North Leeds Food Festival has revealed it will be returning to the city this summer, filling Roundhay Park with a host of food stalls featuring some of the best eats in West Yorkshire.
Whilst full details of the 2021 food lineup are yet to be fully revealed, based on 2019's roster - which welcomed top Yorkshire chefs from venues like The Foundry, Harewood Food & Drink Project, Rudding Park, Theravadu - this is not an event to be missed.
Some information about traders has been teased out online, with pictures of delicious gooey brownies, cakes, cheesecakes, flapjacks, sweets, cinnamon buns beginning to surface.
There have also been mentions of special sweet traders serving freshly made crepes, traditional Mexican churros and authentic Hong Kong desserts like bubble waffles with ice cream.
An authentic Hong Kong dessert, bubble waffles with ice cream / Image: North Leeds Food Festival
This year, the festival will be held across two weekends in August (7-8th) and September (11-12th). There'll be hot street food stalls for you to grab a tasty bite, and retail stalls to pick up hard-to-get local ingredients to use in your cooking at home.
There'll be live chef demos, hosted in association with Zest Charity & Leeds Cookery School, and plenty of independent bars serving up some of the freshest beers, wines, and cocktails Leeds has to offer.
Attendees in Roundhay Park sitting around enjoying the food festival / Image: North Leeds Food Festival
On top of all this, there'll be a traditional fun fair and inflatables for the little ones to play on, live entertainment and music from jazz and soul artist Malaika.
Artwork from Leeds Art University students will be displayed throughout the festival, and there'll also be a dedicated 'wellness' section with wellbeing stalls, independent cosmetic brands and yoga talks.
Further entertainment across the weekend will come from magicians Matthew J and Magic Matt, plus a free kids quiz and 'fact hunt'.
A bartender pours a glass of prosecco behind the bar at the food festival / Image: North Leeds Food Festival http://Attendees in Roundhay Park sitting around enjoying the food festival
Day tickets are priced at £4.98 for adults, and those bought for 2020's event are still valid for this year's North Leeds Food Festival. Tickets for under 16s are just £1.50 and under 5s go free.
To grab yours and find out more, visit the website here.
Eats
In pictures – Mexican restaurant Madre opens up in Leeds at last
Madre is one of those few restaurants that has been making us jealous of Manchester for years - but finally, it’s Leeds’ turn.
A couple of months after the launch of Salon Madre, a colourful pool hall and taqueria, it’s time for Leeds to welcome its sister restaurant.
Madre will open its doors on Wellington Place this week, promising to educate us all in the art of ‘sobremesa’, which means to linger at the table long after the meal is over.
And trust us, after popping in for a sneak peek today, you won’t be in a rush to leave this place.
The unit has been totally transformed by the Madre team - it’s all jagged angles on the tables and soft curves on the walls, with a colour palette that goes all the way from deep terracotta to neon green.
From an open kitchen you can see the team constructing tacos and piling oysters with jalapeño mignonette and salsa brava.
The menu is split neatly into four sections - snacks (elote, wings, Caesar salad and guac); raw (oysters, tuna tostadas, and aguachile); tacos (including birria); and parilla (wood-fired dishes like BBQ octopus and slow cooked lamb breast).
Click through the gallery below to see inside Madre Leeds
Madre LeedsA selection of the Madre Leeds menuDishes at Madre in LeedsMargaritas are a mustBeef birria tacosFire-roasted mushrooms with egg yolkMadre opens in Leeds this weekBone marrowMadre on Wellington PlaceOysters with salsa
Pull up a seat at a tile-topped table and you can expect to dig into everything from rich Oaxacan-inspired moles and salsas to Baja-style mariscos and Sonoran grilled meats.
Pop down on a Tuesday and you can take advantage of Madre’s two-for-one taco deal - we can’t really think of a better evening than tucking into dinner at Madre before heading across the road for happy hour margs and a game of pool at Salon Madre.
Madre is brought to the city by the teams behind London’s famous Breddos Tacos and esteemed Liverpudlian eatery Belzan.
Leeds’ first frozen yoghurt bar is opening in Headingley this weekend
Clementine Hall
The frozen yoghurt craze is on its way to Leeds as Kefiyo is set to open in Headingley in just a few days.
It's a phenomenon that has caught the attention of the TikTok and Instagram girlies as of late, with frozen yoghurt bars popping up in Manchester and going viral online.
The ice cold sweet treat is supposedly 'healthy' and with a slogan of 'eat Clean. feel Light. live Better.' - this new spot in Leeds seems to be going down that route too.
Kefiyo will be opening in the old Sixes site on Ash Road in Headingley, and they've just announced that they'll be soft launching this Sunday 19 April 2026.
The space is already sporting a super cute pastel green and pink exterior, and it's exactly matching the aesthetic that you'd expect with froyo.
Kefiyo will offer a range of frozen yoghurt flavours with a whole bunch of toppings for you to customise to your tastebuds, as well as fresh acai bowls.
Situated slap bang in the centre of Headingley, we've got a feeling it'll be very busy with students on their way to their morning lecture or at night for those looking for a sweet treat that doesn't feel too naughty.
We'll keep you updated on more Kefiyo updates as and when we find out.
But in the meantime, you can keep an eye on their socials here. We'll see you soon for a scoop Leeds.
Georgina Pellant -
2nd July 2021 
