OUT AND ABOUT | THE WOODS

Last week I was invited to come and try Chapel Allerton's newest venue, The Woods.

Opening earlier this month, the three floor venue hosts a restaurant, bar and stage area for film screenings and live music. With the food being my main area of interest I had a look at the menu before accepting and was intrigued by what was on offer.

The menu is large, which for some can be off putting. However, the Woods specialises in dishes cooked using a wood fired oven, there are plenty of options for wood fired meats, fish and pizzas, with a section dedicated to vegetarian affair. They also serve brunch every weekend and a weekly Sunday lunch.

Arriving at around 7.30pm, the restaurant on the second floor was busy but not full. We got to choose a table and sat down. The waiters were eager to take our orders immediately but we sent them away twice before we even managed to get through the whole menu!

First up is wine. We went for a bottle of the house red, a French wine called Soubremont Domain Merlot Grenache (£12.00). This was served quickly, however it was not poured into our glasses or asked to be tasted but just meekly plonked on the table by the very shy waiter.

The wine was good. Perfect temperature, nice and well... I'm no wine conniseaur. It was certainly quaffable and that's always a good thing.

We set down to ordering our starters and our mains. I went for the Mini Cured Meat Board (£2.90) off the bar snacks/tapas menu whilst my friend ordered the Mozzarella, Tomato with Basil Leaves (£4.50) from the starters menu.

The Mini Cured Meat Board was indeed rather twee! Served on a small wooden platter was one slice of salami, one and a half slices of chorizo and a slice of prosciutto. These were drizzled with oil and a sprinkling of rock salt, but served lonesome with no bread. Considering that tapas is usually based around the concept of sharing, this wasn't exactly ideal. Luckily I was dining with a vegetarian.

The Mozzarella, Tomato with Basil Leaves also took us by surprise. We were expecting something along the lines of a Caprese salad with sliced fresh mozzarella, but what was served was a stack of chopped, skinned tomatoes with hard mozzarella cubes, a single basil leaf and a drizzle of infused oil. It was moulded and stacks on the plate, with a little bit of a collapse on arrival.

On to our mains. We both ordered pizza at the same time as we ordered the starters. We waited a total of fifty five minutes before our mains came and that was a good forty minutes after the starters, with our dirty plates removed just as the mains were served.

Arriving at our table were two 12" wood fired pizzas. I ordered the Smoked Mackerel, Cherry Tomatoes, Roasted Garlic and Basil (£7.90) - I ordered mine without cheese due to a mega cheese fest that had ensued that week. I also genuinely really like and in most cases prefer a pizza without cheese. The base was spot on, light but not soggy. This was a very nice pizza indeed and the interesting toppings were warmly welcomed as I have never had smoked mackerel on a pizza before.

The veggie got excited over the toppings that came on his pizza with Garlic Wild Mushrooms, Thyme, Artichoke, Lemon, Parsley and Pecorino Cheese (£7.90). As with mine, the base was crispy and light with a good crust. The flavours were all there and it made for a hearty feast at a good price.

We also ordered a Seasonal Leaf Salad (£2.50) on the side. This was also unfortunately forgotten and brought to the table after our mains were served.

We finished our mains and went straight to the pudding menu. Obviously we had to try the Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream (£3.50) and we opted to try their Vanilla Cheesecake (£3.50) too.

The puddings were hit and miss. First up was the cheesecake... the texture was rather unpleasant so we quickly left this and moved on to what was a winner! The brownie was warm, fudgey, dense and packed full of walnuts. Served with a scoop of proper vanilla ice cream and a toffee sauce this was very good indeed.

An overall interesting experience at The Woods. Service was not great but it also wasn't terrible. They have only been open a few weeks and as with all new venues and restaurants these are the toughest few to get things right.

I would be interested to return to see how the menu's differ as they change to reflect each season, as well as to see the service progress.

Have you been down to The Woods?

Disclaimer: I was invited to review this restaurant with a complimentary meal for myself and a guest, however all the views within this review are my own honest opinions.

OUT AND ABOUT | PIZZA AT TAPPED BREWING CO. LEEDS

Always on the look out for a bargain eat that is fresh and of good quality, the other night I could not help but be intrigued by the buy one get one free offer on pizza at Tapped Leeds. Out with a friend for a post-work drink it was a temptation we couldn't resist and won us hook, line and sinker.

Whilst Tapped might be better known as the relatively new American-style bar to Leeds serving an extensive selection of craft beers,cask ales and bottles from all over the shop... they also happen to have a corner of their bar designated to a pizza station.

In comes Big Dan's Pizzas! Hand made on site, they use imported Italian ingredients and even use beer brewed on site to add to their pizza dough.

Pizzas come in three sizes at 7", 12" and 18". When I was there the BOGOF offer was only available with the 7" pizzas so with a friend (yes it's Diane!) we thought we'd buddy up. The cheapest 7" pizza is £3.50 and the most expensive was £4.50. We went for 'The Truffle Shuffle' and 'The Hammy One'. The most expensive pizza was used for the BOGOF offer so it came to grand total of £2.25 each.

With lots of competition on the Leeds pizza scene as of late there were high expectations. Two of my favourites of small pizza/slice offerings are Kitschen, which sell mini pizza's at £3 a pop and Dough Boys, with their most expensive slice at around £2.80 (that's if you're not counting the extremely generous half price slice offer they've got going on).

The pizza arrived at the table, it took a good 15 minutes to arrive but we could see it being made by 'Big Dan' in the corner. How can you grumble when a pizza is made from scratch before your eyes?

Splitting both pizza's in half, I first started on the The Truffle Shuffle. The pizza, small and wee as a 7", was loaded with cheese and toppings. Perhaps too many toppings for this little'n as it made the base quite soggy and difficult to take a singular bite from... a singular bite that is without having the whole piece of pizza slop off very attractively on your chin (A very serious fear of mine due to a pizza cheese burn on my chin from my younger years!). The pizza was hot, but luckily not burn-worthy so my chin and I were alright there!

The toppings were a delight and a nice surprise. Good quality and well matched flavours with the buffalo mozzarella white truffle salami, grilled fennel and capers. It had a great bittersweet taste to it and all the flavours came through sharply. I am however a little bit fussy when it came to the cheese, with the cheese being rather clumpy and heavy, making it overall too much for the small pizza.

On to The Hammy One. This was topped with buffalo mozzarella (again, too clumpy and too much for me!), Italian gran cotto ham, mushrooms and garlic. I'm sure this pizza would have tasted a lot better if I hadn't still had the taste of the previous pizza still lingering in my mouth. As with the last pizza, the base on this one was also rather soggy and sloppy from the toppings. The flavours were there, but unfortunately they were no match compared to The Truffle Shuffle.

Overall, for the bargain offer that was available for FRESHLY made pizza one can't complain. I would be interested to try their pizza in a larger size to see if the base held up better. I definitely recommend trying The Truffle Shuffle if you like a good interesting pizza and to hit up their 2-4-1 offer (available every Monday and Tuesday) if you are down that end of town.

Tapped Leeds is obviously not a restaurant and it does not specialise in pizza, however 'Big Dan's Pizza' and their little pizza station in the corner are doing a great job of offering some good in-bar grub which is made to order and uses fresh, quality ingredients.

Have you tried pizza from Tapped Leeds? Or do you have a favourite pizza haunt in Leeds?

OUT AND ABOUT | KITSCHEN

I have been meaning to post about this special little place called Kitschen for a while now and it seems like a good time to post as I have had the honour of whipping up some tasty sweet treats for their lucky punters. 

Photo: Kitschen

Whilst tucked away behind the Corn Exchange and Call Lane, Kitschen, a relatively new street food vendor to the Leeds scene it is certainly worth stumbling upon this new little gem.

Quirky it may be with it's black and white exterior, Kitschen specialises in freshly made pizza slices, dough balls and pulled pork sandwiches (aka SANGA'S!), all made on site using locally sourced products.

Photos: Kitschen

With lovely staff and an upstairs drenched in retro memorabilia (including a whole wall dedicated to Elvis!) and ironing boards as tables it is not hard to lose yourself in this rather 'kitsch' little wonderland.

My bakes have also been going down a right old treat at Kitschen, with favourites like my White Chocolate Rocky Road with caramel popcorn, salted peanuts and fudge, as well as my Chocolate Pretzel Fudge bars!

Kitschen will also be making their debut as a pop up this Friday 28 February, serving up their AMAZING pulled pork sanga's at the Brandon Street Night Market at Canal Mills.

Go down and show some love and support for this great new independent in Leeds.