Blue Sakura
Loosen your waistbands, because an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant has just arrived at the Merrion Centre! Adding to the Merrion’s bulging array of eastern eateries, including My Thai, voted Best Restaurant in Leeds 2017, Bulgogi, the city’s first Korean grill and Japanese institution Fuji Hiro, serving its famously mountainous plates of soba noodles.
A firm favourite on the continent, Blue Sakura has chosen Leeds (rightly so!) as its first location to set up shop in the UK. Japanese foodie fanatics will have the chance to get acquainted with hundreds of traditional Japanese Sushi dishes for one set price. In keeping with the Japanese love of all things technological, everything is ordered through a tablet built right into your table.
Whip out your chopsticks and get stuck into fresh sushi alongside a huge range of sizzling teppanyaki grill-style dishes. With all this situated in an immense dining hall seating over 150 hungry customers, you certainly won’t go hungry!
The Merrion Centre, Merrion Way, LS2 8NG. Bluesakura.co.uk.
Junkyard Golf Club
Junkyard Golf Club takes recycling to a whole new level. Putt your way through three neon-lit crazy golf courses, creatively fashioned entirely from reclaimed junk. There are three wacky stages to try your hand at, from a polluted tropical jungle, a dark carnival piled with freaky fairground obstacles, or a scrapyard cunningly stacked with auto junk.
Fill up your American-style party cup with an off-the-wall range of alcoholic slushies and kooky cocktails, including a Ribena Turner, a fruity belter of gin, watermelon, lemon and strawberry Ribena. Or keep it real classy with a Fairway to Heaven – a delightfully trashy combo of vodka, Lambrini and Vimto. Top them off with your favourite childhood treats such as party rings and fizzy laces for a taste of naughty nostalgia. If working on your handicap has given you the munchies, its food kiosk dishes up popcorn, nachos and bags of pick ’n’ mix so moreish they might not fill a hole in one.
The Light, The Headrow, LS1 8TL. Junkyardgolfclub.co.uk.
Eat Your Greens
After years of popular residencies, serving its vegan-centric affair under the banners of Sheaf Street Cafeteria and Northern Monk, Grub and Grog have teamed up with creative hangout, Outlaws Yacht Club to create Eat Your Greens.
A relaxed all-day café-bar with a quintessentially European flavour, Eat your Greens serves up a hearty helping of sustainable cuisine with a cut-down menu of no-nonsense grub. Although there’s a vegan lean to the offering, a smattering of carefully-chosen meat and fish dishes are on the cards to satisfy those carnivorous urges, such as a corned beef hash with ox tongue and fennel. The refined simplicity of its dishes is apparent throughout: start the day with bubble and squeak with a shot of home-made chilli sauce, or a plate of fried mushrooms with a dollop of camelina tahini.
It might sound easy, but trust us, when it comes to these guys, eggs is certainly not eggs: with a cult-following from their Grub and Grog days, they will change your life. Its organic eggs, (sourced from what you can only imagine are absurdly large hens), encase the creamiest of yokes, poached to hold just long enough so you can ooze them at your leisure across a pile of Yorkshire oatcakes topped with a spicy slug of dukkha.
With a tide of city centre independents like Tall Boys and Ham and Friends going under, it’s reassuring to see home-grown institution Grub and Grog jumping in at the deep end.
42 New York Street, LS2 7DY. Eatyourgreensleeds.co.uk.
East Parade Social
Nesting up in the rooftops of Leeds’ business district, new all-day bar, East Parade Social commands a bird’s eye view of the city. Like the panoramic vista, the food and drink doesn’t go anywhere: the venue has you covered from morning ‘til night. Before hitting the office, grab a quick and simple breakfast with coffee-to-go, and when the working day is done, come back to drink in the illuminated skyline with a cocktail or craft beer as the sun sets over the town hall. The kitchen offers freshly prepared nibbles and sharing platters with a Mediterranean vibe: think harissa-spiked hummus, mopped up with sourdough flatbread, or grilled halloumi served with roasted peppers and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds. It’s definitely worth conquering your fear of heights!
10-12 East Parade, LS1 2BH. Eastparadesocial.co.uk.
Thai Khrim
You can’t move for a cracking Thai curry in Leeds, but until now, the nation has kept its dessert offering close to its chest. Enter Thai Khrim, serving up frozen treats from the east, with traditional hand-crafted ice cream with a western twist. No boring 99 flakes here, the ice cream is frozen into thin sheets on steel plates with all kinds of funky additions, from real fruit to pieces of your favourite chocolate bars. Artisan servers scrape up the mix into delicate rolls in front of your eyes, while all you have to think about is what you want on top. Pile on the sweet treats, from classic bickies (anyone for a Jammy Dodger?) to fizzing sherbet, all topped off with a generous drizzle of sauce. Located in the ever-changing, ever-surprising Trinity Kitchen – Thai Khrim is the perfect excuse for a quick pick-me-up after a day of shopping ‘til you drop in Leeds’ top retail haven.
Trinity Leeds, Albion St, LS1 5ER. Thaikhrim.co.uk.
