Dining in Leeds, when you're not paying

I love it when my parents come up to Leeds for the weekend because we always go out for such nice meals. The hotel they stay at has a deal that, if you spend £75 in the hotel restaurant on a Sunday night (which is easily done if you get wine, and you are three people, and the food is amazing) you get the hotel room for £20. So, for £95 you get a tasty dinner, some wine AND a bed to sleep in, which is always nice. 

They arrived at 13.30 yesterday (to be European) with an empty stomach. I had done a small amount of 'research' (otherwise known as typing 'Leeds restaurants' in Google) on where we should go. We wanted somewhere new, and, of course, somewhere nice. What we found could definitely be ticked off both those checklists - Jamie's Italian. Pretty much everything on the menu sounded so appetizing, we took a while deciding what to get. The best thing is that it is totally affordable - no more expensive than chains like Pizza Express, GBK or Strada. 

The menus

The bread came drizzled in olive oil and chopped basil

Gorgonzola, pear and walnut salad

Burrata Mozarella

Polenta 'chips' 

THE most incredible amaretto and raspberry brownie

This brownie was the most incredible desert I had ever tasted. I don't even like chocolaty things that much (until fairly recently), but this, I would have a million times again. It wasn't heavy at all, and you could really taste the amaretto in it. I love amaretto!

We then went for a nice little walk around town, going around certain areas of Leeds I never even knew existed, but quickly got too tired and cold so we went back to their hotel room to chill. After a painful hour of explaining to my parents how Deal or No Deal works, and feeling totally relaxed, it was dinner time. This hotel, the Malmaison had really amazing things to eat. It's slightly pretentious in their portions and the way it's presented (I mean, two scallops?!) but the flavours are perfect.

My starter - scallops with sweet potato puree

Mum's starter - goats cheese souffle

Dad showing us his starter of wild mushrooms and a poached egg on toast. His, surprisingly, was the nicest. 

Then onto the mains:

I had mussels :)

Mum's cod on bean and chorizo cassoulet

Dad, again, wanted to be in his picture. He had hake.

Can't wait for them to come up again - I'm definitely returning to Jamie's Italian though, just to have that brownie. The waiter told us that it's not uncommon that people get incredibly angry and start complaining when the brownie is not on the menu. They sell about 1,000 of them each week. I really suggest you go!