Like many people, I get trapped with a handful of restaurants that I go to. I make an effort to discover new places, but I do tend to repeat a few places, i.e. Sundays are buffet days, the same old thai, indian or chinese. Delicious, but seriously lacking in creativity. As for italian, we had been going to the same old restaurant for years now – I never try anywhere new because I love it, but it was seriously time for a change. I go past Viva in my bus out of town, but never stepped in before. After changing our minds about 10 times whilst heading into town, we ended up in Viva at last.

.

.

The gregarious owner greeted us at the door and shook both our hands in welcome – a big change, I don’t actually remember the last time I’ve been greeted by the owner of a restaurant. All the staff spoke italian inside the cozy restaurant, peppered with some choice English phrases like oki doki. I found this very charming . We were in time for the Early bird deal (up to 7.30pm on weekdays) , which came with any pizza or pasta, choice of starters and desserts. For just over £10, this was an absolute bargain.

.

For some reason bacon mistook this for the starter we actually ordered. No idea why!

.

We both went for the deep fried brie. Coated with breadcrumbs, deep fried and drizzled with a balsamic sauce, this was heavenly. It did leave me quite full, but the melty cheese contrasted beautifully with the drizzle of sauce and the salad garnish.

.

Bacon had the double pepperoni pizza. Unfortunately it was only sparsely populated with pepperoni. Bacon was not entirely impressed. Everything else tasted ok -lovely base, thick with cheese; just not enough pepperoni (I counted 8 slices) to be classified as a double pepperoni pizza.

.

I had the chicken and spinach calzone. This was better than the pizza, filled with oozing cheese, lovely tomato concasse and enough spinach & chicken in the calzone. Yumms. We could not finish either the calzone nor the pizza, but they were more than happy to wrap it up for us to take away.

.

However, there is ALWAYS space for desserts! I had the tiramisu, which was seriously one of the best tiramisu I’ve ever had. I raved about Jamie Olivers’ tiramisu, but it doesn’t compare to this. Well-soaked sponge contrasts beautifully with just the right amount of mascarpone. Mm Mm good.

.

Bacon had the creme brulee, which was lovely as well. We very rarely order the creme brulee, but this was so perfectly faultless. Creamy and sweet, topped with a crunchy layer of burnt sugar.

.

Even the coffees have that personal touch. Call me a pushover, but a little latte art pleases me to no end

.

Cheap, cheerful, friendly and yummy, I guess Viva will be finding its way to our growing handful of go-to restauraunts:)

.

Viva Ristorante
9 Bridge End Leeds,
West Yorkshire LS1 7HG
Tel: 0113 242 0185

---
You might also be interested in these :

• Jamie Oliver’s Italian – Brighton
• Jamie Oliver’s italian
• Dino’s Downtown Ristorante
• Roast rack of lamb & trimmings
• hidden treasures of Kasa Rosa

“I’d love to live in a city with a Red Bus tour. It shows that there is enough life going about in the city to attract tourists, and it demonstrates a city savvy enough to enrich the lives of its residents whilst preserving its heritage and culture” – my words to bacon a long, long time ago…

C’mon, even Great Yarmouth & Llandudno have one. That is definately reason enough for Leeds to have one, no?

.

However, it was with much suprise when I saw the ubiquitious open-top red bus go past me on their trial run late in May. I thought it was a bus from York that was lost in Leeds. However, further investigations shows that Leeds had indeed received its very own open-top red bus tour! Oh my!!! Its only on during the summer months of June-August, but I was chuffed. There is nothing like being a tourist in the city you live in to appreciate the heritage of the place. I kept making excuses though – I can’t justify spending £7.50 going on a bus around the city that I go past every day – I’ve been to the Leeds City Museum, the Royal Armouries, the Town Hall. The bus even goes past my work place.

However, on a typically grey & rainy Saturday morning last weekend, I saw Leeds through the eyes of a tourist. Yep, I went on the bus. Leeds City Tours were offering free rides for residents on the bus, and I have no excuse not do go on it. A merry gathering of @Leedsgrub @gazpachodragon @BottegaMilanese and some others from the twitterland made this into an informal mini-tweetup on the rooftop of the bus.

.

Katie & Bacon next to the big red bus

I’ve never really been given much leeway of where to live in the UK, with bacon semi-coercing me to this corner of his comfort zone. To be honest, I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Leeds, there is so much potential, Leeds could be so much more. The fact that I love big-smog annoymous cities also did not do much good to the lovely gruff-yet-friendly northern city character of Leeds. The tour definately opened my eyes to the rich heritage that is Leeds. It was a lovely tour around Leeds, taking about an hour. AN HOUR?!? Yes, it can take a full hour to go around Leeds by stopping and waiting at various stops and going really slowly. I really didn’t mind though, it most definately did not feel like a full hour.

.

Katie having a whale of a time

.

Going past the old Tetley’s Brewery. Time is running out for this Yorkshire institution – the damned Carlsberg are closing down Tetley’s Brewery and moving Tetley’s operations to Wolverhampton. Like seriously. WHAT??! This most definately signifies the end of an era. I love Tetley’s – and incidentally, bacon’s maternal grandfather used to work for Tetley’s. Yep. Grandfather-in-law used to be an ale taster for Tetley’s. They send him all over the country to maintain the quality of the Tetley’s served in pubs. He drinks so much that he never drinks at home. I bet Skipps would’ve love to have that job .

.

Weaving another tale, just to show you how ‘diverse’ bacon’s maternal family is, there is an old family tale that prohibits the family from ever shopping from Marks & Spencer’s . According to Grandma Bacon, many many moons ago, her grandfather had a stall in the Leeds Market in Kirkgate. Apparently Mr Marks opened a stall next to them, and his everything for a penny philosophy proved so damaging to the Bacons’ business that they went bust. They’ve held a grudge until now, and every generation of bacons were told this story and forbidden to buy anything from the giant that is now Marks & Spencer’s This lasted until bacon’s mom started working for Marks & Spencer, and the 20% staff discount proved too irresistable . So there, a little personal history for you:).

.

Moving on, we went past the Time Ball, which used to house the famous clock-makers, John Dyson & Sons. This used to be where everyone in Leeds sets their clock to as it was synchronized to the time ball in Greenwich. Today it is part of the Marriot Leeds building, and it now houses an Indian restaurant.

.

Briggate – the main shopping drag in Leeds. Unfortunately half of it is under renovation/expansion, and the left side of the road looks just a little fugly. I hate it when they call it the ‘Knightsbridge of the North’. Ugh and double Ugh.

.

The River Aire. I love all bodies of water. Riverside real estate seemed to be perpetually under development as developers cottoned on to the great ‘River Living’.

.

The ‘Rusty building’. This was part of the halls of residence for the massive number of students here in Leeds, and this building was designed to rust so there will be no need to paint it. Interesting.

.

Leeds Civic hall

What was fabulous about this trip is that it includes a free ticket for the River Cruise. Unfortunately, the river cruise takes way too long for us impatient Leeds residents, but if you have the time and am visiting Leeds for the first time, I would highly recommend the tour. I took this whilst I was having lunch at the Calls Landing.

.

And this was what I had for lunch – stew of Italian sausages & white bean with cheese for only £5, inclusive of crusty bread. Yums.

.

All in all, a tres excellent day out in Leeds. Bacon validated most of the commentary as true and accurate, and even learnt a thing or two about this city that he loves so much. They made sure to mention all the important historical facts, for example, do you know the first ever moving picture was filmed right here in Leeds? Or that the Monopoly factory was right here in Leeds? Or that Grand Thef Auto was designed right here in Leeds? Hah!

.

Alex & Bacon well happy with the tour

.

There is room for improvement though. I would love to see the river cruise going all the way to Thwaite Mills, and the bus going all the way to Kirkstall Abbey, Chapel Allerton and Tropical World. Leeds is not only all about the compact city centre, it is much more than that..that little extra oomph. The tour was well worth the price of £7.50, especially if you took advantage of the river cruise. And I am not comparing this to the red bus tour anywhere else on earth and the fact that it’s cheaper. Leeds stand on its own legs, and £7.50 was a bargin for this very entertaining and informative tour.

---
You might also be interested in these :

• It’s Christmas!!
• sheep in the city
• World’s largest box of chocolates
• Giveaways and more!!!!
• Awesome Tour of Sydney-progress so far…

As you probably figured by now, I love most stuff vintage-y, cute-sy, yumm-y and retro-y. Even baker-y. Yeah, all good things end with a Y. I’ve done a few cupcake rounds, and have grand plans of spending a day trawling cupcakeries in NYC later this year. So far, I’ve loved the Hummingbird as their cakes are not sweet, which is then nicely tampered by the super sugary icing. Bacon don’t like it as much – he thinks it slightly weird that the cakes demonstrate a total lack of sugar whilst the icing is sickly sweet. I don’t mind it as I can then scrape off most of the icing so I end up with a suitably sweet cupcake. And of course, the fact that their recipes always turn out well and tastes like what they serve in-store. BUT the Hummingbird Bakery is not the topic of my post today – the Leeds-born Sunshine Bakery is.

Most definately a welcome addition to Leeds, I had yet to find something quite like this in the Leeds area…or anywhere near. We popped in on our way to Mother’s Day lunch – very lucky as they are not usually open on Sundays- to pick up some cupcakes. I actually checked their twitter feed before I left to see if they’re open, and as luck would have it, off the back of Katie’s lovely review of their cakes, they were offering a free cupcake to anyone who said they love leedsgrub! How nice is that ??

It was very lovely inside the shop, a certain modern vintage feel to it, from the proper coffee machines to china cups. We chatted about twitter abit (i follow them) , and how more businessess should embrace it ect..I do love speaking to businessess on twitter, it’s very bizzare but lovely! It’s even more wonderful when you see the person behind the twitter account….and especially for a ‘small but perfectly formed’ local bakery like this which I would have otherwise not found out about if not for the fact it had been tweeted around by local tweeps.

More on the ‘small but perfectly formed’ part – they are looking into expanding back and front, with tables planned on the sidewalk and opening up of a secret garden up back now that spring is FINALLY upon us. Wow. I must return when that happens – I do love a good cuppa with cake in the garden! At the moment there are tables inside for you to have your cake, and if the mother in law hadn’t been waiting for us at the pub we would had probably sat down for a cuppa and continue chatting with the friendly cupcake maker behind the counter (which I had very rudely not got his name!!). So we had ours to go for after lunch, packed in a sturdy specially-made-for-cupcakes 4 hole box.

We went away with two double chocolate, one mango & passionfruit and one Eton Mess cupcake. The one with the white rose is Eton Mess

The Mango & Passionfruit is the one with choc bits on white frosting

And of course, the double chocolate

The Mango & Passionfruit was very summery – light, with the right amount of fruitininess. Bacon loved this – and for someone who dislike passionfruit & mango, this is high praise indeed. The MIL gave it her thumbs up as well – her favourite. The Eton Mess was also very, very lovely – a meringue-like frosting with the delicate white rose to top it off….and I love the delicate strawberry flavours that was in this pretty and delicious cupcake. yum yum good.

However, the best of them lot, in my opinion, was the double chocolate. The sponge was light and moist, without losing it’s chocolate gooeyness. The frosting was absolutely DIVINE – I believe it’s very whipped chocolate cream with a glaze of chocolate on top. Chocolate cupcakes tend to get slightly sickly for me with the frosting, however, I could have had 10 more of these. Mm mm good.

See how moist the sponge is? Ohmigod…

The verdict? Bacon gave it his double thumbs up, even going as far to say that this is the best cupcake he had had so far. He’s plotting to send me to one of the cupcake classes that they regularly run . As for me, I absolutely love how everything is so light and delicate, with the right amout of sugar and moistness.

The Sunshine Bakery
182 Harrogate Road
Chapel Allerton
Leeds LS7 4NZ

---
You might also be interested in these :

• Black bottom cupcakes
• A-camping we go woo woo!!!
• sun, please shine and take me away
• Awesome America – New York Cake Wars
• The Hummingbird Bakery

*crossposted from notabrownbag - I have delayed posting this here due to having a sad week last week . It DOES close Monday, so if you’re interested, get clicking NOW!

.

In conjunction with the fabulous girls from Culture Vultures ; THE local cultural & art website right here in Leeds, UK ; I am running a bento competition!!! Unfortunately it is only available for entry by denziens living and working in Leeds – but the gifts are definately fabulous as they’re handpicked by me!

The selected winner will be getting a specially made bento from my kitchen (yes, made from scratch!) in an adorable bento box that they get to keep and treasure. I have hand-picked a selection of envy-inducing ‘bento-gear’ for the winner to make their own bento lunches, as well as a how-to handbook on making superbly kawaii bento lunches and being the envy of all your colleagues!

It is my hope that this will start a lunch-volution, and the end of the sloppy sandwich on dry, stale bread that I see so many people stuff their mouths with during lunch time. To be able to go into a working lunch and not served a selection of sandwiches with unidentifiable fillings would be absolutely amazing. Having lived in blue-skies California, winters here in the north gets me depressed – but the thought of opening up a box of sunshine halfway through the work day brightens up my day to no end. Hey, maybe if everyone packs a bento, there will be no crime, peace on earth….and all that jazz…:D

…..my mock-interview, which was posted on their website:

What is a bento box?
“Portion control meets nutritionally complete work of art”.
Bento box is basically a box that you put your food in. If you’ve ever been to a Japanese restaurant, you would be familiar with the plastic mock-lacquer box with compartments that your dinner arrived in. In my opinion (and many others) the hinomaru is the classic bento, freshly cooked white short grained rice with an umeboshi (red pickled plum) in the centre – representing the Japanese flag.

In Japan, bentos are as widely available as Mcdonalds for the lunch-on-the-run, from vending machines to convenience stores (kombini) and railway stations. The credit-crunched version of assembling lunch at home and bringing it with you to eat at work/school has long been part and parcel of the Japanese culture – just as a brownbagged sandwich is to the Western culture.

However, the style of bento that is gaining somewhat of a cult status worldwide are the bentos made for children. This is instantly striking, from the rice molded into adorable shapes like rabbits and penguins. Go a step further and you’ll find great charaben/kyraben (character bento) practitioners recreating whole scenes of computer games into boxes of edible goodness – from a scene out of Mario to Professor Layton! There are competitions in Japan where accomplished charaben artists churn out their most adorably cute creations; from anime characters made out of ham to a whole zoo and Hello Kitty disguised as a penguin!

What do you put in it? Does it have to be Japanese food?
Two words; ANYTHING GOES! There are no hard and fast rules on this – I ensure I incorporate all food groups packed tightly in a box . Traditional bentos usually follow the rule of 4 parts starch, 1 parts fruit/veg and 2 part protein – but this is by no means a be all and end all. I generally try to lower my carbs intake whilst upping my fruit/veg intake, making it more 1:1:1. A bento for me has to tickle my tastebuds and fill me up enough so I do not succumb to a packet of crisps or a bar of chocolate. Fabulous bento practitioner-turned-author advises JUST NO JUNK, whilst another accomplished bento practitioner advises that nothing raw should be packed, and always ensure you use an icepack in summer….nobody wants a spoiled lunch!

Japanese food definitely helps, especially those that are designed to be eaten at room temperature, i.e. rice balls. Again, no hard and fast rules, I have previously packed hummus & crudites. Olives works well, so does cherry tomatoes and mini cheeses (think babybel) Some of the more refined bentoists have turned plain cheese and ham sandwiches into magnificent work of art. The key is to keep each individual item small, that way you are able to add a wider variety of foodstuff.

Is it for one greedy person or for two to share?
That’s the beauty with bentos – and the addiction that many bento makers face with purchasing as many bento boxes as they can possibly find! The variety of shapes and sizes of bento boxes available is astounding, from plain flat plastic containers (i.e. tupperware style) to elaborate cedarwoor crafted ovals and Hello Kitty shaped plastic boxes. Personally, my burger-shaped bento box gets the most laughter when I reveal it at lunchtime .There are boxes out there designed for all appetites, from tiny 350ml containers for toddlers or a snack to giant picnic boxes (kouraku) catering for a family picnic.

The rule of thumb is bento lunches are generally made for one – I keep my boxes tiny (below 600ml volume) to keep a strict tab on the portion size, but the husband gets a man-sized non-cute 1 litre box. Another note; bento boxes comes in all shape and sizes, but generally the cute ones are on the small side, catering to children and adolescent girls!

If you were making a bento box of beauty for your most beloved what key ingredients would you include and why?
Lots and lots of colours! There is nothing more stunning than opening up a box at lunchtime and having a riot of colours exploding from a deceptively simple box. Healthy bento euthusiasts live by the colour rule; Red, Green, Yellow and Orange. This means alot of fruit and vegetables…….but rest assured, I am a self-confessed carnivore, so you won’t be stuck with a vegan lunchbox – unless you want to!

To enter, please click here!

---
You might also be interested in these :

• Livin’ it up in the Land down Under
• Simple roast beef soba salad (bento too!)
• The Angry Bird Bento – the yellow one
• Sorry Skipps
• Going home

So deep you can’t even see my snow angel!!

.

Can’t really walk without wellies anymore..

.

bacon pretending to be a snowman..

.

Bacon shovelling our way into the house

.

The farm enveloped by super deep snow

---
You might also be interested in these :

• Let is snow, let it snow!!
• And we’re back
• failed adulthood
• bienvenue au bon weekend!
• And the hunt goes on

We’re usually away for Christmas, so it was refreshing this year that we decided to stay home. This meant that the cat have the pleasure of our company (hehe), I was able to have an actual Christmas dinner on Christmas day, and got actual presents to open up! I got some speakers, a new sewing machine and other assorted knick knacks – Your Shape Wii game for one, chocolates, books ect ect…yay!

.

Not to mention the magnificent snowfall! My first White Christmas – but thinking about it..I have not actually spent that many Christmases in countries that actually snow, so one in five is not too bad! Yep, I made the above on Christmas morning…

.

And bacon made this, which is supposed to be a snow-cat

Unlike alot of people, I do not tend to get stressed out with making Christmas dinner. In fact, I quite enjoy it. It’s really not that difficult as well….and I do love making Christmas dinner with all the trimmings..

.

My beautifully golden brown turkey. Yumm. My secret recipe is to brine it, let it swim in salt water for 24hours ; it makes the turkey wonderfully moist and flavourful. And NEVER follow the cooking time on the packaging. I cooked this for less than 2 hours (4.2kg bird), whilst the packaging reccomended about a 3 hour + cooking time. Of course, ALWAYS check the thickest part of the bird is not bloody before taking it out of the oven. To be honest, my bird could’ve done with only 1 hr & 30 mins, as I let it brown (without the bacon) for about 30 mins at 220deg before wrapping bacon all over the turkey for the remaining time at 180 deg. This browns up the turkey beautifully, whilst the bacon wrapping keeps it wonderfully moist. Lovely.

.

I also made my fave festive red cabbage; with port, red wine vineger, cranberries, orange juice & rind, onions, cinnamon, nutmeg & star anise.

.

And of course, the lovely trimmings – roast potatoes & parsnips, stuffing balls, pigs in blankets, sprouts with chipped bacon and assorted roast vegetables. I do love the trimmings.

.

My piece de resistance – traditional American candied yam. This is the first time ever that I’m making it, but it is a very traditional American dish not to be missed with Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners. Fairly unknown outside of the US, this came from the 3 Thanksgiving that I spent in California. I have not had a full American Thanksgiving dinner for so long….and sorely missed the candied yams. Slightly misleading name – this is not a candy nor is it made out of what the rest of the world call yam. It is sweet potato, cooked in a lovely sauce of butter, maple syrup, spices and orange juice, it is then topped with marshmallows (yes, MARSHMALLOWS!) and baked till the marshmallows starts to toast – about 15 mins.

Serve immediately – the marshmallow crust looks deceptively hard, but its all soft and gooey inside, perfect mixed in with the sauce. I added some crushed walnuts to my sauce, and it tastes absolutely magnificent. Delicious. I like. Suprisingly enough, so did bacon – he had been apprehensive ever since I bought the sweet potato (sweet potato with my Christmas dinner??!! Never!!) . He was won over by this wonderful dish, the marshmallows just melting perfectly into the sauce. Bliss. Definately something that I will be repeating, with bacon’s seal of approval.

The whole spread – with homemade giblet gravy…. yummz.

.

Until next year!!

---
You might also be interested in these :

• So how did you do?
• Winter look 2009
• changes to your favourite blog
• Winter wonderland my @$$
• its Christmas!

Tonight was their christmas special – with 20% discounts throughout the whole store, the place was HEAVING. I couldn’t even buy anything…as I could hardly move to the queue. Sigh. Anyway – as promised, here’s my goodies!

From left-right: leopard print linen scarf, Levis’ 501 cutoffs, set of 3 headbands, two pairs of pseudo Raybans, patchwork dress, purple thighs, LEE 120 years anniversary bag and salt-and-pepper shakers

Sooooo fab! The only glitch is that the cutoffs are way too tiny, and the thighs are definately not my size – I am not very tall, but it’s made to fit girls up to 5ft 3! So I’m going to have to figure out what to do with them – I see a giveaway coming up! I squeezed into the pretty patchwork dress that only came in one size….loved the salt&pepper shaker. Incidentally, I purchased the exact same salt and pepper shaker in Sydney back in 2006 as a gift . The pseudo-Raybans are cute – not something that I would ordinarily purhcase for myself, but I do think its cute. So is the scarf – I so really needed something like this but had just not gotten around to buying one.

Definately very random – but I love it nonetheless!

---
You might also be interested in these :

• Disco in motion
• Consumerism is good…
• I *heart* Aldo
• who’s the dirty old man now?
• 2009 – the year that was

@LadyRach was kind enough to send a me an invite for the press launch of Sesame; Leeds’ premier Urban Farm Deli. If you’ve been reading this blog for a few years, you would know that I had sadly but correctly predicted the demise of a few sushi/noodle places in Leeds…like Nooshi . I have a take-no-prisoners view on badly made sushi and imitation ingreddients, and nooshi was so far off the bat – so it was risky in my view to invite me to the press launch of Sesame! I decided that I would just not write about Sesame if it was as dissapointing as the others .So the fact that you are actually reading this now should give you an idea of things to come in this post.

Located in the haven of blood suckers lawyers in Leeds at St Paul’s Street, Sesame is an unassuming place from the outside. If you are looking for it and get kinda lost, it is not precisely opposite of Starbucks, but fairly close. Nothing showy or loud, high ceillings, airy and light, this is definately my sort of place. Just like one of the delis in Little Italy that I used to frequent in San Francisco…I like.

After saying hi to the lovely LadyRach and handed some champagne complete with pretty ribbons, I headed straight to…..what else, but the counter overflowing with these…

Cate’s Cupcakes are made by the lovely ‘cupcake fairy’ Cate…who suprisingly, is crazy about Tiffany jewelry as well. We had a natter over her delicious cupcakes and Tiffany’s suprisingly expensive enamel cupcakes.

Don’t you just love her cupcake tee!! She’s holding up a platter of her bite-size vanilla cupcakes in pink frosting, which I had a piece (would have just run off with the whole platter if she wasn’t there watching over her cake…very shrewd move indeed) . Very moist buttery sponge topped by the prettiest sparkly pink frosting. Yummz. Bacon even went as far as proclaiming this to be way better than @hummingbbakery’s (sorry, I can’t seem to stop using twitter speak) lovely cupcakes. Hmm. I shall reserve judgement until I try her version of red velvet…

The next person that I gravitated towards was this charming young lad who obliged my request for a photo

And just look at what he’s carrying!! Yay!! Salmon nigiri, New York Roto (smoked salmon, cream cheese & cucumber), California Roto (Whitby crab, avocado & cucumber), tuna maki….this is like my idea of heaven. The only thing I regret is not whipping out my own chopsticks (yes, I travel with chopsticks, so sue me) or the brains to ask for a disposable pair – eating sushi with fingers is a new experience for me.

Okay, now for the taste test. Fish is very fresh, no smelly fishmonger feel….rice has just the right amount of stickiness, and not too much rice to ‘pad it out’. All together very well made sushi – I had like 4 of these salmon nigiri in a space of 5 minutes…they were definately very delicious. I love the Whitby crab in the California roto as well, the sesame (obviously) were lightly toasted, giving it the extra nutty kick that most rotos need. I LIKE!

To be honest, I was relived to find that the sushi passed my taste test. I was dreading for another deluge of immitation wannabe sushi restaurant/store. Too many places sell pseudo sushi; instead of fresh fish, fried chicken & tuna sweetcorn ect are used. I guess it’s to cater to the British palate – I know of too many people who are terrified of raw fish. It’s nice enough, but just don’t try to pass it off as authentic sushi! I love the freshly made COLD rice (had salmon nigiri served on HOT rice before!). And the good folks at sesame are not afraid to flex their creative muscles as well….

No idea what this is called and it’s not on their takeaway menu, but it is smoked salmon and cream cheese rolled in thinly sliced cucumber,held together by a strip of nori. Okay, fine, this is not traditionally sushi, but bacon promptly declared this was his absolute fave. It was definately very delicious, a twist on the New York roto. Love it love it!

This wonderful platter wandered up to me as well – tuna pate atop a slice of cucumber topped with a spiral of mooli and sprig of mint. Definately more canapes than sushi, but this place is definately not proclaiming itself as a traditional Japanese deli – soups, pies, cupcakes, noodles, rice salads…..so they defiantely have earned the creative license to go crazy and create. Again, fabulously presented lovely fresh fish; it contrasts beautifully with the fresh crisp cucumber and sprig of mint & mooli spiral. Just what the doctor ordered. (PS: those were my fingers going in for the kill..hehe)

I let bacon loose with the camera whilst I chatted with the charming Louise who owns Sesame. Bacon naturally gravitated towards the other heartier options on sale – those that were not doing the rounds as canapes.

The seared local beef carpaccio on fresh salad and sushi rice. I absolutely love carpaccio…and this beef carpaccio looks so lovely in pink…can you tell I love undercooked/uncooked food? I feel hungry just looking at this. Wonder how it would taste like with wagyu beef?

Their selection of yummilicious noodles. Large cartons go for £4.90, small cartons start at £3.50. Beef wonton, salmon teriyaki, chargilled chicken, spicy vegetable & spicy chicken are the varieties available. Bacon’s been going on and on about them since we left…I think I might need to make a side trip to the deli to stock up on my way back from work.

i’s Pies, made in Ripon by Anthony. Like everything else in the deli, all fresh local ingredients, no preservatives and all that E-numbered variety stuff found in retail pies.

The collection of takeaway sushi boxes. All freshly made on the day. I can just imagine sitting there all day just picking on all of it…

The lovely LadyRach with Louise, the founder of Sesame.

We left with cute little takeaway bags, filled with discount cards, takeaway menus, a bag of matcha (will be turning that into matcha cupcakes this weekend!) and most importantly, a small sampling of the sushi selection and a pack of the yummiest wasabi peas..

I think my favourite is the California roto – fresh Whitby crabs is just so damned good in a sushi (did I already say that?). The good people of Sesame definately know what to do with their sesame – what lovely nutty flavours!!! (hmm…repeating myself again I think..)

Sigh. Now I have to go back and spend all my money before I go home tonight. Actually, that is not exactly true. Louise have priced the selection very well – and I told her that. Prices are extremely reasonable, with my favourite cream cheese stuffed pepper going for £1.50 a pot. It is about £2 at Tescos. Okay, Tesco vs Sesame….no prizes for guessing the winner. Miso soup goes for £1.50 for a pretty big carton – I would be happy to have one of these for lunch. Or a sushi pack for £4 for lunch – miles better than the hard-as-bricks variety stocked in supermarkets with ‘fake’ raw fish. Sounds too good to be true, there’s gotta be something wrong with Sesame right?

yep

IT IS TOO FAR FOR ME TO WALK THERE FOR LUNCH!!

Sesame Urban Farm Deli
Enterprise House
16 St Paul’s Street
Leeds, LS1 2LE
www.ilovesesame.co.uk

---
You might also be interested in these :

• Tuna Sorboro
• Marmite Chicken
• Chinese New Year :- Yee Sang
• allegedly allergic
• yo-yo sushi

Bacon has been telling me about Ring O’ Bells’ prize winning pies for about 3 years now. We never actually went there together – bacon was under the impression that bookings were sorely needed and it was fairly expensive. It was quite untrue; most places in Leeds are actually more expensive than it, as we were to find out.

No bookings needed, even though it was 7.30pm on a Saturday.Excellent. I am not the type to make reservations; blame it on my can’t be arsed attitute.

We were presented with a mini-loaf of granary bread, complete with a pot of butter and a pot of garlic butter. It was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside…thinking of it is making me droolz…yumss.. Very delish. Love the presentation on the mini wooden chopping board as well. This item is on the menu for £2.95 for some reason; but they served it to us without us ordering anyway.

I chose the steak tartare for a starter that we could share. Yes, steak tartare makes it to one of my eew food list – raw beef??! Rest assured I have not fallen sick before with a steak tartare. Their version is different from the regular minced beef – this is actually well marinaded sirloin cubed into bite size pieces and shaped into a burger patty. It came with thin silvers of what is supposed to be melba toast – this has gotta be the yummiest melba toast that I’ve ever had before. Ever. It goes so well with the fresh and yummilicious steak tartare. Ooolala…suprisingly better than the ones I’ve had in Prague & Paris.

Yum yum to raw beef. Love the marinade, seems to be herbs with a generous dash of worcester sauce.

For mains, I went for the Duo of English Pork – slow cooked belly with roasted filet – complete with sage mash & apple gravy. The sage mash was superb, and the apple gravy had no noticable pieces of apples in it, only a slight tinge. The fillet was well cooked, but not overly cooked like most of the pork fillets I’ve tasted, therefore it remained moist instead of the dry, tough texture it usually adopts.

Just look at the absurd yumminess of the belly pork. It was extremely melt-in-your-mouth tender, topped with the yummiest piece of crispy crackling I have ever tasted..ahh I love crispy pork skin.

Bacon settled for the traditional Steak & Kidney, complete with suet pastry with herbs. It came with a full boat of gravy – I love it when the chef is not stingy with his gravy. The kidney was slightly too strong for me (I don’t usually mind it) but bacon throughly enjoyed it. The suet pastry was very filling – don’t be fooled by the size of the pie, it is very filling!

The inside of the pie is filled to the brim with steak and kidney pieces, leaving very little room for the gravy. Ah…now I understand the logic of a separate gravy boat.

The above comes with portions of steamed vegs and really really yummy hand cut chips. We were so filled at the end of it that we skipped dessert. I know, me, skipping dessert? We didn’t even order two starters! The service was excellent as well – I have an adversion to lazy bar staff, but the staff here were pleasant, helpful and friendly. What a huge change.

An ordinary looking pub, with exordinary good food. For the two of us it came up to just under £40 with beer. Bacon admitted that he might have been earning much, much less when he last visited Ring O bells – the period where going to McDonalds is a treat . They do a bargin price set price three course meals as well for £19, but as I couldn’t even fit a shared dessert in, am glad I didn’t get that.

The Ring O Bells
Hill Top Road
Thornton ,Bradford
West Yorkshire, BD13 3QL

---
You might also be interested in these :

• ring pill
• Drained
• The happily ever after
• hot & sour soup
• Leaving -again

This is how slow I am in posting – my guest have packed up and left about two weeks ago and I am still blogging! Really, it’s not my fault, blame it on the Twilight saga – I have been too busy reading up on all four books of the series AND watching and rewatching the dvd. Lame-o, I know.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, in the beginning of May we had a guest over from Malaysia, contributing to the endless eating out expeditions. We did not only feed (and ply her with drinks!) Mandy, we did some good ole traditional Yorkshire site seeing as well

On one her weekends here, we headed up towards the North Yorkshire Moors. No hiking involved – wind chill factor made it subzero temperatures up at the moors.

It always amuses me to see random signs like the above. It was only later that we realised there were signs before it saying PLEASE, DO NOT and STEP ON.

The whalebones at Whitby overlooking the Whitby Abbey…I love Whitby, one of my most favourite place in the UK. Actually, I love the sea in general so this is not suprising.

Lunch at the famous Magpie Cafe – takeaway of course, can’t be arsed lining up – just look at the queue! Crispy battered cod with a serving of chips – it doesn’t get more british seaside than this. Had to fight with the crazy amount of seagulls though..I don’t remember the last time I want to shoot down a bird. Oh yeah I do, hugeass piegons fly into Leeds Bus Station whilst I wait for my bus on a near-daily basis…all I can think of is yum yum deep fried piegon. How sick am I?

Seas in the UK are slightly different from what I’m used to….toe-curling chills in the North Sea! Probably the only place you’ll see me in jeans for a day out in the seaside. The water was suprisingly hovering around 10degrees, I was expecting much, much colder waters

Ahh. The traditional day-out by the sea, complete with moody grey skies, lighthouses and the promenade.

Whitby abbey from afar – £4 for entrance, we didn’t think it was worth it. Yeah, call me a cheapskate, but I needed to cap my day off with my favourite lemon-top sundae!

---
You might also be interested in these :

• being yorkshire
• Sundays in Leeds
• sheep in the city
• happy yorkshire day!!!!!
• a brief peek into the heart of yorkshire