IF YOU'RE anything like us, you'll be feeling the pinch throughout August, whether you're saving for upcoming jollies or have blown the lot at a summer festival.
Still, that doesn't mean you should sacrifice eating out though, you just have to be a bit more careful about how and where you spend your money.
Luckily, we've rounded up the best food & drink savings to take advantage of this month, from bargain set-menus to half-price tapas and Bloody Marys under a fiver.
Iberica - Eat-in or Takeaway Lunch for £3.50
If you haven’t got time for the full Iberica experience - selfies in their extravagant bathroom and all - but still fancy a fleeting taste of their award-winning authentic Spanish tapas for a fraction of the price, head down at lunchtime for one of their new speciality sandwiches.
Bocadillos are sourdough baguettes with fillings ranging from spanish omelette to chorizo, and Molletes are toasted, slightly sweet buns full of their unbeatable air-dried ham or beef. Both priced at £3.50, they’re available every day from the downstairs bar and deli to eat in or take away.
Iberica, 17A E Parade, Leeds LS1 2BH
Cielo Blanco - Upgraded Sharing Boards & 25% off food
Every Sunday from 6pm, rather than feeling sorry for yourself slumped in front of Antiques Roadshow, get down to Cielo Blanco where they’ll upgrade your sharing board for free. It varies week-to-week depending on what’s fresh from the market, but expect fish boards to be upgraded to lobster, and rump steaks to be upgraded to 16oz T-Bones, to see your weekend off in style.
Not only that, but keep an eye on their Twitter and Facebook for their Social Monday codewords - repeating them at the till means you’ll get 25% off food.
Upgraded Sharing Boards Sundays from 6pm, Cielo Blanco, 415 Trinity Leeds, Trinity Leeds, Albion St, Leeds LS1 5AY
The Brunswick - Pie & Pint for £9 on Wednesdays
Brunswick’s small, well-considered menu of pub food done-right is a bargain at the best of times, but on Wednesdays they practically give it away. Well, for £9 anyway. For that you can get a homemade porter-braised beef shin or butternut squash and leek pie, mash & gravy, and a pint of Brunswick lager, Kirkstall Pale or Aspalls cider, in one of the nicest pubs in town.
The Brunswick, 82 North St, Leeds LS2 7PN
Arts Cafe - Early Bird Menu Two courses £13.50 / Three courses £16.50
Arts, Leeds’ original cafe bar, does the type of unfussy, hearty food that you’d like to be able to cook for tea, if only you knew your way around the kitchen. That, combined with their early-bird special, makes it the perfect spot to nip into for lunch or a post-work treat. At £13.50 for two courses or £16.50 for three, you can get dishes like pea & broad bean risotto with whipped goat's cheese and lemon oil, summer squash & paneer saag with cumin chutney, lime yoghurt & dukkah, and warm bakewell tart with strawberry & basil salad.
Available Midday-7pm, Sunday - Friday. Arts Cafe, 42 Call Lane Leeds LS 1 6DT
Shears Yard - Set Menu Two courses £16.50 / Three courses £19.50
Just because it’s one of Leeds’ most creative and imaginative kitchens, don’t think that Shears Yard is out of your price range, or reserved for special occasions. Every weekday the restaurant offers a set-menu, where you can get a taste of the kitchen at a discounted price with dishes like calamari with puffed potato & coriander emulsion, curry-roast heritage carrot with pistachio granola, and pineapple upside-down cake with pink pepper caramel. Throw in a £12 bottle of house red or white and you’re laughing.
Available 5:30-10pm Tuesday - Thursday, 5:30-7pm Friday. Shears Yard, 11-15 Wharf St, Leeds LS2 7EH
North Bar - £4.50 Bloody Marys on Sundays
To restore balance after encouraging you to get up to all sorts of midweek mischief on Tequila Tuesdays (three tequilas plus verdita for £6 and nachos with tequila-cheese fondue for £2), the North Bar family repents on Sundays by giving you offers that will help not only you, but your wallet recover after a heavy weekend.
£4.50 Bloody Marys all day, £7 with a sourdough grilled cheese on the side. Best of all, everybody’s in the same boat, so there won’t be any judgement if you decide to dip one in the other…
Available Sundays at North Bar, North Bar Harrogate, North Bar Social Otley, Alfred, The Cross Keys, Further North & Preston.
The Midnight Bell - Two Steaks & Bottle of Wine for £30 on Tuesdays
Ever fancy a bargain steak on a Tuesday but feel like you deserve better than Wetherspoons grill night? Well, you do. Luckily The Midnight Bell have their own steak night, where you can get two rump steaks with skin-on chips, roasted vine tomatoes and portabello mushroom, as well as a bottle of house plonk for £30. Their Leeds Brewery sibling Lamb and Flag on Eastgate do the same offer on Thursdays too.
The Midnight Bell, 101 Water Ln, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS11 5QN
The Adelphi - Three Small Plates & Bubbly for £20 on Thursdays
This rustic, old-timey boozer has a great atmosphere for casual grazing and drinking with friends, and every Thursday their sharing plates & bubbly offer makes it a frugal choice too. Choose three dishes from the starter menu - including homemade scotch eggs, pea and mint arancini, chilli & lime squid, and braised brisket - and a bottle of Belgian artisanal sparkling cider Stassen Rosé or Grand Cru - for £20. Perfect for two.
The Adelphi, 3-5 Hunslet Rd, Leeds LS10 1JQ
Distrikt - Half Price Tapas on Wednesdays
Better known for the activity in the DJ booth rather than the kitchen, Distrikt’s food often gets overlooked. It’s unfortunate, as a lot of thought has gone into the menu of Middle Eastern-tinged small plates. Head down on Wednesdays and you can try the tapas dishes - including seared tuna with green apple & ginger, sticky caraway balsamic ribs, artichoke & asparagus salad (pictured), and grilled pepper panzanella - usually ranging from £4-£8, with 50% off.
Distrikt, 7 Duncan St, Leeds LS1 6DQ
Black Swan - 2-for-1 Pizzas on Tuesdays
Dominoes doesn’t have a monopoly on Tuesday BOGOF pizza deals, you know. As well as their impressive Modern British kitchen upstairs, Call Lane’s Black Swan has a downstairs pizzeria where they fuse Neapolitan inspiration - chewy, sourdough bases full of charred air-pockets - with the same top quality and local produce they use upstairs, such as Yorkshire blue cheese and wild mushrooms. Ranging from £4-£6 for 6” and £7-£11 for 12”, every Tuesday when you buy one you’ll get a second one for free.
Black Swan, 37 Call Ln, Leeds LS1 7BT
