West Yorkshire Restaurant Guide

“Just like going back to the 1970’s… but on a larger scale!” – this city-centre veteran has grown over the years as well as spawning a national chain. The “old school Indian food is very tasty with large portions and the biggest naans anywhere”. The menu features ‘Chef’s Challenges’ for the Big Man (quantity) and for the Brav (heat).

“An airy space with unusual dishes and great cooking” – this comfortable independent opposite the civic hall scored highly in this year’s annual diners’ poll. The focus is on small plates, some of them very original: who’s for ‘honey, soy and gochujang roast carrots, toasted sesame, with tahini satay’?

One of the biggest restaurants in our guide, seating 500 guests – this Bradford institution started out 45 years ago as a tiny Kashmiri shop close to its present “very comfortable” premises. Well-known for its “high-quality food”, fans include retired footballer Steven Gerrard and politico George Galloway, and there’s now a spin-off in Leeds and a national brand of ready meals.

“A real must-try with a lovely convivial atmosphere”, this historic former mill combines a “dining room and bar in heavy, dark wood that feels like it hasn’t changed much since the eighteenth century and the days of the BBC’s Gentleman Jack” (which was filmed here) with “food that’s much more modern (though retaining a Yorkshire heartiness)” from “very talented and inventive chef Will Webster”. There’s also a “fabulous wine list, with many offered by the glass”.

This “wonderful canalside restaurant, flooded with light” was originally at Kirkgate Market, moving to the Mustard Wharf development two years ago, where it is “a great addition to Leeds” – “the food is delicious but the relaxed atmosphere is also a key to its success”. Liz Cottam, a MasterChef semifinalist, and Mark Owens (ex-head chef at the Box Tree) also run Home at Brewery Wharf.

This “vibrant and busy” basement venue with an “interesting French menu” is a “longstanding favourite”, whose “very good lunch” makes it an “ideal and consistent business brasserie”. Opened in 1991 and still run by founders restaurateur Robert Chamberlain and exec chef Andrew Carter, its many fans are happy that it has “not changed in 20 years”.

“A craft beer pub with fabulous Indian vegetarian street food. What’s not to like?” agree fans of the Manchester-based operation whose formula is equally popular in Leeds. It’s “great to be able to take meat-lovers to a veggie restaurant and know they’ll enjoy it!”.

This “buzzy but very noisy” Hispanic quartet (in Marylebone, Farringdon, Victoria and Canary Wharf) offers a “good range of tapas” and “interesting wines by the glass and the bottle”. They still have plenty of admirers as a “reliable” option, even if they “no longer provide the novelty or the high standards they once did”.

2022 Review: This large, smart and impressive venue from D&D London, on the fifth floor of the new Trinity Leeds shopping centre, is enclosed in floor-to-ceiling windows with great views over the city, oak and marble interiors and an open kitchen. The cooking is generally considered “good” or better, with a decent set menu as well as more lavish à la carte and tasting menu options.

“The Dead Hippy burger is a dirty, dirty legend” – the best-named burger on British menus and “if not the easiest burger to eat definitely the tastiest” (especially when chased down by a boozy “hard shake”) – at the “cool” chain founded 15 years ago by Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis. The expansion of recent years seems to have ground to a halt with the closure of branches in Boxpark Croydon and Clapham Old Town, with a new strategy based around boosting sales via a national network of delivery kitchens launched in 2023. Top Tip – “root beer is available if you want a bit of real Americana!”

2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

2021 Review: In its 25th year, this nineties survivor near the Corn Exchange has weathered various ups-and-downs over the years, and remains one of the town’s better-known locations. The odd sceptic feels it’s “OK, but nothing special” nowadays, but fans declare it “back on form with a new menu that really hits the spot”.