Leeds, get ready to sizzle as opening date is announced for city’s hottest new restaurant Etci Mehmet

Famous Turkish steakhouse Etci Mehmet has revealed it will open the doors to its exciting new Leeds restaurant next week, bringing a unique dining experience to the city’s food -lovers.

Etci Mehmet is a steakhouse with a difference. Fusing Turkish culture and energy with exceptional, vibrant food and an atmosphere to match, dining here will ignite the imagination as well as the palate!

Located on Eastgate, the restaurant will open its doors on Thursday August 1st, with advance bookings now open.

At Etci Mehmet, every dining experience is a celebration. With a vibrant and stylish interior, table-side fire shows and plenty of theatrical flair, a visit here is entertainment and dining rolled into one!

Guests can feast on premium steaks, which are dry aged for 28 days which intensifies the beef's natural flavours, making it succulent and tender with incredible flavour. Plus, they can get up close and personal with the restaurant’s expert chefs by selecting their preferred cut from the open kitchen before it is cooked to perfection. 

Other signature dishes include an eight-hour slow oven-cooked Lamb Asado, Asado Beef and Lamb Shoulder. And, not forgetting its famous Spicy Giant Meatball, which has amassed 18m views on Tiktok, and the delicious fresh Turkish Baklava. 

To mark the official launch, the first 500 guests to dine in the restaurant will receive a free Baklava with their meal, which is lauded as the restaurants most popular dessert.

Founded in Istanbul in 2012 by Mehmet & Mustafa (affectionately known as Baba), Etci Mehmet launched its first UK restaurant in Manchester, which instantly became the city's hottest dining spot. This was followed by openings in Riyadh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Doha & Casablanca. 

Its arrival in Leeds is creating 60 jobs in the city, with the restaurant set to become a firm favourite among locals and visitors from across the region. 

Attracting loyal and regular guests including celebrities and sports stars. Etci Mehmet has a unique way of bringing people of all ages together with its celebratory setting, reminiscent of a holiday restaurant atmosphere making it the perfect spot for any occasion.

Etci Mehmet operations director, Amine el Gueddar said: “As we put the finishing touches to our Leeds restaurant, we are delighted to be able to announce an official launch date. We have been working very hard to create something special for Leeds, which stays true to our Turkish roots and our passion for food and hospitality whilst providing diners with the relaxed and vibrant experience we are known and loved for. 

“We want all our guests to feel like a VIP and for all cultures and communities to enjoy the Etci Mehmet experience together. We already have a dedicated following from across Yorkshire and we can’t wait to welcome them and our new guests to Leeds.”

Ecti Mehmet is open from 12pm - 11pm every day. Click here to reserve a table. For more information visit www.etcimehmet.co.uk or follow @etcimehmet_uk.

ENDS

Address: Unit 3, 1 Eastgate, Leeds LS2 7LY

Get social: @etcimehmet_uk

Website: www.etcimehmet.co.uk/

Former El Gato Negro Site Re-opens As Luxury Sports And Gaming Venue

The cat is out of the bag! MHDL, the talented team behind popular restaurants El Gato Negro and Canto reveal plans to launch a second location for the group’s latest, interactive new venue concept, Black Cat Club.

Launching this September at the former El Gato Negro Leeds site on Park Row, the new venue blends the exciting feel of Black Cat Club’s immersive concept, with all new elements for the sports, music & entertainment lovers of Leeds to enjoy.

Black Cat Club Leeds brings the electrifying game of interactive shuffleboard and riveting fun of darts to the venue, plus hosting 9 screens (including a huge 98-inch mega screen) showing all live sports, complemented with luxurious interiors and soundtracked by live DJs every weekend. 

MHDL will be revealing a newly curated menu of crowd-pleasing dishes featuring fan favourites from Black Cat Club Manchester such as Buttermilk Chicken Bites with Curry mayonnaise, Salt and Pepper Ribs, Dirty Fries and its ever popular £10 Lunch Offer.

With next-generation gaming in one exhilarating space, the venue will also house a destination bar, fuelling guests with signature cocktails and a large variety of beers and wines as they play, watch and enjoy.  

For those who want to catch live sports on the biggest screen in town, guests can order ice-cold beers, signature cocktails and delicious food straight to their table, without missing a moment of the action. MHDL will be offering a premium sport viewing experience with table service on tap thanks to its exclusive “push for service” buttons!

Black Cat Club Leeds will also be hosting weekly events including a Monday night Quiz, Live Music on Thursday and Friday evenings, DJ takeovers on Saturdays and Sundays, plus showing all major sporting events including football, rugby, cricket, F1 & golf.

Black Cat Club Leeds will open its doors on 13th September 2024 and follows the successful launch of Black Cat Club Manchester in March 2024.

Simon Shaw from Mills Hill Development Limited said: 

“We are excited to reveal the second site of Black Cat Club in Leeds on Park Row. Thanks to the incredible success of our first Black Cat Club concept site which opened this March in Manchester, we’re ready to go again and bring this high energy and premium concept to Leeds. Black Cat Club strives to bring the community together through contemporary food, gaming and an unrivalled entertainment experience in luxurious settings, like no other.”

Black Cat Club Leeds is recruiting for all positions from management to runners. Please keep an eye out on the Black Cat Club website, socials and at site for more details. 

To be the first to hear about updates on Black Cat Club Leeds, sign up to mailing list here, follow @black.cat.clubs on Instagram or visit theblackcatclub.co.uk

MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover

Get ready for a summer adventure like no other as the streets of Leeds come alive with the world’s first city-wide MONOPOLY experience.

From July 27th to September 1st, the iconic family board game will take over the city, providing immersive gameplay for the whole family.

Free and family-friendly, the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover invites players to explore 22 key locations, solve puzzles, play mini-games and discover giant tokens scattered across eight themed zones. Grab a map and join the fun—it’s time to play MONOPOLY like never before.

The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover, brought to the city by LeedsBID and under license from Hasbro, a leading toy and game company, is a unique event celebrating Leeds’ rich gaming heritage while offering activities, entertainment and prizes for all ages.

Why Leeds?

Leeds was home to Waddingtons, Britain’s leading manufacturer of board games and playing cards. From the 1930s, Waddingtons produced the UK version of MONOPOLY and was responsible for the now famous London properties in the game. The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover pays homage to the city’s heritage and marks the place that has become synonymous with the iconic game.

“A key attribute of placemaking is honouring a place’s rich heritage, and this year, LeedsBID has looked at a new and innovative way of animating the city centre that does just that,” said Andrew Cooper, Chief Executive at LeedsBID. “MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover is the ultimate placemaking game, paying homage to the city where it was produced so many years ago, with local streets and landmarks represented as the board. In collaboration with key partners, we are providing a free, large-scale, family-friendly activity during school summer holidays to inspire people of all ages to come by and have fun exploring Leeds, while helping drive that essential economic impact for businesses.”

The Takeover

Combining key elements of the traditional game with the feel of a scavenger hunt, the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover will bring people on an adventure across the city centre. Key locations and landmarks across Leeds city centre will be featured as the board, with giant tokens, clues, games and puzzles around every corner for players to discover and solve.

The city centre will be mapped out like the MONOPOLY board and divided up into coloured zones – each with its own life-size MONOPOLY token housed in key retail locations. People can hunt down the battleship, boot, duck, iron, racing car, scottie dog, top hat and wheelbarrow[ST2] .

Like the board game, the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover includes real streets – a total of 22 across the city centre – in addition to incorporating key transport locations, such as Leeds City Station, Leeds Bus Station, Wellington Place Lifting Tower and Leeds Dock Water Taxi. The game’s utilities are also represented with photo opportunities like a floating tap and light bulb, along with a cell, where people can ‘Go to Jail.’

To participate, players can simply pick up a map of the city, which highlights the main game areas, and then choose how to play their own game, with numerous starting points, games to play and attractions to visit.

The overall challenge is to complete a series of puzzles on the back of the map as people work their way around the game, with clues hidden in plain sight across key locations. In addition, each property has a value, which can be added up to work out how much it will take to buy back the city.

Students from the Leeds Conservatoire, posing as characters inspired by the MONOPOLY tokens, will act as guides at each zone to help with the game, check puzzles and hand out stamps for correct answers.

There’s an assortment of prizes up for grabs at the Community Chest and Chance locations, as well as getaway prize packages at the red hotel found at The Junction.

MONOPOLY will continue its takeover of the city with additional activities, including weekend workshops in Waterstones, hosted by the Bank of England, and mathematical games for those visiting MathsCity, an interactive discovery centre in the heart of Leeds.

Who is involved?

Key partners working with LeedsBID in bringing the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover to the city include Child Friendly Leeds, Leeds Corn Exchange, Merrion Centre, Royal Armouries, St Johns Centre, The Light, Trinity Leeds, The Junction and Victoria Leeds.

Child Friendly Leeds was established with the ambition to make Leeds the best city to grow up in. LeedsBID has been on the forefront of making Leeds city centre a place to visit and have fun, while being inclusive for all children and families, especially during school holidays,” said Sadiya Salim, Partnership Development Coordinator at Child Friendly Leeds. “Capturing the views of 80,000 children and young people in the city, we launched the 12 wishes for Leeds. One of them being that ‘children, young people and families feel that there is better promotion and communication of fun and free things to do and places to go within the city.’ The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover is exactly that – and we want to ensure as many families as possible can experience this wonderful free event in the city.”

For nearly 90 years, MONOPOLY has been a timeless classic enjoyed by many generations, bringing friends and families together through its engaging, thrilling, and – sometimes even – emotionally driven gameplay,” said Matt Proulx, Senior Vice President, Global Experiences, Partnerships and Music at Hasbro. “The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover is sure to bring all of that to life through this free, immersive themed experience, and as we gear up for the brand’s milestone anniversary next year, fans can expect to see more fun, new brand offerings to celebrate the world’s favourite family board game.”

The MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover comes to the city starting 27th July until 1st September. Find out more at MONOPOLYLeeds.com and across social media platforms @MONOPOLYLeeds.