Down on the waterfront at Granary Wharf is a gorgeous Italian restaurant tucked into an archway serving up its own Mediterranean twist on the classic English afternoon tea.
A staple in the city for nearly a decade now, foodies will be well au-fait with LIVIN'Italy - but for those who haven't yet made it down for a visit, their brilliant afternoon tea is as good an excuse as any.
Priced at £20 per person with prosecco (or £25 if you want to enjoy it with an Aperol spritz in hand), the new afternoon tea switches out the typical crustless cheese sandwiches and scones for Italian delicacies like miniature tiramisu and stuffed arancini balls.
Image: LIVIN'Italy
Comprised of a selection of classic Italian favourites and small plates, further treats on offer here include fried polenta with friarielli and frollino biscuits loaded with strawberry jam.
It seems from the reviews that you might get a little surprise when you visit, too, with one customer who visited in June saying they also enjoyed mini margarita pizzas, slow-cook short rib beef slider and roast potatoes with BBQ sauce as part of their afternoon tea experience.
The sweet selection on their visit, meanwhile, included portions of miniature tiramisu, strawberry jam Italian cake and indulgent, moist Italian chocolate cake with salted caramel and orange running throughout.
The glamorous restaurant and bar runs a host of delicious-looking menus alongside the afternoon tea, opening for breakfast and stretching through lunch and dinner into cocktail hour and beyond.
Whether you're after a spot of antipasto with wine or want to sample some proper Italian street food dishes, there's much more than just your typical pizza and pasta offering here (although they do that very well too).
Just like any good Italian, the focus here is on using quality ingredients and LIVIN'Italy works closer with Italian food producers and importers to cultivate the very best. As they say themselves, "without a great product you can’t create a great dish!"
To find out more about the Italian afternoon tea and make a reservation, head over to their website here.
We hope you're hungry Leeds, because a big festival dedicated to all things food is coming to Temple Newsam.
The Temple Newsam Food Festival is now in its second year after a resounding first edition, aiming to celebrate cultural diversity, independent businesses, and global cuisine.
It will take place this weekend on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 August 2026, with the beautiful and historic Temple Newsam providing the perfectly picturesque location.
The festival will celebrate local talent, independent businesses, world cultures and international flavours.
The Street Food Arena will feature an array of global cuisines, cultural delicacies, and irresistible desserts whilst the event's bustling Artisan Markets will showcase a plethora of small businesses and local entrepreneurs offering freshly-baked goods, quality produce. hand-made crafts, unique experiences, vibrant art, and much more.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
And it doesn't stop there as festival-goers can enjoy a selection of independent bars serving cocktails, specialty spirits, fresh cider, wine and beer.
This year there will be a huge focus on live cookery demos, with ten demonstrations from a whole range of talented chefs including Leeds' own Josh Whitehead of Finer Pleasures, Bobby Geetha of Kerala Canteen and stars from Masterchef and The Great British Bake Off.
And it's not just about food and drink, as new for this year there will be a dog show, plenty of live music and lots of fun activities such as inflatable jousting and target paintball.
Tickets are on sale now, and you can grab yours here.
The hidden Leeds bakery serving giant cheese twists, pickle sausage rolls and chocolate focaccia
Clementine Hall
This spot in the city is baking up some weird and wonderful creations.
But you'll have to act fast if you want to get your hands on them, as it's only open one day a week for all your doughy desires.
Introducing Fold, a focaccia-focused bakery by the talented team behind The Cheesy Living Co.
Rewind to this time last year and with three restaurants flourishing across Leeds, the team needed a space to bake all their bread and sweet treats in-house to supply to sites.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
And this is where Fold came in, located underneath the arches of Brussels Street on the outskirts of the city centre - it may take a while to find this spot but once you have, it'll be worth it.
And they're making some of the most inventive bakes that we've seen.
Of course there'll always be a focaccia on offer, with flavours ranging from crispy chilli oil, sesame and spring onion to kimchi, cheese and pistachio.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
And it's not just savoury focaccia, you'll even find gooey chocolate and banana focaccia as well as Biscoff waffle focaccia....yep, seriously.
Elsewhere they specialise in gigantic footlong cheese twists with more crispy bits than soft, as well as chorizo and cheese stuffed sausage rolls and a range of freshly baked bagels for you to go home and smear in your cream cheese of choice.
Image: The Hoot Leeds
Some seriously spectacular specials have been the gochujang cookies and the 'pickle roll', basically like a sausage roll but with...pickles.
It seems there's really no boundaries for where these bakes will go, and you can guarantee that every visit will be different than the rest.
Only open on Saturdays from 10am - 1pm, Fold are changing the baking game. Pop in and say hello, you won't be disappointed.
Georgina Pellant -
10th September 2021 
