daw

Today was Christmas shopping day - that is we both have a day off work and try and do as much of the shopping as possible - dreadful day I know but vastly improved by lunch at Anthony's. We both had the set lunch - warm salad of belly pork with roasted cherry tomato for me followed by roast partridge on cabbage base and cheese to close. Veloute of potato with salt cod, partridge and chocolate clafoutie with reduced milk and mango sorbet for my wife. The pork salad was more pork than salad, but excellent pork complete with crackling, the potato a beautifully smooth and creamy complement to the salt cod. The partridge was succulent and complemented by a Morgon Beaujolais. The cheeses are perhaps a little underwhelming but well presented with a second smaller bread loaf and home made crackers, the choclolate was reported as excellent. Talking to Anthony senior he said that they are very busy, a fact born out by our inability to get a table for the last Saturday in January, in fact he said bookings are now filling up for March, so we booked for April! (close to my birthday which was when I first went to Anthony's and joined egullet). He said they are very pleased with the way things are going, and plan to increase from 28 covers now to 34 in the February. After a very pleasant couple of hours it was back to the Christmas shopping, roll on April David

Too right Andy - Leeds is clearly the place to centre such publication around Seriously, this is quite a nice piece of work and the local touch has its appeal, lots of areas/regions could produce such a thing. David

Also in the Telegraph at this URL which needs (?) a login Thats not bad Guardian, Independent and Telegraph all together. Of course all three have done favourable reviews/features earlier in the year too. David

Removed identical post to that bellow (I'm not trying to increase my post count, honest)

Oggies ??? Excuse my ignorance David

Robb Carry an oyster knife - that way anywhere you see them on sale or on a suitable rocky promentary or quayside you can sample the local produce. David

Our cats keep bringing us offerings from around the neighbourhood... this year we've had birds, a squirrel, a bat and a frog plus various moths and flies Offered not accepted David

Cereal/toast with tea/coffee is fairly standard these days. The full English spread is restricted to high days and holidays and is often available in hotels and also in the dreaded motorway service area - that's not a recommendation you understand David

Excellent as Antony's is £50 won't go very far on a Saturday night!

Why rebottle it just take the decanter along - OK this may be awkward if you are driving but otherwise. David

Give the beer selection a look as it is extensive, interesting and different. Don't be afraid to ask for advice about beer with your choices on the menu either. David

They left out much much more than just 3YP, but it is a little odd. David

Leave the paddle out of the breadmaker - the result is a sort of flour brick, loosely bound together.

Just when I was thinking Leeds wasn't getting enough coverage in this forum David

Had a discussion with a friend recently as to whether portion size may be a problem at No3 York Place. The key question is will these large portions which render a three course meal something of a feat hinder the star. Does a red book inspector want to be stuff? Somehow I doubt it. David

There's a bottle of Scotch at the back of a cupboard of cleaning products and tools at work. Now that might give the wrong impression, but in fact it has been there at least four years now and only goes down very slowly.

I finally got to visit No 3 York Place last week with my wife and we had an excellent meal. It was not perfect but there are some really good features. The minuses were the Tiger Prawn Tortellini accompanying the Scallops and the Pistachio & Duck Ravioli with the Barbary Duck. In both cases the pasta was not quite right, a little too thick and tough. The pluses, the Lobster ravioli which was sublime and the wine list which is extensive as one would expect and includes a good selection of half bottles enabling us to have a Sancerre and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the excellent Vieux Telegraphe 1999 which was perfectly presented in ideal glasses.. Overall I would concur with Gary that this must be in the running come February. David

Of course Leeds can stake a claim here too! (actually several but for now...) Whitelocks - the city's oldest pub can trace its license back to 1715 has eight cask ales, four of them guests. It retains many origanal features and food (good old pub food) is more than decent. Its address: Turks Head Year off Briggate (next to M&S)

Tarka This sounds like a really interesting place. This French/Vietnamese thing has of course long being going on in France where there are loads of Franco-Vietnamese places, certainly when I lived in Grenoble. David

those are Quails and they're delicious Sorry but that's not what I understand by quail - small poultry normally on toast. Quite acceptable unlike the afore mentioned birds on sticks - I think its to do with the eat everything except the beak thing...

Can't say I know anything of this place, but the website is awful with pop ups etc.

Conor So where did your brother choose to go? I guess it may not have happened yet as graduations are still going on in Leeds. Anyway I guess we would like to know which place and what they thought ... David

Beer - by which I mean English bitter. This probably a common one - I know plenty of people who dont like it and will wonder why anybody does. When I was a teenager we drank cider, then lager and eventually graduated to bitter. These days alcopops provide the starting point I guess but whether this leads eventually to bitter drinking I don't know. David

Tricky sans car - close scrutiny of train timetables required - pretty simple with wheels however. David

Shhhh... it's all part of the secret eGullet plan to annex Leeds', Bray's and Ludlow's Michelin-starred restaurants and transplant them all to the Smoke. Oh good that'll leave No. 3 York Place and Anthony's in Leeds then, since neither have stars YET!