The Leeds Kirkgate Market (December 23rd & 30th)
Wikipedia tells us that it’s the largest covered market in Europe, but the Leeds City Council more modestly says it’s “One of the largest”, adding that it’s “a shopper’s paradise from fresh food, drink and fashion to jewellery, flowers, hardware and haberdashery.” I can’t speak to the jewelry or the haberdashery or the fashion, but the food parts were fascinating. There’s a main food court, but there are stalls/stores selling food dotted all over, often in unexpected places. I only scratched the surface. (This thread started by @Kake has more information on the market.)
@Nangbaorou had recommended Saeeda. It’s on row F, stall #411, closish to the end where the covered market leads to a smaller open one
Sadly, though, they were out of food on our first visit, and this is what we encountered on our second:
Next time.
On our first visit, some members of the party shared jerk chicken and fish& chips from two of the stalls in the main food court, both of which they liked. My wife tasted them both and liked them too. I was too preoccupied to eat – I was trying to find an ATM (having forgotten to at the airport the day before); plus it was just an hour after our huge lunch. On the second visit our companions had Colombian empanadas as well as Jamaican patties (lamb, and salt fish – the latter a bit soggy, based on my bite) from places elsewhere in the market than the main food court. My wife and I had sandwiches that day from Mr. Mackerel in the main court – a very tasty grilled chicken with a spicy rub, and, of course, grilled mackerel. You can choose from a wide variety of add-ons. I picked shredded red cabbage, thin slivers of onion, tomato, and mayo for the chicken, and cucumber&yoghgurt, onion, jalapenos, hot sauce, and garlic sauce for the fish.
Here are some pictures of the market as you enter from Vicar Ln:
The clock in the last picture commemorates where, I gather, Marks & Spencer first started as a penny store in the late 1800s:
The market has to be visited to be believed. Here’s some of the fish:
And a close-up of one of those suckers:
There’s also meat, veggies, etc. Here are small samples:
The prices were very good – 5 tangerines for £2, for example, although the quality was not as good as at fancy places in the Boston area, such as Formaggio Kitchen (there, 2 for $5 – but those stay healthy for three weeks, while the ones here collapsed in three days). One cannot, of course, live by fish, yams and tangerines alone. One needs cheese (although, sadly, this was not a sample; it was the totality):
The item in the black wax at the lower left turned out to be a charcoal-infused cheese, a Yorkshire specialty (look it up). It was gritty but surprisingly good. We also got some excellent Yorkshire butter from them. MN recommended their jams and preserves, but we didn’t get any.
One also needs bread, and dessert. The Karpaty Bakery stall hit the spot:
A little digging reveals that they are part of a chain. (http://karpatybakery.co.uk/) Nevertheless, we liked their dense rye breads, their doughnut with rose jam, their sweet poppyseed bread, and their pavlova:
Finally, here’s the kind of stall you find just (apparently) randomly stuck in the market, this one across from a florist:
What a place this market is!
