Reviews

Brunch at North Star Roast, Leeds

Best Brunches in Leeds City Centre

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Brunch has become my favourite meal – it has most of the same food and drink elements I love about breakfast, but without the requirement of getting up early in order to enjoy it. For me there’s no better way to start the weekend than rolling out of bed after a lovely lie-in and catching up with friends over pancakes, bacon and endless refills of tea and coffee.

There no shortage of choices if you’re looking for brunch in Leeds, but if you’re indecisive (like me) so many options can just make it harder to choose. So where can you find the best brunches? These are my five favourite places in city centre to get a brunch that sets me up for the weekend. Continue reading →

Book Reviews | June 2017

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As some of you may know, I’m currently doing a reading challenge to read 40 books in a year, after falling way short of my 52 books target last year. To be honest this year is going pretty abysmally too – at the halfway point of the year I’ve read 14 books, about 6 behind schedule, so I have some catching up to do if I’m going to make it to 40 by the end of the year.

In the meantime, this is my 6-month mark review of the best books I’ve read in the last three months (yes I know it’s a bit late – I’ve been busy!). And what I have lacked in quantity, I have certainly made up for in quality… Continue reading →

Tapas at Ambiente, Leeds

6 Leeds Restaurants I Always Go Back To

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When you live somewhere for a while, even a big city with countless culinary options, you find yourself wandering back to the same places for your dinners, your morning coffees and your after-work drinks. Sometimes I feel guilty for doing it, like I’m being incredibly dull and unimaginative returning to the same restaurants when there are currently new places popping up in Leeds almost every week. Surely I should be trying to get reservations for that launch night, or clamouring to be the first person in the new bar everyone’s talking about?

But there are some places that deserve repeat custom. When you’re in a rush, stressed from a long day or nervously heading out for a promising date, there’s something undeniably comforting about sitting down and knowing that, whatever else happens, you’re going to get a great meal. Here are the restaurants in Leeds I go back to again and again. Continue reading →

Certificate from Barista Class at 200 Degrees North

4 Fun Classes to Take in Leeds

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Do you ever miss your school days? No, me neither. But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss learning, having all that dedicated time when you were not only encouraged but expected to be filling your brains with new skills and information. But learning doesn’t have to stop when you leave school – here are just a few of the ways you can pick up a new talent and have loads of fun along the way. Continue reading →

52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge

52 Books Reading Challenge: 9-Month Review

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I’m now nine months into my ‘read 52 books in 52 weeks’ challenge, and I’m still a million miles behind reaching my target but I am so happy that it’s pushed me to dedicate more of my spare time to reading. I’m also really pleased with the book choices I made in the past three months; in my 6-month review I felt like I struggled to find even five books to talk about that I’d really enjoyed, but recently I’ve loved almost everything I’ve picked up. Here are my thoughts on some of my favourite books from the past three months. Continue reading →

Hake at Iberica Leeds

An Evening at Iberica Leeds

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Last Wednesday I was invited by Emma to be her plus one for an event at Iberica, a fairly new tapas restaurant on East Parade that’s drawn a lot of attention on social media for having the most beautiful bathrooms in Leeds. While I’d heard a lot of praise about the toilets, initial reviews I’d read of the food were not that enthusiastic, but a few weeks ago my Spanish housemate mentioned that she’d been with her parents and thought the dishes were excellent. I figured she ought to know, so I was thrilled to be able to try it out myself. Continue reading →

Why Ghostbusters Is The Film All Little Girls Need To See

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On Saturday night, I went to the cinema for the first time in god-knows-how-long, handing over the extortionate amount of cash Vue now charges and settling down with a knot in the pit of my stomach and one thought running through my mind.

“Please be good.”

Why? Because I was here to see the new Ghostbusters, which was subjected to huge amounts of criticism, outrage and downright vitriol online after it was announced that the cast would be played by *gasp* women. Legions of whiny men took to the internet to claim that their childhoods would be ruined, apparently sparing no thought for all the girls and women who have grown up accustomed to their gender being sidelined in film since the dawn of Hollywood. I was lucky enough to have a fairly gender-neutral upbringing, but I’ve still put up with years of seeing my gender reflected back at me as one-dimensional, hyper-sexualised secondary characters. I wanted Ghostbusters to be the anti-thesis of all these lazy character profiles, but I also really wanted it to simply be a good film. Continue reading →

Gin and tonic at Old Tom's Gin Kitchen, Leeds

Review: Old Tom’s Gin Kitchen at The Hedonist Project

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This is just going to be a short appreciation post about my new favourite haunt – The Hedonist Project’s latest incarnation, Old Tom’s Gin Kitchen. I love their idea of a ‘permanent pop-up’; a bar that always exists in the same place but can look completely different from one visit to the next, but their winter venture, a Whisky Parlour, was unavailable to me due to me really, really hating whisky. Gin, on the other hand, is my drink of choice, and I’m already hooked on Old Tom’s. Continue reading →

52 Books Reading Challenge: 3-Month Review

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At the start of the year I was determined to kick start my reading habits, and set myself a challenge to read 52 books in 2016. Rather than being a target that I’ll race to hit, I’m treating the challenge as a way of reminding myself to always have a book on the go, and to read more widely.

As we reach the 3-month mark, I’m looking back at how I’m doing and what my favourite books have been. I’m currently 2 books behind schedule due to one long and challenging read, but I’m catching up fast and am feeling much better about the amount of time I’m committing to reading instead of aimlessly scrolling Twitter or watching Netflix. These are the books I’ve most enjoyed in the first 3 months. Continue reading →

A Lunch Break at The Weather Cafe

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This week, I had one of the most relaxing and therapeutic lunch hours of my life, returning to work so chilled out my colleagues were actually unnerved and cautiously asked if I was ok. So what had I been doing? Getting a massage? Smoking a joint? No – I’d spent my lunch at the Weather Cafe, a pop-up cafe/art installation on the Headrow.

The Weather Cafe, Leeds

Information about the Weather Cafe has been infuriatingly sparse until now, with press releases and the website putting out intriguing soundbites like ‘immersive experience’ and ’emotional climate of the city’ without really giving away any details. The cloak and dagger approach completely worked on me – I couldn’t wait to go along and see what it was all about. Continue reading →