1. Piazza By Anthony
Widely regarded as the city's best restaurant, Anthony's is an expensive, esoteric experience. However, chef-owner Anthony Flinn has wasted no time in launching a number of affordable spin-offs. The latest, Piazza, has transformed the ground floor of Leeds' iconic Corn Exchange into a day-time cafe, restaurant, bar and gourmet food store. You may bemoan such gentrification (this building previously housed a grungy Camden-style market), but you can't quibble with the quality. Good meat and cheese platters (£7.50/ £8.50) are served with excellent bread from the on-site bakery, while, in their precision, the best restaurant dishes - pork rib chop with good gravy, fondant potato and a dainty roasted apple (£8.95) - reflect Flinn's high standards, without the hefty price tag.
• Cafe dishes from £2.99; restaurant mains from £8.25. Corn Exchange, Call Lane, +44 (0)113 247 0995; anthonysrestaurant.co.uk
2. Nation of Shopkeepers
This newcomer is one of those thoroughly modern multi-purpose bars. Late-night, it hosts DJs and live bands, and attracts the indie/art school set. By day, it serves creditable food, good imported beers and real ales, and keeps an older generation of urban hipsters happy. The artisan pies are regional favourite, I's Pies; there's a selection of "homemade comfort food classics", like macaroni cheese, on the menu; and NoS do a pretty decent handmade burger (from £4.90). Breakfast is served until a civilised 1pm.
• Meals from £4.60. 27-37 Cookridge Street, +44 (0)113 203 1831; anationofshopkeepers.com
3. Hansa's
Open since 1986, Hansa Dabhi's vegetarian Indian is a Good Food Guide regular, widely praised for its cleverly spiced Gujarati cooking. Try the channa, a complex, flavoursome dish of whole red chickpeas with red chillies and cinnamon, washed down with a bottle of the ale-like beer, Bangla. Takeaway available.
• Mains from £5.25. 72-74 North Street, +44 (0)113 244 4408; hansasrestaurant.com
4. Salvo's Salumeria
Salvo's, a buzzy, family-friendly Italian, has been turning Leeds on to proper pizza and authentic pasta for over 30 years. Enthusiastic owners John and Gip Dammone keep the concept fresh, and, in 2005, they opened a neighbouring deli-cafe, Salvo's Salumeria, where they delve deeper into regional Italian cooking. With its piadine (flatbread) wraps, hot daily specials, like pappardelle with venison ragu, and its wide selection of deli treats (such as roasted artichokes, Neapolitan pickles, numerous cured meats and cheeses - any four for £6.95), the Salumeria is a boon for the budget gourmet, and well worth the short schlep from the city-centre.
• Salads and hot dishes from £5.95. 109 Otley Road, Headingley, +44 (0)0113 275 8877; salvos.co.uk
5. Salt's
With its solid wooden counter, cake stands and high, packed shelves, this deli has the feel of an Edwardian fine food store. Equally, in its ethos, Salt's harks back to a time when things were done properly. Soups and specials are cooked fresh daily; all meats, eggs and vegetables are quality Yorkshire produce. Near to several hotels (Malmaison, Jury's Inn, Travelodge), Salt's breakfast menu may be particularly useful to travellers. Skip the Ferme des Peupliers yoghurts, and try their sausage butty: fat, moist, well-seasoned pork and leek bangers on a terrific home-baked ciabatta (£2.35).
• Sandwiches from £2.45; salads from £3.65. 14 Swinegate, +44 (0)113 243 2323; saltsdeli.co.uk
6. Art's Cafe Bar
More Paris than Pudsey, this relaxed bar-bistro is a popular spot with local young professionals. Mains on the à la carte generally top £10, but the lunch menu (12pm-5pm) offers sandwiches, salads and platters for £6.50. The Yorkshire Plate includes Wensleydale with a terrific sweet tomato chutney, a leaf salad with a good, sharp mustardy dressing, bread, marinated beetroot, a robust venison terrine and slices of a similarly gutsy pork pie.
• Lunch plates, £6.50. 42 Call Lane, +44 (0)113 243 8243; artscafebar.co.uk
7. The Cross Keys
Locally sourced, seasonal British food - " … not some generic, homogeneous 'gastro pub' menu offering Thai spiced fishcakes … " - is the remit at this handsomely refurbed 19th-century pub. While not cheap per se, there are bargains to be had if you choose carefully. The daily chef's specials - such as a coarse rare breed pork and prune terrine, with slices of spiced and pickled pear (£5) - are substantial snacks; while some mains, such as the sausages with bubble 'n' squeak (£8.95), are good value at under a tenner. Each Sunday, the Keys also offers various sharing roasts with all the trimmings, such as leg of lamb (six people, £85). Good beer selection, too.
• Mains from £8.95.107 Water Lane, +44 (0)113 243 3711; the-crosskeys.com
8. Fuji Hiro
There is a Wagamama in Leeds, but if it's fresh, zingy noodles you're after, then savvy locals will point you towards this Japanese favourite. Local super chef and fan, Anthony Flinn, swears by the yaki-udon (thick noodles with shitake mushrooms, prawns, chicken, vegetables and sliced Japanese fishcake, in curry oil), while the beef ramen comes with flash-grilled, still pinkish steak and a tasty stock that really comes to life as a fiery chilli sauce melts into it.
• Mains from £7.25. Merrion Centre, 45 Wade Lane, +44 (0)113 243 9184
9. Box Pizza
A takeaway pizza joint of Michelin star provenance - co-owner Henry Vigar has headed starred kitchens, and currently runs Notting Hill's Kensington Place - the stone-baked pizza bases are authentically thin and properly charred, while the fresh dough has a lively spring and good chew to it. They're huge 13-inch jobs that could easily feed two, if not three, particularly if you chuck in one of BP's side dishes, say, rocket salad or panzanella (£3.45). Choices range from a basic margherita to a 'Mexican' (grilled chicken, jalapenos, smoked chilli salsa etc.) that would raise eyebrows in Napoli.
• Pizza from £4.95. Unit 3, The Triangle, 2 Burley Road, +44 (0)113 244 5544; boxpizza.co.uk
10. Pickles & Potter
This deli-cafe's modus operandi is simple. Where possible, everything is done in-house, from home roasting all meats to making their own chutney. Where they can't do something, making bread, say, they ask an expert, in this case Leeds-based French baker, Thierry Dumouchel, to do it for them. At lunch, there's a queue for P&P's hefty eight-inch torpedo-rolls, and salads like chickpea, halloumi and sweet potato. Next door, people sit around (think: a Leeds version of Friends' Central Perk), reading or chatting over tea and cakes. P&P's almost fudge-textured chocolate brownie (£1.95) is a seriously delicious adult treat. Notably friendly, helpful staff.
• Sandwiches from £3.40; hot dishes from £5. Pickles & Potter, 18-20 Queens Arcade, +44 (0)113 242 7702
• Leeds Loves Food festival (2-5 July)
