A few weeks back I visited the newly opened Roast & Conch restaurant in Leeds, which is a new restaurant as part of Leeds Trinity. The restaurant is from the creators of the delicious little chocolate shop Hotel Chocolate. The restaurant uses coco beans in all of it's dishes and after my little trip to Bruges I was craving a little chocolate fix.
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| Roast & Conch Leeds |
Walking into Roast & Conch, you first enter into there adorable little cafe and chocolate shop. After some confusion me and my friend then noticed the sign to the main restaurant upstairs. Walking past the sacks of coco beans displayed at the bottom of the staircase and up the wood chipped rustic panel walls and staircase it feels as though you have emerged from a cargo shipment of coco beans and into a sophisticated restaurant. As you may of also noticed and another adorable feature is amongst the salt and pepper grinders is a chocolate coco bean grinder. How cute?
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| Roast & Conch Leeds |
We was shown to our table and treated a little amuse-bouche of warming pumpkin soup. A unique little talking point for the table is the little bowls of coco beans for you to try. Although they are very bitter and I wouldn't particularly say they taste nice they make a fantastic talking point and are a great ice breaker to start conversation.
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| Roast & Conch Leeds
"Not So Scotch" Egg - £6.50
Free-range hen’s egg cloaked in softened pearl barley and penny bun mushrooms, cocoa-nib crumb crust. With roast leeks and garlic.
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This was rather delicious and I was a little shocked at just how much I enjoyed it. When I think "scotch eggs" I think of child hood picnics and those super market pre packed versions. So this was a nice eye opener to how nice the humble scotch egg can be. Although a vegetarian option made with pearl barley the starter was ever so tasty. The crisp crunchy breadcrumb and subtle coco crust was cooked perfectly with a gooey runny yolk centre surrounded by soft pearl barley.
Roast ‘Yardbird’ For Two - £14.00 Each
Basted with cocoa-nib butter served with dauphinoise potatoes, plantation stuffing, roast garlic and red wine roasting jus.
(‘Yardbird’ - West Indian for chicken)
Me and friend both decided to order the yard bird. I normally don't like ordering sharing courses as I'm a nosey little being and enjoy seeing what food other people order. However my friend was set on ordering the roast yard-bird and so the good friend I am went along with their wish. The chicken is cooked well although I couldn't taste any hint of chocolate in the actual chicken the flavour comes through slightly in the red wine jus. The little treats of stuffing, roast garlic and dauphinoise potatoes are perfect little treats to accompany the main course.
White chocolate mash - £4.00
Side dish
As soon as I saw this, I has to order it. To many people this may sound sickly but don't knock it until you've tried it. In my opinion this a genius idea and although I thought this would be a simple gimmick it actually tasted really good too. The subtle hint of white chocolate comes through nicely without tasting like your eating a desert. It was the perfect side for my main course and I would return to this restaurant based on this alone.
Sammie
55 Boar Lane
Leeds
LS1 5EL