OUT AND ABOUT | BELGRAVE STREET FEAST PT. V

After my holiday I was left feeling a bit out of the loop on the food front in Leeds. Belgrave Street Feast came to the rescue however, returning last Saturday for yet another fabulous monthly installment celebrating independent street food vendors, breweries, local artists and music.

Having eaten from the majority of the traders there were a few new showcasing this month, one of which I was really looking forward to try (to see the full lineup click here).

I had been eyeing up the food from Discovery Bay. These guys are better known for their restaurant serving up traditional Caribbean food in their restaurant in Huddersfield. With their business leading to ventures all over the place, they also embark on setting up camp as a street food business.

Venturing over to their stall we could feel the love spilling its way through the crowd. Head chef Barrington Douglas smile was radiating across the room. Lots of friendly talk and interest led to some sampling of the food.

On offer were two different wraps. Tortillas topped with crunchy white cabbage and onion and then either a portion of their Jamaican Jerk Chicken or their Caribbean Sweet Pumpkin Curry.

I was with a vegetarian friend and we both wanted to share one of their wraps. I wanted to try a bit of jerk chicken on the side so asked if this was possible. A little bit of confusion occurred and we ended up with both curries served as one wrap. They saw the horror on my friends face and quickly made up a fresh vegetarian wrap without batting an eyelid. Not letting us pay any more than £5 we ended up with both wraps to eat. 

For me these guys epitomise what street food is all about. It doesn't necessarily translate to money and making dolla but it's all about making sure everyone is happy, the vibe is right and people understand you and your food.

We both thoroughly enjoyed our wraps and went crazy with the HOT sauce they had, alarmingly red in its colour, which had a great chilli hit.

The jerk chicken was moist and flavourful, blackened from the sweet rub and skillet pan, just how it should be. The sweet pumpkin curry was tangy, spicy and robust in its seasoning. Both were extremely satisfying and a nice little change to the usual street food fair on offer.

Moving on to round #2 we went for a bao from one of the Belgrave's in-house vendors Fu Schnikens. These are Taiwanese street food called Guo Bao consisting of steamed dumplings which are usually filled with pork belly.

In the last five months that they have been on offer I have never managed to get round to ordering one to myself (I don't even know why myself?). Having a tried a nibble here and there, I had been hankering for one of their portabello glazed mushroom bao's for a while.

At the last month's street feast they had a salmon special on and I was hoping it would be back on this time. Unfortunately not! They did still however have their three regular bao's on which were more than enough to please me.

We ordered two of the Portabello Mushroom Bao's for £6. I think this is quite a steep price personally but we were still willing to pay it.

The bao's came topped with pickled mooli, cashew nuts, sesame seeds and hoisin sauce. The mushrooms were firm, beefy and there was no need for meat here. Chomping into these little fluffy dumplings we were very happy with the taste indeed. Lots of rich Asian flavours soaring through and the firm texture of the mushroom made it a substantial light bite to eat.

Needing a little bit of a break, we settled up for a pint of the Ilkley Brewery Tour de France ale which was on cask at the bar. Marie Jaune is the name, a blonde biere at 4.5% brewed with French hops and French yeast. Designed to commemorate Le Tour and showcase Yorkshire brewing, this is going to be a big hit in bars in the run up to Le Grand Depart taking place in Leeds on July 5th.

Perfect timing if you ask me. By this point Ginger's Comfort Emporium were back up and running after selling out as we had arrived. Usually served from an ice cream van (in the picture below), they serve ice cream for grown ups in brioche buns and several other wonderful desserts.

With a more simple set up at the street feast, only ice cream was on offer but that did not translate to being a bad thing.

We shared a scoop of their Plum, Gin and Juniper ice cream (£.2.50) which was served in a little pot with a waffle ice cream cone placed on top. I loved their way of serving it. Simple yet effective and made for a good sharing portion without having to swap a load of saliva!

With two mini spoons we stuck in. Super creamy and subltely sweet. The flavours of the plum came through and the gin and juniper gave it a good distant flavour to anything I have ever tasted in an ice cream before. The cone was also great... a proper ice cream cone! Waffle style and none of this cardboard wafer business.

Feeling very satisfied and well-fed we spent a few hours just lapping up the atmosphere inside the Belgrave. The rain was on the verge of torrential outside and was not giving any signs of letting up. With a slice of Dough Boys Pizza, their basic Silvio (£2 a slice), we prepped for the rain and soggily squelched our way home.

The next street feast is on Saturday 14th June at the Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen in Leeds. It's going to be a Brazilian themed special with lots of street food traders speciailising in South and Latin American food, as well as a few extra surprises and the chance to watch the Brazil football match on the big screen upstairs.

See you there?

OUT AND ABOUT | KRAKOW #2

On to round #2 of my favourite foodie finds in Krakow. 

4. Ambasada Śledzia

As a student in Krakow, I used to hang out here pretty much every evening... It was the watering hole for my friends. At the time, it was open 24/7 and we'd start the night here and then somehow end up returning on the way home to sober up with their hearty grub.

Ambasada Śledzia translates to 'The Herring Embassy' as it is situated just across the road from the American Embassy in Krakow (look for ul. Stolarska). Noise was always an issue and the bouncers would tell us to "spokój" or we would get kicked out.

Whilst this bar is still open, it now shuts at 12. There is however a new offshoot bar which has opened just a bit further in a courtyard down the road which is open til the very early hours.

With a series of vodka and herring bars popping up all over the city, Ambasada Sledzia is still #1 for me! A small unpasteurised beer (300ml) or a large shot of vodka will set you back 4zl a pop (that's 80p!).

Raw pickled herrings are a Polish delicacy and can be purchased in all manners and forms. Popular choices are herrings in sour cream, beetroot, curry and oil and are just 8zl each (£1.60). They serve other food round the clock too, including some traditional Polish snacks and light tapas dishes.

On to the food! The beast that got us going was this devil below. The Potato Pie with Spinach (10zl - £2). A cheesy mass of potatoes and spinach. So simple but an almighty dish in all its glory.

The garlic spinach was pungent - you can smell this dish when it's being made in the kitchen - but that's just the sort of thing that gets me pretty damn excited. This may just be a rather haphazard take on the potato dauphinoise, but it is surely comforting and will leave you wanting more.

5. Horai

This was another old favourite of mine. I absolutely love Thai food and this is the one place that did it very well in Krakow.

With an extremely over-imposing menu (at least ten pages!) you might initially be put off. If it was any other restaurant I would. How can one restaurant make good dishes for several Asian styles of cuisine? I've never ventured outside of their Thai menu, but I can tell you now that their Thai food was and still is very good.

Situated in a rather derelict square in Kazimierz, Horai is found on Plac Wolnica. The staff are attentive and the service is very good - I was also remembered by the same waiter on my return this time round! 

On this occasion I opted for the Chicken in Black Pepper Sauce (22zl - £4.40). The chicken was moist and the sauce was a good consistency - it looked and tasted fresh - no gloopy sauce here. Tossed between al dente onions and peppers with a garnish of coriander this peppery dish was a pleasure to eat and at a very good price too.

My counterpart ordered the Pad Thai with Tofu (23zl - £4.60). This came as a highly piled portion of fried egg noodles laced with vegetables. A good strong flavour and we loved the addition of the crispy onions as well as peanuts to lace the dish.

As a side we shared a portion of Thai Fried Vegetables (19zl - £3.80). This is actually a main dish in itself but I couldn't resist it. I love vegetables when cooked in a Thai style and this dish contained an interesting combination of ingredients, including seaweed and pineapple.

6.  Antler Poutine&Burger

This is a new joint in Krakow that has opened in the last year. I had seen pictures and heard good stories about it which made it high up on my to-do list of places to check out this time round.

A very small bar indeed situated on ul. Gołębia just off of the Main Square. There are stools and raised shelves to eat at around the corners of the room. It could perhaps seat no more than six people at a time.

We went twice in one day...! The first stop was to get our hands on some Poutine. I had never tried this dish before but had heard about it a few years back from a friend who studied in Canada.

Fat chips, mature cheddar and lashings of fresh gravy where the style in this place and we ordered a large pot (9zl - £1.80) to share. The chips did not seem overly fresh, but they had a bizarrely nice soggy yet crisp consistency to them. More stodge, more comfort food and good lethargic vibes all round.

We returned later that evening. My veggie cohort is always on the look out for interesting and exciting vegetarian fare. Earlier that day we had spotted a Vegetarian Burger (the only one on the menu) which we then could not stop thinking about for the rest of the day...

For all you cheese lovers out there I hope you are ready for this.

In comes the game changer of all vegetarian burgers! This burger was 16zl (£3.20) and contained a WHOLE mini grilled Camembert of oozing goodness. The burger was cooked fresh before us. A lightly toasted brioche bun, topped with a spread of mayonnaise, lettuce, rocket, a mini Camembert, sun dried tomatoes and lashings of pesto. 

This was rather exciting to eat and all the different ingredients worked in harmony. We were not even back from Krakow for a week before an attempt to recreate this at home took place.

Their other burgers also looked very good. From your basic beef burger to your all singing all dancing crazy poutine filled burger, they certainly had an interesting selection. I also liked the fact that you could choose how you wanted your meat cooked and their emphasis on sourcing locally their ingredients where possible. 

7. Everything else...

Lody! Aka ice cream. Fresh ice cream is served from little vendors down most of the side streets leading off of the Main Square. At 2-3zl (40-60p) a scoop you'd be silly not to get some.

We were also snapping away at all the street art we stumbled across. If you take a wonder down through Kazimierz or even further along to Podgorze you will find tonnes of the stuff. These were my favourite pieces.

Cars! I love old cars and there are plenty of them about in Krakow. This Ford Capri racer got a good perving on by my camera.

Whenever you go to Krakow, there is ALWAYS something going on in the Main Square. It doesn't matter whether it is a public holiday (it was Labour Day whilst we were there) or whether it is the annual pierogi festival - you will always have some form of entertainment to watch. For us it was this lovely military brass band and an opera singer driving in on the back of what we could only describe as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

...and to finish it off... the beer!

This picture was taken in a little hidden den in an underground bar with mezzanine hideouts. I would tell you where it is but it's my favourite hiding place.

Why haven't you booked your ticket yet?

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 | THE FLYING DUCK

When visiting Ilkley last week to review La Casita (see my post here), fellow blogger Diane and I (yes we come as a pair!) were an hour early so we thought we'd have a little wander and find a nice watering hole for a pre-dinner drink.

Not having to walk far (although to note we did walk further than the nearest pub which was the local Wetherspoons) we stumbled across this charming little pub on the side of the main road called The Flying Duck.

A Wharfedale Brewery pub, this is the real deal, a proper Yorkshire Dales retreat in an idyllic small town setting. With a stone flagged floor, wooden beamed ceilings and a grand fireplace this is somewhere you can see cosying up to in the Winter months.

 It was quite quiet when we walked in and the bar staff were very polite and patient whilst I worked my way up and down the blackboard looking at the ales on offer. Their range was impressive and varied and everything seemed extremely reasonable in price and was a welcome change from some of the drinks prices in Leeds right now!

I had a few tasters to see what I fancied but I settled for a pint of the Wharfedale Blonde (3.9% ABV) at £2.85. A blonde zesty ale that had a bit of zing but also a pleasing bitter finish to it. It was nice and light but also refreshing so I knew it wasn't going to spoil m'tea!

What's even better is that my beer had been brewed just in the barn situated at the back of the pub. With Wharfedale Brewery having their own brewing facilities on sight. There is a raised decking area outside which joins the pub to the brewery and you can peer in through the huge windows to have a look inside (they also do tours which you can book on to for £10).

Upstairs are also two joined rooms and also another bar. There's plenty of seating and well-worn chesterfields. The whole place just has such a lovely charm and character to it.

I didn't get a chance to have a look at the food on offer but I would very much like to return to give it a try on another occasion. If you are in Ilkley I would recommend popping into this lovely unpretentious pub to see its charm for yourself!