Tuesday - Restaurant Review: Cattle Grid - Leeds

Via the power of Twitter, we recently received a kind invite from Emma the CultureVulture to attend an evening of complementary food and drinks at Cattle Grid in Leeds.  We toddled along last night after work, not sure what the plan was, but happy to check out a new restaurant.

Cattle Grid is behind the Corn Exchange and opened in August this year.  It's one of a small chain owned by Steve Novak and Shaun Grey, and Leeds is their latest venture.  We had the pleasure of meeting Steve last night over a few drinks and he took the opportunity to explain the ethos behind the restaurant.

Cattle Grid, as may be clear from the name, is a steak restaurant, but with a difference.  They are looking to become the steak version of Pizza Express, serving good food at realistic prices.  Steve's message is up front with no bullshit.  This is not a restaurant focused on provenance and fine wines - they get the best meat they can at the best price, whether its from Scotland, Ireland, Yorkshire or Uruguay (incidentally all the steak currently comes from Yorkshire).  That is not to say they are not focusing on quality - the bread comes from Anthonys and they even nicked the Anthony's head chef, David Flett (who we also met last night and gave me a sneak peek of his recipe notes - lovely chap!)

The restaurant also serves burgers, salads and ribs, and the most expensive wine on the menu is about £25!  Currently they are also promoting a lunch deal where you can get a slow roast beef or hog roast sandwich and a can of pop for £6.00. 

Anyway, back to our evening....

Cattle Grid in Leeds

Cattle Grid's educational artwork - in case you weren't sure where steak comes from!

The starter portion of ribs.  They don't really go for the traditional starter-main-dessert formation here and don't have a list of starters, but this was a good size for sharing between 2.  We were advised that Cattle Grid's USP is its ribs which are cooked in a special bbq sauce.  I usually don't order ribs when I'm out because they can be so disappointing, but these were really good!  Definite recommendation.

Joe and I went for the same main (which was a poor idea for reviewing but we were both happy!) - medium rare rib eye with harissa sauce.  The rib eye was cooked as ordered and pretty tasty.  It also came with a mound of chips which were brilliant and a watercress salad.

A rack of ribs (we didn't have this as well - not that fat) but Joe would have this next time.

Our greek salad side, which was probably not necessary given how much you get with the steak, but nice all the same!

My dessert - waffle and ice cream.  The desserts were really the only slight let down of the meal and definitely play second fiddle to the main event, but who cares as Cattle Grid is about the meat!

David's recipe notes - what a legend!

The view from upstairs.  The restaurant is split level, and has the room to expand upstairs, where they are planning on opening a comedy venue soon.  Watch this space!  I really enjoyed my night at Cattle Grid.  The owners and the staff are obviously passionate and geared up to make it a success.  I'm not usually a steak fan (badly cooked steak is gutting) but I think I'd trust these guys to give me a good night.

Friday Night at Thai Edge

By the power of Twitter, we have made contact with a number of restaurants and recently struck up conversation with Thai Edge in Leeds (for website, click here).  They invited us to come and sample some of their food, and do a review.

I have lived in Leeds for six years, but never been to Thai Edge before.  Leeds has quite a few good Thai restaurants and it just happened that I have lived around the corner from Sukhothai, or across the road from Chaopraya, or near Thai Erawan, so never made it to Thai Edge.  I had had the impression that it was an "all you can eat" buffet place (which it does appear to do on weekends) so had been a little put off.

Anyways, we trotted along to Thai Edge last night not knowing what to expect.  It is a big airy restaurant opposite Millennium Square and the LGI with lots of glass and clean lines and a few traditional bits of decor thrown in.  When we first arrived there was a little confusion over our booking - as it had been made over Twitter, it was in their name, not ours.  We eventually made it to the right table, which was reserved by the window overlooking Millennium Square, giving us a good view of the other diners and the revellers outside.

Each table has a basket of crackers (a mix of Thai and prawn) ready on arrival.  The staff are quick with menus and we went with their recommended house rose, which has been chosen to be a good match with oriental food. 

The crackers on arrival - nice touch and replenished when we asked.

The house rose - good with spicy food!

Joe and I in the obligatory drinking pose.

The menu has some nice touches, including a glossary of Thai words.  We recently went to a restaurant in London (Hong Kong cafe - see post from Wednesday 17th August) where we didn't understand half of the menu!

The menu has a broad range of dishes from across Thailand.  After a great deal of debate, we opted for Yam Woon Sen (salad of glass noodles with minced pork, prawns, shrimps and dried shrimps in a spicy dressing) and Poh Pia Gai Tod (crispy spring rolls with chicken and white cabbage).  My only slight disappointment was that there are no dumplings on the menu (a favourite of FoodandBiscuits), but there are plenty of other dishes to choose from! The food is beautifully presented.  They also ask you how spicy you would like your food, and we opted for a very spicy salad.  It was brilliant - clean flavours, salty, sweet and spicy - and by far the best Thai salad I have ever had.  The spring rolls were light and crispy and came with a sweet and sticky plum sauce. 

Poh Pia Gai Tod - spring rolls with plum sauce

Yam Woon Sen - very spicy salad with pork and prawns - a vibrant wake up to the senses!

Joe eating a spring roll - check out his chopstick action!

Main courses also caused a big debate!  The menu is split by main ingredient and includes lots of curries and stir fried dishes.  We opted for Panang Nuae (beef cooked in a dry red Panang paste with lime leaves and red chilli) and Gai Ma Maung Himmapan (stir fried chicken with cashews, mushrooms, spring onions, red and green chillis and roasted chilli).  Despite all of the chillis in this dish, it was advertised as only medium heat, so I asked them to spice it up a bit.  Recently Joe and I have been a bit hit and miss with our ordering, but this time both dishes were really good.  The beef was rich and full of coconut, chilli and ginger and the chicken was hot but with real depth of flavour with a balanced sauce so all the individual tastes came through (my favourite dish of the meal).

Gai Ma Maung Himmpan (chicken with cashews and lots of chilli)

Panang Nuae (beef in red panang paste with coconut and red chilli)

Noodles in light soy sauce

Joe with our charming waitress, Ard.  All the waiting staff were very good, and very attentive last night.

The bill - a very good meal for under £50.00 is a real treat!

All in all, we had a really lovely evening at Thai Edge and I would definitely go back again.  There is a lot to try on the menu and they clearly put as much effort in to the food as they do to the appearance.  A big thank you to all at Thai Edge.