Mill Hill, Leeds: Food and Drink Guide

Mill Hill is the short street running downhill from Boar Lane towards the station, and it is the best single street for food and drink in Leeds city centre: Bundobust at number 6, Tharavadu at 7 to 8, Raw Coffee at 10 and the Head of Steam at 12. Turn the corner and you are on New Station Street, with Laynes, Friends of Ham and Rudy's. Arrive by train, walk five minutes, and you have lunch, dinner, a coffee and a pint sorted without ever needing a map.

It was not always like this. The Welcome to Leeds street guide describes Mill Hill as a down-at-heel cut-through that turned into an independent food, drink and shopping strip over the past decade. At the bottom it loops round and becomes Sovereign Street. It is the first street a lot of visitors see, and it makes a very good first impression.

Bundobust, 6 Mill Hill

Bundobust is where the whole thing started. The business dates from 2014, and Mill Hill is the original site. It does Indian street food and craft beer, and the menu is entirely vegetarian and vegan, which most meat eaters do not notice until the bill arrives and they realise they have not missed anything. Order okra fries, vada pav and the bhaji butty. On the beer side, there is its own Peela pale and the Mango Lassi pale, plus permanent taps from Kirkstall and North. The benches suit groups, the paperware is compostable, and the weekday lunch express, two dishes, is one of the best-value lunches in town. Small plates start at under a fiver, so it is easy to over-order and still leave smiling.

Tharavadu, 7 to 8 Mill Hill

Next door, Tharavadu cooks the food of Kerala, under a wooden roof that makes the room feel like somewhere else entirely. The order is the Adu Cheera Mappas, boneless lamb, or the Meen Pollichathu, the house fish dish, with an appam or a big paratha on the side. At lunchtime there is a thali for under £10. Book for dinner: it is one of the most recommended restaurants in the city and the room fills. Vegetarians are well looked after too, with aubergine, chickpea, spinach and paneer curries on the menu, and the prawn and mango curry with appam is the date-night order.

Raw Coffee, 10 Mill Hill

Raw Coffee opened in early 2024 and is a good stop for a matcha or a cold brew. There is also a house dog called Roo, who is the real reason some regulars come in.

The Head of Steam, 12 Mill Hill

The Head of Steam is a big beer bar with a large circular counter and a serious Belgian selection on tap and in bottles, including Huyghe and Chimay, alongside rotating cask from Yorkshire and beyond. Thursday is quiz and live music night from 8pm. It is about five minutes from the station, which makes it the natural spot to wait for a delayed train.

Round the corner: New Station Street

• Laynes, at 16 New Station Street, opened in 2011 and is still the best coffee by the station. It uses Square Mile's Red Brick, and the Turkish eggs are the brunch order.
• Friends of Ham, at 4 to 8 New Station Street, is a charcuterie, cheese and wine bar. Get the Spanish board, with Cebo de Campo, Iberico chorizo and Idiazabal.
• Rudy's, at 2 New Station Street, does Neapolitan pizza. Margherita, or the Tarantina with anchovies, capers and olives.
• The Brewery Tap, at 18 to 24 New Station Street, still has Leeds Brewery brewing upstairs. Order a Leeds Pale.

Down the hill: Sovereign Street

Where Mill Hill turns into Sovereign Street you will find the North Brewing Tap Room at number 3, pouring North beers with plant-based bao from Little Bao Boy, two for £11. Bibi's Italianissimo has been on Sovereign Street for over a decade and still does live music with its lobster and prawn tagliolini.

How to do Mill Hill in a day

Coffee at Raw or Laynes in the morning. Lunch at Bundobust or the Tharavadu thali. A pint at the Head of Steam if the afternoon is free. Dinner back at Tharavadu, or a board and a bottle at Friends of Ham. It is the easiest food crawl in Leeds because nothing is more than three minutes from anything else. For the wider picture around the station, see the Leeds-List station guide.