Meow, so today's MIM post is going to be a food post so it's going to contain a few food pictures so I am warning you in advance as you may get hungry throughout the post. I was invited by the lovely guys at Nation Of Shopkeepers to come and try their new menu so I thought that I would type about it so you guys could read it and such. I hope that you enjoy the post!
So a while ago, I got an email asking myself and Luke to try out the new brunch menu at Nation Of Shopkeepers and as I love food I thought that it would be a great idea to go and tell you guys what I think.
When we finally got to the restaurant after I rarely know where anything is within leeds unless it's in Trinity Leeds, we were greeted by such a lovely woman. She told us that the delivery for the brunch menu had not came in yet but we were available to have anything from the normal yet new menu... I thought that this was so great and I was so grateful for this...
I went up after finding a good window seat and trying to vlog in a echo like space and ordered two cokes as I rarely drink as it is and it was midday so it felt too early to even think of alcoholic beverages... The guy serving us took his time and apologised as he was new to the team but I didn't mind as he was so lovely/sweet whilst trying not to anxiously break down from not knowing what to do which is what I would have done... He also asked me if I wanted a medium or large drink and as it was quite warm I thought that a large would be a better option.
I read the menu whilst telling Luke the options within the menu and we finally decided on what to have! I decided to have a ribs and chicken combo which consisted of hot and kickin' chicken, half a rack of bourbon glazed ribs, coleslaw, fries and some other great sides where as Luke ordered a Rib and Pineapple slaw burger but the delivery meant that there was no ribs... I changed my decision and chose Mac & Cheese with Chorizo as I love Chorizo but I havent had Mac & Cheese/Macaroni Cheese in ages due to lactose intolerance. The lovely lady came back and said that they had ribs for me but not for Luke so instead she suggested that we shared a massive ribs and chicken combo with all the sides which she would bring out...
We chatted and sipped our drinks until the lovely woman (I keep referencing her as that as we didn't catch her name as it got really busy by the time we had finished eating) came over and served us a massive delicious looking platter... The platter contained 4 pieces of hot and kickin' chicken. The chicken was thigh and leg pieces which I like more than the breast of a chicken as the leg and thigh pieces normally have a lot more flavour to them. The chicken was coated in a thin yet crispy batter which was so delicious to eat but it was also popping with different spices which made it mouthwatering but not too spicy...
The platter also contained a rack of bourbon glazed ribs... Now if you know me at all then you will know that I will judge a food establishment on its ribs and oh my god these ribs were so good! The ribs were smothered in a sweet bourbon glaze. The glaze made the ribs so delicious and tender as the bourbon cut through the meat and just made it delicious to eat. I would warn that the ribs would instantly make an adult turn into a messy childlike eater. These ribs were some of the best that I have ever had and I've had quite a lot of ribs in my lifetime...
It also contained grilled pineapple... Grilled pineapple may sound like a weird thing to serve with meat but I loved it! I am such a lover of pineapple. I sometimes get a bit addicted to pineapple juice because I love it that much. Luke didn't like it but I think that was because it was grilled but it was such a great thing to cut through the spices of the Chicken... Mmm...
The next thing that I tried from the platter was the 'BBQ Pit Beans'. These were delicious! The baked beans were decadently drowning in bbq sauce but there was an element of surprise when I was about to take a bite and realised that there was bits of tender pulled pork hiding within the sauce... The surprise of the pork made it extra special and scrumptious to sample. It was divine. I'm such a sucker for bbq inspired meals and I could tell by this point that I would have to come here again soon...
We were given fries with all of this but one of the sides had fries included within it so we only had some but they were smothered in the bourbon glaze as the fries were underneath the ribs. The fries were crispy yet fluffy on the inside. They were something else!
Now to the sides! All of the above was just on one platter. It was shared between me and Luke as it was a sharing platter but it could probably be divided more than two people. It could serve four but maybe not many more after that...
The wonderful woman came back halfway through the platter and put down a side of corn on the cob with garlic butter to start with. Now I have a thing for sweetcorn/corn on the cob so I couldn't wait to try this... Just from looking at it, I could tell that it was going to be good as some bits were burnished and some bits were eye poppingly yellow... I took one bite and garlic butter oozed from the corn and dripped a bit... Was it food porn at its best? Yes. The garlic butter added a slight bit of bitterness to the sweet corn which made it extremely amazing. Am I weird for loving corn?
The next thing that was placed on the table was a mixture of tempura fried vegetables and onion rings with chipotle jam. The batter was so crispy and light. It was just delectable. The vegetables inside tasted fresh and delicious so you could tell that they were made on site. You could tell what veg was inside due to the freshness and the contrast between the vegetables/onions and the batter. The chipotle jam went along with it as it added a spicy kick to the veg without smothering them in heat. It was sweet and spicy at the same time and worked so well with the crispy bites of heaven.
The last side that the Nation Of Shopkeepers served to us was 'poutine'. Poutine is basically chips in a pool of rich delicious gravy baked with cheese on the top. Sounds so fattening but worth it. This is the main reason why I only had a few of the chips from the platter. Luke doesn't like the smell of certain/most cheeses so the only way to get it out of the way is if I ate all of it and moved it away. Any excuse is a good excuse, The chips were crispy yet slightly damp from the gravy and then the cheese on top of it made it an ultimate part of Yorkshire inspired comfort food. The gravy could do with something if you're not keen on onions but I love them so I didn't mind the strongness of it. The only problem for me was the cheese due to me and lactose.
We waited a while after demolishing most of the menu. The lovely woman came and took our plates away and told us to go and order desserts if wanted when the food had calmed down a bit. We waited quite a bit as it had felt like I was having a food baby. Once some time had passed, I went up and ordered our desserts as I'm one of those people that can eat loads and then still have room for dessert somehow...
Luke had ordered a cherry pie with ice cream so I can't really say much of his opinion of that but I tried a tiny bit as I am a bit weird when it comes to cherry influenced things. I didn't mind it but it was quite strong but Luke seemed to love it.
I went for the Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Cookie Tower. Yes that was a lot to say when I was ordering it. I was curious to what it meant by a tower. I'm not a massive lover of peanut butter but I do like it so I was waiting to find out as all it said on the menu was the title and then with chocolate sauce and whiskey ice cream which made me want it more to see how strong the whiskey would be and if it would work in an ice cream as alcohol never freezes within ice cream so it keeps it a lovely smooth texture.
When it arrived, I was pretty surprised as it consisted of freshly made chocolate chip cookies sandwiched together with slightly salted peanut butter as the flavour was so bold then drizzled generously with a rich chocolate sauce and then on top of this tower there was a massive scoop of whiskey ice cream which was strong but not too over the top. The peanut butter was nice but I could only manage three quarters of it. The ice cream was really nice thus not what I was expecting. It was such a good dessert but not the best dessert to go to after eating around half of the menu but is any dessert a good dessert for after the platter and sides?
So, I'm going to wrap it all up here... I'm going to rate the restaurant on the whole and give it a 9.9/10 as I never give anywhere a 10 as everywhere has the room for improvement. The delivery fiasco put a bit of a dampener at the beginning of the day but otherwise it was all amazing. I am definitely going there again and again and I can't wait to go back! I recommend that you go as soon as you can! I hope that you've enjoyed the blog post and if you live anywhere near Leeds then go to Nation Of Shopkeepers on Cookridge Road near O2 Academy and check out their new menu!
The Video To Go Along With This:
Nation Of Shopkeepers Website: http://www.anationofshopkeepers.com/
Meow!
Jamie x
