The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Friends of Ham
We assessed Friends of Ham in October 2026 and this review is based on the food menu and wine list at the time of the review. As menus and wine lists change, we name styles in order for the information to remain more useful as menus change. If things have slipped you can use the Vinealto Dining app including accessing an up to date reading using 'At the Table' from the wine list in front of you in the restaurant. How we assess
Friends of Ham is a relaxed charcuterie, cheese and craft beer bar by Leeds station, with a bottle shop attached. Its short list pours every wine by the glass, leans to organic and natural producers and is backed by good Sherry, Port and sweet wine for the boards. It suits anyone who wants a glass or two with great ham and cheese, and who likes being steered by friendly staff.
The full assessment of the wine programme, the pairings and how to get the best experience is for members. Make a free account to read five full entries.
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The Box Tree
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Fine dining, seasonal tasting menu
The Box Tree is a long established Ilkley restaurant now cooking a nine course tasting menu that mixes Yorkshire produce with its chef's Australian roots. Its long wine list, rich in Champagne, English wine, sweet wines by the glass and mature fine wine, has a strong answer for every course. It will most reward a wine lover ready to spend on a special evening and to talk the list through with the floor team.
Read the assessmentStuzzi
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Italian small plates
Stuzzi is an Italian small-plates restaurant in central Leeds serving cicchetti-style sharing plates and house-made pasta at accessible prices. The wine programme earns its standing on a genuinely deep, coherent all-Italian cellar that runs from house pours to mature Barolo, Brunello and Amarone, mirrors the kitchen region by region and answers its hardest plates by the glass, held just short of the very top only by no dry fortified wine and no printed per-dish guidance. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat Italian and wants to drink Italian properly, from an honest glass to a serious old bottle, without leaving the country or overspending.
Read the assessmentFriends of Ham
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Charcuterie and wine bar, small plates
Friends of Ham in Ilkley is a relaxed bar, café and bottle shop serving charcuterie, cheese and seasonal small plates. Its short list pours almost every wine by the glass, marks its organic and natural wines clearly and backs them with Sherry and Port in small measures. It suits anyone who wants an easy glass with a board of good ham and cheese, any time from late morning.
Read the assessmentOx Club
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Modern British live-fire grill
Ox Club is a live fire grill restaurant in Leeds city centre, cooking steaks, fish and vegetables over embers. Its short, keenly priced list pours ten wines by the glass with plain tasting notes, and the dessert menu adds Sherry and Port by the glass. It suits diners who want good grilled food and an easy, affordable glass rather than a long wine list.
Read the assessmentTharavadu
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Keralan / South Indian
Tharavadu is a Michelin-recommended Keralan restaurant in central Leeds cooking spice-led, coastal south Indian food at mid-range prices. The wine programme earns its standing on a rare thing (a specialist Indian list genuinely chosen and annotated to meet chilli heat and souring, with an aromatic Alsace white and high-acid whites for the seafood), held to the floor of the band by no off-dry Riesling for the fiercest heat, no sweet or fortified wine and little depth. It will most reward the curious diner who wants more than a lager with a great fish curry and will take the list's spicy-food steers, or the floor team's, to find the right glass.
Read the assessmentThe Vine
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Italian trattoria
The Vine is a neighbourhood Italian trattoria in Ilkley serving the familiar range of pizza, pasta, risotto and Italian mains. Its wine list is a small, competent and clearly annotated Italian-led selection, sound for the food and with a good spread offered by the glass, if thin on sparkling and without much to finish on beyond a single sweet wine. It will suit the diner who wants a well-priced, easy-to-navigate Italian bottle with a plate of pasta rather than a list to linger over.
Read the assessment