The best restaurants in Leeds: the ultimate guide to dining out in the city

From Michelin star tasting menus to laid-back Basque cuisine, Mieke Smith rounds up the best Leeds’ dining scene has to offer
Mieke Smith24 August 2017

Since securing West Yorkshire’s second Michelin star in 2015, Leeds’ restaurant scene has seriously upped its game.

Whether serving up maverick plates, rooftop gastronomy, Chinese dishes with a Northern twist or a Masterchef-worthy Sunday banquet, the city’s new openings have raised the bar, spoiling food lovers with a diverse array of next level culinary experiences.

If you find yourself in the North, we recommend trying as many of these must-book restaurants as possible.

Man Behind The Curtain

Once boasting Europe’s longest waiting list, the weird and wonderful world of Michael O’Hare’s Michelin-starred joint has captivated Leeds since opening its doors in 2014.

Hidden above Flannels’ clothes shop in the North Quarter, navigating your way to your table through clothes rails and department store lifts initially feels more 'Debenhams canteen' than haute cuisine. Those fears are short-lived as the lift doors open and you’re hit by an indie rock soundtrack blasting through an industrial penthouse-turned-gallery. Scrawled spray paint and abstract art adorn the walls, and you soon start to feel how fitting this setting is for the magic hinted at by the restaurant’s Wizard of Oz-inspired name.

Avant-garde style extends to the venue’s new and refined 'Permanent Collection' tasting menu. Each dish is as quirkily unique as the next, infusing and transcending culinary styles - from foie gras doughnuts to hot and sour sea urchin, coconut roasted langoustine in Thai sauce to comte and beaufort croquette with black truffle. Every course is presented with an artsy, gothic flourish - ceramic trees offering sweet breads, contorted spoons carrying hand-massaged octopus and the infamous Jackson Pollock-esque black cod emancipation.

Staff here are as painfully cool as they are clued up on wine pairings and the intricate compositions of each dish, expertly guiding you through an abstract culinary wonderland.

Top Floor Flannels, 68-78 Vicar Lane, Leeds LS1 7JH, themanbehindthecurtain.co.uk

Shears Yard

Set in a converted 19th century rope factory, the atmospheric, filament bulb-lit Shears Yard is a local favourite for relaxed fine dining.

Focusing on honest British cuisine, the award-winning menus are determined by seasonality and local produce, uniting classic and more unusual flavour combinations. Beautifully presented, each dish pays great attention to detail with simple finishing touches. A word of warning, though: it’s easy to fill up on the moreish Yorkshire tea butter before your meal has even started.

We strongly recommend ‘A Taste of Shears Yard’ - a five course tasting menu with a wine pairing option. As busy as this popular dining destination gets, you’d be hard pressed to find a friendlier team to talk you through each dish and make your experience that bit more memorable.

The creative drinks menu is built around local ingredients too, and can be enjoyed at your table or, Northern weather permitting, on the outdoor terrace. Foraged fruits and homemade infusions feature in new takes on classics (‘Pisco Disco’, ‘Rose Petal Martini’) palate cleansers (Pear Princess, Basil Grande) and post-dinner nightcaps (Dram-a in Guyana, Whiskey Passion).

11-15 Wharf St, Leeds LS2 7EH, shearsyard.com

Pintura

Bucking the city’s trend for British cuisine is chef Greg Lewis, bringing a taste of San Sebastiàn to Leeds with his authentic Basque kitchen.

Drawing inspiration from San Sebastiàn's “wonderful labyrinth of bar-lined, Old town streets”, the menu offers tapas and bite-sized ‘Pintxo’ such as smoked cheese croquettes, Seville orange salad, boquerones and a selection of delicious traditional cheeses and in-house cured meats.

Dedicated to a true Spanish dining experience, Pintura sources its ingredients from premium local Spanish supplier Grey’s Fine Foods and has a cellar full of Spanish wines to compliment each dish.

Almost upstaging the restaurant itself is Pintura’s downstairs drinks den. Arguably Leeds’ best gin joint, this stylish bar houses over 100 global variations on mother’s ruin to offer fresh takes on Basque-inspired cocktails.

1 Trinity St, Leeds LS1 6AP, pinturakitchen.co.uk

Crafthouse

Panoramic views complement fine dining at this rooftop oasis, high up on the fifth floor of Leeds’ bustling Trinity centre.

Sophisticated surroundings literally heighten an award-winning menu - the open kitchen, city skylines and an interior that mixes dark oak, marble, traditional looms, fabric reams and commissioned artwork; all invoking Leeds’ rich cultural heritage.

Crafthouse is a meat lover’s heaven, with executive Chef Lee even hunting his own game and preparing meat and fish in Crafthouse’s Josper Oven - a mean chargrilling machine cooking locally-sourced products at a 480 degree heat.

The pinnacle of Leeds rooftop dining, we recommend a summer booking to make the most of the charming outdoor terrace.

Trinity Leeds, 70 Boar Ln, Leeds LS1 6HW, crafthouse-restaurant.com

Tattu

Having opened its doors only a month ago, this innovative Chinese restaurant has rapidly gained an impressive reputation thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations spreading like wildfire.

Masterminded by chef Clifton Muil, Tattu delivers modern Chinese cuisine by fusing traditional Asian ingredients with local Yorkshire produce. Its launch menu notably featured playful dishes including Yorkshire beef puff dim sum, Whitby-sourced crab for Kimchi crab cakes and Yorkshire pork rib-eye steak with apple teriyaki sauce made using local apple cider.

These exciting reinterpretations of classic Chinese dishes are enjoyed in a decadent atmosphere of elegant Bardiglio marble, Oriental artwork and opulent purple lighting. In a nod to its Leeds heritage, the restaurant’s center piece is a giant cherry blossom tree adorned with Yorkshire rose-inspired white petals.

Minerva, 29 East Parade, Leeds LS1 5PS, tattu.co.uk/leeds

Home

One to watch on the Leeds dining scene, Home is a new joint venture by Masterchef 2016 finalist Elizabeth Cottam and Mark Owens, former head chef of Ilkely’s Michelin-starred The Box Tree.

Having only just opened this month, Home promises to bring something completely new to the world of fine dining; serving three, five and ten course tasting menus of “unashamedly British” dishes that will change month on month.

There’s also a decadent Sunday lunch menu, paying homage to the two chefs’ favourite meal of the week. And for those looking to pull out all the stops, you can get the VIP treatment with an exclusive chef’s table experience led by Elizabeth and Mark.

16/17 Kirkgate, Leeds LS1 6BY, homeleeds.co.u

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