Leeds… please help :)

[BexLew]

Hi, I’m new to this site and I hope the thread is in the correct topic.

I need suggestions on where to go for restaurants and out on the evening in Leeds city centre. It’s a night away for my husbands 40th and we are staying in the Novotel. I’m hoping we are close to everything and not too far away.

We’ll probably end up in Popworld 😂but I just wanted to know if any ‘cool’ places not to be missed.

TIA

There's a nice tapas place called Ambiente (I think) just off Call Lane.
East 54th (56th?) and the Japanese place up above John Lewis (entrance round the back).
Bibis Italian.

Happy anniversary!

Yes, you're close

With your back to the hotel, go ahead and to the right and you'll be in the city centre in less than 5 minutes

There are lots of bars and restaurants- lots!

What sort of thing are you looking for?

Tapped is good if he likes real ale

Or head to millennium square and go somewhere near there
Cuthbert Broderick is the weatherspoons there 😁

What kind of thing are you after?

Do you want smart restaurant?

Sela bar is fun - jazz, pizza and cocktails
It's next to the Grand theatre

There’s so many places! We’re older, so I’m not sure about us going to ‘cool’ places but, when we go to Leeds, we like Tharavadu on Mill Hill, or the Dakota for good food.

There's browns near millennium square which is a bit posh

I'd just go explore

For food I'd be looking at La Taberna, Mowgli or Teppenyaki.

To drink we enjoy Head of Steam, The Maven, Domino, Flight club and Headrow House but you are very spoilt for choice! They are in different areas of the city centre so would depend on where you were eating if you didn't want to walk much. There's 3 'main' drinking spots which might be worth you having a look at which are Call Lane, Greek Street and Merrion street. The city is very walkable though so never really head for an area, just see where the night takes us!

Thankyou for your replies. 😁

well, it sounds like we’ll be spoilt for choice, which is great, we can just go with the flow.

Im so glad our hotel isn’t too far away from everything, huge relief.

I’ve seen a cocktail bar online, The Domino Club? It says you can catch a little jazz show in there. Has anyone been?

Food wise, we don’t want anything fancy. We love to have a delicious meal (street food or a sit down restaurant) and a few pints and cocktails and we’re happy. we always end up in Wagamamas so hopefully we can mix it up a little.

thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I can’t wait to have a mooch around Leeds 🤗

Yes Domino club is great once you know how to get in (through a barbers)!

If you enjoy street food and the weather is nice then there is something called Chow Down, it's an outdoor venue with a variety of street food vendors that change weekly, there's also a bar and different types of entertainment depending on when you go, it's a great place to sit in the sun. Other nice places to sit outside weather dependent are The Green Room, Water lane boathouse and Headrow House.

Also as it's a birthday treat then the Sky lounge in the Hilton hotel near the train station is a nice treat.

Also Mowgli is great for amazing food but not particularly fancy if that's the vibe you are going for, it's a chain (although there isn't loads of branches yet I don't think) so it's busy with a mix of people keeping it more relaxed but the food and atmosphere is really great, you will definitely need to book a couple of weeks in advance though.

Bundobust near the train station is excellent. Great cafe in the library and fabulous gallery adjoining

I was going to recommended Bundobust too, as you say you like beer and streetfood.

Crafthouse also has a lovely rooftop terrace.
There are some great bars around millennium sq.
Dakota is lovely for food, Thai edge was good the other week too (also overlooking millennium sq).
Have a great time!

We love House of Fu for food - a much much better version of Wagamamas. We tend to stay up that end of town for drinks, The North Bar for beer, but also Tailors Speakeasy for gin

And I don’t get the love for Mowgli. It’s a bog standard chain with an owner who is very good marketing at marketing herself

Amazing, I’ve saved all of your replies. fingers crossed for a sunny weekend!

Are these suggestions easy to get to from Novotel? Walking wise?

I’ve just seen that you have a Harley Davidson store…. My husband will be over the moon to have a nosey in there. He’s just brought himself a Harley for his mid-life crisis 😂.

Thankyou again for all your replies. Every single suggestion has been noted 😘

Zaap is fab. Thai Street food.

Yes, all walkable

I'm not great with directions but think of it this way

Go forward for about 7 mins to railway station. Turn right for about 7 mins to millennium square

You've just done two sides of a big square that covers pretty much everything mentioned here

The Harley Davidson place is slightly towards the edge of the centre, but a 5 minute walk from Whitehall Novotel.

Have a wander round the corn exchange and markets while you're in town, and granary wharf (I think it's still called that). The Wardrobe near the bus station/playhouse sometimes had some good music going on.

Enjoy your stay!

Hi, make sure you let the hotel know you are celebrating a birthday, we stayed at the Novotel in Leeds for my birthday this year and they put some balloons/banners in the room and gave us free drinks vouchers for the hotel bar. It's a lovely hotel. Have a fab time!

@DanceDanceDance80 really? That’s amazing! I was going to write something like that in the special requests section but asked for a quiet room instead 😂

will message them today. Thankyou x