Northern Monk Refectory and Garden LDS — Restaurant in Leeds

Northern Monk is once again home to the amazing food from Jah Jyot and Grilling Me Softly. After talking to Ranie for so long, we finally got to try his food and meet him in person! He has teamed up again with Anthony, one of our favourite chefs in the business, so we knew this was going to be something special. The residency at Northern Monk was absolutely popping when we went and deservedly so. The menu is Indian inspired Street Food in the form of Flatbreads, Small Plates and Sides. We have heard nothing but great things about their Indian Sunday Roast so will be back for that! One word of advice, come here hungry as they arent messing around with the portion sizes. We ordered the Small Plates Platter and expected a taster of each of the small plates but you basically get each one! An absolutely great deal! I dont think i can justify in writing just how good this food is- it is absolutely delicious and ticks every box on taste, quality, presentation, ingredient pairings. Everything was just singing with bold flavours and we savoured every bite

What we ordered

Salt and Pepper Squid with Wasabi Aoili- I am always sceptical about ordering squid as so many times it comes out rubbery and soggy. This was absolutely not the case here- the Creole batter was cooked to the perfect level. It was super super crispy while managing to keep the squid inside nice and soft- it was also nicely seasoned too giving that classic salt and pepper vibes. The pairing Wasabi packed a real punch too and brought out the flavour of the squid more. Everything about this dish was perfectly balanced

Jeets Chops- This is a nod to Ranie's dad and what a stunning dish it is. Locally sourced high quality Lamb Chops cooked pink and marinated in a range of herbs and spices. There was so much soft juicy tender meat on these little beauties and the pairing sharp green chutney worked so well to elevate the flavours further.

Chicken Lollipops- Boy did these pack a punch with the aromatic firey spicy coating. They were really tasty and the meat was super juicy inside- definitely no dry chicken here. Brett loves a fried chicken dish and this one was no exception. The sweet sauce circling the plate worked really well too to cool down the heat of the crispy chicken skin

Grilled Rump, Yorkshire Goats Curd, Pickles, Salsa Verde, Crispy Onion- Anthony cooks a mean steak with pairing sauce so we know this was definitely one of his dishes from the menu. This steak was cooked to perfection with a lovely soft buttery pink centre. Who knew Goats Cheese would be such a good compliment to steak- the tangy savoury creamy richness of the cheese works so well. The Salsa Verde was zesty and fresh and the onions added a nice crunch to the meat

Khubha Aloo (Wild Mushroom, Punjabi Masala, Garlic and Coriander Mash) Wow this was such a warming bowl of goodness. We always say some of the best curries are the Vegetarian ones and this absolutely fit that theory. It was punchy with a subtle kick of heat and we loved the earthiness of the wild mushrooms. The pairing mash was gorgeous- creamy, rich and bursting with that floral zingy coriander flavour

Faith Battered Colley (White Fish in Northern Monk Beer Batter with Dill and Samphire Tartar) Wow there was so much fish packed into these little chunks of goodness. It was excellent quality and so flakey soft. The batter was absolutely gorgeous- crispy, thick, flavourful and not greasy. The salty sharp creamy tartar was such a great dip for the fish bites. Such a moreish dish that we could have...

Ok food, appalling service!

Went for tea (thai) last night for a friends birthday, there was 9 of us in total - 7 adults and 2 kids. We were left for a rather long time without anybody coming over to take our order so eventually we had to go to the bar to ask if we could be served. The waitress who took our order was short, snappy and just generally quite miserable - when we started to tell her what food we would like she rudely snapped at us twice to ONLY tell her the numbers that correlate to the food on the menu (how were we to know this!?). Our starters were brought out quite promptly and were enjoyable (although nothing amazing) and we had to ask the waitress for knives and forks to which she brought us 4 sets (for 9 people) and then huffed when we had to ask for more. Our main meals came out when we still has starter plates on our table and these were never cleared - we had to stack the starter dishes on the bar ourselves to make room for the mains! The pad thai was ok but again nothing special. My friend asked the waitress before ordering which was the least spiciest curry and the waitress advised her to get the Thai green curry, when this came she couldn't eat any of it as it was so spicy! When we told the waitress this she didn't apologize or offer to reduce the price of the uneaten meal! All in all not a good experience, very very badly organised and the female staff really need to adjust their attitude....

Really disappointed with the communication here. I first sent an enquiry 5 months ago about booking tables for a group of 15 on a saturday lunchtime and I never got a response, and I tried ringing on numerous occasions and never got through. When I emailed the 'bookings' email address I got a reply a week later saying they "have phased out our booking system here at the Refectory but please do pop in and join us for a drink! See you then". To me that reply suggested we should be alright, and as the person I was booking it for is a huge fan of the brewery I thought we will chance it and go well before the rest of our group turned up to get a table. I had never been before so had no idea how small the place actually was. Well we turned up and most of the tables were reserved for people on the brewery tour, there wasn't even room for a couple let alone a group and you couldn't stand around at the bar either. Why couldn't they have simply told me in their email reply that on saturday afternoons they are mostly full with people on the brewery tour and it's incredibly unlikely that 15 people not on this tour would be able to stand in here let alone get a table? We would have spent the money on the tour if we'd known...