Last weekend we were invited to try out the Sunday lunch at the Midnight Bell, the flagship pub of the Leeds Brewery. This cool pub is located in Holbeck's atmospheric Urban Village – conveniently close to the station, and hotels. The building itself boasts a mix of traditional features such as exposed wooden beams and red bricks, and contemporary features like a concrete bar and huge windows. We loved the double height seating areas, which helped to make the pub feel light and airy. But onto the food!
For starters we opted for the homemade vegetable soup served with toasted bread, and the charged mackerel salad. I loved the summery freshness of the salad, and thought that the pickled red onions and grapefruit segments cut through the rich flavour of the smokey fish perfectly. I could have eaten the dish as a main! The soup was well made, and smooth - a great start to the meal.
For mains we couldn’t resist having a Sunday lunch. We chose the beef and the nut roast. The roasts came with a giant Yorkshire pudding as standard, and loads of veggies. I loved the nut roast which contained an incredible mix of nuts and seeds, and had a fab crust. The beef was tasty, and well flavoured.
We both liked the gravy, but would have liked to serve ourselves as gravy is a pretty personal thing, especially in Yorkshire! But, despite the gravy issue, the plates were incredible. They were massive- so big in fact that we could have easily shared and still would have left feeling full. I mean just check out this roast....
Although we were completely satisfied, and probably shouldn’t have eaten anything more, we had to try a dessert – just to see how it was. The dessert menu was small, and none of the options really took our fancy. But with French connections, we chose the crème brulee with homemade shortbread.
Unfortunately, we were not blown away by the dessert, which was pretty small for the price (£5.50), and didn’t have the crunchy sugar topping that would be expected with a crème brulee. We also weren't impressed by the shortbread biscuit, which although tasty, looked and tasted shop bought, not ideal. I wouldn’t choose the crème brulee again and wouldn’t recommend it.
Overall we had a lovely meal at The Midnight Bells, and were blown away by the generosity of the portion sizes. We liked the selection of starters and mains on offer, but both agreed that the dessert menu could be improved. I would love to see traditional British desserts such as fruit crumble with custard, and ice cream sundaes on the menu, as these would tie in with the rest of the meal and leave customers with a dessert to remember.
The waitresses were friendly and helpful, asking us regularly whether we needed anything, without being overly attentive or annoying. They also recommended that we return to the pub for a drink in ‘Leeds' best beer garden’, because we couldn't enjoy it on our visit due to rain. We are certainly keen to go back soon, especially after we saw the gin trees on offer, which can be shared between friends, allowing you to enjoy a refreshing drink without having to worry about how to carry all the glasses!
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