Before moving to rural Roundhay, Joe and I lived in the Quays building in the centre of town, and the area around Lower Briggate, the Calls and Brewery Wharf were our local patch. There are lots of good bars and places to eat in the area, but one of my favourite selling points was Simpsons, a local shop selling fun gourmet treats and booze. Roll on two years, and Simpsons has gone, a victim of these hard times. In its place is the
Dock Street Market, a relaxed cafe/bar selling food and drink in a chilled out setting.
We ventured there for lunch on Saturday to give its food a whirl, spurred on by a sneaky Groupon voucher purchase a few months ago.
The Groupon deal was for a meat and treats platter, served with a couple of glasses of wine and some coffees. The platter means you can try a couple of the sharing dishes on the menu, including the breads with oil and balsamic, cheese, meats and chutneys, and humous, babaganoush, slow roasted tomatoes and olives. It was a good tasting plate, and I was a particular fan of the babaganoush and humous, both of which were rich with garlic and lemon. The oil was a Yorkshire oil rather than olive, and a little tasteless, but that was a very small part of the overall meal. The wines were nice, as were the double espressos so it was a good lunch all in.
Dock Street Market also sell a selection of sandwiches, salads and other deli treats, including a very delicious looking range of cakes. They also have a bread counter for fresh sourdoughs and an interesting selection of draught beers. I'll definitely head back for a few afternoon drinks at some point and to sample some more of the menu and would recommend others do the same.
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| The Dock Street Market menu |
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| Our platter - breads, meats, cheese, chutneys, olives, tomatoes, humous and babaganoush. Good stuff. |
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| The slow roasted tomatoes, which had a deep, rich flavour |
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| Babaganoush. It turns out Joe is not a fan of aubergines, whereas I am...how will we ever get over this?! |
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| Humous |
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| The chutneys, including one which tasted just like mince pies |
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| Me enjoying my wine and my papers - a perfect Saturday! |
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| Joe really enjoying his wine - a good noseful there! |
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| The double espresso - a much needed, very tasty, caffeine kick |
After this, we headed straight for Cornucopia, a food festival at the Corn Exchange, more of which on Sunday's post.....
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| And this is what is on offer at the Dock Street Market.... |
