Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Headingley
Hardens guides have spent 34 years compiling reviews of the best Headingley restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 59 restaurants in Headingley and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Headingley restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Headingley Restaurants
1. 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...
2. Aagrah
Indian restaurant in Leeds
St Peter’s Sq - LS9
2024 Review: “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.
3. Prashad
Indian restaurant in Leeds
137 Whitehall Rd - BD11
“Legend!” – “Flavours you just don’t get anywhere else” help inspire fans of Bobby & Minai Patel’s extremely popular converted pub, which remains one of the most commented-on Yorkshire destinations in our annual diners’ poll thanks to its “amazing veggie curries and beautifully presented side orders”. The meat-free dishes are derived from North West Indian recipes and primarily of Gujarati inspiration.
4. 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.
5. The Lantern Room, Manor House Lindley
British, Modern restaurant in Huddersfield
The Manor House, 1 Lidget Street - HD3
Part of a Georgian-style hotel (originally built as an impressive pile for a local mill owner), this small (11 bedroom) hotel incorporates a restaurant, whose striking contemporary light fitting and bare-brick walls provide a modern contrast to the heritage associations of the period exterior. We didn’t receive quite enough reports on its 8-10 course tasting menus for £85 per person (there’s a simpler Sunday Lunch menu), but one reporter says this is an “excellent hotel restaurant with outstanding food” and it has a cut-above rating from the AA of three rosettes.
6. Sukhothai
Thai restaurant in Leeds
15 South Parade - LS1
“For a consistently great night out” fans still tip the flagship city-centre branch of Ban Kaewkraikhot’s local Thai group, which started in Chapel Allerton and which also has a branch in Harrogate. It’s a lavishly furnished two-floor venue with a huge, 200+ item menu.
7. Tharavadu
Indian restaurant in Leeds
7- 8 Mill Hill - LS1
“You are transported straight to Kerala with the depth of flavors, impeccable service, and warm, welcoming atmosphere” at this eleven-year-old Leeds favourite, which is in the top-20 most commented on destinations in our annual diners’ poll outside London (although “as your last edition said, you’d walk past it if you did not know about it”). “With South Indian cuisine still under-represented in many UK cities, Tharavadu not only fills this gap but sets a gold standard for authenticity and execution, so it’s no surprise that it’s frequently hailed as one of the best Indian restaurants in the North”. “Service is polished yet personal” and “the team seem to take genuine pride in explaining the dishes, and recommending pairings”. It’s a “comfortable” place too with a “great atmosphere, as it’s packed out”. This year, they opened a sibling called Uyare – see also. Top Menu Tip – “The dosas are among the best you’ll find outside of India – crispy, golden, and generously filled, whether you opt for the classic Masala Dosa or the indulgent Cheese & Chilli Uthappam. The Meen Pollichathu, a Kerala-style fish dish wrapped in banana leaves, is an absolute must-try, showcasing the kitchen’s ability to balance bold spices with subtle, aromatic undertones. Vegetarians are spoilt for choice too, with standout dishes like the Kadala Curry (black chickpea in a rich, coconutty sauce) and the Avial, a delicately spiced mixed-vegetable curry that feels both wholesome and indulgent”.
8. Tattu
Chinese restaurant in Leeds
29 East Parade, Minerva House - LS1
With its dramatic, Insta-friendly looks, it would be easy to dismiss this supremely glossy venue – part of a group originating in Manchester – as ‘just another pretty face’. Its mashup of Chinese and Japanese cuisine is respectably rated, however, and it’s also highlighted as “a great place for brunch”.
9. Sukhothai
Thai restaurant in Harrogate
17-19 Cheltenham Pde - HG1
“Thai cooking of the same standard as the country’s best”, all served in a “busy and friendly” environment wins consistently all-round praise for this popular outpost of Ben Kaewkraikhot’s small Yorkshire group (which started in Chapel Allerton in 2002).
11. The Tannin Level
British, Traditional restaurant in Harrogate
5 Raglan St - HG1
“Very enjoyable tasty food and friendly service” underpin a formula that’s won enduring success for this stalwart cellar in the lower ground floor of a solid Victorian mansion which celebrates its 40th year in 2025. The traditional-ish cuisine aims for ‘Yorkshire on a plate’ and the sensibly priced and focused menu covers all bases, including a selection of steaks.
12. Salvo’s
Italian restaurant in Leeds
115 & 107 Otley Road - LS6
“Always great”, this stalwart Italian has been delivering pizza, pasta and Sicilian specials since the 1970s, when the former cost just 70p, and was seen as an exotic treat. In 2023, John & Gip Dammone, who’d long since taken over the reins from their father Salvatore, finally sold up, going on to receive MBEs for their services – and happily the new owners – also brothers, symmetrically – haven’t messed with the formula at what is a deserved Leeds legend.
13. Zucco
Italian restaurant in Leeds
603 Meanwood Road - LS6
This “relentlessly excellent” family-run spot on “an anonymous corner in Meanwood” is “starting to get the attention it deserves” as “a place where a kind of magic can be experienced in plates of delightful Italian food”. “Russell Norman lives on in north Leeds!” – a reference to the late founder of Brutto and before that Polpo in London, where Rosario Leggiero worked before opening Zucco with his chef brother Michael over a decade ago. Michael’s wife Clare is also part of the team, and their sons Matteo & Joe are being groomed to take the reins.
14. Fuji Hiro
Japanese restaurant in Leeds
45 Wade Ln - LS2
2022 Review: “It’s still got it serving top noodles!” – this well-established Japanese canteen in the Merrion Centre continues to please its small but ardent local fan club.
15. Sous le Nez en Ville
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Quebec Hs, Quebec St - LS1
A lot of business has been done over “lovely food, very well served” at this Leeds institution – a classic French restaurant that’s “been going forever” (well, since 1991 – “I don’t think the menu has changed but it’s really nice food for a business lunch or dinner”). Founded by restaurateur Robert Chamberlain and executive chef Andrew Carter, who still run the show, it occupies a basement in the city’s financial district. Top Tip – the heavyweight wine list runs to 70 pages.
16. Zaap
Thai restaurant in Leeds
16 Grand Arcade - LS1
This “top Thai street-food chain” started life a decade ago at this “buzzing” location where, unusually, you dine (on “good-value” and “vibrant” noodles, bao buns and curries) in a tuk-tuk. Given the fact it’s modelled on a Bangkok market, it’s appropriately “noisy” and “you can’t linger as the turnover is fast”; but, by all accounts, once you brave such challenges (and the queue) it’s “great fun”. In summer 2025, the northern mini-empire spawned an eighth branch, on Manchester’s Lincoln Square.
17. Wen's
Chinese restaurant in Leeds
72-74 North Street - LS2
2023 Review: This family-run spot delivers “beautifully cooked” home-style dishes from Shandong, including their signature “lovely crispy dumplings for starters” and dan dan noodles. “We used to go here when it was Hansas (RIP), so it’s great to find that Wen’s Chinese restaurant also produces good-quality, authentic dishes”.
18. MEATliquor
Burgers, etc restaurant in Leeds
Bank St - LS1
“When you want a hipster burger dripping in your beard, this place delivers!” – Scott Collins’s “buzzy, vibey” joints are notorious for their “really good dirty burgers” with memorable names (the ‘Dead Hippie’ and its veggie cousin the ‘Tempeh Tantrum’), plus “excellent buffalo wings with blue-cheese sauce”. In early 2025 he opened spinoff venture BLOODsports in a Covent Garden basement (see also), showing live sports and horror films on large-screen TVs.
19. Whitelocks Luncheon Bar
British, Traditional restaurant in Leeds
Turk’s Head Yd, off Briggate - LS1
The city’s oldest pub – tucked away for more than three centuries in a narrow alley off Briggate and once hailed by poet laureate John Betjeman as ‘the very heart of Leeds’ – is no mere museum piece, and does a “fabulous Sunday roast” among other hearty dishes based around ingredients sourced from ‘God’s own country’. The ornate and well-preserved interior decor is well worth a look, too.
20. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Leeds
6 Mill Hill - LS1
“Epic, authentic Indian street food that’s so moreish” is paired with craft beer (much of it from their own brewery in Manchester) at Mayur Patel & Marko Husak’s student-fave haunt, which started out here at Mill Hill in 2014 and has expanded to three more sites. “The best of the best when it comes to street food – a real taste of India”, many a guest does not even register that the Gujarati-based menu is entirely vegetarian or vegan. Top Tip – “the chaat is unbelievably addictive!”.
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