacon, cumberland sauce and sourdough toast it was then.

Game terrine

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo's on this post. The room was fairly dark and using a flash can be a bit rude and intrusive for other diners. The terrine was a little disappointing, it was pleasant enough but not very gamey. I would have guessed it was a coarse porky pate if I hadn't known otherwise. It was also served a bit too cold. The cumberland sauce tasted exactly like marmalade, and was a nice tart, bitter foil to the meatiness. The sourdough toast was fine and cut from a decent bit of bread.

Shoulder of mutton

For my main course I opted for Roast shoulder of mutton with a haggis, swede & potato cake & lamb reduction. This was the best main of the three, the mutton was tender and deeply flavoured, like lamb but somehow stronger and earthier. The lamb reduction (gravy) didn't quite match up to the meat for depth of flavour, I'm not sure why they didn't serve a mutton reduction (gravy) with mutton. The potato cake was sweet, meaty, nicely caramelised at the edges and worked well with the meat. The other main courses were less successful. A rump steak was cooked as requested and full of flavour, but it was a very sinewy, chewy piece of meat for the price, even for rump. A special of pork cheeks were the opposite, slow cooked to lovely soft, fibrous strands but tasting rather bland.

Rum and ginger cake

And finally pudding. Just the one to share between us, a rum and ginger cake with pouring cream. What appeared wasn't really what I was expecting. The description suggested something dark and treacley looking, whereas this was a pale, plain looking slice of cake. It was doused in rum, but I couldn't detect any ginger in there at all. A thicker pouring cream would also have been better, as this was very much single cream and made the whole thing a touch soggy.

Overall this was a pleasant meal, with one particular high point (my mutton main course). Some of the other dishes were a bit hit and miss though, and it didn't really live up to my high expectations. Our bill came to £63 for 2 starters, 3 mains, 1 dessert and 3 beers, but before service (which was fine). It's not cheap but probably par for the course for a gastropub sort of menu. I would definitely return, but probably for a weekend brunch and papers session rather than an evening meal. If they still do unlimited toast I'm there tomorrow...


6/10


76-78 North Street
Leeds
LS2 7PN

http://www.the-reliance.co.uk/

Where to find the best Spanish food in the North?

I'll warn you now, by the time I've finished writing this post it may well have grown into a long and rambling eulogy to the joys of Spanish food.

I fell in love with Spanish food and the Spanish way of eating as recently as last year. I always had a sneaking suspicion that I was a fan, but had never really experienced Spain properly (Costa's notwithstanding) until I was lucky enough to spend two long weekends in Madrid and Valencia last spring.

Madrid was a revelation. I had planned it as a foodie weekend, with the intention being to explore the bars and immerse ourselves in the tapas culture. I went with high expectations, but never thought I'd be so blown away by the sheer generosity and variety of it all. Madrid bars generally offer a free tapa with every drink ordered and the range is astounding; - peanuts, olives, salt cod & chickpea stew, tuna pastries, manchego cheese, jamón offcuts, braised mushrooms, mussels in white wine, hunks of chorizo, open sandwiches topped with ham, cheese or pate, crisps, pork scratchings; - all of these things and more were served up with small glasses (cañas) of beer, beakers (copas) of wine or glasses of wonderful sherry rarely costing more than a couple of euros apiece and sometimes less. During an evening of barhopping the freebies were supplemented with paid for tapas or sometimes a larger portion (ración) of whatever tickled our fancy. In this way I ate some of the best ham (jamón ibérico de bellota), some of the best seafood (galician style octupus - pulpo a la gallega), some of the best spuds (patatas bravas done perfectly) and some of the best deep fried goods (wonderfully light croquetas de jamón or de bacalao) I have eaten in my life.

We didn't really dine in restaurants in the evenings, preferring to stick to the bar crawls, but did frequent a couple at lunchtime. Generosity, value and quality were once again to the fore, as many bars have a dining room (comedor) offering a set menu at lunch. In the most memorable of these I dined on a nourishing salt cod & spinach soup, a rich, reduced oxtail stew served with (proper home-made not frozen) chips, a large slice of custard flan, half a bottle of passable red and mineral water for the princely sum of eleven euros. None of the food was mindblowing, but it was all cooked on the premises, substantial and tasty. This kind of thing would amaze back home, especially for a tenner, but in Madrid it seems to be pretty much the norm.

Snacks and breakfasts were also in keeping with the rest, in that they were invariably delicious, readily available and great value. Freshly squeezed orange juice, crusty sandwiches de jamón, and of course the magnificent churros with chocolate (freshly fried long doughnut type things with thick, dark, bittersweet chocolate to dip them in), which the Madrileños like to eat in the early hours after a night on the town (slightly classier than your average doner..).

All in all, my brief sojourn in Madrid was nothing short of a foodie awakening. Valencia had a lot to live up to. The first potential pitfall was that the Valencia trip was a stag do, not usually the type of break associated with dining well.

I needn't have worried. It wasn't quite Madrid, but Valencia put up a pretty good fight, giving me reason to believe that any large Spanish city is likely to be worth an eating and drinking weekend. The food highlight of the visit was an outstanding beef chop (chuletón de buey), up there with the best steaks I've ever eaten, and this from a restaurant selected completely at random in the centre of town. Honourable mentions also go to the quality of lamb and pork purchased from the supermarket, the melting-fat deliciousness of a five euro plate of ham scoffed in a scruffy bar in the local town where our villa was situated, and a paella for twelve people served up in a seafront tourist trap that could have been expensive and dire, but was neither.

At this point, if anyone is still reading this, you may have realised that I rather like the food in Spain. You may also have recalled that this post is titled 'Where to find the best Spanish food in the North?', so you may reasonably be wondering why I have waffled on about Spain at such length. So, in a rather roundabout way, to Britain.

In Britain, we don't really do Spanish eating properly. Let us take tapas, as the majority of Spanish restaurants in this country tend to focus on the tapas theme. Tapas restaurants in Britain are not really like tapas bars in Spain. For starters most of them are restaurants, rather than bars, which rather defeats the object in the first place. I don't mind this, as Britain is not Spain. Unless there is some huge, unexpected cultural shift we are not going to have bars in the Spanish style in any significant quantity in British towns and cities. As I've already said, I don't mind this, as bemoaning this fact would be like complaining that you can't get a decent pint of cask ale on every corner in Madrid, i.e. a bit silly.

So if we are going to have to sit down and eat our tapas all in once place what we can do is focus on the quality and value of the food, and in this respect a lot of the tapas places in the UK seem to fit into two camps.

In the first corner is La Tasca and it's ilk. Fairly cheap, but mediocre at best food that I'm pretty sure all comes pre-packaged and frozen for assembly line reheating. I have been to La Tasca twice in the last year or two, neither occasion of my choosing. The first occasion was with a large group of blokes, and the party menu had been pre-ordered. What this means is that they bring out all of the food all at once, on huge platters. This bears no resemblance to tapas, it's basically just a massive, shit buffet (you know the sort of thing; - manky chicken legs and budget frozen garlic bread). The second occasion was after more than a few drinks, when one of our group had 50% off vouchers for the food. As expected it was all dull if not actively bad. I recall that the pork ribs came with a particular recommendation for being tender and delicious. The meat was indeed tender and fell off the bones, but unfortunately was drowning in a horrid brown, gloopy sauce tasting of sugar and artificial smoke-flavour. I am not a fan of La Tasca.

In the second corner is the increasing number of upmarket Spanish places that serve very good food, but at generally very enthusiastic prices. Now I understand that certain Spanish foodstuffs are very pricey because they are the finest, most exquisite of their type (yes I'm looking at you iberico ham), but this does not apply in all cases. Charging six or seven quid for a single scallop or a tortilla (it's just eggs!) is taking the michael however well executed the dish. These are the type of places where you will eat some delicious food, but leave feeling peckish and not even slightly pissed having parted with forty of your finest english pounds. I'm not really sure whether this type of Spanish restaurant has spread to the North in abundance yet, as I haven't sought them out since returning, but their numbers have grown rapidly in London over recent years.

So what am I actually looking for? Some sort of halfway house really. Good quality, well cooked, generous, unpretentious, good value Spanish food. Like in Spain. Sounds like a simple formula, but obviously isn't.

Here is a very short list of places that I have compiled from searching the web and reading a few reviews. I have only been to one of them, so I don't know whether the rest fit the bill or not.

Liverpool - Salt House Tapas

Manchester - El Rincon de Rafa

Ripponden - El Gato Negro Tapas

Leeds - El Bareto

El Rincon and El Bareto look like they are in the Spanish bar style, hence their inclusion. El Gato and Salt House are much more in the new, upmarket pricey mould but are included on my shortlist for their great value lunch deals. El Gato I know is great, because I went a couple of years ago at lunchtime and it was excellent, and Salt House is getting some fine reviews from some trustworthy sources.

All being well I'd like to visit those on my shortlist over the coming months, but would love to hear any comments or suggestions that anyone has to offer. I can't be jetting off to Madrid twice a year, got to satisfy the craving somehow...

Where to find the best Spanish food in the North?

I'll warn you now, by the time I've finished writing this post it may well have grown into a long and rambling eulogy to the joys of Spanish food.

I fell in love with Spanish food and the Spanish way of eating as recently as last year. I always had a sneaking suspicion that I was a fan, but had never really experienced Spain properly (Costa's notwithstanding) until I was lucky enough to spend two long weekends in Madrid and Valencia last spring.

Madrid was a revelation. I had planned it as a foodie weekend, with the intention being to explore the bars and immerse ourselves in the tapas culture. I went with high expectations, but never thought I'd be so blown away by the sheer generosity and variety of it all. Madrid bars generally offer a free tapa with every drink ordered and the range is astounding; - peanuts, olives, salt cod & chickpea stew, tuna pastries, manchego cheese, jamón offcuts, braised mushrooms, mussels in white wine, hunks of chorizo, open sandwiches topped with ham, cheese or pate, crisps, pork scratchings; - all of these things and more were served up with small glasses (cañas) of beer, beakers (copas) of wine or glasses of wonderful sherry rarely costing more than a couple of euros apiece and sometimes less. During an evening of barhopping the freebies were supplemented with paid for tapas or sometimes a larger portion (ración) of whatever tickled our fancy. In this way I ate some of the best ham (jamón ibérico de bellota), some of the best seafood (galician style octupus - pulpo a la gallega), some of the best spuds (patatas bravas done perfectly) and some of the best deep fried goods (wonderfully light croquetas de jamón or de bacalao) I have eaten in my life.

We didn't really dine in restaurants in the evenings, preferring to stick to the bar crawls, but did frequent a couple at lunchtime. Generosity, value and quality were once again to the fore, as many bars have a dining room (comedor) offering a set menu at lunch. In the most memorable of these I dined on a nourishing salt cod & spinach soup, a rich, reduced oxtail stew served with (proper home-made not frozen) chips, a large slice of custard flan, half a bottle of passable red and mineral water for the princely sum of eleven euros. None of the food was mindblowing, but it was all cooked on the premises, substantial and tasty. This kind of thing would amaze back home, especially for a tenner, but in Madrid it seems to be pretty much the norm.

Snacks and breakfasts were also in keeping with the rest, in that they were invariably delicious, readily available and great value. Freshly squeezed orange juice, crusty sandwiches de jamón, and of course the magnificent churros with chocolate (freshly fried long doughnut type things with thick, dark, bittersweet chocolate to dip them in), which the Madrileños like to eat in the early hours after a night on the town (slightly classier than your average doner..).

All in all, my brief sojourn in Madrid was nothing short of a foodie awakening. Valencia had a lot to live up to. The first potential pitfall was that the Valencia trip was a stag do, not usually the type of break associated with dining well.

I needn't have worried. It wasn't quite Madrid, but Valencia put up a pretty good fight, giving me reason to believe that any large Spanish city is likely to be worth an eating and drinking weekend. The food highlight of the visit was an outstanding beef chop (chuletón de buey), up there with the best steaks I've ever eaten, and this from a restaurant selected completely at random in the centre of town. Honourable mentions also go to the quality of lamb and pork purchased from the supermarket, the melting-fat deliciousness of a five euro plate of ham scoffed in a scruffy bar in the local town where our villa was situated, and a paella for twelve people served up in a seafront tourist trap that could have been expensive and dire, but was neither.

At this point, if anyone is still reading this, you may have realised that I rather like the food in Spain. You may also have recalled that this post is titled 'Where to find the best Spanish food in the North?', so you may reasonably be wondering why I have waffled on about Spain at such length. So, in a rather roundabout way, to Britain.

In Britain, we don't really do Spanish eating properly. Let us take tapas, as the majority of Spanish restaurants in this country tend to focus on the tapas theme. Tapas restaurants in Britain are not really like tapas bars in Spain. For starters most of them are restaurants, rather than bars, which rather defeats the object in the first place. I don't mind this, as Britain is not Spain. Unless there is some huge, unexpected cultural shift we are not going to have bars in the Spanish style in any significant quantity in British towns and cities. As I've already said, I don't mind this, as bemoaning this fact would be like complaining that you can't get a decent pint of cask ale on every corner in Madrid, i.e. a bit silly.

So if we are going to have to sit down and eat our tapas all in once place what we can do is focus on the quality and value of the food, and in this respect a lot of the tapas places in the UK seem to fit into two camps.

In the first corner is La Tasca and it's ilk. Fairly cheap, but mediocre at best food that I'm pretty sure all comes pre-packaged and frozen for assembly line reheating. I have been to La Tasca twice in the last year or two, neither occasion of my choosing. The first occasion was with a large group of blokes, and the party menu had been pre-ordered. What this means is that they bring out all of the food all at once, on huge platters. This bears no resemblance to tapas, it's basically just a massive, shit buffet (you know the sort of thing; - manky chicken legs and budget frozen garlic bread). The second occasion was after more than a few drinks, when one of our group had 50% off vouchers for the food. As expected it was all dull if not actively bad. I recall that the pork ribs came with a particular recommendation for being tender and delicious. The meat was indeed tender and fell off the bones, but unfortunately was drowning in a horrid brown, gloopy sauce tasting of sugar and artificial smoke-flavour. I am not a fan of La Tasca.

In the second corner is the increasing number of upmarket Spanish places that serve very good food, but at generally very enthusiastic prices. Now I understand that certain Spanish foodstuffs are very pricey because they are the finest, most exquisite of their type (yes I'm looking at you iberico ham), but this does not apply in all cases. Charging six or seven quid for a single scallop or a tortilla (it's just eggs!) is taking the michael however well executed the dish. These are the type of places where you will eat some delicious food, but leave feeling peckish and not even slightly pissed having parted with forty of your finest english pounds. I'm not really sure whether this type of Spanish restaurant has spread to the North in abundance yet, as I haven't sought them out since returning, but their numbers have grown rapidly in London over recent years.

So what am I actually looking for? Some sort of halfway house really. Good quality, well cooked, generous, unpretentious, good value Spanish food. Like in Spain. Sounds like a simple formula, but obviously isn't.

Here is a very short list of places that I have compiled from searching the web and reading a few reviews. I have only been to one of them, so I don't know whether the rest fit the bill or not.

Liverpool - Salt House Tapas

Manchester - El Rincon de Rafa

Ripponden - El Gato Negro Tapas

Leeds - El Bareto

El Rincon and El Bareto look like they are in the Spanish bar style, hence their inclusion. El Gato and Salt House are much more in the new, upmarket pricey mould but are included on my shortlist for their great value lunch deals. El Gato I know is great, because I went a couple of years ago at lunchtime and it was excellent, and Salt House is getting some fine reviews from some trustworthy sources.

All being well I'd like to visit those on my shortlist over the coming months, but would love to hear any comments or suggestions that anyone has to offer. I can't be jetting off to Madrid twice a year, got to satisfy the craving somehow...

The Tiled Hall Cafe, Leeds Art Gallery

Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours exploring central Leeds, just generally wandering around some of the more forgotten corners to see what I might find. I stumbled across an Ethiopian Restaurant in the very forgotten corner that is the Merrion Centre market. A quick googling swiftly put paid to my thinking I might have discovered a hidden gem, as it's actually rather well documented. I'll be back to try it at some point.

My best discovery of the day (at least it was a discovery to me) was in a place that is busy, bustling and not the least bit forgotten. The Tiled Hall in Leeds Art Gallery is the original reading room of the adjacent library, restored to it's former glory and put to wonderful use as a cafe.

Photo credit: bethmadethis

What a wonderful space. I really can't think of a better spot to while away an hour or two in Leeds. Unfortunately the food didn't really match up to the surroundings. I opted for the daily hot special, beef stew served with a crusty roll.

The stew was just rather dull. The stock base was watery and lacked flavour, it needed something, anything to give it some depth (bones, onions, wine, mustard, more browning of the meat, worcester sauce - any of these would have been an improvement). The beef itself was a bit dry and chewy, but the vegetables were nicely cooked. It was also a very meagre portion, at seven pounds overpriced by at least a couple of quid. The bread was freshly baked, but almost certainly from a bulk freezer pack of part-baked rolls.

A shame really, as the room is genuinely lovely. I would recommend a visit for coffee and cakes, or perhaps a glass of wine.


5/10

The Tiled Hall Cafe
Leeds Art Gallery
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery/leeds_art_gallery/the_tiled_hall.aspx

The Tiled Hall Cafe, Leeds Art Gallery

Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours exploring central Leeds, just generally wandering around some of the more forgotten corners to see what I might find. I stumbled across an Ethiopian Restaurant in the very forgotten corner that is the Merrion Centre market. A quick googling swiftly put paid to my thinking I might have discovered a hidden gem, as it's actually rather well documented. I'll be back to try it at some point.

My best discovery of the day (at least it was a discovery to me) was in a place that is busy, bustling and not the least bit forgotten. The Tiled Hall in Leeds Art Gallery is the original reading room of the adjacent library, restored to it's former glory and put to wonderful use as a cafe.

Photo credit: bethmadethis

What a wonderful space. I really can't think of a better spot to while away an hour or two in Leeds. Unfortunately the food didn't really match up to the surroundings. I opted for the daily hot special, beef stew served with a crusty roll.

The stew was just rather dull. The stock base was watery and lacked flavour, it needed something, anything to give it some depth (bones, onions, wine, mustard, more browning of the meat, worcester sauce - any of these would have been an improvement). The beef itself was a bit dry and chewy, but the vegetables were nicely cooked. It was also a very meagre portion, at seven pounds overpriced by at least a couple of quid. The bread was freshly baked, but almost certainly from a bulk freezer pack of part-baked rolls.

A shame really, as the room is genuinely lovely. I would recommend a visit for coffee and cakes, or perhaps a glass of wine.


5/10

The Tiled Hall Cafe
Leeds Art Gallery
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery/leeds_art_gallery/the_tiled_hall.aspx

Wokon Noodle Bar, Leeds

Wokon is another expanding mini-chain offering an alternative to the usual fast food behemoths. I'd put them in a similar category to Rice and Barburrito and after my recent visits to those two were distinctly poor and average respectively I didn't have particularly high expectations for Wokon.

I was pleasantly surprised. The menu sensibly sticks to Asian food, with most of the stir-fries listed being Chinese with a couple from other countries thrown in (Thailand, Indonesia). I ordered a Nasi Goreng with prawns and pork (Indonesian style fried rice).

The portion was generous with plenty of prawns and loads of pork (those little cardboard containers look deceptively small, they really pack it in). The prawns were fresh tasting and the pork was flavoursome if a bit chewy and unnecessarily red. There were plenty of veggies in the mix and the requested spiciness was present and correct. It cost a reasonable £5.49.

I went to the branch on Briggate. There are others on New Station Street and in Headingley. Hopefully more branches to come...


7/10

Wokon Noodle Bar
156 Briggate
Leeds
LS1 6LY

http://www.wokon.co.uk/

Wokon Noodle Bar, Leeds

Wokon is another expanding mini-chain offering an alternative to the usual fast food behemoths. I'd put them in a similar category to Rice and Barburrito and after my recent visits to those two were distinctly poor and average respectively I didn't have particularly high expectations for Wokon.

I was pleasantly surprised. The menu sensibly sticks to Asian food, with most of the stir-fries listed being Chinese with a couple from other countries thrown in (Thailand, Indonesia). I ordered a Nasi Goreng with prawns and pork (Indonesian style fried rice).

The portion was generous with plenty of prawns and loads of pork (those little cardboard containers look deceptively small, they really pack it in). The prawns were fresh tasting and the pork was flavoursome if a bit chewy and unnecessarily red. There were plenty of veggies in the mix and the requested spiciness was present and correct. It cost a reasonable £5.49.

I went to the branch on Briggate. There are others on New Station Street and in Headingley. Hopefully more branches to come...


7/10

Wokon Noodle Bar
156 Briggate
Leeds
LS1 6LY

http://www.wokon.co.uk/

A few good things to eat

I've been pondering whether to start blogging about food I've eaten at home as well as my eating out experiences. My mind has been made up by a few things I've enjoyed over the past week or so. I'm not going to start posting photo's and recipes of my cooking (I'll leave that to others who do it far better than I ever would), but I would like to sing the praises of any food producers or suppliers whose products I've been impressed by. So here goes:

Steak, Savin Hill Farm

I've seen the Savin Hill Farm stall at a few farmers' markets (if I recall correctly), most recently at the fortnightly Manchester Real Food Market in Piccadilly Gardens last Saturday. I'm always on the look out for a good steak but have been put off these guys in the past as the meat on offer is all vaccum packed. I suppose it might not impair the flavour when it actually comes to cooking it, but it always seems to make the meat so sweaty and unappealing. Anyhow I had a brief chat with the guy on the stall, who seemed very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He told me that the beef is from British White Cattle, a rare breed native to the North-West. I bought a piece of rump steak (just over 9oz for just under a fiver), and here it is after a brief liaison with my griddle:

Pretty good it was too. Quite a mild flavour, not overly beefy with a good texture (not melt in the mouth, I don't hold with this 'melt in the mouth' business for steak. It's meat not ice-cream). Far better than your average supermarket steak, but not up there with my all-time favourite (I like beef from the Ginger Pig best. Yorkshire farmed but shops only in London. You can buy direct from the farm if you call to pre-order but I wish they'd open a shop up North). Worth a try.

http://www.savin-hill.co.uk/
At Manchester Real Food Market, also available by mail order.



Macaroons, English Rose Bakery

Macaroons as in French macarons. Not those English things covered in dessicated coconut with a glace cherry on top. These are the stonkingly expensive, beautiful, delicate almond meringuey type things made by posh Parisian types Laduree and Pierre Herme. Readily available from stores in the more upmarket parts of London I'm not sure if they have penetrated the North yet. So the English Rose Bakery have stolen a march and done it for them, and can be found at the fortnightly Manchester Real Food Market in Piccadilly Gardens (amongst other places).

Delicious, and at £2.50 for the four very reasonable for well-made macaroons. They were doing a good trade in Valentine's gifts, but not having a Valentine for the first year in several I scoffed all four myself. I think the flavours were raspberry, vanilla, pistachio and coffee. Pistachio was my favourite but they also do salted caramel (but had run out when I bought mine) which will almost certainly be no.1 in my book.

http://www.englishrosebakery.com/
At Manchester Real Food Market, other markets, and can be ordered online.



Curry, Mumtaz

Finally a big up for a behemoth of the curry world that hardly needs the recommendation. I'm going to sing their praises anyway as I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their pre-packed curries that are available in the supermarket. Last Friday night a few of us shared chicken and lamb karahi's, a keema matter (mince & peas) karahi and a chicken tikka masala.

Each of the four dishes was good, with distinctive, strongly spiced flavours. A big improvement on the usual watery, underpowered slop that ready meal curries provide. The best of the bunch, rather unexpectedly, was the tikka masala which had a really rich, reduced tomato sauce that had me scraping out the dregs with cold nan bread later in the evening. My only criticism is that the meat, particularly the chicken, was a bit dry and overcooked. At £2.99 per curry they are cheaper than any takeaway curry around, and probably better than most of them too.

http://www.mumtaz.co.uk/
Widely available. I bought them in Morrisons in Rothwell.

A few good things to eat

I've been pondering whether to start blogging about food I've eaten at home as well as my eating out experiences. My mind has been made up by a few things I've enjoyed over the past week or so. I'm not going to start posting photo's and recipes of my cooking (I'll leave that to others who do it far better than I ever would), but I would like to sing the praises of any food producers or suppliers whose products I've been impressed by. So here goes:

Steak, Savin Hill Farm

I've seen the Savin Hill Farm stall at a few farmers' markets (if I recall correctly), most recently at the fortnightly Manchester Real Food Market in Piccadilly Gardens last Saturday. I'm always on the look out for a good steak but have been put off these guys in the past as the meat on offer is all vaccum packed. I suppose it might not impair the flavour when it actually comes to cooking it, but it always seems to make the meat so sweaty and unappealing. Anyhow I had a brief chat with the guy on the stall, who seemed very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He told me that the beef is from British White Cattle, a rare breed native to the North-West. I bought a piece of rump steak (just over 9oz for just under a fiver), and here it is after a brief liaison with my griddle:

Pretty good it was too. Quite a mild flavour, not overly beefy with a good texture (not melt in the mouth, I don't hold with this 'melt in the mouth' business for steak. It's meat not ice-cream). Far better than your average supermarket steak, but not up there with my all-time favourite (I like beef from the Ginger Pig best. Yorkshire farmed but shops only in London. You can buy direct from the farm if you call to pre-order but I wish they'd open a shop up North). Worth a try.

http://www.savin-hill.co.uk/
At Manchester Real Food Market, also available by mail order.



Macaroons, English Rose Bakery

Macaroons as in French macarons. Not those English things covered in dessicated coconut with a glace cherry on top. These are the stonkingly expensive, beautiful, delicate almond meringuey type things made by posh Parisian types Laduree and Pierre Herme. Readily available from stores in the more upmarket parts of London I'm not sure if they have penetrated the North yet. So the English Rose Bakery have stolen a march and done it for them, and can be found at the fortnightly Manchester Real Food Market in Piccadilly Gardens (amongst other places).

Delicious, and at £2.50 for the four very reasonable for well-made macaroons. They were doing a good trade in Valentine's gifts, but not having a Valentine for the first year in several I scoffed all four myself. I think the flavours were raspberry, vanilla, pistachio and coffee. Pistachio was my favourite but they also do salted caramel (but had run out when I bought mine) which will almost certainly be no.1 in my book.

http://www.englishrosebakery.com/
At Manchester Real Food Market, other markets, and can be ordered online.



Curry, Mumtaz

Finally a big up for a behemoth of the curry world that hardly needs the recommendation. I'm going to sing their praises anyway as I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their pre-packed curries that are available in the supermarket. Last Friday night a few of us shared chicken and lamb karahi's, a keema matter (mince & peas) karahi and a chicken tikka masala.

Each of the four dishes was good, with distinctive, strongly spiced flavours. A big improvement on the usual watery, underpowered slop that ready meal curries provide. The best of the bunch, rather unexpectedly, was the tikka masala which had a really rich, reduced tomato sauce that had me scraping out the dregs with cold nan bread later in the evening. My only criticism is that the meat, particularly the chicken, was a bit dry and overcooked. At £2.99 per curry they are cheaper than any takeaway curry around, and probably better than most of them too.

http://www.mumtaz.co.uk/
Widely available. I bought them in Morrisons in Rothwell.

A Tale of Two Lunches

We are quite blessed in the UK these days with the variety of lunch options in many of our towns and cities. We have welcomed the midday offerings of other nations, adapted them and made them our own. But we also still like a good British pie, fry-up or sandwich with salad cream. Here are a couple of contrasting places on either side of the Pennines.

La Bottega Milanese, Leeds

La Bottega Milanese sits squarely in the new, modern Britain category. It’s a Milanese coffee bar transplanted to the Calls in Leeds. Sandwiches are made to order on ciabatta or focaccia, coffee is an art form and cakes are supplied by Anthony’s.

On today’s visit I ordered a Milanese on ciabatta (parma ham, rocket, mayo, parmesan, olive oil, lemon – I think) and a slice of torta della nonna (Grandma’s cake). Nice piggy ham and peppery rocket, and a light, fresh ciabatta made for a good sandwich. Possibly a bit stingy with the filling but that’s a minor complaint from a greedy person.

The cake (not one of the Anthony's supplied ones) was very good. It’s a sort of thick custard tart garnished with pine nuts. Fairly plain and simple but I mean that as a compliment, it’s nice to have something more restrained with a cup of tea instead of the increasingly prevalent sugar and icing bomb American style sweet things (not that I don’t love cupcakes sometimes...). The pastry was good too.

I can’t comment on the coffee, as I rarely drink it (caffeine doesn’t like me) but given their enthusiasm for the stuff I’m sure it’s great.

At £3 for the sandwich and £2 for the cake it’s good value for quality ingredients in a city centre location. It wasn’t very busy when I was in there (about 12.30 pm so peak lunchtime) so I hope they’re doing a good trade. Please go – we want places like this in Leeds doing well.

7/10

32 The Calls
Leeds
LS2 7EW

http://labottegamilanese.co.uk

Pat’s Place Cafe, Knowsley Industrial Estate

Pat’s cafe has its steel toe-capped boots firmly in the traditional camp. If you spend your days in a hard hat engaged in robust industrial toil (just like me obviously) then this is the place for you. Situated on Knowsley Industrial Estate, an outpost of genuine heavy industry, it offers up fry-ups, pie dinners, toasties, chips and sandwiches (salad is available) to the masses. When I’m feeling healthy sandwiches are the way to go, but at other times it has to be a pie dinner. £2.50 will get you a choice of pie, with chips, peas and gravy.

It’s usually pretty good but last Friday it was strangely disappointing. The chips were soggy and they were out of peas. Usually the chips are fried to a good crisp and not at all greasy. The pies are of reasonable quality, and definitely contain genuine meat. I like the Steak and Pepper best. There was a photo but it's gone missing; - think pie & chips, covered in gravy, in a polystyrene tray.

On the off chance anyone reading this spends time in the area, you could do much worse for your lunch than Pat's. Not that it needs a recommendation, it’s always rammed.

5/10 (recent visit)
7/10 (most other visits)

Pat's Place Cafe
Charley Wood Road
Knowsley Industrial Estate
L33
Merseyside

A Tale of Two Lunches

We are quite blessed in the UK these days with the variety of lunch options in many of our towns and cities. We have welcomed the midday offerings of other nations, adapted them and made them our own. But we also still like a good British pie, fry-up or sandwich with salad cream. Here are a couple of contrasting places on either side of the Pennines.

La Bottega Milanese, Leeds

La Bottega Milanese sits squarely in the new, modern Britain category. It’s a Milanese coffee bar transplanted to the Calls in Leeds. Sandwiches are made to order on ciabatta or focaccia, coffee is an art form and cakes are supplied by Anthony’s.

On today’s visit I ordered a Milanese on ciabatta (parma ham, rocket, mayo, parmesan, olive oil, lemon – I think) and a slice of torta della nonna (Grandma’s cake). Nice piggy ham and peppery rocket, and a light, fresh ciabatta made for a good sandwich. Possibly a bit stingy with the filling but that’s a minor complaint from a greedy person.

The cake (not one of the Anthony's supplied ones) was very good. It’s a sort of thick custard tart garnished with pine nuts. Fairly plain and simple but I mean that as a compliment, it’s nice to have something more restrained with a cup of tea instead of the increasingly prevalent sugar and icing bomb American style sweet things (not that I don’t love cupcakes sometimes...). The pastry was good too.

I can’t comment on the coffee, as I rarely drink it (caffeine doesn’t like me) but given their enthusiasm for the stuff I’m sure it’s great.

At £3 for the sandwich and £2 for the cake it’s good value for quality ingredients in a city centre location. It wasn’t very busy when I was in there (about 12.30 pm so peak lunchtime) so I hope they’re doing a good trade. Please go – we want places like this in Leeds doing well.

7/10

32 The Calls
Leeds
LS2 7EW

http://labottegamilanese.co.uk

Pat’s Place Cafe, Knowsley Industrial Estate

Pat’s cafe has its steel toe-capped boots firmly in the traditional camp. If you spend your days in a hard hat engaged in robust industrial toil (just like me obviously) then this is the place for you. Situated on Knowsley Industrial Estate, an outpost of genuine heavy industry, it offers up fry-ups, pie dinners, toasties, chips and sandwiches (salad is available) to the masses. When I’m feeling healthy sandwiches are the way to go, but at other times it has to be a pie dinner. £2.50 will get you a choice of pie, with chips, peas and gravy.

It’s usually pretty good but last Friday it was strangely disappointing. The chips were soggy and they were out of peas. Usually the chips are fried to a good crisp and not at all greasy. The pies are of reasonable quality, and definitely contain genuine meat. I like the Steak and Pepper best. There was a photo but it's gone missing; - think pie & chips, covered in gravy, in a polystyrene tray.

On the off chance anyone reading this spends time in the area, you could do much worse for your lunch than Pat's. Not that it needs a recommendation, it’s always rammed.

5/10 (recent visit)
7/10 (most other visits)

Pat's Place Cafe
Charley Wood Road
Knowsley Industrial Estate
L33
Merseyside