Rate My Takeaway Kitchen: Danny Malin adds new Italian street food vendor Bonnie and Clyde to line-up
In his weekly column for the Yorkshire Evening Post, Danny Mei Lan Malin shares how the first few weeks of his latest venture has been doing and what’s he most nervous about.
It’s been an interesting experience being on the other side of reviews.
I’m used to going around and rating takeaways on my YouTube channel, Rate My Takeaway, but now, with the opening of my own food court in the Packhorse Shopping Centre, I’ve had to endure the nail biting scrutiny of influencers and journalists reviewing us.
Not only that, every customer could leave us a good or bad review - and I genuinely want everyone to enjoy it.
Unlike a lot of food reviewers online, we’ve always rated takeaways on the channel for free and paid for the food too because we want to give honest reviews.
I’m often criticised for giving too many glowing reviews but I started Rate My Takeaway to find the best takeaways in the UK, not to slate the bad ones.
When choosing where to review, we go off recommendations in the comments on our channel.
Granted, this has meant I’ve also stumbled on the odd bad takeaway, which has been recommended by followers, but I have genuinely loved discovering hidden gems.
Many of my videos have gone viral, which means I’ve helped save a business in struggling times or boosted their growth.
Our taste in food is all subjective. Fortunately, I have enlisted Leeds’ top takeaways to serve up their food at my food court.
Included in the line-up is Pizza Pizza, Hooyah Burgers, Bobby’s Salt and Pepper, Birria Boyz, Jay’s Desserts and Wing a Ding at the Rate My Takeaway Kitchen.
We’ve also got rotational vendors including Wagyu Lookin’ At? selling Wagyu burgers. The latest addition to the food court is Italian street food brand Bonnie and Clyde.
In my opinion, their deep fried lasagne with chips and cheese sauce is an absolute solid ten.
The menu also features everything from deep fried calzone to slow cooked pulled porchetta sandwiches and complement the existing vendors at Rate My Takeaway Kitchen perfectly.
While there’s been a lot more graft than expected running the food court in Huddersfield, the best part is tasting all the food and seeing customers, influencers and journalists enjoy it, too.