Eating Out

Leicester is a multi-cultural city, and its cultural mix provides exciting opportunities to sample a huge variety of cuisines. The city excels in authentic Indian restaurants but also offers truly cosmopolitan dining, sometimes with live music.

The range of cafes and restaurants in Leicester is extensive; lively Spanish tapas bars, wonderful Italian cuisine, Mexican, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek and Arabic. But Leicester's greatest culinary strength is South Asian food – and we don't mean Chicken Tikka Masala - although you can get plenty of that. Exciting thalis, Indian sweets and delicious fresh samosas are just some of the cuisine on offer.

At The Case, for example, you can enjoy international cuisine in classy surroundings and on selected evenings there are performances by some of the biggest names in jazz like Ronnie Scott, Georgie Fame and George Melly.

The Rum Runner is an attractive Creole restaurant which often features Cajun and Salsa bands. Upstairs is Que Pasa, a lively Mexican cantina popular with students.

For a delicious Cantonese meal in elegant surroundings visit the Man Ho restaurant, complete with Karaoke bar. Just around the corner are Bar Europa and Pizza Express, two new additions to the city's Italian cuisine.

The Casa Romana and Joe Rigatoni's offer a real slice of Italian culture as well as great atmosphere and splendid dishes and for Greek cuisine and culture there is Babylonia. Dino's, in the Haymarket offers an international menu and is ideal for theatre goers. Indeed, there are many restaurants offering first rate special occasion meals.

There are so many good Indian restaurants in Leicester that you could visit a different one almost every week for a year, but among the most up-market are The Curry Pot, The Rise Of The Raj and The Curry House. The Laguna Tandoori is highly recommended in The Good Curry Guide and rated second best in Britain by The Sun!

If you are vegetarian, you are in the right city, because Leicester has an impressive selection of eating places, particularly during the day. The Good Earth is the city's longest established wholefood restaurant, open mornings and afternoons Monday to Saturday and also on Friday evenings with live music. Blossoms, The Hayrick and Bread and Roses all offer excellent vegetarian meals and when it comes to Indian vegetarian restaurants, the choice is mouth-watering. Bobbys has a well deserved national reputation but you might also try Sonal's, Sayonara or Sharmilees.

Check out this eating out guide.