Come with me and mother to The Collective Incorporated, a restaurant and bar and interior design by Executive Craig Rogan, located on Boar Lane in Leeds city centre.
It was a typical gloomy day, however it soon brightened up when we arrived at The Collective Inc. We were greeted by the lovely Hannah, who accompanied us to our table which was situated with a window view.
Hannah then guided us through the menu, explained how it worked and also gave good recommendations on what to choose. We were given time to get comfortable and have a look through the drinks menu.
“It’s Friday” I said to my mother, therefore we ordered two dark and stormy cocktails which arrived on the table with no time to spare. The cocktails tickled the taste buds and got us excited for the food we had ordered.
To wake our appetites we ordered the toasted sourdough bread to start, one with sea salt butter and the other with beef butter, which was more than adequate. The sourdough bread with sea salt was just devine and hit all the right places, the sourdough with beef butter was out of this world, the flavour complemented the sourness of the bread perfectly, both options of butters we’re perfection.
We then moved onto snacks, I ordered the Blini of Raw Mackerel, sesame shoyu, bergamot and my mother ordered the Nut Bread, beetroot, and fresh ewes cheese. Both bite size snacks exploded with flavour.
After our snacks we went for the main dishes which we ordered to share, we got the Heritage Tomatoes, smoked cod roe, sea buckthorn, Woodland Mushrooms, sherry vinegar, cheddar and Violetta Potato Soup, ox cheek, bone marrow bearnaise. All three dishes were visually captivating and yet again packed the punch when it came to the flavours.
It would be rude not to finish with a sweet, I selected the Mint Ice Cream, dark chocolate, maude coffee fudge which was insanely tasty. A little insider, I am not a huge coffee fan and I asked Hannah if the coffee flavouring was overpowering, she responded with “The flavours are perfectly balanced”, which they were. I thoroughly enjoyed my sweet which left a smile on my face. My mother ordered the Rhubarb Cheesecake, white chocolate, sour raspberry which she loved.
The whole culinary experience at The Collective Inc was phenomenal from start to finish, the gorgeous interior design of the restaurant makes you feel warm and at home. We will both be revisiting again soon to experience it all again.
Review and Images by Theo Mayne @theomayne1
Feature image courtesy of The Collective Inc
