This week I had the pleasure of attending a PR evening and “dining experience” at the newly opened (as in today!!) Leeds City Centre bar & restaurant, The Lost & Found Leeds Club. Situated close to the Trinity Shopping Centre, this grand venue with a Victorian theme, offers cocktails &  seasonal cuisine, bottomless Prosecco brunch as well as afternoon & “gentleman’s” tea.

We were welcomed in from the cold by the lovely staff who advised that we could go straight to our table in the dining area upstairs, or first take a drink in the bar area downstairs. As all of our stomach’s were already rumbling, we went straight up to our table, greeted by our waitress who gave us faultless service!

Lost & Found Cocktails

I took this fantastic opportunity, to try out some of the restaurant’s signature cocktails. The drinks menu offers some weird and wonderful concoctions, using various spirits such as; gin, vodka, rum, tequila, the usual, but introducing new flavours and twists. The Emily Kinglsey (Gin, Rose, Rhubarb, Tonic & Lemon Juice) and the Mountain Meadow (Vodka, Creme de Bergamote, Elderflower, Apple Juice, Lemon Juice & Mint) were my particular favourites! Each cocktail is served in the appropriate cocktail glass and decorated with edible flowers, and you are likely to pay anywhere between £7 – £10 per drink. For those that aren’t that into cocktails, there is a good choice of beer, wine & spirits.

Seasonal Cuisine

For our party of 6 on this particular evening we were served the Sharing starters of Warm Breads and Antipasti, which was music to our ears as we LOVE this type of food! The selection of breads and dips were lush, and the Antipasti platter was great, particularly the mozzarella! These sharing starters would be a great option for parties to start with, or as nibbles if you were just calling in for drinks. For sharing starters you would be spending between £8 – £18 and for normal starters between £7 – £9.

The main menu covers; salads, pizzas, pasta & risotto, “From the Josper” (charcoal oven) and other mains. I have to say that after really enjoying the starters and drinks, the mains did get mixed reviews.

The Lamb Osso Buco served on risotto stood out straight away for me. I pictured this as full of flavour, with plenty of gremolata however I did find my plain lamb chop quite dry, I think they forgot my gremolata and the risotto was VERY al dente. I do think this dish can be tweaked a little to add more flavour, and as it is something I haven’t seen on other menus previously it would be a great addition, if just given that extra care and attention. I chose a side of Fried Potatoes which I have to say I was very impressed with and the flavour of the garlic mayo and rosemary on the potatoes was so tasty I devoured them all!

Two of my guests opted for the Wagyu Burger one with fries, the other chose triple cooked chips.  The burger sparked a difference in opinion between my guests. One said it was a decent burger and the fries were great, the other said they didn’t think much to it and it almost tasted as if it had been boiled rather than grilled, and that it wasn’t served medium like the waitress advised us that they would be. The triple cooked chips looked and tasted exactly like chips from a Chinese takeaway, which isn’t the worst thing ever as I quite like “Chinese chips”, but maybe not so good when you are paying an extra £3.50 for them; I’d definitely stick with the fries!

My other guests opted for something from the Josper; Pork Tomahawk and the Bone-in Rib Eye. Both pieces of meat were cooked beautifully and were surprisingly large portions, but were snapped up with no complaints! The Green Beans, Chilli and Garlic accompanied these cuts of meat very well and were mouthwatering on their own.

In summary I think the main menu covers a good range of cuisines and really offers something out of the ordinary for Leeds City Centre. You would look to pay anything from £10 – £29 for a main course.

Not sweet enough?

Lost & Found’s dessert menu for a dessert lover like me, lacked a little variety I thought at a glance and there was only one real winner for me when deciding what to have. This was the Millionaire’s Shortbread; a deconstructed and very chocolatey version, that as you can see was brilliantly pleasing to the eye! Out of 6 of us, half of us went for this dessert.

The Earl Grey Pannacotta which I have to say initially sounded unpleasant to me as I am not a fan of Earl Grey, was pleasantly refreshing and delightful.

Another popular choice for us is a Sticky Toffee pudding and this was a very satisfying portion, although lacking in sauce!

We also tried the British Cheeses, which I believe could have been made to look a lot more appealing, especially with how amazing the starters looked. Great selection of cheese and crackers though. For me, it would be nice to see one or two more options on the dessert menu I think; a pastry of some sort maybe? Desserts will cost you £6 – £9.

Enchanting

You will enjoy all of the above in a very enchanting atmosphere, with decor from the Victorian era and some striking greenery dotted about. The theme of the restaurant is based on a Professor Bendikt Pike and his adventures and interest in Mixology. Although you can look into this more on their website and over social media, we weren’t introduced to this character or theme when we were dining, which was disappointing as I was intrigued as to what it was all about, but left feeling like I’d watched one of those films that gives you no answers or explanation. Maybe an idea for them moving forward to introduce to customers to add to their experience?

Summary

I would love to go back to the Lost & Found Leeds Club in the future to see if any of the above less positive points have improved, but also to try some of the things I didn’t get the chance to. I am very interested to see where this bar & restaurant goes in the future.

To check out their menus click here, and to keep up to date on their news & offers you can follow them on Twitter here.

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Thanks,

Jen

@jensfoodblog

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