Food! Food! Food!
Craving food? What lures your taste buds? Sweet? Sour? Spicy? Or you’re just a foodie like us, who just like to eat and experiment with new cuisines...then this blog is for you! Be hungry and prepare your gustatory cell as you are on a read for the student’s selection of some amazing places to get mouth-watering delicacies.
As a Leeds student, you’re in for a culinary trip that you won’t want to end. As you might have seen on our Link to Leeds social media, Yash and I (Ahmed) went on to show two food spots for when you’re on campus; Mr. Su’s noodles and dumplings, and the fabled Bakery 164. If not, here it is 🙂
Bakery 164 is one of the hotspots around the university campus. I’ve been a student at the University of Leeds for 4 years, and so many of my friends kept recommending it to me but I’ve only actually been in my 4th year; and it is fair to say that it is one of the best food decisions I’ve done in a long time.
Once you’re a Leeds student, there are some things that you just need to do, and Bakery 164 is definitely one of the requirements no matter how long your course is. They’re famous for their sandwiches where they make their own bread every night, and their sandwiches fit most dietary requirements you’d have.
However, if you’re more into Chinese street food then Mr. Su’s is the way to go. They’ve got a wide variety of noodles with their toppings and broths, dumplings and rice dishes. There was a similar place available last year that had similar food, however this one is different because it also has got more vegetarian/vegan and halal options, hence fitting more dietary requirements.
If you’re a coffee lover or just love to grab a book and enjoy the ambiance of a café while you indulge yourself in the world of words, then there are several good cafés in the university and around the city. In campus, you’ll find Café Nero at several places in campus, but there’s also some other café’s such as The Edit Room, Café on Campus and Hugo. Apart from campus there are few of my (Yash) cafés around the city such as La Botega, 200 degrees and North star café.
Being from the subcontinent where spices are one of the key ingredients for the preparation of any food item, it was not that difficult to find restaurants that can tickle my spicy palette. There are several places that offer amazing Indian, Pakistani, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian and Turkish cuisine. Few of my favourite places are The Singh’s, Indian Tiffin Room, My Lahore, Thai A roy dee, Diwan, Bulgugi and Mr. Su’s. Apart from there, Leeds has an extravagant number of restaurants which offer different cuisines from all around the world, name a cuisine and you’ll find it in Leeds!
Thai A Roy Dee is a restaurant hosted by a Thai family and they prepare food with traditional Thai recipes, it’s situated near Vicar lane. They provide mouth-watering Thai dishes at a really affordable rate. They have a happy hour from 12pm till 5 pm, where they serve a starter and a main course for just £7.95. My (Yash) favourite dishes during this hour is Vegetarian spring rolls and Gaeng Panang for vegetarian option while my friends prefer substituting the vegies or tofu for a meat of their like. My suggestion for dishes to try in this restaurant would be anything with green or red curry. Another fascinating thing about this restaurant is that we can bring our own drinks there!
While for the Indian cuisine, I do like The Singh’s and the Indian Tiffin Room (ITR). They provide authentic Indian cuisine with the expected spiciness. In Singh’s, which is located near Roseville Road, my must try suggestion would be their Punjabi food and their Mango Lassi while in ITR which is located on the Greek Street near City Centre, I’d suggest trying their South-Indian cuisine. There are several other Indian-Pakistani restaurants like My Lahore, Theravadu, Mowgli, Kerala café, etc which do provide authentic Indian-Pakistani cuisine which can be tried if you have a knack for hot and spicy food.
All of that being said, we still haven’t mentioned the best part about meals; dessert! Having been in Leeds for a long time, we’ve realised Leeds has a lot to offer in that section. There are so many dessert places you can go to in Leeds around different areas. If you’d like to go somewhere central, then you can go to Ice Stone which is in front of The Light centre or Dolce Haute that’s inside of The Light. However, one of my favourite hidden gems of the dessert scene for the city centre is a gelato place called Amorino, which only has one branch in Leeds and then multiple ones in London and outside the UK.
If you’re hoping for somewhere that’s a bit closer to student areas, then Ice Scoop is definitely the place to go. They’ve got more than once branch in Leeds, but the most convenient one for students is located in the Hyde Park area (They also give student discounts if you show your student ID).
The restaurants didn’t disappoint us during the current Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. All the restaurants and bars across the city have followed the government restrictions while serving their delicious food and taking care of their customers. Each restaurant follows the following rules:
- A maximum group of 6 people are allowed, who are from the same household or support bubble.
- Masks are mandatory while entering and roaming inside restaurants. They can only be removed when people are sitting at their table.
- It’s also mandatory to sanitise our hands while entering and leaving the restaurant.
- Most of the restaurants have a QR code on each table, where a person can order their food and pay online, or the staff take the customers order at their table.
So even amidst the stress of a pandemic, the restaurants and bars are doing their best to maintain the government safety regulations while serving their best to the customers. We advise everyone to please follow the government regulations while in the UK for the safety of you and the people around you. More information on which can be found on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery.
The most amazing part is that all of these restaurants do offer takeaways or delivery systems using services such as TooGoodToGo, Uber Eats, Just Eats, etc. So, in essence, if you’re in Leeds; there will always be more options than you’d expect to choose from and never be hungry again!