Reds True BBQ ~ Cloth Hall Street Leeds

I am a huge fan of BBQ food and not the burnt burgers and sausages that make a regular appearance at home BBQs up and down the UK I'm talking real American smoked meats and tangy BBQ sauces.

I've known about Reds True BBQ for sometime now but never had the opportunity to try it out. So on a recent shopping excursion to Leeds I made a point of dropping in! I'm terrible for salivating over menus before I go to a new restaurant so I already had an idea of what was in store and got a little bit excited.

After a successful days shopping myself and my Mum and Dad made our way to the restaurant, we had to wait for a table but they took my number so I could nip back to the car to drop off my shopping and on my way back I had a call to say our table was ready.

Once seated I had another look at the menu and although I had already had a cheeky look I found it hard to chose as everything sounded so delicious. I went for the Pit Burger which consists of two Beef Burgers, smoked Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, Bacon, Cheese and what they call Dirty Sauce served in a Brioche Bun with a humongous Onion Ring on the side. It was so tasty and the meat was melt in your mouth perfection just how smoked meat should be. Although it sounds like a lot of food it was the perfect size burger.

My mum went for the Baby Back Ribs which are served in a delicious tangy BBQ sauce. My Dad went for the St Louis Ribs which are a chunkier cut of the rib and he chose to have them served with dry rub which is how they come in America, he also had the Cheese and Jalapeño Cornbread on the side. Both ribs were fall off the bone finger licking good and my Dad used the yummy BBQ sauces that come on the table for dipping.

We ordered some of the Swine Fries to share as a side for all three of us. The Swine Fries come as a mixture of Skin on and Sweet Potato Fries served with Smoked Pork, Grilled Cheese, Chipotle Sour Cream, Spring Onion, Jalapeños and Salsa. I'm not a fan of Sweet Potato Fries so I had to do a bit of digging to find the Skin on Fries but all in all these fries were delicious and the toppings were perfect and really helped to fill me up.

This meal was everything I hoped it would be and more, it took me back to my holidays in America. They have really captured the real essense of an all American BBQ and I can't wait to go back and try some of the other items on the menu because it truely was a tough choice.

Reds True BBQ have various different locations and all info can be found on their website. I can't recommend this place enough for all you meat lovers out there! 

2015 Bucket List Update

I was a busy little bee last year managing to tick off quite a few items from my Bucket List and so before we get stuck into 2016 here is an update of what I managed to achieve this year!

Go to a Rugby World Cup Match

As you may have been aware England were the IRB Rugby World Cup Hosts and I was incredibly lucky to get tickets to a game. As tickets were pricey when the ballot for tickets opened in 2014 I hedged my bets on one game. I left it until the last day of the ballot to apply as the website had a traffic light system of what the availability was like I looked at what was in the green and applied. I applied for Wales v Fiji for 1st October 2015 and about a month later I found out I was successful! As the group stage panned out the Wales v Fiji game became one of the hottest tickets in town as Wales had defeated England the week before this was a must win game for Wales. Match day in Cardiff is like no other for any normal competition but they seemed to go above and beyond for the World Cup there were people from all over the world there to celebrate the wonderful game of Rugby and the atmosphere was just amazing! The match itself was great a game of Rugby the atmosphere in the stadium was electric, Wales won which just made this experience even more special for me and an experience that will stay with me forever.

Meet a Giraffe

In the summer I went to Orlando in Florida for a holiday with my cousin and her family, I had the best 2 weeks away and it was so good to spend so much time with my cousin. As part of our Discovery Cove tickets we were able to go to the animal theme park Busch Gardens. It was here that I was able to get up close and personal with a Giraffe and it completely made my trip. We had to pay extra for the mini Safari and at the end we were able to feed the Giraffes it was such an amazing experience as Giraffes are my favourite animals. I think the next time will deffo have to be to meet one in the wild but i'm so happy I had this opourtunity.

Meet an A-List Celebrity

On a trip to Discovery Cove in Florida we were checking in for our day at the resort and after myself and my cousin Rhyanon had gone through security and while waiting for the rest of our party to clear I looked around and saw NE-YO sitting with his family in the reception area waiting to check in himself for a day at Discovery Cove. I said to Rhyanon theres NE-YO not thinking he could hear and I had not planned on bothering him as it was clear he was with his family. As it happened he did hear me and said hello and started a conversation with us, he was the nicest guy and even agreed to a picture which was so sweet. We saw him at different points throughout the day and he would wave and say hi when he recognised us again being such a lovely guy. I loved NE-YO before I met him I was always a fan of him and his music but after meeting him I can say he is as genuine as he seems and meeting him really made our day.

Go to Harry Potter World in Florida

So anyone who knows me knows how much I love all things Harry Potter so it was a no brainer that this would be on my Bucket List. So as soon as my holiday to Florida was booked I started to freak out over getting to go to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. Having now been words cant describe how amazing the whole place is. The first location we went to was Diagon Alley which was just so well produced they have done such a good job in re-creating this space I and I really felt like I was there all the shops and even the Leaky Couldron were just perfect. The main ride in this location is Escape from Gringotts which if I'm correct in saying is quite a new 4D ride it was so much fun and really well put together. We then got the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade. The train journey was a little bit of a let down for me but nevertheless I can still say I've taken a ride on the Hogwarts Express. Hogsmeade like Diagon Alley was so well set out and again I felt like I was actually there even though I was boiling hot and this scene is set in a snowy Hogsmeade. The main ride in Hogmeade is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey which you access from Hogwarts so freaking cool. This had to be my one of my fave rides from the whole trip. I'm going back to Florida in April I cant wait to go back here and ride these ride over and over!

Celebrate New Year in Paris

So I'm not sure if this would come under a 2014 Bucket List achievement or not but ill put it here any way because I saw in 2015 in Paris with my best friend and Cousin Rhyanon. We booked everything way in advance to make the trip as cheap as possible and we had the most amazing few days in the city. Seeing in the New Year was so amazing. We had planned on going to a Masquerade Ball on the Champs Elysses but by the time we were ready and actually made it out of our hotel the streets were so busy and we only made it as far as the Arc De Triomphe but even though our plans didn't pan out we still had the best time watching the fireworks from the Arc and we made friends with some Polish people who had brought loads of bottles of Champagne and were so happy to share them with us which was the sweetest thing. I would recommend to anyone that they plan a trip to Paris at New Year we had the most amazing time. I cant wait to go back to see more of the city as we had limited time to really explore.

Visit the Sistine Chapel

I've been to Rome before but as I had gone at Easter the Sistine Chapel was closed, so when we had booked to go to Rome to see Wales play Italy in the 6 Nations competition it was at the top of my list of things to see in the city. I didn't quite appreciate how long it would take to get to the actual chapel I felt like I walked for miles looking at gorgeous paintings and sculptures. The chapel itself is quite small but as soon as I looked up my breath was taken away by the magnificence of the painting on the celing. You are not allowed to take any pictures inside the chapel but I managed to sneak a few of the most iconic image in the chapel.

Visit the Notre Dame Cathedral

On my trip to Paris for New Year we didn't have great deal of time to see everything but this was certainly on my list. We ended up getting a hop on hop of bus tour to take us around the city and see all the main sites. As it was new year not many places were open so it was super busy at the Notre Dame the queue was huge so we decide not to go inside, something for another trip I feel. But we got some cute snaps outside.

So here is my round up of all the things I managed to tick of my Bucket List this year, I've had so many great experiences and I cant wait to have many more in 2016 and ticking of loads more items from my list.