Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in West Yorkshire
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best West Yorkshire restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 44 restaurants in West Yorkshire and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing West Yorkshire restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured West Yorkshire Restaurants
1. Sukhothai
Thai restaurant in Leeds
8 Regent St - LS7
2022 Review: Feedback remains limited but remains very positive for this Chapel Allerton Thai (part of a local group), which hits twenty years old in 2022.
2. Prashad
Indian restaurant in Leeds
137 Whitehall Rd - BD11
“So good my partner does not know it’s vegetarian after several visits!” – Bobby and Minai Patel’s former pub is nowadays one of our annual diners’ polls most commented-on Yorkshire destinations thanks to “outstanding multi-layered and spiced food” that “even your carnivorous friends will love, as it has so much flavour”. “It’s just outside of Bradford city itself and can get busy, so it’s worth making a reservation”.
3. Tharavadu
Indian restaurant in Leeds
7- 8 Mill Hill - LS1
“You’d walk past and miss the food if you didn’t know about it” – this highly popular Keralan is “one of the best restaurants in Leeds” and “a must-try” if you like south Indian cuisine. (“We heard that this is where Virat Kohli and his wife choose to eat when there’s a Test Match in Leeds. If it’s good enough for Kohli, it‘s certainly good enough for us! We had an excellent meal here in April 2024, buzzy atmosphere, the best Masala Dosa we’ve eaten since visiting India. Waiting staff all delightful – an all-round wonderful experience”). Now after 10 years of operation, they are on the expansion trail having taken over a top-floor space elsewhere in the city that can seat 350.
4. Fleur Restaurant and bar
restaurant in Leeds city centre
Inside the lights - LS1
Award-winning Master Chef Finalist, Great British Menu-famed chef Bobby Geetha and Team provides a stunning contemporary British cuisine inspired by world flavours.Fléur Restaurant was the finalist for best Brunch in Leeds. Reviewed as Top 3 best Bottomless...
5. Tattu
Chinese restaurant in Leeds
29 East Parade, Minerva House - LS1
This branch of a glitzy Manchester-based group closed down for several weeks last summer for an overhaul of its decor to combat too much copycatting by rivals of its super-successful Insta-friendly looks. It looks like it worked: the “lovely ambience” was singled out for praise in our survey this year – and the mashup of Chinese and Japanese cuisines earned consistently good ratings (if with the occasional accusation of “style over substance”).
6. Aagrah
Indian restaurant in Leeds
St Peter’s Sq - LS9
“They always go the extra mile” according to fans of this city-centre outpost of Yorkshire’s nine-strong chain of well-regarded curry houses – a family-run business established in 1977.
7. Sukhothai
Thai restaurant in Leeds
15 South Parade - LS1
“Consistently good food and service” again wins praise for this city-centre branch of Ban Kaewkraikhot’s small Yorkshire chain of glam-looking Thai eateries (although the odd reporter finds its approach “formulaic”). The business started in Chapel Allerton, but this is now the flagship, boasting a 200+ dish à la carte menu.
9. Akbar’s
Indian restaurant in Bradford
1276 Leeds Rd - BD3
This “buzzy, busy” subcontinental started out here as a tiny 28-seater, but its waistline has expanded over the years in sync with what is now a ten-strong national chain (the most recent offshoot of which, opened in early 2024, is the flagship of Blackburn’s £50m Cultural Quarter). The “seriously yummy food” (“always cheers us up!”) features epic naans, baltis and a special section of old-school classics; if you can’t get enough of it, try the ‘Chef’s Challenges’: the quantitative ‘For the Big Man’ and qualitative ‘For the Brave’ (you face a plate ‘hotter than a dragon’s breath’). Breaking news… RIP the founder of the chain, Shabir Hussain, who passed away aged 56 in October 2024.
10. Brook’s
British, Modern restaurant in Brighouse
6 Bradford Rd - HD6
“An airy space with unusual dishes and great cooking” – this comfortable independent opposite the civic hall scored highly in this year’s annual diners’ poll. The focus is on small plates, some of them very original: who’s for ‘honey, soy and gochujang roast carrots, toasted sesame, with tahini satay’?
11. Mumtaz
Indian restaurant in Bradford
386-410 Great Horton Rd - BD7
“Whether it’s a quiet meal for two or a large family celebration, it’s always a treat” to eat at this Bradford institution, which has grown over 45 years from a tiny Kashmiri shop into a vast restaurant accommodating 500 guests. Founder Mumtaz Khan based his original menu on his mother’s recipes, and has entertained guests including the late Queen. He now has a branch in Leeds, a national brand of ready meals and a halal baby food brand with global sales.
12. Shibden Mill Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Halifax
Shibden Mill Fold - HX3
“Lovely surroundings and great traditional food” have won a large fan club for this well-known former mill, which has ‘only’ been a pub since 1890. “Nestled in a valley in West Yorkshire, it caters to those wanting something a little extra-special and those loving traditional Yorkshire value” with “elevated pub cooking”. It’s a particular favourite for those who stay the night.
13. The Owl
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Lockside. Mustard Approach, Mustard Wharf - LS1
A report of “the best meal of the last year” is indicative of the quality of the food at this modern canalside venture in the city centre, which originally opened five years ago at Kirkgate Market. Chef Mark Owens, who trained at Le Gavroche and was head chef at the Box Tree, sends out a souped-up gastropub menu featuring the likes of beef & oyster sausages. Founder Liz Cottam closed her flagship restaurant, Home, last year.
14. Sous le Nez en Ville
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Quebec Hs, Quebec St - LS1
This “very Gallic” and “traditional basement bistro” in the city’s financial district is just the job for schmoozing clients over a boozy lunch. Founded by Robert Chamberlain and Andrew Carter in 1991, “nothing has changed for many years” – “we weren’t there for business, but judging by the loud conversations around us there were plenty of others who were”.
15. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Leeds
6 Mill Hill - LS1
“Still innovating despite being an old hand in this space” – this ‘OG’ of the successful, small northern group combining “great, cheap Indian veggie street food” with craft beer in a lively setting has spawned siblings in Liverpool and Leeds (although its Birmingham branch did not endure and closed in July 2024). “Tremendous even for meat eaters so long as you have an open mind!”
16. Iberica
Spanish restaurant in Leeds
Hepper House, 17a East Parade - LS1
“Decent tapas for the price” – with “all the usual suspects (patatas bravas, padron peppers, tortilla, croquettas)” – win praise for this Hispanic quartet, now well into their second decade. These days the cooking is reckoned “competent”, if “not up to the earlier standards” – perhaps a reflection of improved competition. Top Menu Tip – “it’s worth checking out the vegetable dishes” (“with some left-field options for the adventurous; the beetroot with coffee was great!”)
17. Crafthouse, Trinity Leeds
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Level 5 - LS1
2022 Review: This large, smart and impressive venue from D&D London, on the fifth floor of the new Trinity Leeds shopping centre, is enclosed in floor-to-ceiling windows with great views over the city, oak and marble interiors and an open kitchen. The cooking is generally considered “good” or better, with a decent set menu as well as more lavish à la carte and tasting menu options.
18. MEATliquor
Burgers, etc restaurant in Leeds
Bank St - LS1
“Ambience is not key when you just want to stuff your face!” – you “just get a great dirty burger” at these tongue-in-cheek diners, whose signature offering is the ‘Dead Hippie’. Founded 16 years ago from the back of a truck by Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis, at the time a technician with the English National Ballet, it now has 15 London outlets and a national delivery operation.
19. Rosa's Thai Cafe
Thai restaurant in Leeds
Upper Dining Terrace, Trinity Leeds, Albion Street - LS1
2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.
20. Art’s
Caribbean restaurant in Leeds
42 Call Lane - LS1
2021 Review: In its 25th year, this nineties survivor near the Corn Exchange has weathered various ups-and-downs over the years, and remains one of the town’s better-known locations. The odd sceptic feels it’s “OK, but nothing special” nowadays, but fans declare it “back on form with a new menu that really hits the spot”.
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