Kirkstall road favourite POCO has revealed plans to open a second site in Leeds and we're very excited about it.
First opened in 2018 by the team behind popular Italian kitchen Culto in Meanwood, it's developed a big following for its different flavoured arancini, as well as dishes like focaccine, fried Sicilian calzone and Pizza Al Taglio.
Sicilian street food treats on display in the window at POCO's original store on Kirkstall Road / Image: POCO
But that's not all they do - not by a long way. As well as a host of gorgeous savoury treats, they've also developed quite the reputation for their sweets, which range from classic cannolis and warm brioche filled with gelatp, to sweet arancini balls and oven-baked bombolones.
Honestly, every single thing they create here looks incredible. So we can understand why there's a lot of demand in Leeds for a second POCO opening.
A selection of sweet Sicilian treats including bombolone donuts - filled with Vanilla, Chocolate, Pistachio, Nutella cream and even with Whiskey and Bailey’s sometimes / Image: POCO
The POCO team announced their big news this week, encouraging their followers to guess where the new site will be in order to win a yummy prize.
Sharing the news on Instagram on Monday 9 August, they said: "Poco Number 2 is coming to Leeds!"
"Yes guys, this is happening.
"After over three years since opening our first shop on Kirkstall Road, we are finally ready to expand and bring Poco to a new location in Leeds.
Sweet Sicilian arancini balls with pistachio, almond and Nutella / Image: POCO
"We’ve got the keys now and can’t wait to transform this beautiful space into your favourite Sicilian street food destination 😉 Fingers crossed, we’ll be open in a month or so.
"Also, the first person to guess right where Poco Nr. 2 will be located will get a yummy prize from us
Guesses in the comments so far are limited to Headingley, but there are no obvious congratulations in POCO's reply so we're guessing it's not going to be there.
A special birthday request: POCO's moist Italian sponge with vanilla cream loaded with fresh seasonal berries and homemade profiteroles filled with cream / Image: POCO
It shouldn't be too long to wait now until the location is revealed, though.
TO keep up to date with the new opening, make sure to follow POCO on Instagram if you don't already.
The tiramisu hype lives on, and this time it's coming to Leeds.
It really does feel like the traditional Italian dessert has taken the world by storm as of late.
Everything from tiramisu cups and tiramisu coffees have been popping up all over our feed, and now tiramisu in drawer form is popping up in the city centre.
Misu Tiramisu is an independent business that began at Manchester's Christmas Markets and quickly became one of the most popular operators, all thanks to its miniature tiramisu ‘drawers’.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The individually portioned and colourfully packaged desserts quickly became one of town’s top puddings, and owners Aleem and Aishah went on to launch a stand inside the Manchester Arndale too.
And now they’re branching out again in Leeds inside Trinity shopping centre for a two month residency.
You’ll find all their delicious flavours of handmade tiramisu, including classic, pistachio, chocolate, Biscoff, mango, and lemon - they'll also have some gluten-free tiramisu on offer as well, so no one has to miss out.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Misu Tiramisu owners Aleem and Aishah spent a year refining the recipe for their tiramisus after a trip to Milan, first launching with their first market stall in Sale.
Misu Tiramisu is now open inside Trinity shopping centre opposite Boots Opticians and Pop Specs.
They're open every day of the week for you to get your tiramisu fix, from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 5pm on a Sunday.
And trust us Leeds, they're just as delicious as they are adorable.
Fossilised 320-million-year-old fish found in Leeds’ Roundhay Park
Clementine Hall
A prehistoric fish fossil has been unearthed at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
The fascinating prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth fish was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year.
It is thought the creature was frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.
The remarkable discovery has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Image: Leeds City Council
The Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.
Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.
“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare."
The bone was verified byexperts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.
Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.
“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”
Georgina Pellant -
10th August 2021 
