As 2021 comes to a close, we've been reflecting on our favourite new openings of the year.
Given the vast range of restaurant openings this year, it didn't seem possible to miss out the fantastic cuisine that's landed on our doorstep over the past twelve months.
We've chosen our favourite openings for 2021, with speciality dishes from Korean-Japanese fusion to Vietnamese coffee.
Tucked away on the corner of Merrion Street, Oba Leeds is serving some of the best Korean and Japanese fusion dishes, with a range of vegan-friendly meals available. This hidden gem offers a warm welcome from the the moment you walk through the glass doors. The bright hues of sunflower yellow and bright blue mirror off the panelling and glass windows and match the service, always delivered with a smile, to a tee, since opening in September.
What was formerly Rum and Reason on Merrion Street was taken over by Nam Song Caphe back in June. The new cafe and restaurant has since been serving up authentic Vietnamese coffees, bahn mi baguettes, bowls of pho and more. Now, customers can enjoy a good range of teas and homemade cakes from the day menu, which also features breakfast items and a variety of Bahn mi with filling choices like lemongrass chicken, nam song pork or garlic and sesame/sriracha/ginger tofu; with noodle salads and omelettes also on the cards at lunchtime.
If there’s one thing that the pandemic starved us of, it’s all-you-can-eat buffets. Long gone were the days of piling up plates of delicious cuisine from around the world, or so we thought. Sakku has brought back one of the best ways to eat at their sashimi and Asian grill restaurant, using local and imported ingredients to bring unlimited dishes back to the dining table, at their hidden Leeds restaurant.
Following years of pop-ups, House of Fu opened its own restaurant in the city back in June this year. They teased out their ‘green ramen’, right from the beginning which will be one of the headline plant-based bowls on offer here. Filled with gorgeous ingredients like kohlrabi chashu, sapporo noodles and super deep burnt garlic oil, it’s evident a lot of care and attention went into putting this menu together, and Leeds loves it. Finishing the year on a high, the restaurant have just added a karaoke studio to their venue.
The Queens Hotel in central Leeds had a huge £16 million refurbishment in 2021, ushering in a grand new era for the 84-year-old property. As part of the overhaul, the hotel has welcomed an opulent new Raffles-inspired restaurant, Grand Pacific. The new luxurious all-day drinking and dining destination is styled on the old colonial hotels of south-east Asia and can seat up to 100 guests in the main restaurant.
There's another new opening in Farsley - this time an incredibly cool listening bar and cocktail bar.
Tucked away in Sunny Bank Mills, Pardon Me is a bar built around 'music, atmosphere, and detail'.
Bartenders here create well-made cocktails and pour natural wines in front of a wall of vinyl records, while a playlist of hip hop, soul, jazz, funk, deep house, and disco soundtracks your evening.
The stylish space features a considered sound system that's been built around Danley speakers.
Pardon Me has opened with the intention of creating a space where 'sound sits at the centre, and everything else supports it'.
It's been launched by Scott Rapson, who grew up in the Scottish Highlands and fell in love with music around the time of the arrival of hip hop in the early 80s.
He then spent time travelling for raves, and visiting venues like Glasgow’s Sub Club and London’s Plastic People, giving Scott an appreciation for how 'music can shape a room, not just fill it'.
Scott and his partner Laurie have then spent the past three years travelling Europe, visiting listening bars across the continent to shape the foundations of Pardon Me.
Inside Pardon Me in FarsleyCocktails at Pardon Me
They say that sound, look, atmosphere, service and style are treated with equal importance.
Whether it's for coffee during the day, or drinks into the evening, they want Pardon Me to be a place to spend time, looking out across Sunny Bank Mills.
Scott says he's built the bar with the support of family and friends, plus Laurie helping to bring the idea to life, already finding a warm welcome within the Farsley community.
Pardon Me is open now at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley.
Posh bakery chain Gail’s is finally coming to Yorkshire
Daisy Jackson
Gail's has finally set its sights on Yorkshire for the first time, with a new bakery set to open this year.
It's one of the UK's most famous bakeries, launching in London in the early 1990s to supply restaurants, before opening its first retail site and cafe in Hampstead in 2005.
Gail's founders set out on a mission to bake bread as it used to be baked: by hand, using quality ingredients and time-worn artisanal methods.
While Gail's has expanded aggressively into the north, opening around a dozen bakeries in Greater Manchester and its surrounds, it hasn't made the journey across to Yorkshire just yet.
All that looks set to change, with job ads now listed for roles within a brand-new Yorkshire branch of Gail's.
Based on the job advert, Gail's is heading straight to the spa town of Harrogate - which is a fairly predictable move.
It looks like Gail's is heading for HarrogateGail's will make its Yorkshire debut
When it does open, you'll find loaf choices including classic white and brown sourdough, Gail’s ‘wasteless’ loaves (made using a specially-created recipe designed to incorporate unsold bread crumbs), alongside seeded varieties, baguettes and batons.
Must-tries include Gail’s famous cinnamon buns, still-warm cheese and ham croissants, chocolate chip cookies, and – given the weather we’re having this week – iced coffees, all day long preferably please.
Gail's has now confirmed the opening, with a spokesperson saying: "GAIL’s is excited to confirm it is opening a new bakery in Harrogate later this year. The opening will bring GAIL’s craft baking to the community, including creating a number of craft baking, barista, and management roles.
"We will also be donating surplus baked goods through our Neighbourly partnerships. This is part of our ongoing commitment to giving back to the communities we serve and improving access to quality food and drink on the high-street."
But given the number of fantastic local bakeries all over Yorkshire, the question is, does anyone want Gail's?
The Hoot -
24th December 2021 
