Leeds Indie Food: What to see and do

Feature by Jess Hardiman | 06 May 2016

Taking over Leeds in May, Leeds Indie Food festival returns for its biggest ever edition. We select some of the highlights at this year's event, from edible art show City of Cake to special supper clubs and the caffeine-powered Coffee Social. 

One of the best food and drink festivals that the North has to offer, Leeds Indie Food returns 12-30 May to celebrate the city's thriving independent culture through an exciting programme of exhibitions, pop-ups, markets, film screenings, supper clubs and more. Like, loads more.

From buildings made out of cake and a Trip Advisor-inspired supper club to – ahem – blindfolded cupping, we’ve picked out our highlights.

Art meets food

It wouldn’t be Leeds Indie Food without a strong nod towards the artistic realm, and this year a collective of the ‘fiercest female foodies and artists’ have teamed up for Women | Art | Food, an exhibition seeking to celebrate the female talent of the city with works by Sarah Abbott, Buttercrumble, Krystina Chapman, Suzie Cichy, Laura Hudson, Sarah Harris, Hashtag House, Aimee Sullivan, Rachel Sedman and Georgina Wager.

The exhibition run will be interspersed with kitchen takeover events from the likes of That Old Chestnut, Mama’s Girls, Georgina Wager and Catherine James. 12-25 May, 10am-6pm (closed Sundays), The Gallery at Munro House, free

[Mama's Girls supper club. Photo: Luke Hannaford]

For a touch of the playful, check out edible art show City of Cake, which sees The Gallery at Munro House team up with foodie sculptors The Tattooed Bakers for an immersive treat. The walk-through installation will feature some of Leeds’ most iconic buildings crafted entirely from cake, meaning that you can not only have your cake and eat it, but also salute some of the city’s fine architecture while you’re at it. 14-20 May, 11am-6pm (launch event 13 May 7-9pm), Trinity Leeds, free

Supper clubs and pop-ups

Always a popular strand of the festival, the line-up of pop-up restaurants, kitchen takeovers and tasting events is also looking big this year.

Leeds-based food blogger Cous Cous Bang Bang (aka Thom Archer) camps out for the evening at Grub and Grog Shop for Turning Tables, a charity supper club featuring five mysterious courses inspired by Trip Advisor Leeds’ Top 10. Genius. 23 May, Grub and Grog Shop, 7pm, £30

Chef Brett Barnes returns to his hometown with Thornback, a canalside pop-up restaurant created especially for the festival, with a rather tempting seafood-focused tasting menu that draws on his experience cooking for Mark Hix and at Sweden’s finest, wildest retreat, Faviken. Things kick off with a Seashore Martini (a seashore effing Martini!), so it looks like it's flavour ahoy from the second you arrive. 12-15 May, Leeds Dock, 7.30pm, £sold out, but there may be returns

And it’s from Scandi rusticism to Nordic elegance with a Norre kitchen takeover collab between Laynes’ Carl Fleischer and The Brunswick, promising a Copenhagen-inspired tasting menu that’s vegetable-focused without compromising on the meat – ideal for an age where most of us have finally realised it doesn’t take half a cow to get your fill. 17-19 May, The Brunswick, 6pm, £39

[Carl Fleischer. Photo: Ross Featherstone]

Food waste warriors The Real Junk Food Project will also be taking to Armley Junk-tion for a Vegan Best Before Bistro, a special dinner with wild food forager Craig Worrall (from Edible Leeds) and That Old Chestnut’s Elly Robinson, who’ll be raising money for Simon on the Streets. 14 May, Armley Junk-tion, 7pm, pay as you feel

Coffee

[North Star coffee. Photo: Giles Smith]

We all love getting our buzz from the bean these days, so discover the best that Leeds has to offer with Leeds Coffee Social, a celebration of the city’s independent coffee scene.

Throughout the day, North Star, Maude, Dark Woods, Pump n Grind, Laynes, Bottega Milanese, Casa Espresso and Cumbria’s Bruce n Luke’s will all be under one roof showcasing what they do, along with ticketed tastings, events and workshops – including a blindfolded cupping session, which, despite sounding way saucy, will let you sample speciality coffees from around the world. 21 May, Cafe 164 at Munro House, 10am, free

A few days later, join Dan Saul Pilgrim as he launches Coffee Shop: North, a new visual-led book celebrating the North’s indie coffee scene with 13 essays and photography by Justin Slee, whose work will be also be exhibited at the event. 26 May, Colours May Vary, 6pm, free

Markets

[Brandon Street Night Market. Photo: Jessie Leong]

May welcomes another Brandon Street Night Market at Canal Mills, but this time with a special Leeds Indie Food twist as cocktail maestros Hedonist Project throw a whole lotta rum into the mix. The market will also feature the Rum Shack, Jenny’s Jerk Chicken, Pizza Fella and Northern Bloc, along with the usual craft beer, live art and DJs. 13 May, Canal Mills, 5pm, free

Then, it's time for Leeds Feast to close the festival in the only way that feels right: with a huge blowout of street food from Honest Crust, Mac Shac, Chaat Cart, Mei Mei’s Street Cart, Holy Crab, Dough Boys, Bangers and Bacon, Poffertjes King, Ginger’s Comfort Emporium, Banh Mi Booth and many more, spread across Belgrave Music Hall, Headrow House (including its roof terrace, we should add) and North Brewing Co. 28-29 May, various venues, 11am, free

[Banh Mi Booth at Leeds Feast. Photo: Tom Joy]

Booze

Sipsmith Gin will be hosting a cocktail tasting event at The Maven, where you’ll get to find out about the history and evolution of the spirit through the decades while sampling some of the good stuff – though if you’re not after the spiel, you can simply enjoy the special gin menu throughout the festival. 28 May, The Maven, 6.30pm, £30

Tickets for Tour de Gueuze with Belgium’s esteemed Guezuerie Tilquin may have all been snapped up, but if it’s beer on your brain then you can get yourself pumped for the upcoming Leeds Beer Week, which launches with a party at Northern Monk ahead of its brand new annual festival. Grab a free half, before finding out what’s in store for the celebration later this year. 26 May, Northern Monk Refectory, 7pm, free

[Northern Monk]

But, of course, the main highlight of Leeds Indie Food’s tipple territory is arguably Keg Vs Cork, a new addition for 2016, billing itself simply and effectively as ‘a celebration of booze’.

The mini festival will welcome bars from Bundobust, The Reliance, North Bar, Tall Boys Beer Market, Northern Monk, Latitude Wine, Sheaf St. Cafeteria, a pop-up from Aperol and Campari, plus drink-along film screenings of oenophile favourite Sideways and Richard Linklater’s 1993 slacker flick Dazed and Confused. 20-21 May, Sheaf St. Cafeteria, 6pm Friday, 12pm/6pm Saturday, £8.50


Leeds Indie Food, 12-30 May 

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