Ottolenghi’s Return to the Manor

A taste of the Mediterranean came to the Manor earlier this month, in the form of Ottolenghi’s (and Sammi Tamimi’s) Jerusalem book, which has just won best cookbook at the IACP cookbook awards. We ran events on both the Friday and Saturday nights, welcoming in 26 guests, some old, some new to our supperclub, keen to try some Israeli treats.

I think there is a perception that Ottolenghi’s cuisine is complicated, but I think what really puts people off is some of the hard to obtain ingredients – such as preserved lemons, sumac, z’ataar and pomegranate molasses. We got some ingredients online but we did find that supermarkets are getting much better at having diverse ranges for sale. Plus, I always think that cooking is all about making something with what’s locally available, so don’t feel afraid to substitute an ingredients if you need to. For example, maple syrup was used instead of date syrup in one of the recipes, simply because I knew that I probably wouldn’t use date syrup again. Just use what is accessible to you, you never know you might create a new taste sensation!

The Jerusalem book is a good introduction to Israeli food – from the melting pot of Jewish influenced cuisine to more traditional Palestinian fare. This is interspersed with accounts from Ottolenghi about his experiences of growing up in such a beautiful place, but one that is so plagued with political unsettle. It certainly makes it an intriguing place to visit one day.

We tried to pick a good range of morsels that people would expect to find on a middle eastern menu, but also those that may surprise and intrigue. The welcome drink was a vodka spiked pomegranate fizz with rose syrup. This was paired with canapés that included homemade falafel. These were filled with tons of lovely spices and, believe it or not, raw chickpeas. This ensured the texture was moist and light rather than dry and heavy. I love falafel and loved cooking these so may invest in a proper press. Also on offer were crostini with a vividly pink beetroot and zataar dip. This was full of complex flavours – sweetness from the beetroot and maple syrup; saltiness and intense savouriness from the z’ataar. The final canapé was a little lamb and pine nut koftas, seasoned with allspice and cinnamon (amongst other spices) and served it a smooth tahini and garlic sauce.

Wonderful Welsh Fodder

I had an impromptu trip to the North Wales coast this weekend. Without going into too much boring detail, I was all set for a holiday to the Basque country (I was packed and everything) when I realised my sodding passport had gone AWOL. I am now probably the leading expert in replacing passports in the whole of West Leeds. Needless to say travel to Spain had to be cancelled. Having said that I was all hyped up for a trip away and had no intention of returning to work, and so we picked a destination that was pleasant and close enough to the Liverpool passport office! The small saving grace was that the weather in Wales was actually far nicer than what was being forecast in our foreign destination, what a relief!

So, North Wales… land of castles, Anglesey salt, slate (for using as plates) and BLACK BOMBER CHEESE, mmmmmm. An unexpected foodie paradise I am sure you will agree. We kick started our weekend at the newly opened Welsh Farm Food Centre, housed in an old farm on the edge of Colwyn Bay. Beautifully renovated, it’s home to a massive farm shop, bee centre, tea room, restaurant, cookery school and overnight accommodation – lovely! I rinsed the farm shop buying local ales, mustard, honey, cheeses, biscuits, fudge and reasonably priced crockery. The meat counter also looked first class, but sadly we didn’t need any meat and so there seemed no point in browsing further if I couldn’t buy any.

Their Hayloft Restaurant is a bit of a destination dinner spot. It won’t get much footfall and so will rely on those who know that the farm shop exists. We decided to book for later in our trip after we’d visited the shop. As it’s all newly renovated the spaces are absolutely gorgeous and dripping in luxurious fabrics and furniture that reflect the colours and shapes of the natural world.  We perused our menus whilst sat in the quiet bar area. I ordered a local Welsh white wine to slurp as I chose. Unfortunately this was sold out so I went for a French counterpart, which was a bit disappointing. In hindsight I guess it’s the wrong time of year to expect local wine – especially after last year’s summer.

The Hayloft Bar

Lebanese Kitchen

Lebanese Kitchen

Saturday 21st September 2013, from 7pm, £30pp Sorry this event is now sold out

One of the newest additions to the Manor’s library is Salma Hage’s ‘Lebanese Kitchen’ and what a welcome addition it is too. This is the ultimate encyclopedic homage to Lebanese cuisine and is one of the most beautiful and tactile cookbooks we’ve ever owned.

Our Ottolenghi events always seem to be popular, perhaps because the food is still not that mainstream. We hope that this Lebanese event will be equally popular. As a very fertile land, Lebanon lends itself well to very seasonal produce of the freshest quality.

Think spicy falafels, comforting dips and juicy slow cooked meats with hints of earthy and spicy zataar and sumac. These are all ingredients we love cooking with at the Manor and which we can’t wait to bring back into our West Leeds Kitchen. Book on now to avoid disappointment!

Sorry, this event is now sold out

You may want to read our ‘what you need to know’ page for our terms and conditions.

Manor Vs Food!

Manor Vs Food

Saturday 17th August 2013, 7pm, £30pp Sorry this event is now sold out

Like many others we are huge fans of the cult American junk food show ‘Man Vs Food’. Its vulgar and gluttonous food challenges never fail to make us feel instantly hungry! Whilst we promise not to fill you to the point of explosion, nor burn your insides with chilli heat, what we do promise to do is to bring you classic Americana recipes from our favourite American cook books.

Manor vs Food, Manor vs Food!

For this event think juicy slow cooked BBQ meats, burgers & sliders, crunchy slaws, comforting mac ‘n’ cheese, and punchy sauces, mmmm it’s making us salivate now! As it’s our summer event we’ll be hoping to utilise the BBQ and make even get guests out in the garden, weather permitting. If you love big, bold food then this is the supperclub for you!

For your own slice of America in West Leeds, book now using the link below!

Sorry this event is now sold out

You may want to read our what you need to know page for our terms and conditions.

British Summer Afternoon Tea

British Summer Afternoon Tea

Saturday 6th July 2013, 3pm – 5pm, £20pp – now sold out

Having run a number of private afternoon tea events we’re now opening these up to other guests. We love any excuse for a good old baking session and we’ve recently put together a mismatched tea set and are keen to put it to further good use!

For the cheaper price of £20pp we’ll be offering 4 types of savoury, 4 types of sweet treat and a welcome cocktail on arrival. Think picnic sandwiches, fresh quiches, fruity cakes and creamy delicacies all served up in our shabby chic, Victoriana dining room. As always guests are encouraged to bring their own drinks, which we will embellish with a selection of fine teas and coffees. Use the link below to secure your space!

This event is now sold out

For our terms and conditions you may want to read our what you need to know page.

New dinner dates coming soon…

We’ve been having a great response to our supper clubs of late, from both guests old and new. We still love running our dining events, and whilst we still have this passion and people still want to dine with us, we’ll continue to put events on. As a result, we’re just putting the finishing touches to our next set of dates and will be releasing them for sale next week - keep your eyes peeled as they tend to sell out fast!

Our Booking System
We’re slightly changing the way in which people can book on to make it more simple and straightforward. Instead of paying a deposit at the time of booking, we’ll be asking guests to buy tickets up front for the dates that they want to come to. We hope that this will make the supperclub experience an easier one all round, as it means there’s no confusion over what balance needs to be paid prior to the event taking place.

What if I can no longer attend?
We know that lives are busy and so If you find that you can’t come after you have booked on, then so long as you let us know at least 3 weeks prior to the event happening then we will be able to refund your ticket price in full (minus a small admin fee that Paypal charges us).

If you notify us 2 weeks before the event then we’ll be able to refund 50% of the ticket price, and if it’s 1 week before the event then we will be unable to refund the ticket as we tend to have made orders to our suppliers by then, and we’re a small operation.

We are sorry but tickets are not transferable to other events as we can’t guarantee availability – our events tend to get fully booked far in advance.

Our commitment to you is that we have frozen our prices for our extravagant 6-course meals at £30pp. We think that’s a bargain as you get a fun night out and a free welcome drink thrown in!

To be the first in the queue for getting tickets to our events we strongly suggest that you subscribe to this blog. It’s a “Follow” link at the bottom of the screen and it means that you’ll get an email every time we write a new post. Similarly if you use Twitter then follow as @dine_leeds and we’ll tweet about new events!

French Fodder!

Last month was our Rachel Khoo inspired French event. We’ve now done a few events using recipes from the ‘Little Paris Kitchen’ book, including a private supperclub and an afternoon tea. We like Rachel’s peasant style recipes paired with her stunning patisserie (she trained as a pattisiere). We found that the recipes don’t always work, as Rachel cooks in such a small oven at home where she created her recipes, and so we had to test everything thoroughly in advance.

Our guests were welcomed with a classic Kir royale, it couldn’t be any other cocktail for a French theme could it?! These were joined by canapes of lettuce cups, filled with crunchy nicoise style veg, creamy egg and lemony dressing; quail egg mini croque madame muffins (now a firm Manor favourite!); and crostini topped with a fresh and punchy ratatouille. Our amouse bouche was shots of Rachel’s creamy potato and cauliflower soup. This soup can be served hot or cold and the cauliflower makes it the silkiest soup I’ve ever tasted.

Vegtastic!

One of my surprise favourite books from last year was River Cottage’s homage to veg, which was headed by a healthy eating campaign that saw a very svelte and wholesome Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall appear from nowhere! The book is a lovely one to work with, full of lots of colourful photography, making veg look fun and innovative. We always try and cater for all dietary needs but do like to put a full on veggie event at least once a year. Having said that around only 2 of our 14 guests were official full-time vegetarians, which says a lot for how far veggie food has come in the last 20 years. As a recovering vegetarian myself I eat meat-free often and so putting together a full menu of veggie delights was a pleasure rather than a chore. We also had a gluten-free guest and so, on the whole, tried to pick things that she could eat with the whole group rather than single her out.

Our guests were welcomed with a rustic blackberry mule cocktail. This was a sweet and tangy concoction that included blackberry puree, homemade blackberry vodka, lime juice and ginger beer. Our canapes, rustled up by Susie, included moreish mini potato and swede pasties. These were spiked with tangy mature cheddar cheese and came encased in Susie’s homemade buttery puff pastry. Next up were crostini topped with Cambodian wedding dip which is a bizarre but extremely tasty spread made from mushrooms, coconut milk, spices and peanut butter (amongst other things). It was warm and spicy and extremely comforting to eat. The final canape was a mini cup of parsnip and ginger soup, this was velvety and full of warmth from the ginger.

Dish of the day

I went to a fab new restaurant last night - Dish on Great George Street, which brings modern British dining to the Electric Press in Leeds. It’s housed in what has been a noodle/sushi bar and a tapas/ wine bar in recent years and is now a cosy restaurant of about 10-15 tables.

We were lured in by the good value pre theatre menu which had some exciting sounding options to choose from. I opted for a starter of saffron macaroni cheese with aged parmesan and tallegio. The saffron gave it in obvious muskiness and the stinky cheeses helped the comforting dish feel decadent. Topped with a crispy crumb crust it was the perfect dish for a wet and windy evening.

My main course was a slow roast chunk of belly pork with bean and bacon cassoulet and fennel and chilli black pudding – porktastic! Every single element of this dish was stunning. The pork meat was soft and tender but topped with perfectly crispy crackling. The black pudding was out of this world, crumbly and full of unusual flavour from the spicing – I was impressed that it was homemade as well, amazing! What’s more the dish was finished off with a shard of even more crunchy crackling. It was a real treat dish for a tepid Tuesday!

The pre theatre menu is very flexible, you can pay for as much or as little as you want to eat. I opted for the £16.50 for three courses, although I could have upgraded for £3 to get a glass house wine (we decided to choose our own wine as the list was very promising). My dessert was a sweet and chewy treacle tart with an unusual cherry cream. My dining partner opted for lashings of Yorkshire Blue cheese with all the trimmings, which I was very jealous of!

When we first arrived the restaurant was more or less empty. Reassuringly as our meal progressed each table filled up. No doubt groupon is encouraging new people to try, which is no bad thing for a new venture. I have to say that I was more than impressed by all the homemade food, it was a refreshing change to a lot of the chains that Leeds is filling up with at the moment. With independents closing down all over the shop (Dock Street Market being the most recent) we really do have to support these local businesses in times of hardship, otherwise our high streets will be empty and boring. Anyway, there’s no excuse with Dish as the food is pretty darned good. I’m sure next time I pop down I’ll be fighting for a table!

The pre theatre menu runs most evenings from 5pm to 7pm. A good lunch and snack menu is served from 12pm to 2.30pm. Check out the website for more details. http://dishdining.co.uk/

Sunshine on a snowy day!

Last Friday night Dinner at the Manor enjoyed a long overdue visit to the supperclub at Chapel Allerton’s Sunshine Bakery. We know owner and head chef Dave from him visiting our supperclub in the past and have been hearing brilliant things about his tasty food at bargain prices.

For those of you who haven’t visited the bakery by day it’s a cute, bijou, vintage dining room with antique tables and chairs crammed in amongst retro crockery and chintsy doilies. It was a very welcoming place from the prolific snow falling outside!

The supperclub set up at Sunshine is a bit like an alternative restaurant. They don’t have a licence so you can bring your own wine, but you’re sat at your own tables rather than one big communal one. There were 3 choices for starters and main courses and then coffees, cupcakes and brownies for dessert.

My starter was a brilliant garlic mushrooms dish, which came full of creamy flavour atop a crispy and chewy bun. This bore no resemblance to the dreary pub classic – it was absolutely delicious and extremely filling! Susie went for the chicken terrine which was moist and full of smokiness from the bacon.

All of the main courses sounded amazing but without any faltering doubt I went for the leg of lamb cooked with garlic and olives and served with roasted carrots and potato dauphinoise. The lamb was super soft and melt in the mouth. The strong flavours of the garlic and olive gave it a lovely modern punch. The dauphnoise were luxuriously creamy and the roasted carrots were served elegantly in halves and had been roasted to perfection. It was a generous portion but I scoffed it all down! Susie opted for the sea bass with artichokes, sautéed potatoes, spinach and sweet potato purée. The fish was perfectly cooked and melt in the mouth and was complimented perfectly by the accompanying vegetables.

We didn’t have much room left but for dessert we were treated to some of Dave’s baked goods. I had the crunchie brownie whilst Susie had the mint Aero. Both were deliciously moist, rich and full of cocoa – a lovely way to end a meal on a cold snowy night!

The best thing about the meal was the price, which at £15 for 2 courses for top quality and tasty grub is unbelievable value. It’s probably just as well I live in a less glamorous suburb of Leeds otherwise I’d be at the Sunshine Bakery every night! The atmosphere is a calm and warm one. It’s obvious that the food takes centre stage with no need for pretentious frou-frou. We’ll certainly be back, thanks Dave!

Sunshine Bakery
182 Harrogate Road, Allerton, Leeds