Saturday 5 August 2017

Wapentake - Leeds

92 Kirkgate 
Leeds
LS2 7DJ

Brunch menu served
Weekdays - 7.30am till 6pm
Weekends - 10am till 6pm



Wapentake can be found on Kirkgate in the centre of Leeds. Their website explains that they wanted to "create a little piece of Yorkshire by combining a bakery, cafe and bar to serve and support the local community."



 
 The bar offers a vast selection of drinks including Yorkshire spirits. Place your order here and settle your bill on the way out.




This is the downstairs seating area, we decided to sit upsatirs though as it was more spacious.



 
The upstairs was really busy when we first arrived, I managed to get a photo once it became much quieter though.



 
If you want to get really comfortable there's sofas and a coffee table upstairs too.



 
The breakfast menu covered all bases and seemed reasonably priced.



 
The coffee served here is excellent and soya milk is available should you need it.



 
I can't believe I forgot to try the Henderson's Relish!



 
Sauces are offered with the food and arrive in small pots. Getting a pot per customer was a first for me but an excellent idea as one pot between two is never enough. 




At first glance the full Yorkshire breakfast looked fairly impressive, as I looked closer though my heart sunk slightly.



 
A single sausage and rasher of bacon comes with this breakfast.



 
 Neither looked very appetising at all and both were really dry.




The thin slice of black pudding was really dry and came with a hole.



 
I removed the greenery and studied the poached egg.



 
 It was really nice as was the toast, together they were the highlight of this breakfast.




Shrivelled mushrooms and undercooked tomato did little to excite me.



 
My wife's full vegan breakfast was much nicer than mine and she thoroughly enjoyed it.


We were visiting Leeds for the weekend to see some bands at The Brudenell. It was my first time in Leeds so this seemed like an ideal opportunity to review a breakfast somewhere. Having enquired on my Facebook page about where I should go for breakfast I decided to visit Wapentake. They're a local independent and offered a vegan breakfast which I knew would please my wife. Our train pulled into Leeds station just after 10am and we walked to nearby Kirkgate where Wapentake had just started serving their brunch menu...


Upon entering - Wapentake covers two floors with a bar and seating area on the ground floor, there's lots more seating available upstairs too. There's mismatched chairs and chunky wooden tables to dine at and even some sofas and a coffee table if you prefer to get more comfy. Each table has a number, a menu, salt, pepper and some Henderson's Relish. The ordering process is made very clear here which is nice to see. Once you've decided what you'd like from the menu place your order at the bar remembering to tell them your table number, don't worry about paying just yet, you can do that on your way out. Drinks, food and cutlery are all bought to the table and sauces are offered when the food arrives. I loved the look and feel of Wapentake, there's plenty to look at on the walls and it has a nice relaxing atmosphere. 8/10

Service - The service at Wapentake was really good, the staff are friendly and we were welcomed as soon as we arrived. We placed our order at the bar and our coffees arrived first, my wife requested soya milk which wasn't a problem. The food arrived next followed by cutlery, we were offered sauces and a pot of ketchup and brown arrived for each of us. All the front of house staff here seemed really relaxed but efficient making for a pleasant experience as a customer. 8/10

Contents - 1 sausage, 1 bacon, 1 slice of black pudding, 2 poached eggs, Mushrooms, beans, half a tomato and 2 slices of toasted homemade bread. 6/10

Presentation - At first glance I was quite impressed but as I looked closer my heart sunk slightly. The sausage and bacon looked really dry, the mushrooms looked shrivelled and the tomato was barely cooked. On a positive note the poached eggs and toast looked really nice although I couldn't help thinking how little food there would be on the plate if the toast wasn't there. The chip on the plate I didn't notice straight away, perhaps because I was so distracted by how much better my wife's vegan breakfast was looking compared to mine. 4/10

The food - With the meats being provided by a local butchers I was initially quite excited but what arrived on the plate was really disappointing. A really dry sausage which appeared to be skinless with an unfamiliar flavour, it tasted more like a vegetarian sausage to me. My wife however did allow me to try her vegetarian sausage (possibly Linda McCartneys) which I really enjoyed, easily a better sausage than mine. The bacon appeared to be a victim of being hot held, it was so dry! The same can be said of the black pudding, barely any moisture in it at all. The beans were ok and the tomato tasted quite nice, it was in need of more heat though. The mushrooms tasted ok but they were very dry and shrivelled. The part of the breakfast which I really enjoyed was the toasted homemade bread and poached eggs, both eggs were nicely cooked with runny yolks. On the whole though a pretty disappointing breakfast. 4/10

Value for money - After spending a weekend in Leeds I realised everything was cheaper up North. The full Yorkshire breakfast cost £6 which had it been entirely enjoyable would have been excellent value for money. It was quite disappointing though so even at £6 it barely seemed worth the money. 4/10

Veggie option - Yes, and a vegan option too. Both cost £6.

Overall - I loved the environment of Wapentake and the staff were lovely too. The Yorkshire breakfast could have so been much better though had the meats been cooked to order, which I strongly suspect they weren't. The homemade bread and poached eggs were really nice though which was something. I may have been quite disappointed but my wife thoroughly enjoyed her vegan breakfast and I could understand why. The vegan breakfast came with a really nice potato & onion rosti and nicely cooked vegetarian sausages, it was a far nicer breakfast! Usually the vegan and vegetarian breakfast play second fiddle to the meat version bit here it seemed to be the other way around, so I'd say Wapentake is well worth visiting if you're vegetarian or vegan. 5.5/10


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