Thiccc Sauce is behind (almost) all of Leeds' best sauce combos, but the local independent has now secured a huge collaboration project with burger chain Honest Burgers and Makers Mark Whisky.
Starting from humble beginnings, Thiccc Sauce is one of our favourite lockdown success stories from Leeds. Since beginning the sauce company, founder Luca has collaborated with some incredible Leeds talent, including the likes of Friends of Ham, Little Bao Boys, the Savvy Baker, Mozzafella and more.
Now the independent sauce company is involved in a huge collaboration project with Makers Mark whisky and Honest Burgers.
The national restaurant chain will be stocking a special Thiccc Sauce from Tuesday 3 May - Monday 30 May 2022 and have even created a burger featuring Leeds' own sauce.
Honest Burgers have said: "If you're going to make a BBQ sauce burger like no other, you have to start from scratch. For us, that meant calling our friend Luca, aka Thiccc Sauce and jumping on a train to Leeds to work on a recipe.
"We created a fine sauce- sweet and smoky- adding chipotle peppers and a slug of Maker's Mark Kentucky bourbon for woody vanilla complexity... The result is fruity and tangy with a kick of chilli heat: it's addictive stuff".
There's even a special burger to go with it: the BBQ Sriracha Burger is an irresistible combo of Honest beef patty with candied bacon, double American cheese, Bourbon BBQ Sriracha sauce, crispy onions, confit garlic mayo, lettuce and pickles.
All burgers comes with homemade rosemary chips, coleslaw or salad from Tuesday 3 May - Monday 30 May 2022.
Image: Supplied
Thiccc Sauce has explained how the concept came to life: "So it’s been a year in the works. Honest Burgers reached out as they started their plans to open a leeds venue so wanted to work with a local indie business. Myself and Adam from Honest stayed in touch and carefully and slowly planned what sauce we wanted to make. He then came up to Leeds early this year and we developed the sauce together.
We wanted to blend two of our favourite styles, BBQ and sriracha [so] I then travelled down to London to help develop the burger with the sauce on. The partnership with makers mark join along the way to amplify the flavour of the sauce. [I'm] Extremely happy with how the whole project has turned out and an honour to work with two such amazing brands and give Honest a very warm welcome to Leeds."
Big collabs = big mixing pots. / Image: Thiccc Sauce
This month, Honest Burger announced that the Camden-born burger joint would be expanding over into West Yorkshire and opening their first branch in Leeds. Little information has been released, other than the company plan on joining Leeds' Cloth Hall Street in the near future.
You won't have to wait too long to try out Honest Burger for yourself though. The chefs have just taken over the kitchen at Northern Monk refectory over in Holbeck and will be serving up their famous beef patties for the next three months.
As for the Thiccc Sauce burger: there's no update just yet to say whether it'll be on the Leeds menu, but the home-grown indie sauce will be featured in over 50 of their restaurants across the UK- including nearby cities like Manchester.
Image: Supplied
Read More: The best Leeds indies X Thiccc Sauce collaborations in 2021
To try out Thiccc Sauce's other delectable creations, you needn't travel too far: the indie sauce company regularly features at pop-ups across Leeds or you can find their sauce in person at Bottle Chop in Headingley, amongst other stockists.
Feature Image- Supplied
Eats
A new cocktail and record bar has opened in the former mills at Farsley
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?
Sophie Smith -
2nd May 2022 
