The Ivy Asia Leeds
Dan Curley
The Ivy empire grows ever larger with the recent arrival in Leeds of an Asia branch, bolted onto the main brassiere on Vicar Lane in the Victoria Quarter. Furnished to the impeccably high standards The Ivy is famous for (with on-brand green onyx flooring and cherry blossom trees), this is a stunning place serving only the highest quality of food. It’s not cheap, but the best things rarely are. We’re here on a Tuesday lunch when it’s relatively quiet.
To kick things off, I order a plate of prawn tempura with a chilli, lime and coriander dip. The prawns are huge, big enough to hit a home run with, and the tempura is delicious and crisp. My guest goes for the spinach and mushroom gyoza with fragrant ginger dashi and black truffle, which surprisingly comes as a broth. The gyoza are fragrant, tasty, and my guest’s only gripe is he wishes there were more.
For the main event, I go for the salmon teriyaki, a medium-sized premium fillet with a thick sticky sauce coated over the skin. The fish is premium and the sauce moreish. My guest has the salt and pepper beef fillet with lime, which according to him was “much larger than expected, with about eight sizable chunks of meat that were crisp on the outside and succulent and juicy on the inside”. We both go for the kimchi egg fried rice which is packed with flavour and has a kick like Conor McGregor – if you order this, keep your water within reach.
At this junction, I feel fuller than a ferret that’s swallowed a bowling ball, but the desserts look too tempting. I opt for the Samurai, a giant bowl of dark chocolate, chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie chunks and chocolate pearls with a dash of vanilla ice cream decorated with helmet horns and a little moustache.
This might be the nicest thing I have ever eaten, richer than Rishi Sunak and denser than Nadine Dorries. My guest has a portion of six passion fruit and coconut doughnuts that come with a yoghurt dipping sauce, all wolfed down with a big smile.
This was a weekday lunch, so the venue wasn’t rammed, but we hear they’re booked out for months ahead for peak times so you’ll have to plan far ahead if you want a weekend evening meal here.
