Good old fashioned British pub food, done properly, is an absolute joy. You know the kind I mean. All too often, pub food falls into one of two brackets. Either Wetherspoons-esque, with a wipe down menu that serves generic frozen rubbish. Or, a venue that calls itself a gastropub but what it really means is that it is a restaurant with a bar and not actually a pub at all.
Well, a fab new place has opened up in Leeds, brought to you by the people behind the wonderful Empire Cafe. I say new; there's been a pub on the site for as long as I can remember but to say that it was not known for its food is something of an understatement. What used to be The Highland has been rebranded as The Highland Laddie and it is definitely still a proper pub and it DEFINITELY serves wonderful food with a menu that is designed to warm the cockles of any English man (or woman)'s heart.
We went for lunch and between the two of us got through two out of the five bar snacks and two slightly larger plates.
The sausage roll was absolutely delicious - really dense, flavoursome sausage with a good whack of garlic, encased in the butteriest of pastries. Just look at that bad boy! These are apparently made fresh on site every day.
The half pint of crevettes were so sweet and fresh that they didn't really need the accompanying sauce (although I'll never say no to Marie Rose).
The first of the mains (although in terms of portion size it was probably more like a starter) was something a little bit different - lobster madeleines with chorizo butter. This was definitely the kind of dish that you get at Empire - a little bit quirky but with loads of flavour and finesse. The sweetness of the madeleines was beautifully balanced by the funky chorizo.
And finally - the "sliced ham from the fire" with dinner rolls was just the kind of thing you want to be eating in a pub. Simple as can be, but when the produce is this good, why mess with it?
The chorizo butter may well have found its way onto the dinner rolls as well. I neither confirm nor deny.
That's not the end of the story though, because the following week, D was back - tempted by an Instagram post he decreed that he simply had to try the Laddie's take on a cheeseburger. Well, he was not disappointed - despite it's relatively unassuming exterior, he declared this the best burger in Leeds, which is quite the compliment when you consider how many he has consumed over the years.
The menu seems to change on an extremely regular basis, although I'd guess some dishes (like the burger) will prove to be stalwarts. I can't wait to go back in the winter when my guess is that they'll do a fine take on classic pub grub such as pies and puddings. The Laddie is a real celebration of great British pub food and a very welcome addition to already wonderful Leeds food landscape.
