You can find Tharavadu Leeds just a short stumble down the hill from the train station, adjacent to the similarly esteemed Bundobust. It’s not the most flamboyant frontage but has a welcoming atmosphere as you enter, with the walls embellished by the signatures of esteemed customers such as Kier Starmer! It didn’t take long for our server to furnish us with cold beers and some satisfying crunchy bits to dip in a variety of pickles while we waited for the main event to begin.

The Signature chicken dosa was an obvious place to start and arrived in a show of conical majesty, concealing the spiced filling. These savoury pancake style dishes have deservedly gained traction in the UK over the last ten years or so since I came across one first in Nottingham around 2008 but I can’t think of one that compares to this example. With a delicate crunch to the lightly spiced pancake and a lustrous, rich filling with well judged heat this is an instantly iconic dish that should be mandatory when visiting Tharavadu Leeds.

We’d ordered everything to come as it was ready, so a beef dish came next. Pothu Peralan delivered a generous quantity of the meat which was elevated by pungent curry leaves, onion and coconut with spicing generously advancing forward as you chew. We also picked a Meen Koottan fish curry promising notes of tamarind while proclaiming itself one of the most ordered dishes on the menu, with good reason as it turned out. One rather gets the impression that there isn’t a duff note on the menu but everything we ordered felt like it could have been a highlight. Without exception each dish was best-in-show of its ilk, comforting and generous with huge depths of character making it a challenge to stop mopping up the sauces with the breads we’d ordered. It’s really hard to recommend Tharavadu Leeds enough. I appreciate Mr Rayner’s opinion probably carries more weight than mine, but I also hope you’d put a bit of trust in me too. I’m still thinking about that chicken dosa, and those morsels of beef would be something I’d happily pick over for hours on end. You’ll not regret visiting.

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This value along with praise from much of the press has led to a predictable supply shortage so we had a few weeks in which to anticipate the Aktar Islam at home delivery, which on first sight represented phenomenal value. It’s billed as a generous feast for four but with eight portions each hitting around 500g, it’d comfortably do four very generous meals for two. We started by sharing a Goan fish curry, which required the most effort to prepare. This amounted to no more than searing a couple of fillets of fish before pouring over curry sauce to finish and when plated up with a good sprig of coriander and one of the four included naan breads, it was a really superb entry point to the selection. My very high expectations for this were comfortably exceeded at the first time of asking, rich deeply flavoured curry sauce and fresh fish meeting perfectly judged spicing for a blockbuster start.

Mutton Korma and Chicken Madras both did a superlative job of distancing themselves from the typical British curry house versions of these dishes, the Korma being very far from the luminous blandness that you can end up with and the Madras having generous amounts of heat without turning into a test of endurance rather than enjoyment. Both of these dishes exhibited a striking balance of big flavours and more nuanced flavours, definitely a cut above.

For another meal we coupled Seyal Gosht and Achari Aloo, with slow cooked beef brisket and new potatoes headlining. This pair had a fierce heat that was pushing toward the limit of my moderate tolerance for spice but also predictably bold flavours that lived up to the spicing. The potatoes cooked in Bengali pickling spices working themselves up into a memorable dish while the brisket had been cooked as slowly as needed to realise the meats potential.

The accompanying breads and rice continued the strong showing, Hyderabadi style milk loaves being soft and light, incidentally work very well for a bacon sandwich pepped up with sriracha and coriander. Naan breads and aromatic basmati rice held up their end of the bargain too.

I’d ordered this on the back of almost hyperbolic praise from a number of people I know to be have good taste which turned out to exactly praise that this box deserves. The combination of value, quality, convenience and flavour is hard to argue with, making this a true highlight amongst the at home offerings that the last year has necessitated. It’s comparable in value to the local curry house while throwing in a big whack of refinement too, which admittedly isn’t always desirable. I’ll certainly be grabbing one periodically to keep the freezer stocked with top notch curries at quite remarkable prices.

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With all that being the case, the idea of going to a casino for food was quite far down my to-do list, so I wasn’t sure how to react when I received an invite to pop down to Sheffield and sample a range of new menus at the Grosvenor Casino. My curiosity was piqued and the menus read well enough, so when I found myself with a few hours to spare while Baby Fork was at nursery, I popped myself onto a train and made tracks South.

My naivety showed as soon as I arrived at the casino and was asked to surrender my satchel. After conversation with the pleasant receptionist, I was acutely aware of the potential for fraud and deception and made my way inside. The legend of there being no natural light in a casino proved correct – all the better to lose track of time – but the space was clean and comfortable with the bar area being segregated enough from the gambling activities to provide a space in which to relax in front of the appropriately outsized big screen.

With my focus shifting to food, I took a look at the four street food menus in which I was interested and decided to start off with the offering from Absurd Bird. This menu is an offshoot of the fried chicken chain and offers wings, burgers and buckets of fried food apt to soak up a few beers in front of that previously mentioned big screen. My challenge for the afternoon was to sample something representative from each menu, so I kicked off with some fried wings that were served in a box neatly designed to recline into a plate of sorts. It’s no real criticism to say that I’ve had more refined fried chicken elsewhere, but this was a cracking example of the breed, not too greasy but still messy enough to make sure you leave fingerprints on everything for some time.

Next up was a Garden Club pizza from Barrel & Stone. These guys’ core business is providing ‘plug and play’ solutions to other premises that allow them to broaden their offering easily. Here they’re just one strand of the menu, but pizza is bound to be a favourite and thankfully this one is comfortably good enough for the surroundings, with plentiful fresh toppings and a crispy base.

My next gearshift took me seamlessly into curry. This was branded up from Holy Cow and served along with rice and naan. I chose Rogan Josh on the recommendation of my server and enjoyed it, though the naan was on the dry side.

The last question asked of my appetite was by Field & Fin from a menu geared toward restaurant style dishes. I’d had an eye on the slow-braised beef rib from this menu and it was just the luxuriant I’d hoped to finish the day’s indulgences on. With the smoked bacon strip-topped meat smothering the mashed potato base, the presentation was a little monochromatic but the meat had justice done to it.

I really didn’t know what to expect when I accepted this invitation. If I’m honest I’ve not the time or inclination to start to understand the mechanics of gambling so this is unlikely to become a habit, but I enjoyed my visit and the food. The concept of multiple menus could have tripped up in lots of different ways, but the execution was satisfying and I can certainly see how this makes sense for this kind of venue. I’m not sure how much custom over and above their existing base this offering will get them, but I doubt many who do try this offering will be disappointed.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance. Opinions are impartial.

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The newest big name on the food scene in Leeds is Assembly Underground Leeds, an appealingly subterranean food hall that features (predictably enough) great street food and a huge range of beers to choose from. The space that it inhabits, I’m reliably informed, used to house a nightclub and has been artfully distressed into a comfortable space that uses its corners to be deceptively spacious, fitting in a good number of food vendors.

On the drink front, the headline number is 50… there are 50 beer lines available to give a pretty startling choice of beers. It’s perhaps even a little overwhelming if you’re not committed to your beer knowledge; one assumes that the staff sampling sessions are suitably prolonged affairs.

On the food side, Bread & Butter serve up rotisserie style Brazlian “churrasqueira” and high quality meats cooked on skewers for super indulgent sandwiches. The Falafel Guys have earned themselves a great reputation over the last few years, serving up street food treats from their bright red van on Briggate, and now have a home more suited to the British weather thanks to Assembly Underground. On the preview evening I attended, there was sadly no pizza to be had from Pizza Authority but I was in the company of a very good pizza chef who assured me that the set up was up to the task of cranking out good pizza. Coffee duty is taken care of by Underground Coffee, but I was more interested in the colder drinks available so grabbed a cold beer before sampling some of the food.

I managed to hit Slap & Pickle and Jah Jyot for a couple of plates before my appetite gave out, first taking in a juicy, indulgent cheese and bacon burger. Slap & Pickle claim to serve the best burgers in Leeds. While that’s not the kind of absolute statement I’m given to making, I’m totally happy to say that this was a superb mess of enjoyment to work through. I can’t wait to check out their speciality loaded fries. The chicken Amritsar curry I had from Jah Jyot was a decent blend of spice and subtlety. In retrospect I wished I’d had enough space to fit in a masala dosa or one of the platters they were serving up but the chicken curry was perfectly enjoyable, though didn’t provoke the same praise from the group as the Slap & Pickle burger.

I’ll be back to Assembly Underground Leeds to check out the rest of the traders when I can but it’s safe to say that this is a great space with good food and drink options that’s bound to find its own niche in the Leeds food scene. I’ll look forward to a return visit.

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When I received the invite, I leapt at the chance to finally try Prashad Indian vegetarian restaurant, but when the evening came around I found my energy and enthusiasm sapped by a succession of events, not least a nine hour drive to Surrey (followed the next day by a seven hour return) and the appearance of a lost 97 year old at my front door at 2am (don’t worry, safely relocated at moderate cost to my sleep). Despite those misfortunes, I wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip through my fingers again so hauled myself across to Leeds to meet up with a bunch of other local bloggers to make the last skip over to Prashad.

The evening’s food was to be preceded by a craft activity led by embroidery teacher Elnaz Yazdani who’d equipped us all with a basic stock of threads, needles and other items unfamiliar to me. She did a great job of taking us through the basics of embroidery, teaching a variety of stitches and techniques to let us express our inner creativity. Sadly my inner creativity is something that should have been kept on the inside and the many requests I received on social media to see my efforts will remain unanswered. Thankfully, the other participants reached a higher standard than me and I managed not to inflict any new piercings in the process before Elnaz was able to join us for dinner with her head held high and with a group of appreciative followers.

We were eating in a private dining room that was decorated with press cuttings earned by Prashad over the years. I’d been looking forward to getting sight of the five course tasting menu that we were to enjoy and it certainly didn’t disappoint, making for good reading as we waited for the first course of “Sanku”, an open samosa with mixed beans. This was presented as an upright cone in a wooden serving block kicking things off in style, balancing spice, flavour and texture fantastically well. My desire to string it out to more bites than it could offer spoke volumes.

Next up we enjoyed “Kopra Pethis”, a golfball sized dumpling of potato and coconut. This one was simply presented with rocket leaves and an edible flower bookending the bottom and top of the dish. This one disappeared in another couple of mouthfuls before a perfectly executed masala dosa came to the table. This was a little more conventional but none the worse for it. The dosa was crisped perfectly and presented elongate across the dish’s extended rim, keeping it separate from the potato and onion curry that accompanied it. Our final savoury course was a savoury dough ball with seasonal vegetables, richly spiced curry with rice and perfect circles of naan bread. This was the closest thing to a traditional curry dish of the evening and I found the spicing a little on the generous side, though it’s fair to say that’s likely more a reflection of my intolerant palate than any mistake in the kitchen.

The sweet dish that finished our experience was a Gujlawa that filled baked filo layers with crushed pistachios, almonds and walnuts served with raisin and nutmeg ice cream. This one could have been teeth-itchingly sweet but had the restraint needed to bring subtlety to the (literal and figurative) table. Another edible flower made an appearance on this plate but the really fun affectation was a star anise perfectly replicated in chocolate.

It may have taken me more than a decade to get there, but Prashad Indian vegetarian didn’t disappoint. Those high expectations that I formed more than a decade ago were comfortably met and, while the craft element to the evening didn’t play to my passions, it added a unexpected opportunity to interact with other guests. I’ll be planning another trip before long; if I leave it a similar interval to last time it’d very much be my loss.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance. Opinions are impartial.

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Having a good crowd meant that we could be sure to get through as many of the new dishes as possible, though this meant a relatively involved discussion to choose our strategy. Something that was eased by a few mouthfuls of Bhel Puri, a tangy vegetable and puffed rice snack that seemed to have gained a significant amount of spice since I last tried it. Further help arrived in the form of a dish of Peanut Pakoda, peanuts deep fried in gramflour that hadn’t quite reached their full potential, remaining a little bland compared to the other generously spiced dishes. With these snacks addressed, we got our order in and took a couple of outstanding beers from Leeds based Northern Monk Brewery to keep us company.

We were a little sad to find that the Pani Puri had sold out, though this was apt given that we were meant to be focussing on the newer offerings. Okra fries, chicken Hyderabadi Murgh Tikka and Masala fried squid came up first and revealed a preference amongst us for the Okra and Chicken, both of which offered the right balance of spice and texture nicely. I’ve eaten the tandoori mixed grill on each of my visits to The Cat’s Pyjamas and it remains a great value crowd pleaser, ensuring it’s always split perfectly fairly – the only divisive note being the lamb that packed significantly more heat than the other elements.

From the curry we plumped for the Mean Molee, a gently warming fish curry with a coconut and ginger sauce. This one drew unanimous praise as we competed to get our hands on it. To soak up all this we grabbed some pilau rice, roti, a Yorkshire cheese naan and a Kachumber salad to give a lighter element to the feasting. All the sides were up to snuff. I’d have liked a more aggressive cheese taste in the naan but that’s splitting hairs as everything soaked up the spice perfectly. The table also commented on how the curry was lacking the layer of grease that sometimes makes it hard to digest anglicised curry.

The menu at the Cat’s Pyjamas is superbly well judged and consistent. This was my third visit and I think it hits its marks perfectly. There’s a wide beer menu and the place lends itself happily to either a chilled out series of dishes with friends over a few drinks, or a few quick snacks on the way to a later engagement.

​Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal. The final bill would have been £74 to feed four people (which included several alcoholic drinks).

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The Saturday night we dined there had a nice buzz about the place as diners made themselves acquainted with the extensive craft beer list that gives the restaurant a key part of its character. We were seated close to another table in a corner, both my companion and I commenting that a little more space between the tables wouldn’t have gone amiss. We grabbed a couple of pints of The Cat’s Pyjamas Pilsner to ease decision making and set about the menu.

To keep our hands busy along with the beers, we took some poppadoms and a pickle tray to pick over while making further decisions. Those of you who are particularly pedantic about sharing plates absolutely fairly might struggle with the pre-shattered poppadoms, but no such issues were likely to arise as we distracted ourselves from a minor serving catastrophe that required a good number of napkins to rectify. I hadn’t expected the menu to be conventionally categorised into starters, sides and mains rather than a series of small plates and curries. We weren’t bound by convention though so chose a selection of starters to share, along with a curry to share.

Pan Puri are crisp shells filled with chickpea, tamirind, potato and onion into which one pours a couple of teaspoons of sweet-flavoured liquid before eating whole. We felt that they could have done with a touch more spice, but they were fun, not as messy as they sound and a good way to start before our Tandoori Mixed Grill arrived. The mixed grill featured marinated chicken, spiced lamb skewers and prawns. The tandoori salmon we’d also ordered arrived on the same platter to make a very generous serving of meats variously enhanced with ginger, garlic, coriander, garam masala and basil, amongst other things.

The other two ‘starter’ dishes we ordered were Paneer Tacos and “Chicken 65”. The tacos were unsurprisingly tricky to eat, spilling their tasty filling wherever they like, but delicious with well judged spicing. “Chicken 65” was a spiced twist on fried chicken that hit the spot before we received our curry.

The Pepper Chicken we’d plumped for came in a rich, deeply flavoured sauce based on tomato and slowly browned onion. By this point, our appetites were waning a little, but we ploughed on through at the potential expense of our waistlines and confirmed that the curry was well balanced and very happy to work with our naan.

he bill for all that food tickled fifty pounds; a very fair amount for what we’d got through. In truth, we’d over ordered a little in the interest of sampling a good range of the menu. We even had some leftovers to take home, so a meal for two could be easily significantly more affordable that that. I can’t see the Cat’s Pyjamas being anything other than a great success in York. The price is right, the quality is there and it’s a fun place to visit. I’ll definitely be back.

Disclaimer: Our visit was complimentary, opinions are impartial

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Jaipur Spice doesn’t reside in a part of York that’s terribly convenient for me, so it’s about seven years since I last visited, now a dim and distant memory, and since then the prominent bridge-on-the-water feature and booths around the perimeter of the room have been removed to make a more open plan dining space. An unobtrusive bar sits at the front of the room to service takeaway business without disturbing those dining indoors.

To start, we chose a calamari dish and some garlic mushrooms while occupied with a few poppadoms and nicely balanced pickles, obviously accompanied by a cold pint of Cobra. As we finished bullying the poppadoms off the table, our starters turned up quickly, with the garlic mushrooms taking preference over the calamari that, while perfectly well judged and presented, wasn’t the crab dish that I’d intended ordering but wasn’t available that evening.

Coming to mains, I’d taken the server’s advice and plumped for the Jaipur Spice Special while Grace took a place at the sweeter end of the spectrum with a mango based Amli Chicken. Mindful of our appetites, we restricted ourselves to a single rice dish and naan to share along with a Brinjal Bhaji side, made of pan fried aubergine with onion and spices. The aubergine hadn’t picked up as much grease as one might fear and the naan and rice hit the spot perfectly, absorbing sauce and flavour sauce as required.

The Jaipur special bulked out with a combination of meats, chicken and beef being prominent, in a tomato based sauce. The dish was well spiced and rich, making a place for itself at the top end of a well executed mainstream “British” curry, though I did wonder if there was anything more representative of the restaurant’s character on offer that I could have gone for. Grace’s Amli dunked chunks of chicken into a buttery mango sauce, the chicken exhibiting welcome signs of a trip to the tandoor while the sauce was rich and light.

By this point, we’d hit the traditional curry wall, so I bagged some brownie points by bagging the rest of the curry for tomorrow’s lunch. It’s a perk of a meal like this to be able to admit defeat and take your leftovers home (do you really think the chef who cooked them would rather bin them than know you’ll enjoy them tomorrow?) to further enjoy them the following day. Jaipur Spice gives out good, honest curry dishes and will be on my list whenever I fancy that in the future.

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I’m extremely pleased to see that the original Masala Craft has been such a success that the guys have taken the plunge and headed into the centre of York to open a second branch on King Street! The area around Kings Staith has seen a bit of a resurgence recently with My Thai, Winner Winner and Reina setting out their stalls. This is a beautiful corner of our city and it’s nice to have some diversity in the area. All too often the main impression one’s left with of the area is a riverside ashtray.

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Sunday afternoon and I’m enjoying an ice cream in Trinacria before a bit of a stroll round town. A little bit of digging on Facebook suggests there’s a restaurant opening around the corner so, interest piqued, it was obviously time to wander to the nearest pub with a copy of Private Eye. There’s little point in kicking off action for dinner when you’re full of ice cream after all.

We settled into the rhythm of the place while quickly agreeing that steamed pork dumplings would be the right way to start things off and got a Thai Chang beer rolling. Friendly service exceeded expectations while an open kitchen reassured.

The steamed pork dumplings were superb, well seasoned and interesting without falling into the anglicized trap of coriander overload. A bed of salad cut through with spring onions backed the flavours up without feeling the need to drench itself in one dimensional sauces.

With the pace of the meal picking up to reflect the My Thai streetfood vibe, main courses appeared in short order. Duck with flat noodles and glass noodles served with seafood and pork appeared in significant portions and were beautifully presented.

Having only been open a couple of weeks, the atmosphere wasn’t yet buzzing but customers were in situ and happy, an experience we were sharing.

The flat noodles with duck were superb: face-filling, lip-smearing and spiking all the flavours one expects without the meat being dried out or meagre in quantity – likely to be a repeat order. The glass noodles with pork and seafood require a little more qualification: equally generous in quantity and well-executed, everything looked the part until my ability to cope with spice stepped in. Flavours were entirely on the money, but I just couldn’t cope and left Mrs YoaF to deal with the collateral damage, a task she worked through with characteristic fortitude.

A starter, two mains, and a couple of beers tipped the scales at just over thirty quid. Entirely fair given the portioning. My Thai isn’t somewhere to linger for lots of courses and delicate side dishes, but for a friendly town centre spot to get an informal spot of dinner, it’s perfect.

Going back to that super spicy dish, I feel the need to raise two points. As previously documented, I’m rubbish with spice. That’s not to say I didn’t appreciate the flavours. As an experiment, I dropped the leftovers in at my local pub for a second opinion from a trusted friend. He and his girlfriend dealt with the spice just fine, make of that what you will. Perhaps a clearer guidance on spice would let punters customise their dishes with accuracy.

The real question is though… does it deliver? In the most literal sense, I’ve no idea. I forgot to ask, and it’s not obvious from social media. In terms of flavour… yup. Go get stuck in. Is it my Thai? Yep, looks like it.

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