Looking to impress your friends, family or colleagues with a spectacular private dinner in Leeds? Consider stylish Italian restaurant Stuzzi, which specialises in seasonal sharing plates and modern twists on traditional recipes.
Stuzzi is authentically Italian, but not necessarily the way you might think. This chic restaurant was actually dreamed up by four English friends who shared a passion for their travels to Italy, and especially its food. After being sick of ending up in the same old tourist traps, or hearing that their friends had, they wanted to share proper Italian produce in Leeds, creating Stuzzi as not only a restaurant but a deli, too.
The team welcomes private dining events, catering to guests with a set sharing menu to be enjoyed by the whole table. As dishes are constantly changing with the seasons, the price is set but the menu is not. Your gang will receive a mixture of whatever is on that day, coming out in three waves: antipasti and small plates are followed by mains and then desserts. To give you a feel for what you can enjoy, the Stuzzi team have created a sample menu with some of their house signatures.
For example, the meal begins with fresh house focaccia, alongside a sharing platter of the founder's favourite imported Italian cheese and charcuterie, and delicious bites of deep fried pasta crunchies tossed in porcini and truffle salt. Next up, smaller plates might look like smoked burrata decorated with grape, tarragon, elderflower and almond, alongside fresh Isle of Wight tomato with ricotta salata, oregano, nocellara and chilli. Fried arancina always goes down well too, filled with tomato, caper and basil risotto and provolone affumicata.
The secondi options sound incredible: get stuck into hay-baked duck leg, baby gem, broad bean and pancetta, as well as pappardelle with ham hock, caramelised onion, lentil and oyster mushroom, complemented by artichoke, courgette, bitter leaf and crispy seeds. Finally, an array of homemade Italian sweets finish off your evening.