5 green places to eat IN LEEDS

Sally Bendall is Girl About Ambassador for Leeds and a passionate vegan. Here, she shares her favourite spots in the city for low-waste, largely plant-based sustenance

Leeds is a bustling, vibrant city of about 800,000 people, and like all big cities it has some sustainability challenges. But giving a big tick in the green box is its food, with many restaurants, cafes and bars adopting sustainable practices, such as zero waste and locally sourced produce. Vegan and vegetarian food has long been acknowledged as better for the environment, so if you’re looking for choices that will be good for you as well as for the planet, let me point you in the right direction.

CHA LOUNGE, DOCK STREET

An omni restaurant but with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, the Cha Lounge has an ethos of ‘cultivating what’s right for the world’. Everything is used up at Cha Lounge, in line with their zero-waste policy: bread ends make up the soup croutons, pulp from their fresh juices goes into cakes and any food close to its expiry date is given to staff. Try the plant-based breakfast with one of the home-made smoothies – sensational!

BUNDOBUST, MILL HILL

Bundobust is a vegetarian Gujarati street food venue with plenty of vegan options and a stunning range of craft beers. As well as reducing their impact with their product range, the team spent a long time finding the right waste handler to work with them on their zero-waste policy and recycle their compostable packaging into energy and organic fertiliser. Best of all, the food is out of this world delicious! Try the okra fries.

CANTINA, VICAR LANE

Based upstairs in The Old Red Bus Station, Cantina serves a menu full of vegan comfort food. It’s an art gallery space and event venue too, showcasing new and local bands and artists, and is doing their bit in spreading the vegan love with a recent stall at the hugely popular Beat-Herder festival too. I wholeheartedly recommend the poutine (IYKYK!).

DÖNER SUMMER, CALL LANE

Döner Summer is a very funky, entirely vegan restaurant, and the food is incredible. It’s top of my list of recommendations for visitors to the city and it’s perfect after a long day of sight-seeing as you’ll be hungry and the portion sizes are enormous. My favourite dish here is the Chick’n PARMKebab with all the toppings. Yum!

FAT ANNIE’S, KIRKGATE MARKET

Perfect for Stateside food on the go, Fat Annie’s is 100% vegan and 100% mouthwatering. James Stock, the founder of Fat Annie’s, decided to make the venue meatfree in 2020, saying he’d prefer to be part of the solution not the problem, and you can’t say fairer than that. To complement their vegan burgers, dogs and shakes, they’ve recently launched a plant-based Rocky Road. Sweet treat heaven!

Stay green AT ABBEY HOME FARM, CIRENCESTER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

A family-friendly organic farm campsite where you can camp in a car-free field with basic amenities (compost loos and cold tap water) and enjoy views across the Cotswolds, or stay in a yurt camp (great for groups), a shepherd’s hut or a stone cottage. It’s a five-minute stroll through the woods to the on-site farm shop and café, and there are lots of activities for children. Take the 881 or 855 bus from Kemble railway station to Cirencester, from where it’s a 40-minute walk or 10-minute cycle to the campsite. theorganicfarmshop.co.uk