Table 26 in Swillington has been crowned the Restaurant of the Year award for Yorkshire and Humberside at the English Curry Awards.
Knowing where to get a decent curry from is an essential part of British life.
All the poppadoms, onion bhajis, pilau rice and not to mention the array of flavoursome curried dishes available in Leeds can be overwhelming at times: there are over 60 different options on takeaway apps in the city centre alone.
But officially, Table 26 is the the best place to get your bhaji fix. The curry house was crowned Restaurant of the Year in Yorkshire and the Humber this week at the English Curry House.
The popular restaurant has been open for less than two years but has already made a huge impact on the Leeds foodie scene.
Describing their journey so far as a "rollercoaster ride", the local eatery were recognised for both quality and customer service and chosen by members of the public.
Table 26 received their award from the National British Curry Awards earlier this week. / Image: Table 26 Restaurant
The award has specific categories that restaurants must show in order to be considered for the award, these include obvious signs of hard work, determination and impeccable service. The markers also ensured that any restaurant considered were creating and serving "delicious dishes at an excellent standard".
Table 26 were up against five other highly-ranked curry houses across Yorkshire including Curry Corner, Shama Bingley and Shalimar Restaurant Harrogate but outsawarded their award by English DJ and Presenter, Tommy Sandhu.
The Swillington restaurant is popular with locals but also receive a lot of traffic from Morley, where their previous restaurant, Table 27, was based.
Table 27 closed just before the initial lockdown when Covid-related restrictions were enforced as the owners wanted to downsize.
Table 26 opened in January 2020 and fought through the open-then-close difficulties that the pandemic brought.
One of their famous dishes is the Agni Karahi, a smoking hot dish that comes still covered by flames, a delight to many customers.
Leading up to the festive season, the award-winning curry house have now launched their Christmas menu, offering the perfect opportunity to put the now-famed curries to the test.
The menu consists of four-courses, with poppadoms, sizzle mix starters and any main course dish from the menu. Finish your Christmas dinner off with a sundry, chapati and traditional Indian sweet.
For £32.95, it's a steal that even the Grinch couldn't turn down, but with business booming after their recent award, tables are booking up quickly.
She's big, she's green and she's ready to ruin your figure.
A lot of you will have seen the viral ‘Bertha’ cake by Leeds born beloved sweet treat specialists Get Baked.
They recently opened another site in Manchester's Northern Quarter, where queues literally formed round the block of hungry punters wanting to get their hands on the infamous sugary treats.
And now it's going to happen all over again, as they've recently unveiled their newest flavour which is sure to go down a storm.
We’ll give you a hint: it’s a current food and drink trend that’s about as big as Bertha herself – it’s not matcha, it’s not hot honey (duh), and it’s not Guinness…
Images: Get Baked
Yes—scratch that; HELL YES!Get Baked is set to welcome Bertha’s equally beautiful twin sister, and she’s officially a pistachio girlie.
Having started out life simply as ‘Bruce’, after taking inspiration from the iconic scene from Matilda, this thing has become a phenomenon in its own right, and who doesn’t like more flavours of a good thing?
Probably one of the biggest foodie crazes going at the minute, thanks to the popularity of pistachio cream, cookies, lattes and the similar social media sensation that is the ‘Dubai Pistachio Bar' people are rather fittingly going nuts for this particular flavour of almost absolutely anything.
With that in mind, the Leeds-born bakery and dessert shop – founded by Rich Myers over in Headingley back in 2011 – have shown no hesitation in hopping on the bandwagon and creating a new twist on their own viral menu item.
Teasing the full details in a post on their Instagram this week, they wrote: “What’s big, green, and is going to destroy your life in a couple of weeks’ time? Pistachio Bertha. Strictly limited to 5,000 slices. Coming oh so soon. GB.”
In case you were wondering just how mad those with a sweet tooth could possibly go for a slice of cake, just look at the recent queues when they finally launched in Manchester city centre:
Speaking on the grand opening here on our turf and his partner Amy’s hometown, Myers said simply: “Manchester, what a launch. Thanks for much for the warm welcome. Stay baked.”
Leeds Tattoo Expo to return to the First Direct Arena for 10th anniversary
Clementine Hall
The tenth annual Leeds Tattoo Expo will showcase some of the best in tattooing both local and internationally.
If you fancy getting yourself a fancy new bit of ink, then look no further than the iconic Leeds Tattoo Expo that will be returning to the First Direct Arena this June.
Taking place on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June 2025, over 200 tattooists and 70 traders will be flocking to the city to show off their skills.
And not only that, but there’ll also be a whole host of market traders for you to browse as well as live music to have a boogie to.
The artists will be tattooing with options for both pre-booked appointments and walk ups available throughout the weekend.
Image: Leeds Tattoo Expo
There will also be a piercer, tooth gems and a henna artist ready to adorn your body.
Alongside getting tattooed, there’s plenty to do and to see over the whole weekend; there'll be an alternative drawing class, an illustrators market with kids’ workshops provided by Art Gecko, an art fusion event on the main stage, burlesque performances and competitions, a small vintage clothing pop-up, fire breathing and break dancing demonstrations in the square outside the arena.
The annual tattoo competitions will also be taking place each evening, where tattooists showcase their work to a panel of judges, sponsored by Killer Ink!
To celebrate Leeds Tattoo Expo's tenth anniversary, they'll be hosting a Pre-Party at Belgrave Music Hall on Thursday 5 June which is a completely free entry event complete with live music and free pizza.
You can find out more about the event and book your tickets here via the First Direct Arena's website.
Sophie Smith -
22nd October 2021 
