The Finished Dish – Beautiful on a Spring Day!

Serves 4

Asparagus

2 bunches of English Asparagus

Drizzle of oil
1. Chargrill the asparagus from raw until they are chard and just cooked. You still want the Asparagus to have a bite too it.

Hollandaise Sauce

100ml white wine vinegar
1 sprigs of Tarragon
5 pepper corns
2 large, free range egg yolks
125ml melted and skimmed unsalted butter
Pinch of paprika
Twist of lemon juice
Salt

1. Boil the vinegar together with peppercorns and tarragon, reduce by half. Strain and reserve
2. Boil a large pan of water, and then reduce to a simmer. Using a large balloon whisk, beat together the yolks and the reduced wine vinegar in a heatproof bowl that fits over the pan.
3.Whisk the mixture over the simmering water until it forms a foam, but make sure that it doesn’t get too hot. To prevent the sauce from overheating, take it on and off the heat while you whisk.
4.Whisk in a small ladle of the warmed butter, a little at a time, then return the bowl over a gentle heat to cook a little more. Remove from the heat again and whisk in another ladle of butter. Repeat until all the butter is incorporated and you have a texture as thick as mayonnaise. Finally, whisk in lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste plus a little warm water from the pan if the mixture is too thick.

Poached Duck Egg

4 free ranged duck eggs
1L water, Brought to a steady rolling simmer
50ml white wine vinegar

Fill a pan with 1L of water and bring to a steady simmer. Crack the eggs in to 4 ramekins. This makes it easier to drop them in to the water while it is still moving. With a spoon, swirl the water around in the pan then drop in your eggs one at a time. The swirling of the water will help to form a nice round shape. Cook for 3-4 minutes and remove from the pan.

To Dress

Place the warm charred asparagus in a dish and top them with the poached duck egg. Drizzle a generous amount of hollandaise over the egg and place under the grill to glaze. Once glazed, remove from the grill and serve. If you want to get a little chefy, garnish with fresh shoots and petals.

As some of you already know, our flagship fine dining restaurant on Boar Lane has relocated to sit aside our Piazza by Anthony Restaurant in the Historic Leeds Corn Exchange. We’d just like to thank all of you for your kind words and support over the first Nine Years, Our First Service in our ‘New’ Home in the Corn Exchange was last night and the support from guests old and new was fantastic.  Anthony’s in the Corn Exchange truly is The Home of Food in Leeds, a real food emporium; you can get everything all in one place, we’d love you to come down and enjoy it with us.

Whether you fancy cake and a coffee, some BBQ ribs, a cocktail (or two!), sausage and mash, or a fine dining experience, we have it all. There really is something for everyone under the Beautiful domed roof of the historic Leeds Corn Exchange.

All of our menus are available here on the website (and you can book a table online too!) so please take a look around and we can’t wait to see you soon!

Last night we attended the 5^th annual Oliver Awards and were overjoyed to win in both of our categories as well as an overall award. Anthony’s Restaurant won the Award for best fine dining and Piazza by Anthony won the award for best of British, you can find full details of the awards and all the other winners on the  Yorkshire Evening Post website.

We’d just like to thank everyone for their kind words! Our twitter and Facebook followers have given us lovely comments and congratulated us on our success. We wouldn’t be where we are without our loyal customers so thank you all.

Photos from the Night will be featured in the Yorkshire Evening Post supplement this Thursday so keep an eye out for us!

The Finished Soup, Perfect with Crusty Sourdough from our Piazza Bakery

This is a really simple delicious recipe, it only takes 15 minutes to make and it feeds four, so its perfect for a quick lunch

To Make 4 Portions You Will Need

80gr Diced Shallots
120g Potato, peeled & diced
240 Celeriac
600ml Milk
200ml Double Cream
160g Wild Garlic
100g Butter
A Twist of lemon
A Sprig of thyme

Boil the potatoes and celeriac until cooked. Sauté off the shallots in a little olive oil. Add the thyme and butter. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic leaf and stir until fully wilted. Add the cooked potato and celeriac to the pan with the milk and cream. Bring to a simmer. Place the soup in a blender. Add a twist of lemon, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Serve warm with some crusty fresh sourdough from our bakery at the Piazza and a drizzle of olive oil.

In 2004 when we opened Anthony’s Restaurant on Boar Lane Leeds we brought atotally new experience to Leeds and were heralded by critics both locally and nationally. Throughout the last 9 years we have grown and improved, just like the city, expanding and bringing our flair and creativity to other areas of dining. In 2005 we opened Anthony’s at Flannels, in 2006 Anthony’s Patisserie in The Victoria Quarter and in 2008 we opened Piazza by Anthony becoming the anchor tenants in a multi million pound refurbishment to bring the historic Leeds Corn Exchange back to

life. Since 2008 Piazza by Anthony has developed and grown to become the very centre of our focus in Leeds, with our dedicated Bakery, Chocolate Shop, Patisserie and Cheese Room creating and supplying produce for use across all our sites. From the very start we have always looked towards creating a centre point and hub for food lovers, one kitchen producing exacting quality food but to several different areas; – A Brasserie, A Café, Private Dining Rooms and more.

That’s why we are very excited to announce that from the 9th April 2013 our flagship Fine Dining experience – Anthony’s Restaurant will be relocating to join us at what we believe is the centre point for lovers of food in Leeds; Our innovative 13,500 square foot ‘Piazza by Anthony’ site in the Leeds Corn Exchange.

The move to the Corn Exchange is the obvious next step which will give us an opportunity to take our Fine Dining restaurant to the next level, the expanded facilities that are made possible by the greater flexibility of space within the Piazza site will allow us to showcase dishes and techniques that were impossible in the small kitchen of the current Boar Lane site.

The main kitchen at the Piazza will be remodelled, allowing space for both the teams From Anthony’s and The Piazza to work side by side creating exciting and exacting dishes for both restaurants, overseen by Executive Chef & Director Anthony Flinn.

A New Dining Room will be created for the Fine Dining Restaurant. Retaining the intimacy of our current room, we will continue to seat only 40 covers and offer just one sitting at lunch and one at dinner with no desire to turn tables.

Our existing team of Chef’s and Front of House will also be making the move across to the Corn Exchange and the Dining Room will continue to be ably led by RestaurantManager Andrew Meads.

Visiting on a busy Friday night, we are taken to the last available booth and handed an extensive drinks menu. Not really knowing where to start, and never having been to a champagne bar before, we decide to plump for the waiter’s recommendations. A classic champagne cocktail, a French 75 and a champagne mojito (£9 each and all made with, wait for it, Veuve Clicquot champagne) arrive swiftly, and after trying all three we declare the crisp French 75 our favourite. That’s not to say the others weren’t good; they just weren’t quite as good.

The low roof, dim lights, and intimate booths combine to create a cosy atmosphere within the bar area. The décor is stylish and minimal, leaving the arches and other features of the old Corn Exchange exposed. Small touches like the attentive table service, chilled drinks glasses, even the napkin placed under each drink, add a touch of class to proceedings, while the Motown playlist is very much to our taste.

The only drawback of champagne cocktails is that they slip down far too easily. For the next round we go for some slightly more heavy hitting cocktails: a Brooklyn (£6.50), a Daiquiri (£7) and an Absolutely Orange (£7), which are all presented with subtle garnishes and in glasses cold to the touch (and of course each with a fresh napkin!). Even though the cocktails aren’t cheap, they are all excellent. My choice, the Absolutely Orange, listed under ‘something different’ on the menu, is a twist on the classic Gin Martini, with Martin Millers Gin, Cointreau, Lillet Vermouth and Angostura Orange Bitters, and it’s something I’ll be trying to recreate soon!

Alongside the cocktail list, the bar also offers a large selection of beers, wines and spirits, including bottles of Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada and Timothy Taylor Landlord, while on draft there is Pilsner Urquell, Peroni and Hoegarden.

A walk across towards the toilets before we leave offers a welcome reminder of the scale and history of the building. The fairy lights on the ceiling (a must-see at night for anyone who hasn’t been in yet), the bustling restaurant and the general bustle of the building provide an indication that this Leeds gem might be ready to flourish once again.

With the evenings beginning to draw in, the Veuve Clicquot Champagne Lounge is undoubtedly a great place to go for a drink. The ingredients and attention to detail in the cocktails put it on a par with any of the more obvious Call Lane destinations.

Piazza by Anthony, The Corn Exchange, Call Lane,  Leeds, LS1 7BR, 0113 247 0995,www.anthonysrestaurant.co.uk/piazza/champagne-bar