For foodies that feel like they've seen it all in the city; newcomers looking to explore the local cuisine or just if you fancy doing something a little different in town this week - Leeds Food Tour is offering you the chance to see Leeds in a whole new light.
There's currently two different food tours you can choose from to explore the city with, but we opted for the Hidden Gems tour.
We're always on the lookout for more under-the-radar places to check out so we headed out to explore six of Leeds' best hidden gems using the Leeds Food Tour app.
Easy-to-navigate and full of fun features, facts about the businesses and those all-important directions, the app was the perfect companion for the trip.
Sweet Saeeda
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Hidden just around the corner from the main food hall, you’ll find a handful of chairs and a carefully considered menu that truly brings the best of Tunisian cuisine to Leeds. Since 2015 Sweet Saeeda has been a popular lunchtime option for many, the fresh flavours and friendly service being just two reasons. Choose your base, including the likes of paprika chicken, Merguez sausage, falafel and halloumi before watching your sarnie or bowl prepared in front of your eyes from the grains and sauces on the counter - there’s endless combos to keep us returning here after Leeds Food Tour.
Delhi Wala Food
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Delhi Wala can be found under the arches of the train station, and as well as having one of the best-value meal deals in town, the small plates and curries on offer are light, and packed with flavour.
On the tour, you're offered three different plates of butter chicken, onion bhajis and samosa chaat: these were by far the most filling of our tour, but probably because we just couldn't get enough of that yoghurt-based dip and kept going back for more.
SQEW
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Sqew is quickly becoming something of a cult favourite in Leeds, for those that are in the know that is. Mitch and the team serve up authentic lamb, chicken and doner shawarmas as wraps, salad bowls and platters, each piled high with fresh salad and sauces.
The Cheesy Living Co.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Located inside Leeds Corn Exchange, The Cheesy Living Co. serves up cheese and charcuterie aplenty, as well as stocking fancy deli items and everything you'd want from 'a modern kind of off licence'. Leeds Food Tour offers the perfect opportunity to taste-test some of the store's bestsellers and new additions with a cheese board to share.
Eat Your Greens
This organic restaurant is serving up no fuss farm to fork goodness and using the best local produce possible to feed us lot with a weekly changing seasonal menu that wows every single time.
Leeds Food Tours offers the chance to sample some risotto, a fish finger butty or another of the smaller plates on the menu whilst you browse through the ‘Greens Grocers’, stocking up specialist products from tinned fish and chilli oil to fresh bread and organic groceries.
KULT
Of course what's a meal out without grabbing some pudding on the way out? Kult Gelato is just opposite Leeds Kirkgate Market and remains one of the only places in Leeds you'll find ube-flavoured ice cream that adds that satisfying purple stripe to the dish.
To find out how you can head out on your very own Leeds Food Tours, visit the website here.
Feature Image - The Hoot Leeds
Eats
Beloved Leeds takeaway Souvlaki Corner to open new restaurant in Morley next month
A new Souvlaki Corner is set to open in south Leeds.
If you're a Leeds local who loves food, then you'll have most likely heard and dined at Souvlaki Corner.
It's an absolute gem of a restaurant and takeaway, situated in Wortley selling fabulous authentic Greek food at a great price.
And now they're opening a new site in the nearby town of Morley which is going to be even bigger and better. Get in.
The new site will feature a bigger space with more seating, offering both dine-in and takeaway options, as well as a brand-new bar.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Now you're talking our language.
Souvlaki Corner told The Hoot: "We’re excited to confirm that Souvlaki Corner will be opening a new site in Morley, Leeds. Our targeted opening is in around four weeks, although we don’t have an exact opening date yet and will confirm this closer to the launch.
"One of the highlights of the new restaurant will be a traditional Greek spit where we will cook whole lamb in the proper Greek way. It will be cooked over charcoal to give the authentic Greek flavour that people would experience in Greece.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
"Our chefs are Greek, bringing authentic knowledge and experience from Greece. The interior design will also reflect the style of the Greek islands, so when people visit they will feel like they are stepping into a little part of Greece."
They continued: "Souvlaki Corner was created to bring authentic Greek street food to Leeds, focusing on freshly grilled souvlaki, gyros, and traditional flavours served quickly and affordably. Since launching our first location, the response from customers has been fantastic, and Morley felt like the natural next step as we continue to grow."
Neighbourhood Leeds bistro hailed as ‘a bit horny’ and ‘brilliant’ by national critic Camilla Long
Clementine Hall
Food critic Camilla Long visited Leeds for her latest review for The Times with her sights set on Horsforth's finest - Bavette Bistro.
Ever since opening back in 2024, Bavette Bistro nestled in the leafy suburb of Horsforth has made waves across the country for its sheer brilliance.
It's pretty much received five star reviews across the board and been handed awards from left, right and centre. And rightly so.
The Good Food Guide crowned Bavette the best local restaurant of 2024, and Michelin handed them a well deserved Bib Gourmand - so it's safe to say it's not just us who think it's really something special.
So it was only a matter of time until The Times popped in for a review, and this one is truly glowing.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The review labels Bavette as "warm, unmannered and unpretentious" as well as "authentically French".
Long describes the food as "gorgeous, confident, surprising" with a menu that "isn’t too long" and "filled with sturdy, noble dishes, whiffing mightily of the sea and the soil."
It continues: "All of it made with generosity and cheer, served fast by nimble waiters, with a long, if slightly eccentric, wine list. To bang out French dishes with this much fiddly detail and to do it to a full room is not easy. Yet all four courses came in under two hours, for about £75 a head, which in London terms is nothing.
"It’s not that this place was perfect, it’s that it was decidedly not perfect. A bit too much chat about the menus; the oeufs in the meurette not quite runny enough. But the point is: it didn’t matter. All of it came charmingly together. It felt relaxed, just right."
The review is then wrapped up with a pleasing five stars, the cherry on top of the cake.
It's a review only restaurants can dream of, and we can't think of a more deserving team - congratulations Bavette.
Sophie Smith -
28th March 2024 
