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Monday was Wolfie and I's eighth anniversary so after work - I tend to have to work on Bank Holidays as these tend to be a key time for sports - we headed into Leeds for a meal and a few drinks.
We used to do this on idle Sundays but we haven't had too many of them of late, so it was good to get out again and explore the city. Unfortunately, I had to do this with a busted knee, which I banged against the handrail of the steps on the bus when the bus violently jerked forward. Cue a torrent of choice expletives as I was hit right on the cap, increasing the pain which still hasn't fully gone away. Wolfie was also in a bit of a funny mood for whatever reason, making the evening somewhat awkward in places, but he soon lightened up and started doing a load of puppy impressions which were actually quite irritating. I hope I'm not that irritating around him.
Our first port of call was BrewDog, who knew it was our anniversary as I had told them on Friday when we went there for the Mikkeller tap takeover. This was good in itself although I hadn't really planned to be there that day. The problem was that I had booked a train to go to my dad's back in Yarm for 6:45pm, not thinking it was Good Friday and my workload may be somewhat limited. So it proved to be, as I was done by 4pm, so having some time to kill, I summoned Wolfie to come down for the beer and convivial atmosphere. In addition to the four Mikkeller brews (including the fantastically named Brewpuppy) we sampled a cherry and almond dessert beer from Mikkeller and Oscar Blues' Ten Fidy, one of the nicest stouts ever. There were also two of my work colleagues randomly in BrewDog - a couple - with their friends who I didn't know and while Ann did wave at me, sadly I didn't get chance to speak to them on account of needing to catch the train. I got more drunk than I had intended in Friday and called one of the bar staff lady as I didn't know her name, although we are good friends so it wasn't a problem. It is amazing though that names are just not that important to me - like in Japanese class, I can talk to most people but I don't know their names. This can get embarrassing in our society with its name-based convention but it's surprising how little you actually need names day-to-day.
Anyway, we were angling for a freebee in BrewDog for our anniversary but alas nothing came, despite inclings on the Friday that it may be possible. Still at tried Pilot Brew 004, which is fine if you like cucumbers (unlike me), and Stereo Wolf Stout that the barkeep said should be renamed Stereo Wolfie. After a few drinks and a time spent with Wolfie largely on his phone, with no agreement found on where to go to eat, we headed towards the bus station to see what we could see and stumbled across the Outlaws Yacht Club, an independent bar in a hairdressers. The ambience was similar to a bar in Harrogate that we visited last year but sadly it was closing, so we only had time for one drink. There were quite a few people in here though and we played a game of Coppit, a board game that I used to play with my grandmother as a kid. Sadly I misunderstood one of Wolfie's rule questions as he wasn't being clear, resulting in me being accused of cheating, which put a dampener on the game in all honesty.
They had stopped serving food and feeling hungry, we headed off, with the barman giving us a copy of the Leeds Independent Retailers guide to take away, a huge black book tome that'll prove to be very useful going forward. We went for a walk in the dusk light around the Armories, spotting a discrete bar on the Calls that we didn't get chance to visit in the way - I always keep meaning to go here but never actually do. We also noted the prime canal-side frontage which would be great for bars and restaurants as opposed to housing and car parks. Whereas other cities like Birmingham have developed their waterfronts, Leeds lags woefully behind, with a few sites prime for development including an island in the middle of the canal which currently just has a shed on it.
Anyway, with no food here and me desperate for a pee, we decided to go to Trinity and check out Cabana, a Brazilian BBQ place which opened last November but which we hadn't yet tried. And what a revelation it proved to be! You get unlimited chips and guacamole to start while we also opted for the cheese pastry parcels with chopped tomato. The mains were meats cooked exquisitely on skewers, with my steak deliciously seasoned with garlic and rosemary and Wolfie's chicken in a spicy tangy sauce. They also have an oil and a Kick sauce to compliment your dishes, and the latter was particularly flavoursome, not too hot and deliciously smokey. While perhaps you could get a little more meat for your money, the food was exceptional and at £20 a head including beers and starters, certainly not worth complaining about. This will definitely another one to add to the repertoire and hopefully it'll get us away from Trinity Kitchen, which is becoming rather dull.
After this, we called off at the Head of Steam, which has been converted into an exquisite craft beer bar and real ale pub after being an old man place called The Prince of Wales some six months ago. I noticed the big Brooklyn sign from the train as I pulled back into the station after returning from my Dad's on Sunday (on the worse rail replacement bus service I have ever endured) and said we must go and this is a revelation, with real ale taps on a circular bar and two whole beer fridges, one dedicated to Belgian brews and the other American. I grabbed an IPA while the barkeep recommended a Neapolitan Stout which tasted exactly like the ice cream - I don't know how it worked but it just did. While we were drinking, we discussed movies and Wolfie was surprised with how many critically acclaimed films I hadn't seen, particularly Blade Runner. However, when going through the top rated movies on IMDB, it turned out that I had seen about half of the big movies, which is far more than I had thought. As I have mentioned before, I struggle to find the time and to keep an attention span but I'm hoping we can have a few more movie nights with friends so I can see a few more.
With Bank Holiday opening times varying from place to place, we were turfed out the Head of Steam just after 10pm so we headed over to Tapped for a nightcap. Here we grabbed some BrewFists to get the Italian beer badge on Untappd and we had a pleasant time observing all of the breweries in the US on a map above us and wondering why the Left Hand Brewing Company's logo is a right hand. It was a great night and Wolfie and I had marked out anniversary well, although I still can't believe it has been eight years since we got together. I do have mixed emotions about this and it's not something I want to think about too deeply, but the relationship is working and I am lucky to have someone who is so caring and supportive in his own special way. Hopefully we can have many more years together.
We used to do this on idle Sundays but we haven't had too many of them of late, so it was good to get out again and explore the city. Unfortunately, I had to do this with a busted knee, which I banged against the handrail of the steps on the bus when the bus violently jerked forward. Cue a torrent of choice expletives as I was hit right on the cap, increasing the pain which still hasn't fully gone away. Wolfie was also in a bit of a funny mood for whatever reason, making the evening somewhat awkward in places, but he soon lightened up and started doing a load of puppy impressions which were actually quite irritating. I hope I'm not that irritating around him.
Our first port of call was BrewDog, who knew it was our anniversary as I had told them on Friday when we went there for the Mikkeller tap takeover. This was good in itself although I hadn't really planned to be there that day. The problem was that I had booked a train to go to my dad's back in Yarm for 6:45pm, not thinking it was Good Friday and my workload may be somewhat limited. So it proved to be, as I was done by 4pm, so having some time to kill, I summoned Wolfie to come down for the beer and convivial atmosphere. In addition to the four Mikkeller brews (including the fantastically named Brewpuppy) we sampled a cherry and almond dessert beer from Mikkeller and Oscar Blues' Ten Fidy, one of the nicest stouts ever. There were also two of my work colleagues randomly in BrewDog - a couple - with their friends who I didn't know and while Ann did wave at me, sadly I didn't get chance to speak to them on account of needing to catch the train. I got more drunk than I had intended in Friday and called one of the bar staff lady as I didn't know her name, although we are good friends so it wasn't a problem. It is amazing though that names are just not that important to me - like in Japanese class, I can talk to most people but I don't know their names. This can get embarrassing in our society with its name-based convention but it's surprising how little you actually need names day-to-day.
Anyway, we were angling for a freebee in BrewDog for our anniversary but alas nothing came, despite inclings on the Friday that it may be possible. Still at tried Pilot Brew 004, which is fine if you like cucumbers (unlike me), and Stereo Wolf Stout that the barkeep said should be renamed Stereo Wolfie. After a few drinks and a time spent with Wolfie largely on his phone, with no agreement found on where to go to eat, we headed towards the bus station to see what we could see and stumbled across the Outlaws Yacht Club, an independent bar in a hairdressers. The ambience was similar to a bar in Harrogate that we visited last year but sadly it was closing, so we only had time for one drink. There were quite a few people in here though and we played a game of Coppit, a board game that I used to play with my grandmother as a kid. Sadly I misunderstood one of Wolfie's rule questions as he wasn't being clear, resulting in me being accused of cheating, which put a dampener on the game in all honesty.
They had stopped serving food and feeling hungry, we headed off, with the barman giving us a copy of the Leeds Independent Retailers guide to take away, a huge black book tome that'll prove to be very useful going forward. We went for a walk in the dusk light around the Armories, spotting a discrete bar on the Calls that we didn't get chance to visit in the way - I always keep meaning to go here but never actually do. We also noted the prime canal-side frontage which would be great for bars and restaurants as opposed to housing and car parks. Whereas other cities like Birmingham have developed their waterfronts, Leeds lags woefully behind, with a few sites prime for development including an island in the middle of the canal which currently just has a shed on it.
Anyway, with no food here and me desperate for a pee, we decided to go to Trinity and check out Cabana, a Brazilian BBQ place which opened last November but which we hadn't yet tried. And what a revelation it proved to be! You get unlimited chips and guacamole to start while we also opted for the cheese pastry parcels with chopped tomato. The mains were meats cooked exquisitely on skewers, with my steak deliciously seasoned with garlic and rosemary and Wolfie's chicken in a spicy tangy sauce. They also have an oil and a Kick sauce to compliment your dishes, and the latter was particularly flavoursome, not too hot and deliciously smokey. While perhaps you could get a little more meat for your money, the food was exceptional and at £20 a head including beers and starters, certainly not worth complaining about. This will definitely another one to add to the repertoire and hopefully it'll get us away from Trinity Kitchen, which is becoming rather dull.
After this, we called off at the Head of Steam, which has been converted into an exquisite craft beer bar and real ale pub after being an old man place called The Prince of Wales some six months ago. I noticed the big Brooklyn sign from the train as I pulled back into the station after returning from my Dad's on Sunday (on the worse rail replacement bus service I have ever endured) and said we must go and this is a revelation, with real ale taps on a circular bar and two whole beer fridges, one dedicated to Belgian brews and the other American. I grabbed an IPA while the barkeep recommended a Neapolitan Stout which tasted exactly like the ice cream - I don't know how it worked but it just did. While we were drinking, we discussed movies and Wolfie was surprised with how many critically acclaimed films I hadn't seen, particularly Blade Runner. However, when going through the top rated movies on IMDB, it turned out that I had seen about half of the big movies, which is far more than I had thought. As I have mentioned before, I struggle to find the time and to keep an attention span but I'm hoping we can have a few more movie nights with friends so I can see a few more.
With Bank Holiday opening times varying from place to place, we were turfed out the Head of Steam just after 10pm so we headed over to Tapped for a nightcap. Here we grabbed some BrewFists to get the Italian beer badge on Untappd and we had a pleasant time observing all of the breweries in the US on a map above us and wondering why the Left Hand Brewing Company's logo is a right hand. It was a great night and Wolfie and I had marked out anniversary well, although I still can't believe it has been eight years since we got together. I do have mixed emotions about this and it's not something I want to think about too deeply, but the relationship is working and I am lucky to have someone who is so caring and supportive in his own special way. Hopefully we can have many more years together.
