Bundobust — Restaurant in Leeds

We left London with the first glimmer of sunlight in almost five days streaming through a misted up window. We arrived in Leeds with temperatures hovering above freezing, but feeling as if our train had just stopped in the Arctic.

To make matters more interesting, the weather forecast predicted sleet and snow in the evening. Welcome to the grim north! I muttered under my vapour-exhaling breath, as one of my fellow cycling instructors, based in Manchester, usually quips.

We hurried to our Airbnb, checked our temporary, weekend-only digs, and dashed out to have something to eat.

It had been more than two and a half years since I had last been to Leeds. Interestingly, I had never eaten out here. My ex-partner moved to this Yorkshire city from her native London in her late teens, went to uni here, made a lot of friends, bought a house, built a life, and eventually decided to leave it all behind and go back to the Big Smoke, which was where we had met.

During our relationship we came back up a couple of times, stayed near the Peak District, and on a few occasions drove to Leeds to visit her friends and eat at theirs. All that had always happened in summer, including the year when London hit forty degrees Celsius for the first time ever. In Yorkshire we got thirty five. That’s when you know climate change is real.

Back to our long-planned Valentine’s weekend and my current girlfriend and I were starving by now. At the same time I was checking Accuweather constantly. I’d heard so much about the unpredictable winter weather in northern cities that I feared it as much as I normally fear getting caught up in a football crowd leaving the stadium. Especially when the home team has lost.

Not that the weather had deterred people from dressing as if those thirty five degrees were still doing the rounds. Open-toed sandals (women) and bicep-flashing, short-sleeved T-shirts (men) were a common sight.

Luckily we found the restaurant we’d set eyes on before leaving the Airbnb pretty quickly. Bundobust looked just like the kind of place that would feed us properly.

Located on Mill Hill, a stone’s throw from Briggate, Leeds’ main shopping hub, this rustic-looking restaurant felt like home instantly. It was the sort of eatery that wouldn’t have looked out of place in hipster-magnet Shoreditch. Even though we were seated outside (and by now it was sleeting a bit) I felt part of the community straight away.

It didn’t take us long to choose. The Vegan Combo for two promised enough food to fill our bellies. Made up of a cobis nu shack (a spiced up side dish consisting of cabbage, green peas, and potatoes), okra fries (which I didn’t know existed, let alone that they were a “thing”), sprout bhajis (the best bhajis I’ve ever had in my life. They were thick and filling), and bhel puri (popular Mumbai street food, where crispy, puffed rice is mixed with sweet tamarind chutney, spicy green chutney, garlic chutney, onions, tomatoes, sev and chaat masala) this was the sort of welcome we didn’t know we needed. Lastly, the whole combination was then garnished with coriander leaves, sev, and crushed papdis.

All this was washed down with one of the better mango lassis I’ve ever had.just the right amount of sweetness and thickness.

It had stopped drizzling by the time we headed back to our Airbnb. With the smell of so many aromatic spices and the taste of so many wonderful flavours still invading our senses (in a positive way, of course), my partner and I slowed our pace down. In fact, we even stopped every now and again to look at the Friday night revellers in their open-toed sandals and short-sleeved T-shirts, defying logic, and...

I visited Bundobust Leeds for the first time last Wednesday. I was greeted by the very kind staff member Easy. They made me feel very welcome and asked where I would like to sit down.

I chose the table to the left. Easy gave me the menu to look at.

While I was deciding what to i wanted on the menu, I soaked up the atmosphere. I really enjoyed the Indian playlist that was playing, the interior decor with old memorabilia , photographs on the wall.

I went to the counter to order a pinot of tropical dhoop, a fruit wheat beet and Lunch express Combo. I selected the chole saag and the bundle chaat.

The tropical fruit wheat beer was really nice. Very tasty, fruity beer.

I enjoyed the Bundo Chaat and chole saag dishes. Nice rich flavoured vegetarian dishes that filles you up

The Bundo Chaat consists of layers of samosa pastry, chickpea, onion, sec and chilly sauce. It came with yoghurt and tamarind chutney.

The Chole Saag is made out of chickpeas & spinach, garam massala, onion and ginger. It served with puri.

For dessert I decided to try another beer. I chose the mango lassi pale ale. It was an amazing beer that I tasted. It had notes of vanilla, mango, lassi yoghurt all in the beer. It was a delight.

The Indian street food restaurant is quite spacious, and has many seats to sit down. They also a big courtyard area with outdoor seating available.

The highlight of this visit was meeting the Bundobust founders Mayur and Marcos and having a nice conversation with them. Two very friendly cool guys that are very approachable and down to earth.

Before leaving I bought 2 tropical lassi sour beer to try later. This tropical mango lassi sour beer has notes of mango, orange & pineapple. I’m excited to taste it later at home.

I’ll be definitely visiting Bundobust Leeds again when I’m in the Leeds area for work.

I recommend locals, tourists and visitors in Leeds to enjoy a nice meal there...

💛ORDERED: *Okra fries (Okra in crisp chickpea batter, dusted with black salt and mango powder.) *Bundo Chaat (Layers of samosa pastry, chickpea, potato, onion, and chili sauce.) *Tarka Dhal & Rice (Lentil curry with cumin, garlic, and chili. Served with basmati rice.) *Chole Saag (Chickpeas & spinach stewed in garam masala, onion, and ginger. Served with puri.) *Bhatura (Deep fried Indian flatbread fermented with yogurt.) *Kachumber Cooler (Cucumber, mint, and lime, topped with soda and a drop of rose water.) *Mango Lopez (Blended mango, pineapple, coconut, and lime)

🥭REVIEW: 😉After being recommended this place by some of the @sheffield_foodie_socials members we stopped here during our visit to Leeds.

💷We picked 2 dishes each for £9 from their lunch menu. The non-alcohol cocktails are all around £4. Overall we found it to be a very good value for money.

🧡 The bundo chaat was addictive! Amin finished it all in a blink! 🤣

🧅 The Chole was full of flavour! The okra fries were good but a bit on the salty side, perfect to have with drinks as a snack!

🍞 Their puri and bhatura were so delicious! I could easily finish it all on its own 😅

🍹 Cocktails were tasty and refreshing but the kachumber was mostly ice 😅

🍧 I was a bit disappointed with the desserts as they only had one option: Kulfi. But I can understand it. With so many savory dishes to choose from you don't need any other dessert 😁

💚 This place is a paradise for vegetarians and vegans

🍺 Their craft beer is also very popular but we haven't tried it out.

🪑 They have booth seating and also long tables inside and...