Twelve good things I ate and drank in May

Monochrome sushi, an AF odyssey, and a whole lotta leaves

May was a strange month for me. Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. It turns out, much like with veganism, that you have to lead with this in every conversation once you find out you have it.

There are a few things I could have done with this diagnosis: nothing, therapy, or medication. I’ve decided to try medication, and I started the titration process this month. There are a few different types, and it takes a while to know what works for you. So it’s going to be an interesting ride.

The medication I am currently working with makes me far less hungry and requires that I drink very little, ideally no alcohol. I’m sure you can imagine that’s a lot to navigate for someone whose livelihood is in food and wine.

I’ve soldiered on, though and eaten lots of lovely things in Manchester (and beyond!) that I want to tell you about. I’ve also enjoyed some really good non-alcoholic drinks. I hope you enjoy the leaf-based theme running through many of this month’s faves.

Apologies that this is a bit later than usual, but I had a trip to Italy at the start of the month. I’ll tell you all about that soon.

Read on for the best things I ate and drank in May

Shaappu Meen Curry at Tharavadu Leeds £21.36

So many things about Tharavadu’s menu amused and delighted me. Each dish comes with a flowery paragraph of text describing it in great detail. These are liberally peppered with those classic Indian restaurant menu descriptors: ‘succulent’, ‘delectable’ and ‘sure to delight (or indeed tantalise) your tastebuds’. Bring your reading glasses and leave your ADHD at the door because choosing what to eat requires some concentration. Recommended dishes from both national critic Jay Rayner and foodie YouTuber Gary Eats are proudly highlighted. And the prices are brilliantly specific: £19.85, £10.05 and, for this dish, £21.36 (although both our dishes came in a few pence cheaper on the bill!).

There aren’t many decent places open in Leeds on a Tuesday evening, and for some reason, that’s when I always seem to find myself there. Luckily, Tharavadu is one of the ones that is, and it’s an absolute joy. Both the main dishes we shared were fantastic, but our Kozhi Kurumulag (coconut and green peppercorn chicken) was just pipped to the top spot by this multifaceted sea bream and prawn number. The seafood sits on a mound of earthy golden cassava, and is doused in a rich spiced tomato and coconut sauce; perfect for dipping a flaky house paratha into. Keralan food is my favourite across all of India and this is Kerala on a plate. If you’ve never been here, you must.

Caramelised Yellowtail at Waku Waku £6

A catch-up with my old pal Jools and her sushi-loving 8-year-old meant Waku Waku was a no-brainer. This bonkers, black and white “2D cafe” on Portland Street is one for the gram, but it’s not just a gimmicky interior; the modern Japanese food here is really good. My favourite on this visit was this caramel-grilled yellowtail (aka amberjack) nigiri. I wasn’t sure if it would be too sweet, but the balance of sweet and salty was bang on.

Half flat iron chicken with Sichuan salt, slaw and crispy curry leaves at Caravan £19.50

A visit to Factory International (or, if you must, Aviva Studios) to see the jaw-dropping Hamlet Hail To The Thief with my dad meant an early dinner at Caravan. The crowd-pleasing menu is so varied, with plenty of hearty options as well as more nutritious ones. I’ve been here a fair bit but this huge flattened and deboned half a chicken was a new one for me. It was exactly what I was after, crispy on the outside, juicy in the middle, served with a mound of lime-spritzed creamy slaw and scattered with curry leaves, one of my favourite flavours of all time. A surefire hit with the gym bunnies.

Cheshire hogget and wild garlic sausage pizza from Honest Crust £14.50

I regularly stop at Mackie Mayor on my wine tours to taste wines from Reserve. More often than not, I pair these with pizza from Honest Crust. It’s hard to go wrong pairing wine with pizza. Honest Crust is one of my favourite places in the pizzaopolis that is Manchester. It does the classics exceptionally well, but always has at least one inventive special on too.

Continuing with the leaf theme, this time it’s wild garlic and sorrel, the latter, from Cinderwood market garden, appears in the form of a drizzled buttermilk dressing alongside some lovely local hogget sausage spiked with the former. The sausage was a collaboration between chef’s favourite butcher Marcus at Littlewoods and one of my favourite chefs, Shaun Moffat from Winsome. I can’t think of many other pizza gaffs that offer unique, cheffy specials like this. We had it with ‘Italian champagne’ aka Franciacorta.

Cod fritters with honey and lemon foam at Tast £10

I try not to write about the same places too often, but whenever I eat at Tast, it’s always one of the best things I've eaten that month. I visited for a catch-up with my old pal, Anna, who is one of the fussiest eaters I know. We ordered some ‘safe’ snacks but I convinced her to try these too. Fish-cautious Anna was won over by these crispy lads and their unconventional sauce, a sweet and tangy lemon and honey foam. Although Catalonia is known for its fish and seafood, I don’t think this is a classic Catalonian dish (correct me if I’m wrong). It was almost giving Chinese lemon and honey crispy fish. Super unusual but somehow it worked very well.

Greek salad and spanakopita from Greko Trinity Market Hull about £11

Touring musician life for me used to mean either eating an unadvisable amount of fast food or surviving on peanut butter sarnies and cold tinned soup for two weeks. I’m a little less skint than I was as a young musician so I like to try and grab pre-gig food from local spots as much as poss. I’m also making more nutritious choices where I can so I don’t come home feeling like I need a juice cleanse. I found perfect balance from Greko at Trinity Market in Hull with this Greek salad packed full of chunky, vivid red tomatoes and green olives alongside the spinachy hit of a spanakopita. Better than a Hull patty.

Vaghareli khichdi at Sanskruti, Withington £5

It’s not going to win a beauty contest, I know, but this is a great dish. You could honestly come here for a plate of this alone and be satisfied. It’s hidden away in the rice accompaniments section of the menu, but it’s more like a hearty dal with rice added to it and all kinds of magical flavours woven through it. It wasn’t what I was expecting as a side dish to my paneer curry but it was my favourite dish on a recent visit to old favourite Sanskruti. This vegetarian restaurant has been quietly cracking on for years, delighting vegans, veggies and people like me who eat everything.

Wild red prawns, tom yum butter, kaffir lime at Empire Cafe Leeds £16

I had heard mixed reports about Empire Cafe, but it had been on my list to try for myself for ages. The interior is sexier than I expected, all low lit and dark walls adorned with chic artworks (making for gorge pics like this). The menu centres around rotisserie chicken, which is perfectly fine, but it’s the small plates menu where you’ll find the fun stuff.

I was most impressed by these chunky prawns doused in a piquant and lightly spicy tom yum butter with the uniquely beautiful flavour of lime leaves. I’d revisit this place just for this dish.

Butternut squash gnocchi at Sigiriya Hale, part of a £90 wine tasting event with matched dishes (invite)

The only dish to make it into this month’s round-up via a PR invite is this from Sri Lankan restaurant Sigiriya in Hale. I was invited to check out their wine tasting event, and I was as sceptical as I was intrigued. Spicy food is notoriously tough to match with wine, and here was a whole seven-dish menu. I had to see how they pulled it off.

I knew when I arrived and saw that our sommelier for the evening was Andy Leathley, showing Hallgarten wines, that I didn’t need to worry about the quality of the wine. My favourite dish and wine match was this simple butternut squash gnocchi in a curry leaf, spinach and nutmeg sauce paired with a cool and complex glass of many a somm’s favourite, roussette de Savoie. This niche wine is not something you see on many menus - and it isn’t actually on the menu here; the wines for this event are brought in especially, and all the selections were genuinely impressive. I’ll probably talk more about the wines over on Listen To Me Wine at some point.

While Hale is not my natural habitat, Sri Lankan food is a favourite of mine, and not many places do it in Greater Manchester. The food at Sigiriya is good, so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for future wine-matching evenings here.

And for my paid subscribers only, three non-alcoholic drinks I enjoyed this month: