Pickled Pepper
Now what do you imagine when you think of a deli/cafe/bar? Bare brick walls? Floorboards? Lots of fridges filled with various pasta salads and little nibbly bits?
And all too often what you get is something altogether more basic – the usual cells of plaster and laminate flooring where your choice of sandwich fillings varies between coronation chicken or egg mayonnaise. Lovely.
But Pickled Pepper is the real deal. Not only does it look the part it feels the part and the food is fantastic. There's a limited number of things available, but what there is is impressive.
Of course, it's already pedaling downhill to some degree because it nestles in the heart of the Holbeck Urban Village made up of web site HQ's, architects, graphic design centres. It's a captive audience alright.
But that doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't have got it spectacularly wrong, after all the pressure was on to live up to their clientele's exacting cosmopolitan standards.
Thankfully they've been very judicious in their offerings, distilling everything down to a handful of delectable dishes – mainly sandwiches and salads.
There are a few different numbers. I went for the frittata with a couple of side helpings from the pasta bowls while my dining partner went for the warm halloumi salad.
It isn't the cheapest deli in the world, nor is it the most expensive. Expect to pay around a fiver for a main dish. To be fair these are very filling and very generous portions too, so you don't necessarily have to indulge in much else.
We did, however, the coffee and teas are great and we grabbed a danish and a muffin to go – even these relatively conventional pastries were ultra fresh and tasty.
You can drive round Leeds pointing out all the dodgy delis (should they even be able to call themselves delis?) that are now on just about every street corner. Thankfully this isn't one of them.
Thankfully this is just the kind of place which can call itself a deli/cafe/bar with some justification.
It looks good, the food is great and it won't cost you an arm and a leg.
