Canal Club, right by Leeds Station, offers brunch, lunch, dinner, and drinks. In fact, you can hear the station announcements as you leave, making the venue the ideal spot for drinks on the way home after work or as the first port of call for a night out.
Scaffolding was still up when I arrived, and I wasn’t sure which entrance to go for. Typically, I picked the wrong one – but thankfully, my friend was waiting just inside, so we headed over to the bar. A table had been booked for us, but because of an issue with the booking system, we weren’t listed. (Teething problems are common enough at new venues, and we only had to wait for a few minutes for a table to be prepped for us.)
Once we sat down, we had a chance to look around the space. It was pretty cool. I liked the quirky features and the paint scheme. The bar was particularly flashy, and that made the place feel upmarket. However, it was only when we sat down that we realised how loud the music was, and became louder while we were there. It kind of confused the identity of the place.
Canal Club offers a sharing menu, with lots of small plate options, inspired by dishes from the four corners of the world. There were a lot of dishes to choose from. which is a great way of identifying diners in the early days and informing chefs of the potential of each dish. We took our time to make choices. The dishes were grouped into meat, vegetarian and fish options, with the choice of larger plates and then sides.
We decided to opt for one of the larger dishes and three smaller plates, and then shared them all. We went for quite an odd combination – BBQ cauliflower wings, mini stuffed Yorkshire puddings, grilled goat’s cheese on toast and a larger plate of grilled halloumi, marinated chicken, and flatbread with tzatziki. To drink, I stayed with water, whilst my friend ordered a passionfruit martini.
The food took about 15 minutes to arrive and by that time, we’d had a good look at what other people had ordered, so we were looking forward to trying our dishes.
The BBQ cauliflower wings were my favourite dish of the day. I loved the sticky sauce, which although I thought would be sickly on the first bite, nonetheless mellowed and went really well with the mild flavour of the cauliflower. I was also impressed by the crunch that had been achieved – it almost felt like you were eating real chicken tenders. The portion was pretty big, but with a price tag of £7.45, I think Yorkshire folk in particular would expect generous portions of cauliflower.
The mini Yorkshire puddings with good. They were served with mini stuffing balls and they were homemade – something that we were dubious about before they arrived. The stuffing balls were tasty and the Yorkshires would not have looked out of place on any Sunday dinner plate. Unfortunately, the gravy that they were served with didn’t achieve such a high standard – it was not as flavoursome nor as thick as we would have liked, to enhance the Yorkshire pud. experience. Overall, we were both a bit disappointed by the puds, and were confused by the addition of a bed of rocket – an unnecessary accompaniment – with a price tag of £7.95.
And to the grilled goat cheese – aka cheese on toast with pickle. Although it’s hard to go wrong with cheese on toast, for me, this was the weakest dish of the meal. It looked like we’d been given the crust of the loaf, the bread was barely toasted, and the goat cheese slices were very thin. The pickle was tasty, but not particularly memorable And why the bed of rocket? Overall, for £7.45, it wouldn’t be a first choice for me again.
And finally, the Greek skewers. I enjoyed the halloumi as it was nicely grilled, with a little bit of crunch, but had retained its soft, slightly chewy core. The chicken was also tasty – it had been well marinated and chargrilled so it had that nice BBQ flavour. Although it was nice to have a fresh salad and some bread with the dish, they weren’t stand out. Perhaps additional side plates would have helped, rather than eating directly from the singular square plate. I don’t know if this dish warranted the £9.95 price tag. There is a lot of competition in Leeds when it comes to kebabs!
Overall, although the food was good, and I recommend the BBQ cauliflower wings, I think I’ll let some weeks pass before returning to Canal Club. I think the team there needs time to make decisions and adjustments – perhaps to refine the menu, and to establish their identity, and of course the identity of their customers.
My friend is keen to return to the all-day venue to try out the bottomless brunch or supper, and I can understand why – the cocktails looked great, and I do think that had it not been a busy Thursday night after work, the venue would have had quite a different feel. I am looking forward to hearing about it – and who knows, I may be back to try out a bottomless experience soon, too.
