Lunch on the Water

I’m generally a pretty accepting sort of a person but there are a few things I remain distrustful of; when my wife says she's 'nearly ready', the arrival boards in First Wessex bus shelters, and bars/restaurants who offer both pizzas and burgers on their menu.

Despite being two of my very favourite foodstuffs, when you see them united you know one is almost definitely going to suck; maybe (probably) both. While it’s usually the pizza that's the first casualty - such a simple thing, but so hard to get right without the (costly) kit – bad burgers are also grimly familiar.

One place that has successfully managed it is the Belgrave in Leeds, but that’s because they have a pizza concession from Dough Boys at the front and burgers from the Patty Smith’s Burger Co. at the back, meaning you can mix and match from two specialists; which is cheating, really, but great if you fancy a slice with some fries on the side.

The Belgrave also serve a wide selection of Very Nice beer, so it’s pretty hard to be persuaded to try other places for lunch. That's until I saw that the team behind them had a latest venture - Water Lane Boat Lane, down by the docks - that also kept a handsomely stocked bar, and were offering a menu of both pizza and burgers. Perfect for the hungry, thirsty and the undecided.

Even though the brewery is just around the corner, and we had our customary visit scheduled for the following day, I couldn't turn down a half of the Blueberry and Mosaic black IPA, from the Northern Monk Patrons Project.

I'm not always convinced by BIPA - is it a stout or is it a pale ale? - but I really enjoyed the balance of the fruitiness from the berries with the herbal funk of the hops and the bitter edge of the roasted malt. At a hefty 7%, it's a sipper, not a slurper, but, not to give too much away in the first few paragraphs, I liked it (and the food) so much I came back for another half the very next day.

Their pizza dough is made using just three ingredients: organic Yorkshire flour, water and salt. A promising start, but pretty much all you can put in a pizza dough, to be fair. More excitingly, after slow proving for twenty four hours, their pies are cooked in their Small Victories brick oven, handmade in Naples and shipped to these shores. And, best of all, they are buy one get one for a quid on Sundays and Mondays. 

They also offer interesting, but not too outlandish, flavour combos such as prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and pickled radicchio that I split with the Ewing. This is my kinda pizza; a puffy cornicione; blistered from the heat of the oven; a pleasingly chewy slightly sour base; and just enough toppings to keep things interesting without overwhelming the dish's inherent simplicity (or giving it a soggy bottom).

We also shared the ox cheek with horseradish, san marzano tomatoes and mozarella, which was the Ewing's preferred pie. Combining rich chunks of meat, like the best beef stew, with zippy horseraduish, sweet tomatoes and melty pools of milky cheese, it was another fine example of how simple, yet majestic, a good pizza can be. 

My cousins, who had come to meet us in a break between festive shopping, also enjoyed the classic margarita - the benchmark to which discerning diner Georgia approved; the salami and cured pepperoni; and the kale, pecorino, black olive and truffle oil; which sounded virtuous, but had two types of cheese to make up for it.

As I may have already revealed, we liked it so much that we went back the very next day. Prompted by the prospect of more blueberry beer and the fact that Tuesdays are buy one burger, get one for a pound. Time for the litmus test; could they pull off the double?

As with the day before, we attempted the 'sharing' thing, stating with the Small Victories’ burger - an aged Yorkshire beef patty, cheese, toasted sesame bun, bacon jam, tomato, lettuce, pickles, and Small Victories burger sauce. In a saturated market this was a competent, if unremarkable effort.

Surprisingly, the standout was the veggie option; a beetroot, white bean and fennel patty on a toasted sesame bun, with tomato jam, pickles, burger sauce and salad. While I was worried it sounded rather worthy, it reminded me a bit of the Indian vada pav - a fried spiced potato fritter served in a bun, and one of my favourite Indian snacks. This was possibly even better - gently spiced, earthy, sweet and crisp. To paraphrase the Ewing, a bit of a taste sensation. 

With the sun reflecting on the Leeds and Liverpool shipping canal outside the window, I reflected on how a decent pizza/burger double - with a great beer and keen service - really is possible. I'm still working on expectations when it comes to how long it's going to take for my wife to finish getting ready. (I'm still working on expectations of when you will be able to find your own things - TE).

The Belgrave, Leeds

Easter saw our annual pilgrimage up North and, as always, there was no shortage of good eating. After Uncle Johns Good Friday fish feast was decided to jump on a bus into town the next day and check out the Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen for a few afternoon beverages.

A former assembly hall, the Belgrave, in Leeds' Northern Quarter, has reopened over three floors with a programme of arts and live music alongside some great beers and grub from several concessions throughout the venue. They also host a monthly Street Feast featuring a wide range of street food traders, an art market and live bands.

We made our selves comfy in one of the fron window sofas and kicked off with a couple of beers, a Five Points Hook Island Red for me and a Cascadian Black stout for the Ewing. There's a big choice of ales, stouts and lagers, including six casks, with a good local selection, several kegs, some Belgian bottles and plenty of American canned craft beer for the hop heads.

Slices of pizza, from Neapolitan pie slingers the Dough Boys, are displayed along tiled counter as you walk into the main seating area. There’s a few different types up for grabs, from the classic Silvio, tomato, buffalo mozzarella, smoked sea salt, torn basil to slightly more outré combos such as the Paul and Linda, with Artichoke, Sicilian olives, pimento, caper berries, smoked mozzarella, salsa verde. 

They also run an incredibly good offer through the afternoon that allows you to buy one slice, get one free. Clearly the Ewing and I weren’t shy of putting that to good use and ordered four slices for the bargainous sum of five quid. I doubt it’d be cheaper from Tesco.

Unlike supermarket pizzas, these beauties are crisp and charred underneath; with a nicely chewy crust. The toppings are also bob on, with the Baa No More - Middle Eastern spiced ground lamb, pecorino, baby red chard, pinenuts, and pomegranate; and  Screaming Goat - creamed goats cheese, roasted beetroot, caramelised walnuts, chervil leaves being standouts. I also enjoyed dosing my slices with an ungodly amount of Hot Bastard sauce.

Pizza and the first pint dispatched we ventured into the bowels of the ground floor, past the communal picnic benches and comfy window seats running along one side of the room, to find the small serving hatch at the back. From here patty Smith and Fu Schnickens serve up burgers and bao to the hungry masses. 

After initially being thwarted on trying to order some of the aforementioned vietnamese buns we found out they were running a special brunch menu in honour of Record Store Day. Brioche baps stuffed full of all your breakfast favourites, and, for me, a pleasing absence of egg in most selections.

Beers and brunch burger in hand we ascended the many stairs to the roof terrace, a truly lovely spot with a variety of sheltered seating, communal tables, deckchairs and even sheds fitted with sofas to escape the inclement weather.

I went with the El Patty, a fearsome mix of grilled chorizo, morcilla, spiced cherry tomato jam and hollandaise sauce topped with baby spinach and balanced on an, unadvertised, crispy homemade sausage patty. Ooof.

Perching on stalls with views across the chimney pots of Leeds I soon made short work of the brunch burger. One of the best things I have eaten this year, and I don’t say that lightly, this was a masterful creation where the combination of salty, fatty hot meat, sweet tomato and crisp spinach was crowned by a soothing blanket of exemplary hollandaise. First rate grub, and at a mere £4.50, superb value, too.

Feeling the need for some post-prandial relaxation, the Ewing bagged a spot of one of the shed sofas and kicked back asking on the decking, while I was dispatched down to the Laynes coffee concession to grab a couple of brews and some cakes.

Retuning with a 4oz espresso with steamed milk, a double espresso and a plate of cakes stood me in good stead with the wife, with her proclamations of joy as she ate her salted caramel brownie being right heard across the terrace. My lamington was equally joyous; a fluffy vanilla sponge coated in a thick chocolate ganache and coated in a dreft of coconut flakes. The Ewing, despite her supposed lamington aversion, seemed to have no problem helping me polish it off.

Good food and beer, better company, friendly service and a laid back vibe lacking in too much hipsterishness, if there’s a better way to while away a sunny Saturday afternoon, I’ve yet to find it.