Tea for the tea connoisseur in Leeds and West Yorkshire

Hey there, tell me something: are you a coffee-drinker, or a tea addict? Have you succumbed to the present-day passion for coffee, or are you still a proud Brit tea-drinker? And if so, what kind of brew do you go for? Fancy chai lattes, Earl Grey, smooth premium blends? The cheap stuff in the bargain wrapping from the bottom shelves? Pound shop multi-packs, builder's brew, PG Tips or some nice Typhoo?

It isn't as if there isn't plenty of choice out there, both on the shelves and in the cafes, teashops, coffeebars too. (Are we including herbal tea? We could be here all day if we're including herbal tea. Perhaps rooibos, or redbush, and chamomile, at least – since they're the closest equivalents in the herb-tea selection to the real thing.)

But why am I asking, and why am I writing about tea in the first place, though? Well, it's in my mind at the moment, due to the fact that I've been sampling some of the exotic teas of West Yorkshire. Exotic by way of India and Turkey, at least. The first I sampled at the really excellent curry stall in Hebden Bridge open market. This is The Dosa, who sell 'authentic Indian street food'. Along with gloriously fresh and tasty chicken curry – heavy on the coriander, and all the better for it – and numerous vegan and gluten-free dishes, the stall also offers Indian Tea. I don't think by this that it means simply 'Indian as opposed to delicate china tea', although I didn't think to ask at the time.

Whatever it is technically, it turned out to be milky, hot, sweet and very spicy – much more so than a regular chai from a fancy coffeeshop. And delicious! I could do with about a pint of it, right now!

The Turkish tea I tried out a few days later, and that was a different experience altogether. In Leeds covered market – where a lot of stalls have been cleared out at the bottom of the market house, to make space for eateries – there is now a Turkish food stall. This stall is known as Mr Mackerel, purveyors of Istanbul street food. And this spot, also, offers its own specialty tea. Turkish tea, hot as anything, served up in a pretty, graceful glass like a miniature vase, on a matching glass saucer. No milk, although sugar if you want it, and with a faint hint of citrus about the whole shebang. Delicious also!

I can sincerely recommend both establishments, then – or at least, the excellent tea that they serve. Try it out, and if you're a tea lover then you won't be sorry! And now I'm off, on the prowl, to find what other exotic teas I can find in the humble, unsuspecting locales of West Yorkshire...

Image: Maxpax  via creative commons licence.

Coffee and Cookies at Costa Coffee in Waterstones in Leeds

If you're working or studying in Leeds, West Yorkshire in the UK, then at some point you're probably going to be shopping in town and want to grab a coffee somewhere. Judging by how infernally busy the place is on an almost continuous basis, and especially at the weekends, then a pretty damn popular destination for such a purpose is Waterstones, the branch of the national book chain located at 93 to 97 on Albion Street, in central Leeds.

On a week-day, although still usually pretty busy, you may be able to get a seat without too much of a headache, as long as you're pretty nippy about it. And it's a lovely environment, honestly: light and spacious and comfortable, with lots of easy-chair and sofa seating for comfortable reading of interesting books and magazines, and sipping your coffee while you peruse them.

Oh, yeah, the coffee? (Well, actually, I usually have tea, myself. Twinings brand, not my favourite, but acceptable, and it does tend to bring Stephen Fry to mind, due to the adverts, which isn't a bad thing.) But the beverages that are on offer, generally: pricey! Yeah, it's Costa, what am I expecting, it's not going to be much less than Starbucks, am I right? But if you're a cheapskate like me (in which case you should really be drinking at McDonalds, probably, or Witherspoons at Leeds train station which does a perfectly acceptable cuppa joe for a quid) then you're still going to get some element of sticker-shock at proper coffee-chain prices.

Still, when you factor in a sit down, a nice environment, staff wages and infrastructure and equipment and yadadadada, then it's... a nice cup of coffee. (I do sometimes have a regular latte instead, or a mochachino.) And you're surrounded by books, which, all I can say: makes it the best cup of coffee in the world.

Photo credit: McKay Savage under a Creative Commons licence.

Jam Hair in Headingley, LS6 - Hairdressers in Leeds and West Yorkshire

Have you ever planned a particular hairdo for ages and ages? To the point where it gets built up in your mind as some kind of huge treat (or possibly ordeal?) A little while back I was planning to get myself a spiral perm. (Don’t judge me!) I know it’s a massively outdated style – it was a massively outdated style even then to be honest. But I'd been intending to do it for ages, and I wasn't about to give up on my plans just because I'd look like an anachronistic clueless old bag with a waterfall of corkscrews down her back. So I asked around friends for a recommendation, and was generally advised that Jam Hair in Headingley, Leeds 6, knew what they were doing regarding a perm, and would probably not require a mortgage and my firstborn in order to finance the bill.

I made my appointment and waited. I was excited! My plans were finally coming to fruition! (Largely because I'd finally done something about them.) When the big day came I was totally hyper!

My other half dropped me off at Jam Hair and went off to do a bit of window shopping while I did girly stuff like have someone tinker with my hair and give me tinkerbell curls. The establishment itself is clearly one of those 'trendy' hair places. Glass fronted building, light and mirrors everywhere, wooden floors and young, carefully coiffured stylists. (Yes, you'd think that'd be the case everywhere, but it does vary according to the establishment. Never get a cut from someone with bad hair!)

What's It Like Having A Perm?

I cannot honestly say that my initial impressions were all that great. To begin with, I was kept waiting an awfully long time. Now, being kept waiting is one thing, but on the other hand, being kept waiting with no subsequent apology or mention of how long you've waited is another. A bit off, I thought. I was offered a cuppa, at least, so I have to give credit as far as that goes.

Once we did get down to business, though, I revised my incipent opinions. The hairwashing apprentice was thorough, careful and listened when I asked her to dial down the temperature of the water. (How many times have you almost had your scalp burned at the hairdressers!) And when it came to the cut and perm, the stylist clearly was extremely technically able and knew exactly what she was doing.

Having a perm is never a pleasant experience, I think it's fair to say. The nature – okay, the stinkiness – of the perming solutions, plus the intricate and time consuming nature of the project, makes it something of an ordeal for the person having the perm done. (And probably for the person doing it, too.) However, I did survive the experience. Then I only had to wait with baited breath while it went through a final drying and styling and I could examine the finished result.

So, how was the finished result? Well, it was a spiral perm (surprise, surprise!) You know what a spiral perm looks like! (And if you don't, have a scoot over to flickr, and put '80s hair' in the search engine. And laugh.) It was a technically accomplished, perfectly realized spiral perm, and I had no complaints to make. The cost wasn't exactly cheap, but on the other hand it wasn't exactly unreasonable either considering the level of expertise involved. You get what you pay for! So Jam Hair did a good job and I can recommend them if you're considering them. Their aftercare advice was also excellent (inevitably accompanied by the attempt to sell me more product, but you get that everywhere.) If only I had followed it, then I might have maintained that salon look with my spiral perm for longer than a couple of weeks, but that's a whole different story...

Spanish Food In West Yorkshire - Where Can You Buy Spanish Nougat?

Have you tried turron durro, the popular Spanish specialty candy? If not, then what a treat you have in store! Turron comes in various forms, but in my opinion, hands down the most delicious is turron durro. “Durro” means hard, and turron durro is a hard nougat filled with almonds and coated with rice paper. It has a mild, milky, moreish flavour and is not overly sweet – a blessing for those of us easily nauseated by sticky, sugary sweet stuff. It is absolutely packed with delicious toasted almonds and comes in a solid block, either round or rectangular, which you can break with a rolling pin to form bite-size chunks. But be warned! Once you’ve tasted turron, you’ve bitten into the apple in the garden of Eden: there’s no going back! (And no leaving the rest in the jar for another day, either. That’s just not going to happen!)

Sweet Spanish Treats: Is Spanish Nougat Good For You?

How is turron durro for nutritional content? Well, it has a high ratio of almonds to nougat, providing it with a lot of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. Hey, it’s practically health-food!

Where Can You Buy Turron Durro?

But where can you locate some delicious Spanish turron durro in order to sample it for yourself? Ah. Be warned, this is sometimes easier said than done, and easier attempted than achieved. In my experience, when you are fortunate enough to stumble across a box of this delicacy in some deli or grocery shop, then you swiftly become addicted and shortly return to feed your addiction. But alas, restocking and resourcing further supplies of turron often seems to be beyond the capacities of most retail outlets!

Spanish Food & Goodies: Bricks 'n' Mortar Stores Stocking Turron Durro

The only truly reliable bricks and mortar source for turron I know of in West Yorkshire in the UK, is Harvey Nichols in the centre of Leeds. Unfortunately for Harvey Nick’s customers who are also lovers of fine foods, the brand sold at this emporium is of an inferior quality (in my opinion as a lover of turron durro) and also hugely expensive considering its tiny size.

You can occasionally locate and liberate a few boxes of almond filled delight ( also known as turron durro) at TK Maxx, and Wakefield used to have a little deli on Bond Street that would occasionally stock it. (And when I say occasionally, I mean very, very occasionally, i.e. once in a blue moon. I would pop in on a regular basis enquiring about their next delivery of almond delight. The answer, on a perpetual basis, was always, ‘Next week! Definitely next week!’ Manana, manana!)

Eat Spanish: Buy Turron Durro Online

So if you can’t locate turron durro in a bricks and mortar store, can you buy it online? Of course you can! What can’t you buy online these days? Just input the search terms ‘turron durro’ into a search engine and see the results you get. As always, if you’re planning on going crazy with your credit card online, then check out a site carefully beforehand. But believe me: if you can’t find yourself some heavenly almond delight in any other way, then it’s totally worth the trouble to purchase yourself a taste of Spain online!

Wholefood and Healthfood Shops In Leeds - Yummy, Healthy, Delicious Whole Foods!

Whole Foods In Leeds: Good For You?

Are you a devotee of healthfoods and wholefoods? Do you sneer at rice that isn’t the correct shade of brown or red, know your millet from your amaranth and consider organic foods as being subtly inferior to biodynamically reared greens? If you’re going to be shopping in Leeds, a vibrant city in West Yorkshire in the North of England, and this describes you, then you’ll be needing a list of all the best wholefood and healthfood shops in Leeds, UK.

Are you a vegetarian or vegan who’s keen to source ethically traded foods and products? If so then the whole-food shop Out Of This World, found a little further on from Leeds market-house and the Corn Exchange, may be the emporium for you. Out Of This World makes an effort to stock FairTrade products such as wine and chocolate and has a wide range of vegan and vegetarian options. (Including tempeh, although somehow my other half and I always seem to have trouble locating it, and have to ask the assistant for help and advice. And yes, it’s always right there on the shelves when she points it out!) I would say that their prices are a little on the high side, but they’re a good ethically sound establishment with an excellent range (especially of fairtrade, organic and vegan chocolate), so well worth your patronage. (Their vegan chocolate slice is really amazing: my other half is totally addicted to it.)

Beano Wholefoods: Lament For A Great Little Wholefood Store

If you had asked me just a few years back, “What is the best whole-food and health-food shop in Leeds?” then the answer really would have been easy. The obvious answer would have been Beano, a well-known and well-loved shop in the centre of Leeds, stocking wholefood ingredients, baked goods and organic fruit and vegetables. Beano was a co-operative and a going concern for many years, but sadly closed its doors just a few months after moving premises a little further out of the centre of town from its previous home on New Briggate. It really was a little bit of a tragedy for independent business and whole-food lovers in the city. Cashflow problems have been speculated upon as the cause, but who knows. All I know is, never again will I have the opportunity to sample the Beano’s divine vegan apple and sultana cheesecake, and that truly is a minor tragedy!

Buying Meat with Your Wholefoods: A Good Mix?

Are you looking for a whole-food shop without an exclusively vegetarian and vegan bent? Somewhere where you can find ethically reared, wild and free-range meats, as well as the usual assortment of grains, pulses, flours, baked goods, vegetable and fruits? Millie's, on Vicar Lane in central Leeds may be just the thing for you. Situated near Asian supermarket Taste The Orient and a religious bookshop, this shop has a good range of both fresh and frozen ethically reared meat and dairy products. I will put a word in for the economy sized packs of sunflower seeds which are a good price, as are the mixed seed packs. A lot of their other items are a little on the steep side but the organic veg section is good and the shop itself is light, airy and pleasant. There is also a small deli-style section: herby olives, mmm!

Should we include the likes of Holland & Barrett on any list of the best whole-food and health-food shops in Leeds, UK? They're certainly a bit of a corporate behemoth in comparison to the small private enterprises of the aforementioned establishments. However it's interesting to make the comparison, and to consider what they do do well, and what on the other hand could be improved.

Buying At Wholefood Chain Stores?

Price does count in H&B's favour with regard to certain items (but then, they do have economies of scale to drive eye-catching price offers). Their once-a-week special discount offers for senior citizens have always been popular. For dried soya mince, whether flavoured or unflavoured, H&B is the place to go for a bargain. And it's always worth checking out their refrigerated section for stickered marked-down stock.

However many of their products and nutritional supplements are eye-poppingly expensive compared to other retail outlets. And when it comes to buying whole-food and health-food, many aficionados prefer a less commercialized environment.

Traditional Shopping In West Yorkshire: Visit Leeds Market House!

Do you live in the West Yorkshire area? Maybe you’re planning on a visit there soon, perhaps even a shopping trip? If so, then one place you should definitely add to your itinerary is Leeds Market House, an historic and traditional shopping destination. Located near both the bus station and the Corn Exchange on Vicar Lane, the market house is situated in an historic old building that commands the nearby area. Possessed of multiple entrances, you can stroll in from all sides and be greeted by the cries of stallholders hawking their wares in unintelligible comedy voices. (Hey, that's what it sounds like to me! 'Cherries' mysteriously becomes 'chayse!' What's that all about?)

What can you buy in Leeds market house? Well, there's probably a shorter answer tot the question, 'What can't you buy in Leeds market house?' Let's just consider the existence of the meat market, the fish market, the ethnic and carribean food stalls, the books stalls, the mobile phone accessory stands, the hairdressers, the cafes, the fruit and veg stalls, the cheese stalls, the groceries, the frozen foods, the clothes shops, the florists, the health food kiosk, the deli, the haberdashers... where do I finish? Where do I start?

Would you like to actually have a stall yourself at Leeds market house? Hey, that might be an option too! There's even a booth right in the building staffed by local council workers, where you can get tons of information and advice on the subject. In these times when jobs are hard to come by and self-employment strays across the brain in odd moments as an alternative, it's a subject that may be worth a little consideration and study.

Aesthetically the market house is a pleasure to shop in: perhaps a little shabby and old-fashioned, but also highly traditional with bags of atmosphere. It may not be quite as cheap as the outdoor market just close by (especially with respect to the fruit and veg stalls), but there are still many items you can pick up for an absolute song. You can traipse up and down flagstoned walkways and avoid the butcher's market staff pushing trolleys around with gay abandon. Or maybe check out one of the cosy and inexpensive cafes dotted around. Seriously, whatever you want, there isn't much that you can't find at Leeds indoor market!

Deep-fried Chicken in A Popular Leeds Student Area - Kentucky Fried Chicken in Headingley, LS6

Do you sometimes get junk food cravings? Sometimes it seems to me that the healthier and more carefully I eat, the more I’m occasionally subject to a yearning for a yummy, naughty burger slathered with mayonnaise, or deep-fried doughnuts, or a bucket of spicy coated deep fried chicken. It’s bad!

It’s something I can keep a lid on when I’m eating at home. There’s a simple solution: if I don’t buy it, then I can’t eat it! That’s the way to enforce healthy eating from your own fridge and larder.

It can be harder when you’re out and about, though. Or that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it! Sure, there’s usually somewhere, even if you’re out and unexpectedly peckish, where you can pick up a green salad or plain baked potato. But where’s the fun in that?

Get Kentucky Fried Chicken In Headingley, Leeds

So the last time I was out for the day with my mum in the student area of Leeds, i.e. Headingley, when hunger pangs struck, we didn’t head for the greengrocers. In our defence I’d like to assert that we did at least traipse around a little looking for somewhere that, uh, had vegetables on the menu. Got to make some concessions to healthy eating! But, uh, our legs got tired, and, uh, well, the upshot is we wound up at Kentucky Fried Chicken, located at 2, the Arndale Centre. Hey, I’m not going to deny it!

I can’t remember the last time I visited a KFC – I think it might actually have been in childhood. So I didn’t have any particular expectations when I walked through the door (although I did have some preconceptions.) This meant that I was quite pleasantly surprised in several ways.

The service was both friendly and quick (I guess not surprisingly when you consider it’s called fast food. Maybe I’m just judging by other fast food chains.) And I would have to admit that my spicy chicken sandwich was really yummy and delicious, as was my mum’s plain one. The fries were really damn good too.

One low point, I have to admit, was the coffee: I was surprised that it was just yer average Nescaff, and rather bitter and thin at that. Still, I can’t claim to have a great palate for coffee: it still did the job and considering how yummy the rest of the meal was, it was really not a big deal.

KFC, then: it’s probably not the place to take your favourite vegetarian pal for a quick lunch. But if you’re not a veggie type, and you’re having a browse round a very interesting shopping area like Leeds 6 (which it is: there are some great fashion boutiques and bookshops here) then it’s worth considering for an economical and tasty snack. It’s not the only eaterie around the area to be sure: but it can probably compete in terms of price and convenience with most of them.

So, you’re feeling a hankering for a family bucket of crispy chicken? Or maybe out in Headingley and in the market for a tasty snack? Try KFC: it could surprise you too!