The Empire Cafe

A Corner of Briggate That Rewards the Curious

Fish Street sits just off Briggate in central Leeds, the kind of short cut most people pass through without registering. That near-invisibility is part of what makes The Empire Cafe function the way it does: walk past the frontage without knowing it is there and you have missed something that several critics have called, with reasonable justification, a breath of fresh air for the city's restaurant scene. The room at street level is small and deliberately composed — a compact bar with high stools and banquettes, bottles and glassware catching the light, cocktails being shaken a few feet from wherever you sit. It reads more like a thoughtful neighbourhood bar in Paris's 11th arrondissement than a converted caff in LS1.

Downstairs is the dining room, and this is where the editorial instinct of The Empire Cafe becomes clearest. The basement is windowless, which in lesser hands would produce a room that feels like a penalty. Here it does not. Lamps on each table, Egon Schiele prints against dark walls: the room is dim in the way that good basements should be, drawing your attention inward to the table and the food rather than outward to the street. The atmosphere is earned rather than designed-by-committee, and that distinction is worth noting when so many new openings in mid-market British cities arrive with identical reclaimed-timber fit-outs and exposed ducting.

What the Menu Signals About the Kitchen

The menu at The Empire Cafe is structured around two registers: small plates and large plates, with the division functioning less as a prix fixe hierarchy and more as a genuine choice about how you want to eat. That format has become common in British casual-fine dining since roughly 2017, but the execution here is less generic than the format might suggest. A choux pastry éclair stuffed with duck liver parfait and finished with a blood-orange glaze is the kind of dish that sits between classical French technique and contemporary British cheek — the éclair as delivery vehicle for something traditionally reserved for toast or brioche. The kitchen is clearly comfortable with that kind of lateral thinking.

Pork pluma cooked over charcoal and paired with a Lincolnshire Poacher cheese croquette and a lemon and treacle sauce is the sort of combination that rewards attention: the funk of a long-aged British territorial cheese alongside a cut of pork that benefits from open-fire cooking, with a sauce that provides sweet-sour counterbalance. The sourcing implied here , Lincolnshire Poacher is one of England's more seriously regarded artisan cheeses , signals a kitchen paying attention to ingredient provenance without broadcasting it on a chalkboard. A tomato and crab ragù over a fried duck egg is the kind of dish that sounds like a breakfast-brunch hybrid until it arrives, at which point the umami logic becomes evident.

The Rotisserie as the Room's Defining Object

The roast chicken is where The Empire Cafe's identity becomes most legible. The kitchen operates what it bills as a 'wall of flame' , a large rotisserie visible from the dining room, with birds turning while their fat and juices drip down to cook the potatoes beneath. The schmaltz potato is a classical Ashkenazi technique applied here in a contemporary British casual context, and its presence on a Leeds menu in 2022 is a small piece of evidence about how widely culinary knowledge now circulates outside major capitals. Diners choose the bird whole or in half, then select a rub and a lather from rotating options: smoked garlic and honey; yuzu and ginger; garlic, lemon, and tarragon. The permutation structure keeps the dish consistent in technique while varying in character, which is operationally intelligent for a small kitchen turning a high-demand signature.

The rotisserie format also positions The Empire Cafe in a specific tier of British restaurants: places where one theatrical centrepiece technique anchors the menu and gives casual groups a shared object of attention. This is different from the tasting-menu model , closer in spirit to Moor Hall in Aughton or Hand and Flowers in Marlow in its commitment to a signature identity, if not in price point or scope. The comparison to grander institutions like The Ledbury in London, Waterside Inn in Bray, or L'Enclume in Cartmel is one of ambition and precision at scale, not price or formality , Empire operates in a more democratic register, which is precisely the point.

The Pastel de Nata That Became a Signature

Dessert is where The Empire Cafe makes its most direct editorial statement. The pastel de nata , Portugal's custard tart, a format that has spread across British cafe culture in the post-Lisbon-tourism decade , is served here in a version that diverges from tradition with clear intent. Freshly baked pastry cases with a sweet custard base are held close to their source, but the addition of Reblochon cheese and a spoonful of roast chestnut purée on the side moves the dish from pastry into cheese-adjacent territory. Reblochon, an Alpine washed-rind cheese with a fatty, yeasty character, reads against sweet custard the way a good affiné might against honey. This is a minor creative act, but a telling one: it shows a kitchen interested in subverting expectations at the last moment rather than confirming them.

Leeds in 2022 and After: Where Empire Sits

When Sam Pullan and Nicole Deighton opened The Empire Cafe in 2022, Leeds was already supporting a confident restaurant culture at the mid-market level. Venues like Hern, emba, Dastaan Leeds, Eat Your Greens, and Casa Susanna were already building the case that the city's dining had moved beyond its post-industrial reputation. Empire arrived into that context as something slightly different: not a concept restaurant, not a chef's table, not a single-cuisine specialist. Its identity comes from a combination of space, technique, and menu philosophy that resists easy categorisation. The bar component and the basement dining room function as genuinely separate experiences, which gives the address flexibility that a single-format room does not have.

For a broader picture of where The Empire Cafe sits within Leeds, our full Leeds restaurants guide maps the city's dining tiers in detail. The Leeds bars guide, Leeds hotels guide, Leeds experiences guide, and Leeds wineries guide round out the full picture for planning a visit to the city.

Planning a Visit

The Empire Cafe is at 6 Fish Street, Leeds LS1 6DB, within walking distance of the main Briggate shopping corridor. The street-level bar functions as a standalone destination for cocktails and Guinness, making it a reasonable pre-dinner stop even for diners booked elsewhere. The basement dining room is where the full menu runs. Given that the menu changes constantly and the room is small, booking ahead is the practical approach rather than walking in and hoping. Enthusiasm from the service team is noted across multiple accounts, with staff described as capable at talking groups through the menu, which matters when the format shifts regularly. Comparable in spirit , if not geography , to places like Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Le Bernardin in New York City, or Emeril's in New Orleans in the sense that each has a signature technique or dish that anchors the wider experience, The Empire Cafe operates at a more accessible price point within the British casual-fine bracket.