Balooshai, Honley
The Balooshai restaurant has been based in Huddersfield Central for many years and has recently won the Taste Trial's Restaurant of the Year award. Imagine our delight to find they were opening a branch in Honley as well as offering a take-away service as well. My first piece of advice would be to definately book in advance. We went on a Saturday night and the restaurant was packed with lots of diners. The decor is friendly and the fish tank is well worth a look at.
We started with Popadoms at 65p each which we had with the delicious pickle tray. Starters are priced from £2.50-£6.00. I had the Cheese and Onion Fritters which came with a side salad. They were a little spicy, but very tasty. Onto the mains now. I had been recommended to have the Pistachio Chicken Korma by a friend, which 3 of my fellow witches also had. It arrived in a copper pot and smelt delicious. I enjoyed this with Peshwari Naan and Rice. The mains are priced around £7.95-£12.00 mark.If you like your food very spicy there is the Balooshai Special. A couple of brave diners had this dish while we were there and as it came out sizzling, our eyes watered and we all started to cough. Not for the faint-hearted!
On the night that we visited, the staff were very busy and at times it took a little while for our dishes to arrive. But they arrived all at the same time and the staff apologised for any delay that we had. We had the loveliest waiter as well, who we all wanted to take home. He was very attentive and kind and I could see other staff helping other customers such as offering to book taxis. Huddersfield is blessed with many lovely Indian restaurants. I really enjoyed my visit to the Balooshai and look forward to visiting it again soon.For more information: http://www.balooshaihonley.co.uk/index.html
Jamie's Italian - 35 Park Row, Leeds
How happy we were when we found out that Jamie was opening a chain of Italian restaurants. Although there's always a little doubt when you hear that it's a chain and that it happens to be a celebrity chef.You can't help but question will the quality of the food be good? Will it be at a celebrity price?
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| Turkey Milanese |
messages and recommendations on the menus to the array of his cookbooks staring at you from the walls. The place is an atmospheric delight.On this visit we sampled a small but rather generous portion of Wild Rabbit Tagliolini (£6.75/£10.95); a special of Lamb Ravioli (£11.95); Jamie's Italian Burger (£10.95) and Jamie's Favourite Turkey Milanese (£12.95)stuffed with prosciutto and fontina cheese and served with truffles, a fried egg and a sprinkling of parmesan. We ordered sides of Funky Chips with garlic and parsley (£3.25) and Posh Chips with truffle oil and parmesan (£3.25).
Cocktails were a must and the staff were happy to create a Caprinha for us even though it wasn't on the menu, as well as refreshing non-alcoholic ginger mojitos for those of us who weren't drinking. Loosen your waist bands because desserts are too tempting to miss, we dug into a sumptuous Tiramisu and very naughty warm chocolate brownies with amaretto, raspberries and vanilla ice-cream. 
The food was prepared using fantastic ingredients and combining beautiful flavours, it was as though the man himself was in the kitchen cooking just for us. Jamie's Italian is too good to miss and with fantastic, attentive service and fair prices you really can't go wrong. We all had the urge to go back in and start all over again. Jamie Oliver and your team in Leeds thank you for making five women very happy...we'll definitely be visiting again.For more information visit http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/leeds
or for menus http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/food-menu
Argento's - John William Street, Huddersfield
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| Chicken with mustard sauce |
Argento's is an Argentine restaurant located in the centre of Huddersfield. The restaurant is a family run business serving up quality steaks that have been matured for sixty days. The restaurant offers a warm, friendly atmosphere and caters for all tastes, if you're not keen on steak then there's no need to panic...the menu caters for vegetarians and also offers fish dishes and chicken. On our visit we sampled the steaks, which were all cooked to our individual tastes and the chicken, which was chargrilled and served with mustard sauce and potato wedges. Our steaks arrived with potato wedges and a salad garnish. Side dishes were about £2.50 and we ordered the onion rings and a selection of vegetables, which were generous enough to share. The dessert menu was too tempting to miss and our crème caramels and toffee pancakes went down a treat. Argento's is a pleasant restaurant; our only grumbles would be that the service was a little unprofessional at times and the £1.50 charge for soda water with a slice of lime was atrocious! It's a little pricey and you do have to pay extra for side orders but if you're hungry for steak Argento's has the best choice...I mean where in Huddersfield could you cook a steak on a hot, volcanic rock?
Les Caveaux – Holmfirth
Les Caveaux Tapas bar and restaurant is located in the centre of Holmfirth, serving traditional and modern tapas style food. The restaurant consists of an upstairs restaurant bar offering lovely views of the pretty town of Holmfirth and a cellar bar which provides an intimate and cosy dining experience. We visited on a Friday night and the restaurant was full, so my tip would be to book well in advance for this popular restaurant!
The menu boasts a wide selection of tapas style food and is broken down into vegetarian, meat, fish and salad sections. We were advised to choose between 2 or 3 dishes per person depending on how hungry we were all feeling! If you can’t make a choice from this wide selection, then there is the Tapas Del Dia, a selection of dishes carefully chosen by the chef for £19.50 which is ideal for parties of more than 4 people. As we were feeling very hungry we opted for 3 dishes each and decided to try something from each section. Once you have selected your dishes, you write your order on a pad and the waiter will come and collect the order. This felt very novel and added to the fun, sharing aspect of tapas dining. 
Our dishes arrived quickly and were presented beautifully in rustic earthenware pots, each looking delicious. Tapas dining is great fun as with a wide array of dishes spread over the table, you can have a taste of each one and agree on your favourite. My personal favourite was the Chorizo and Potatoes with Tomatoes and Paprika, which still has my mouth watering even now! Between us we managed the grilled haloumi, patatas bravas, baked Portobello mushrooms with spinach, pine nuts and goats cheese, battered squid, meatballs in rustic tomato and pernod sauce, braised ox cheek and wild boar and apple sausage as well as a seafood paella. All were beautifully flavoured and delicious. 
If you have room, I would heartily recommend the desserts. After such a filling meal, we were in the mood for something a bit lighter and opted for meringues with Chantilly cream and berries. The meringues were homemade and were light and a perfect end to a delicious meal. Other desserts include chocolate brownie with toffee sauce, lemon tart and a selection of homemade ice-creams. Can’t make your mind up? Do what the friendly couple on the next table did and opt for the assiette of desserts, perfect if you want to try a little bit of everything. They thought the homemade lemon curd ice-cream was fabulous and had enjoyed each element very much. If you can’t face dessert, there is still a wide selection of teas and coffees to finish your meal with. The staff team created a lovely dining experience and were friendly and helpful at all times, from advising us of how many dishes to select and how to order, they also got it right about when to leave us for a good gossip and when to step in.
We heartily enjoyed Les Caveaux, it had beautiful views of Holmfirth, friendly, helpful staff and delicious food, (please do try the meringues) all in all it added up to a terrific, fun dining experience. Would I visit again –absolutely definitely!
Med One - Huddersfield  |
| Vegetarian Goulash |
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| Qatayef |
We paid £20 each for a shared starter, main course and dessert plus 1 bottle of house wine.
For sample menus and contact details visit: http://www.med-one.co.uk/
The Old Mill, Wakefield Road Brighouse
The Old Mill Restaurant is on Wakefield Road on the border of Brighouse and Huddersfield very close to the site where Robin Hood is believed to have been buried. As its name suggests it was once a working corn mill so the building is a very attractive stone construction. On stepping inside the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming. It felt warm and cosy after the dark and drizzly night we had just stepped in from. Authentic wooden beams and exposed stone give you a sense of its history while subtle paintwork ensures that it also feels modern.  |
| Duck breast |
With seasonal menus it offers a wide selection of dishes with its value for money menu and additional specials board. On our visit we sampled the Antipasti Platter, a delicious assortment of Italian cured meats, salad, olives, feta cheese, houmous, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a selection of breads. At just £9.95 for the four of us to share this was terrific value. Choosing a main course may prove difficult but with classic pub meals starting from as little as £7.95 you're certain to find something to suit your palate. We chose from the specials board a delightful Trio of Pork for £13.45, which included a giant pork cutlet, black pudding and sausage and a big dollop of neeps and tatties and Duck Breast served with roasted fig and spiced red cabbage, sweet potato mash and a black cherry and red wine sauce (£13.65). Desserts start from £2.95 and with hot apple pie, crumble of the day and a very naughty sticky toffee pudding just some of the puddings to choose from. You really will be spoilt for choice. The Old Mill is a lovely restaurant owned by Chef and Brewer, who are certainly on to a winner with their local feel pubs and menus that offer something different to your regular chain restaurant! The menu is well thought out and you get the fine dining experience without it feeling pretentious. Cosy fires, great service and a warm and friendly welcome make you feel like you are having a high quality meal at a friend’s house (that just happens to be a converted mill). All in all it was a great meal with fantastic service in a warm and relaxing atmosphere. So relaxing in fact that time slipped away and before we knew it, it was 11 o’clock; we had been at our table for over three hours. We had a very enjoyable evening in terms of both food and service and hearing the bar-man break into song at one point gave an impression of the overall friendliness of the place. I’m sure we’ll all return again soon.
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| Trio of Pork |
For more information and for sample menus visit http://www.chefandbrewer.com/pub-food/old-mill-brighouse/pid-S6818
The Woodman Inn - Thunderbridge
Take the winding country roads down to Thunderbridge and make sure that you pay a visit to the Woodman Inn in Kirkburton. Our visit exceeded all of our expectations, it was truly a fantastic dining experience that we all hope to repeat again. Our choices or Slow roasted belly pork with black pudding, winter vegetable mash and crispy crackling, roasted pheasant with duck fat roast potatoes and a stunning chestnut mushroom pie with hand cut chips and a dressed salad were all fantastic dishes and reasonably priced...expect to pay from between £10.95 and £15.95 for a main course and £5.95 for a pudding. Our puddings were delicious and we were spoilt for choice...the amaretto and chocolate pudding with white chocolate ice cream was a delight and the modern banana split was full of wonderfully gooey goodness. The Woodman Inn boasts fantastic food, friendly, attentive service and cosy country pub surroundings for great value for money...you won't be disappointed. We'll see you there.
for more information visit www.woodman-inn.co.uk
The Weavers - Golcar, Huddersfield
For more information visit www.theweavers.co.uk
The Rose and Crown - Thurstonland
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| Caviar of the North |
The Rose and Crown is a delightful English countryside pub, cosy and friendly it's the perfect place for a drink or to sample traditional British fayre. On our visit we were surprised at just how friendly and attentive the service was, we were made to feel welcome straight away. The atmosphere was buzzing and we were instantly made to feel at home. The food is fantastic and a bargain, we chose to have three courses for just £13.95...where possible all of the food is sourced locally and there's plenty of choice. We were served up an enormous portion of fish and chips, which in some restaurants you can expect to pay £13.95 for the one dish. Here we were also served creamy garlic mushrooms, a delicious thick vegetable soup and chicken liver parfait all of a generous portion size and for dessert a delightful sticky toffee pudding and raspberry tarts. The Rose and Crown is definitely worth a visit the atmosphere and service really made the evening for us. It's the perfect place if you're looking for a cosy, evening meal...greatfood at a bargain price. We loved it and we're sure that we'll be paying this charming pub another visit soon! The Gray Ox, Hartshead, Liversedge
The Gray Ox pub dates back to 1709 and occupies an elevated position with far-reaching views across Hartshead Moor. We shared a pre-starter bread board while we looked at the menu but at £1 per person I thought this was rather expensive for what amounted to one piece of bread and a couple of olives. Danielle was the only one to have a starter – with the prices of the main courses looking pretty expensive everyone else decided to skip the starter. She had chicken liver pate with tomato chutney and ciabatta toasts (£5.95) a delicious, smooth, light and very tasty start to the meal.
The mains were very pricey with inconsistent standard. The pan roast duck breast (£16.95) that two of our party ordered should have been served pink, as advised by the waitress, but it actually came to the table over-cooked and dry. The salmon fillet (£14.95) and pork fillet (£16.95) both arrived at the table with ingredients missing and instead of apologetically wishing to rectify the mistake, the staff did seem keener to establish whether they were really missing. No extra vegetables were brought out to accompany the meals but were available as side orders at £2.50.
Desserts are usually a big hit with most of our group but the ice cream, Eton mess and assiette of chocolate failed to impress this evening.
Some of the food was very tasty but some of it was very average and it really needed to be consistently top notch. The service could most certainly have been better; if service is good little mistakes can be forgiven far easier. The manner of the staff was so sullen and unhelpful that at times the atmosphere became quite uncomfortable.
The evening was a disappointment as we had heard good things, and maybe another visit would be a completely different experience, but I don’t know if any of us will be visiting again.
For More information visit http://www.grayoxinn.co.uk/welcome/
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The Foxglove is a cosy country pub and restaurant located in Kirkburton. It boasts a beautiful setting and has maintained many of its original features from when it was first built in 1864. It's quintessentially British; beamed ceilings and stone fire places make it the perfect place to cosy up in the winter or sit out in its attractive gardens when the British weather allows. The menu has a great selection of dishes to suit all appetites, which are surprisingly cheap...a mixed grill will set you back £13.95 whilst our choices of Duck Confit(£12.95), Summer Lamb Shank (£11.95) and Braised Belly Pork (£11.55) were great value for money. All of the dishes we chose were generously
served with vegetables and a choice
of potatoes and were beautifully cooked and presented. Save room for pudding, for a round five pounds they are well worth the treat, Kentish Apple Pie served with custard was a real winner for us but with Chocolate Brownie, Sicilian Lemon Sponge and a treacle tart with clotted cream on the menu it was hard to choose just one. The Foxglove is well worth a visit and at these prices combined with the excellent quality of the food and outstanding service it far exceeded our expectations. We can confidently say we will definitely be visiting again!
served with vegetables and a choice
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| A giant Duck Confit |
For more information or to see sample menus visit http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thefoxglovekirkburton/
The Three Acres, Shelley Huddersfield
The first thing that grabs our attention on arrival at the The Three Acres is the beautiful views and the feeling of being miles away from anywhere. Located almost at the foot of the Emley Moor Mast, The Three Acres is a cosy, friendly restaurant that looks more like your friendly, local pub than a restaurant of fine dining. The service is attentive and welcoming and instantly you feel relaxed and comfortable. It's clear from the number of people in the restaurant that The Three Acres is a well-loved restaurant and its buzzing atmosphere adds to the enjoyment of the experience. The menu is vast and you can choose from a wide range of dishes, Danielle's favourite is the hot seafood platter, which at about £29 is pricey but well worth it given the amount of food you are served. We're not kidding...the hot seafood platter takes over half of the table...your own private banquet. On our visit we sampled the duck, the pigeon and the enormous portion of traditional fish and chips (which is made a little bit more classy with a portion of ham hock mushy peas) but be warned the fish is about the size of Moby Dick! All of the dishes we sampled were beautifully cooked, with hidden surprises and generous portions...well worth the money in our opinion. You can expect to pay around £6-£12 for starters and about £16-£23 for mains. Puddings are an absolute must and are about £8 if you can squeeze one in...you must squeeze one in!
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| Christmas dinner at the 3 Acres |
Tip: The Three Acres is definitely worth a visit at Christmas. They serve a fantastic Christmas dinner, the restaurant is beautifully decorated and if you're lucky you'll be entertained by a brass band.
The Crossroads Inn, New Mill Holmfirth
The Crossroads Inn is located at a bend in the road on the descent into New Mill. We visited one cold, dark evening after hearing it was a friendly, family run pub serving good home-cooked pub grub, perfect for the Intellectual Dinner Club. On arrival we found there to be very little atmosphere, the restaurant area was very quiet with a handful of families quietly enjoying a quick tea time treat. The menu is typically pub grub with a wide selection of burgers, lasagne, pies and chilli con carne. As well as the main menu we found there was a good specials board with a wide selection of dishes including a small mixed grill at just £6.95, roasts and steak and ale pie. We sampled the steak and ale pie, which was slightly over salted, roast pork which came with all of the trimmings (including a crispy Yorkshire pudding) Hunter's chicken and a burger with chips and salad. Puddings start at around £2.95 and include hot apple pie with custard and sticky toffee pudding. The food is good value but very, very basic and some of the dishes were carelessly put together and didn't look particularly appetising when they arrived. If you're looking for very basic pub grub then The Crossroads Inn is the perfect place for a week night dinner...as my Dad often says "You couldn't eat at home for that price!" and with dishes starting from as low as £5.95 then this is definitely true of the Crossroads Inn. Tip: No need to reserve a table
