Jay Rayner Recommends This Leeds Restaurant On LNER Podcast

After a lot of hard graft, perfecting your dishes, and offering an exceptional customer experience, getting a positive review from a food critic is the icing on the cake for many restaurants. Well, one Leeds restaurant has just received a glowing review from a particularly famous food critic.

Yorkshire’s Own French Masterpiece

Appearing on the Route LNER podcast, host Jenni Falconer asked Jay Rayner which three restaurants or places to eat the journalist and food writer would recommend.

Starting North and working his way down, he names a spot outside Newcastle in Tynemouth, Riley’s Fish Shack, saying: ‘It is, as it sounds, a shack on the beach. But they cook their fish over fire, with a beautiful view, even on a cold day’.

Next, he names the Leeds French restaurant Sous Le Nez ‘an old stager’. He says it’s got a great wine list. Nothing on the menu will surprise you, but they do it all very, very well’.

And his last tip is a London pizza spot Breadstall, describing it as ‘very, very good pizza.’

Rayner, who has written for media outlets such as the Financial Times, The Independent on Sunday, and The Observer, said the place had a great wine list and that:

‘Nothing on the menu will surprise you, but it is done very, very well.’

High praise indeed! Born in London, Jay Rayner does have a strong connection to the West Yorkshire city. He attended the University of Leeds, where he studied politics and was the editor of the Leeds student newspaper.

What’s on the Menu?

Sous Le Nez is located near Leeds train station and is perfect for a quick lunch with a friend or a romantic evening meal. The restaurant is in a cavernous basement which offers the perfect hideaway from the hustle and bustle of the busy city above.

Dishes include pan-fried wood pigeon breasts, roast French black pudding, crapaudine beetroot, feta cheese and sweet potato Wellington, and pan-fried sea bream fillet. For dessert, there is iced lemon and thyme parfait, dark chocolate delice, Yorkshire summer fruit tart, a plate of European Cheese, to name but a few.