I haven't been to the Milestone yet (though this will be rectified on Thursday) but the other place run by the same people is good: http://www.the-wigandpen.co.uk/

Plenty of other options if you still need ideas. Any preference on cuisine or part of town?

I had a really good meal here last year. The best dish we ate was duck braised in beer. Lovely tender chunks of duck on the bone, an intensely flavoured beery broth (plenty of Sichuan pepper and chilli in the mix) freshened up with chunks of mild sweet peppers and pickled peppers. It was great. Good lamb skewers too.

Nice to see a little flurry of West Yorks posts! And I agreed with you on this one - I'm a big fan of the original Mumtaz. All of their lamb curries are always really very good.

I might have to give this place another chance, as it gets a lot of positive reports. My sole experience was a very underpowered som tam (nowhere near hot enough) and a woeful pad Thai.

I've not been to Brett's for years but a recent visit to Bryan's was disappointing. The fish wasn't skinned which is a travesty for a Yorkshire chip shop.

It's takeaway only but the chip shop down by the parish church is my favourite in Headingley. Worth a visit if you don't want to dine in.

They do a fairly good pho as well. Variety and generosity of herbs a little lacking, and they don't do rare beef, but the stock is usually good and the noodles nicely cooked.

They're also quite handy with the grill. I've had chicken and quail in there with moist flesh and properly crispy skin.

I'll second the love for Tunworth. A truly wonderful cheese. Had a lovely one over Christmas, oozing and cabbagey as it warmed.

I haven't posted on here in ages, because it's rare that I find something genuinely chow-worthy in Leeds (in the sense of somewhere undiscovered and amazing). Thai Aroy Dee fits the bill.

It's a little casual BYO Thai place on Vicar Lane in the city centre with an until recently secret Thai only menu. I had it translated but they've now done it themselves which makes ordering a whole lot easier. I've been four times, now standout dishes have been:

Noodle soup with stewed beef - great broth, good noodles, generous quantities of both beef balls and lovely gelatinous brisket.

Som tam with grilled chicken - excellent pounded salad, really zingy and hot as hell. Served with perfectly crisp skinned chicken thigh.

All the other salads - especially the laab gai and nam tok. All agressively spiced/seasoned but balanced with it.

Shrimp paste fried rice with all the trimmings - wonderful textural contrasts; sharp shattering crispy shallots, crunchy/chewy dried shrimp, chewy/nuggety chunks of pork and pork fat, crunchy but yielding cashews, soft omelette. Delicious.

Yen ta fo - fish ball noodle soup with a wonderful savoury sweet red beancurd broth.

Raw prawn salad - simple but intense fish sauce/lime/chilli/garlic dressing, wonderfully fresh prawns.

This is the best Thai food I've had in the UK, with the possible exception of 101 Thai in London (I haven't been to the Heron though).

Agree entirely with Harters regarding Indian restaurants. For your other meal the following might be worth a shout:

Kendells Bistro http://kendellsbistro.co.uk - French, very well thought of. Romantic depending on your interpretation, 10-15 mins walk away.

Anthony's Piazza http://www.anthonysrestaurant.co.uk/piazza/ - part of the Anthony's group. Cheaper, simpler food than the main Anthony's (salads, pasta, steaks etc), but can be very good. The room is the star of the show, because it's within the beautiful domed corn exchange, definitely romantic. 5 mins walk.

Create - http://www.foodbycreate.co.uk/restaurant - just opened, menu reads well. Run by a social enterprise, headed up by chef formerly at 4th floor Harvey Nicks. I haven't been yet, but certainly looks interesting. ...edit: just seen a photo of the room and I don't think it will fit the romantic tag. 5 mins walk.

There are some renowned Scottish restaurants in the West End not far from the museum. Here: http://twofatladiesrestaurant.com/westend focuses on Scottish seafood. Supposed to be good but I haven't been. I have been to a couple of great Indian places in the same area, here: http://www.motherindiaglasgow.co.uk/index.php?action=cms.argylest and here: http://www.weecurryshopglasgow.co.uk/index.php?action=cms.byresroad

In Stirling this place has been recommended to me: http://www.thejunkrooms.co.uk/

Longley Farm products are available in most supermarkets here in Yorkshire. They're all good quality but not considered a premium brand or anything, so aren't at all expensive. Their yoghurts are good too (try the rhubarb or blackcurrant).

Branches of Morrison's supermarket sometimes stock them even in London, the cottage cheese will set you back about 90p. Would be interested to hear how much they were charging for it in Selfridges!

Also on Chester Street is La Mei Zi, another good Szechuan Chinese place. Apart from that I can't think of anywhere else good in very close proximity to the University that Haverfoodie didn't mention already. It's really not far into town though.

I was at The Mark Addy yesterday as it happens. Got a table in the sun on the terrace, surprisingly it wasn't too busy! The food was very good.

Thai 101 in Hammersmith is my favourite.

352 King Street Hammersmith London W6 0RX

I thought Chaophraya in Leeds was rubbish. Overpriced and very muted, toned down flavours. I only went once though, so perhaps I caught them on a bad day.

You can cover all three bases at once at Borough (cheese, iberico ham and cask ale). As previous posts have already mentioned Neals Yard (cheese) and Brindisa (iberico ham) are there, and The Rake is also there. The Rake is a tiny pub run by Utobeer, a beer specialist on the market. They will always have some excellent ale on draught.

Second the vote for Stinking Bishop.

The following are also favourites of mine (all available at Neals Yard):

Montgomery's Cheddar
Stichelton
Tunworth

I've only been to Anthony's restaurant once and I enjoyed the experience. Definitely the best high end option in Leeds. Anthony's piazza is also decent for more casual dining, and is in an amazing building (the Corn Exchange).

In response to the OP's query about finding anything unique or done better than in London, you probably won't. The only thing I can think of is fish & chips, but I'm not sure if there is a great chippy in the city centre though.

A few good options would be:

Kendells Bistro - French
Mumtaz - Kashmiri (I think the food at the Leeds branch is just as good as Bradford)
Akbars - Indian (good but I think Mumtaz shades it. Akbars is in a more central location though)
The Cross Keys - Gastropub
Red Chilli - Szechuan/Chinese

There are plenty of options in Manchester that should fit your budgetary constraints. In the city centre try the following:

Korean - Baekdu
Indian - Various curry cafes (as mentioned above), several of which now open later than 5pm so are also an option for an early evening meal. Try This & That, Yadgar or Hunters Asian BBQ.
Chinese - in addition to those previously mentioned Middle Kingdom and Hunan both do Szechuan & Hunanese food.
Soup Kitchen - very good spot for soups/sandwiches/hot dishes.

Are you going to Rusholme? This is the area with the famous curry mile, could be interesting to visit for your course. Although famed for it's Indian/Pakistani restaurants (most of which are not very good) it's increasingly being taken over by Middle Eastern places (some of which are quite good).

On the website the specials are listed under the heading 'February' so assume they will change monthly. You should be good for it 'til Monday then....

Was here last night, thought it was very good overall but agree with those saying it's inconsistent. A clear split for me between the grills and the curries.

Lamb chops, seekh kebabs and chicken tikka all seemed a bit bland, and were also lacking in any char or smoky flavour. If this is the difference between cooking them on the grill or in the tandoor, I think I prefer the former. The chicken was very tender though.

Curries were the highlight. Chicken karahi, goat curry and the bhindi were all excellent. Rich, deeply flavoured sauces particularly the goat. Decent meat to bone ratio too. Breads were also good, particularly a very light, crisp nan. I thought the roti was a bit too light though, needed a bit of chew or char to it.

Had lunch at the Thai place yesterday. Chicken stir fried with chilli & holy basil, with rice and a fried egg (kao pad kao prao or similar?) Enjoyed it, nicely cooked chicken, rice and a perfect egg, crispy bits of white giving it texture and the yolk adding richness. Needed a bit more chilli and basil though. The staff were lovely, friendly and genuinely keen to impress.

Dosa Express in Withington is worth a visit. Nice freshly fried vada although maybe a bit bland. A chicken curry was very good, deeply spiced with cardamom and cloves prevalent. Basic place but very cheap. £7.26 for vada, chicken curry, rice, poppadum, sambar, salad and a soft drink (with a 20% discount for early ordering).

Yes I thought it was strange too. They definitely do dosai at Punjab, but I don't think any of the rest of the menu is South Indian.

I've found another one to try though: Dosa Xpress, Copson Street, Withington. Might give it a try before the end of the week...

Decent canteen style Korean on Shudehill. Very good pancakes, decent dolsot bibimbap and kimchi chigae. Cheap. A nice alternative to the curry cafes in the vicinity.

Anyone been to Koreana on King Street West.

Anyone have any recommendations for South Indian food in the Manchester area?

I have come up with the following:

Lotus, Northenden
Sindhoor, Burnage
Lily's vegetarian, Ashton-under-Lyne (possibly Gujurati rather than South Indian, does dosai I think)

but not much else. I've been to Lotus, reasonably good dosa with all the classic accompaniments.

Thanks zuriga1, John (Harters) actually e-mailed me in response to this post which was nice of him.

Thanks Theresa, I've been to most of your recommendations and agree with them all. Yadgar is the rice and three place next to the Cedar Tree. It's my favourite out of those places.

I love Red Chilli but haven't been to Red n Hot yet. Will check it out. Hunan in Chinatown is another one worth checking out.

I've lurked on this forum for a while now and noticed it seems to be getting increasingly Londoncentric. Is there anyone out there interested in Leeds and Manchester chowhounding?

I haven't seen any regular contributors I can think of other than Harters (whose posts are great but probably more upmarket than most of my dining, I'm thinking more JFores style cheap ethnic eats).

Thanks