This month: a head-start on the New Years diet, and late-night vices without the stigma...

New this month:

SIX

Helping you get a head start on that New Year’s purge, SIX has come all the way from Brighton with a philosophy of making conscious-eating enjoyable. Alongside righteous-sounding Buddha Bowls and cold-pressed juices, there’s confit duck leg and chocolate fondant, all made with a keen insistence on sourcing local, organic produce, and providing plenty of options for vegan and gluten free diets. That January diet might not be so bad after all.

66-68 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 2EE

Cuckoo

It’s safe to say Leeds has got enough serious speakeasies, generously-stocked gin palaces, and posturing-friendly rooftop terrace bars now, so it’s nice to see somewhere pop up that just feels like a place where you can go and have fun. Call Lane Social’s new sibling has a look and vibe completely unique from anywhere else in the city, well-crafted cocktails with - as the name suggests - an eccentric twist, and pizzas to match. Where else are you going to find a margarita with a bottle of prosecco sticking out of it, served with a roast peach and maple bacon pizza?

37 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 7BT

Koibito

Bee and Simon from My Thai are on a quest for world domination - starting in Bradford, and spreading to Leeds, York, Manchester, Bury, and soon waaay beyond. First though, they’re taking a slight detour to Japan, giving sushi, noodles, soups, and rice dishes the same informal, high-quality cheap-eats treatment that has made their brand of Thai food one of the most popular in Leeds.

8 Swinegate, Leeds, LS1 4AG

Coco’s Beach Bar

A brand new Tiki getaway in the middle of Trinity, with a games room, big fruity £6 cocktails served in authentic daft glassware (and a gigantic seashell sharer which, when viewed from the top down looks like...well, go and see for yourself) and drinking-friendly bar food like halloumi fries and tacos to keep you going. What more could you ask for? What do you mean, “warm weather”?

Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre, Albion Street, Leeds, LS1 5AT

La Casita, Granary Wharf

Picture the other La Casitas, but in Granary Wharf. Check out our review of the Horsforth one here

Arch U, Granary Wharf Dark Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4BR

Dirty Martini

A very good looking bar filled with (judging by its Instagram location tag) very good looking people, and loads of variations on the classic Martini to work your way through.

31 King Street, Leeds LS1 2HL

Aperitivo

A new lease of life for West Park’s Dough Bistro, and a new focus on Italian small plates. Homemade pasta and trattoria-style fare with fine dining flourish from Vice & Virtues Luke Downing, amazing and potent cocktails, and some of the fanciest stonebaked pizzas to ever grace a Deliveroo menu. Full review very soon.

293 Spen Lane, Leeds, LS16 5BD

Wayward

This new Chapel Allerton neighbourhood wine bar only has space for about four people to sit down in, but that means there’s more room for bottles of wine - and I know which one I’d rather be surrounded by. A suburban spin-off from The Reliance, Wayward scales down the food and drink offering to charcuterie, cheese, and wine, but there’s around 100 different bottles in stock to drink in or take away. Natural wine enthusiast Steve (who you might have seen chatting to The Guardian the other week) is on hand to talk you through everything if you find the choice a little daunting. Now all Chapel Allerton needs is some decent BYOB restaurants…

1C Regent Street, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, LS7 4PE

Mogador

You can take a look at the menu and say “Ahh, tabbouleh! Mmm, I’ve been looking for somewhere to get decent labneh” all you like, we both know you’re going to order a kebab. This isn’t just your average doner shop, either - deep cuts like shish taouk, meshwari, and merguez all feature along with shawarma and kofta. They do do a range of tagines and grills if you insist on being that person.

142 Cardigan Road, Leeds LS6 1LU

Coming soon:

Whiskey Down

It’s not just Mogador attempting to remove the stigma from late-night vices: Whiskey Down is a new late night “gentlemen’s club” open 10pm - 6am every night, and it’s the first new venues in the city centre to be granted a Sexual Entertainment Venue license in years. Inspiration for an upmarket, exclusive gentlemen’s lounge struck owner Aaron Mellor when he was invited to the Playboy Mansion and saw photos of similar clubs in the 1960’s (he was only really there to read articles though, honest), which kicked off a two-year journey and £1.1million renovation of the former Townhouse.

The tasteful whiskey lounge will offer 70 whiskeys, with the most exclusive bottle valued at £10,000, and there will be dancer-free zones for people who just want a late-night drink. Don’t be disappointed if you get turned away from this one while you’re out on Big Bazza’s stag…

Opens Friday 1 December. The Townhouse, Assembly Street, Leeds LS2

Poco

A new neighbourhood Italian from the people behind Meanwood’s excellent Culto, specialising in authentic Sicilian grub: pizza by the slice (Great news if it’s anything like Culto’s, which is some of the best in Leeds), arancini, roast chicken, focaccini sandwiches, and homemade desserts like cannoli and tiramisu, available from first thing right through into the night.

Opens December. 360 Kirkstall Road, LS4 2HQ

Cosy Club

The “food, drink, and leisure hub” in the behemoth of a unit that used to be Next is over a year behind schedule at this point, causing a few people to wander if the developers had lost confidence and abandoned ship. That’s not the case though - they’ve been grafting behind closed doors to bring us a multi-storey food court, and the first opening date has been set in stone.

Cosy Club falls into the “Posh Wetherspoons” category: a menu to make everybody happy enough without throwing in any curveballs to risk confusing your Mum, like small plates, or "that street food"

Cosy Club opens Tuesday 5 December. 53 Albion Street, LS1 5AA

Smokin Bar & Kitchen

Deep-south barbecue is famed for its approach of taking things slowly; which explains why it’s taken over five years for this popular 2012 restaurant concept to make its way to the Headrow.

Opens Friday 1 December. 24 Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5QB