Arcadia
Sun 11 Feb 2007
Ah, Arcadia ... a pastoral idyll ... and also an excellent pub in Headingley! We've had some very happy drinking experiences in this bar and I'm a huge fan of the various pub dogs, not to mention the good range of real ales, along with the continental beers which keep Andy happy.
But this time our visit wasn't for drinking purposes but for eating. Arcadia offers Sunday lunch for just £5.95. Lunch starts at 1pm and dinners are available until they're gone. This does mean that you need to get there quickly ... overheard at the bar on Sunday was the shocking news there were only 16 dinners available!
We arrived just before 1pm but apparently the kitchen was suffering from a power failure, so dinner wouldn't be on for another three quarters of an hour. This gave us time to sort out our beer and newspaper situation (Durham Dark Secret for me, and Warsteiner for Andy) before worrying about whether or not we would opt for beef or chicken.
We both opted for beef and it wasn't long before huge plates of roast dinner appeared. We both had two hefty slices of roast beef, cauliflower au gratin, broccoli, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, pumpkin mash, roast potatoes ... and lashings of gravy. Given that the kitchen had had to deal with a power failure it's hard to be critical of the food - and it will come as no surprise to regular readers that I found the beef overcooked. I also appreciate that it's impossible to roast a joint of beef so that it's cooked to everyone's liking, so I'm prepared to overlook this. I also thought the broccoli was overcooked - normally it's one of my favourite vegetables but this time it was left to one side. Everything else was just fine.
For £5.95 one does not expect an haute cuisine experience - and at Arcadia, you do not get this. However, you do get a very solid, enjoyable plate of food, which you can wash down with your choice from a wide range of beverages - including well kept beers on good rotation. Arcadia is one of the few bars in Leeds where a dark beer is consistently available, and they always feature beers from small, independent breweries. On Sunday they even had Thwaites Mild on.
Lunch at Arcadia ends up being about more than the plate of food in front of you. On Sunday we had a greyhound and a terrier, as well as the (almost) resident boxer. There is always a slightly unusual mix of people, and if you sit at the front, you can also people watch.
While smokers will, undoubtedly, find the no smoking policy a bit of a pest, they should regard this as good practice for the summer.
And the rest of us can view Arcadia as a place where we can have an interesting, well kept pint, along with some tasty food, without parting with much cash at all.
1. Arcadia, 34 Arndale Centre, Headingley, Leeds LS6 2UE, phone: 0113 274 5599.
Stumble It!
Ah, Arcadia ... a pastoral idyll ... and also an excellent pub in Headingley! We've had some very happy drinking experiences in this bar and I'm a huge fan of the various pub dogs, not to mention the good range of real ales, along with the continental beers which keep Andy happy.
But this time our visit wasn't for drinking purposes but for eating. Arcadia offers Sunday lunch for just £5.95. Lunch starts at 1pm and dinners are available until they're gone. This does mean that you need to get there quickly ... overheard at the bar on Sunday was the shocking news there were only 16 dinners available!
We arrived just before 1pm but apparently the kitchen was suffering from a power failure, so dinner wouldn't be on for another three quarters of an hour. This gave us time to sort out our beer and newspaper situation (Durham Dark Secret for me, and Warsteiner for Andy) before worrying about whether or not we would opt for beef or chicken.
We both opted for beef and it wasn't long before huge plates of roast dinner appeared. We both had two hefty slices of roast beef, cauliflower au gratin, broccoli, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, pumpkin mash, roast potatoes ... and lashings of gravy. Given that the kitchen had had to deal with a power failure it's hard to be critical of the food - and it will come as no surprise to regular readers that I found the beef overcooked. I also appreciate that it's impossible to roast a joint of beef so that it's cooked to everyone's liking, so I'm prepared to overlook this. I also thought the broccoli was overcooked - normally it's one of my favourite vegetables but this time it was left to one side. Everything else was just fine.
For £5.95 one does not expect an haute cuisine experience - and at Arcadia, you do not get this. However, you do get a very solid, enjoyable plate of food, which you can wash down with your choice from a wide range of beverages - including well kept beers on good rotation. Arcadia is one of the few bars in Leeds where a dark beer is consistently available, and they always feature beers from small, independent breweries. On Sunday they even had Thwaites Mild on.
Lunch at Arcadia ends up being about more than the plate of food in front of you. On Sunday we had a greyhound and a terrier, as well as the (almost) resident boxer. There is always a slightly unusual mix of people, and if you sit at the front, you can also people watch.
While smokers will, undoubtedly, find the no smoking policy a bit of a pest, they should regard this as good practice for the summer.
And the rest of us can view Arcadia as a place where we can have an interesting, well kept pint, along with some tasty food, without parting with much cash at all.
1. Arcadia, 34 Arndale Centre, Headingley, Leeds LS6 2UE, phone: 0113 274 5599.
Labels: arcadia, headingley, leeds
Stumble It!
posted by Alex at 12:25 pm
Stumble It!
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