Thiccc Sauce is behind (almost) all of Leeds' best sauce combos, but the local independent has now secured a huge collaboration project with burger chain Honest Burgers and Makers Mark Whisky.
Starting from humble beginnings, Thiccc Sauce is one of our favourite lockdown success stories from Leeds. Since beginning the sauce company, founder Luca has collaborated with some incredible Leeds talent, including the likes of Friends of Ham, Little Bao Boys, the Savvy Baker, Mozzafella and more.
Now the independent sauce company is involved in a huge collaboration project with Makers Mark whisky and Honest Burgers.
The national restaurant chain will be stocking a special Thiccc Sauce from Tuesday 3 May - Monday 30 May 2022 and have even created a burger featuring Leeds' own sauce.
Honest Burgers have said: "If you're going to make a BBQ sauce burger like no other, you have to start from scratch. For us, that meant calling our friend Luca, aka Thiccc Sauce and jumping on a train to Leeds to work on a recipe.
"We created a fine sauce- sweet and smoky- adding chipotle peppers and a slug of Maker's Mark Kentucky bourbon for woody vanilla complexity... The result is fruity and tangy with a kick of chilli heat: it's addictive stuff".
There's even a special burger to go with it: the BBQ Sriracha Burger is an irresistible combo of Honest beef patty with candied bacon, double American cheese, Bourbon BBQ Sriracha sauce, crispy onions, confit garlic mayo, lettuce and pickles.
All burgers comes with homemade rosemary chips, coleslaw or salad from Tuesday 3 May - Monday 30 May 2022.
Image: Supplied
Thiccc Sauce has explained how the concept came to life: "So it’s been a year in the works. Honest Burgers reached out as they started their plans to open a leeds venue so wanted to work with a local indie business. Myself and Adam from Honest stayed in touch and carefully and slowly planned what sauce we wanted to make. He then came up to Leeds early this year and we developed the sauce together.
We wanted to blend two of our favourite styles, BBQ and sriracha [so] I then travelled down to London to help develop the burger with the sauce on. The partnership with makers mark join along the way to amplify the flavour of the sauce. [I'm] Extremely happy with how the whole project has turned out and an honour to work with two such amazing brands and give Honest a very warm welcome to Leeds."
Big collabs = big mixing pots. / Image: Thiccc Sauce
This month, Honest Burger announced that the Camden-born burger joint would be expanding over into West Yorkshire and opening their first branch in Leeds. Little information has been released, other than the company plan on joining Leeds' Cloth Hall Street in the near future.
You won't have to wait too long to try out Honest Burger for yourself though. The chefs have just taken over the kitchen at Northern Monk refectory over in Holbeck and will be serving up their famous beef patties for the next three months.
As for the Thiccc Sauce burger: there's no update just yet to say whether it'll be on the Leeds menu, but the home-grown indie sauce will be featured in over 50 of their restaurants across the UK- including nearby cities like Manchester.
Image: Supplied
Read More: The best Leeds indies X Thiccc Sauce collaborations in 2021
To try out Thiccc Sauce's other delectable creations, you needn't travel too far: the indie sauce company regularly features at pop-ups across Leeds or you can find their sauce in person at Bottle Chop in Headingley, amongst other stockists.
Feature Image- Supplied
Eats
Get Baked’s viral ‘Bertha’ cake has a sister on the way – and she sounds just as cheeky
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.”
The Swine That Dines announces the official opening date of its brand new restaurant
Clementine Hall
Much-loved Leeds Bistro The Swine Bistro, formerly known as The Swine That Dines, has moved to a bigger space in Headingley.
Although it’s gone through a few name changes over the years since launching as The Greedy Pig cafe in 2012, this independent spot has long been a firm favourite for Leeds locals for some time now.
Run by chef couple Jo and Stu Myers, they’ve been operating out of North Street where it’s all about cooking seasonal produce simply and with an added ‘little bit of sunshine’.
But now Swine Bistro has moved up over to Headingley, taking up a unit previously occupied by Jam hairdressers on Otley Road.
Image: Supplied
And the time has finally come for them to open their doors, as they announce their first service will take place on Friday 4 April with bookings open from today, Thursday 20 March.
The Myers will be welcoming head chef Kirsty Cheetham, who won Observer Food Monthly’s Best Sunday Lunch award in 2018 and 2022 when she ran The Queen o’t owd Thatch in South Milford, Leeds.
The expanded space in the restaurant has allowed the team to curate a bigger wine list which will include natural wines from Wayward Wines and Latitude Wines as well as local beers from Ilkley Brewery and Horsforth Brewery.
Image: Supplied
The team remains passionate about locally sourced ingredients and has partnered with a variety of Yorkshire suppliers including R&J Yorkshire for its fresh meat, Tarbetts fishmonger, cheese from George & Joseph cheesemongers and beans from micro roaster, Chipp Coffee Co.
Jo Myers, co-owner of the Swine Bistro said: “It’s taken a huge amount of time and effort to realise our dream to revamp what was previously a hairdresser into a fully functioning kitchen and restaurant. It’s been a wild ride but we’re excited, and slightly nervous, to finally open our doors.
“We love the vibe in Headingley and the time out has allowed us to have fun with our menu as well as take part in lots of essential taste testing of ingredients and drinks from our brilliant local suppliers. We can’t wait to welcome guests into our new restaurant!”
Sophie Smith -
2nd May 2022 
