Healy laying his own food foundations

Matt Healy on the stove.

IT is one of the most talked about new openings in Leeds this summer but it is now the food that speaks for itself. Matt Healy took on The Foundry and, it has to be said, the big reputation that came with it, but within just a couple of weeks he has firmly put his own mark on it.

It might be a bit of a trek out of the centre but last Friday night there were more people, a bigger buzz and a better atmosphere in the urban cool Holbeck restaurant than City Buzz has found in some city centre ‘hotspots’.

The menu is refreshingly short compared to some with starters ranging from beef tartare (worth it for the cheese and onion toastie), oysters in vinegar to grilled gazpacho.

Baby Chicken Kiev

For main course there is hake, Bavette steak or lamb rump with artichoke, beans and pancetta.

Venison with braised shoulder pie and baby chicken ‘kiev’ with wild garlic, duck fat potato were our picks and both were honest, uncomplicated but certainly not lacking in taste or flavour.

The size of dishes is not overwhelming but is such that you can comfortably experience all the menu has to offer from snacks, small plates, a main and of course a dessert to which the current menu boasts a creme brulee doughnut; sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream and panna cotta with grilled peach, brand and granola among others.

The wine list is one for the connoisseurs though with an extensive world offering.

Horsforth born Healy is back on the stove himself and is understated yet confident in his style which reflects in the kitchen and his restaurant.