Cabana Brasilian Barbeque Review

We do love a good meal out, it's one of our only vices. Since we hardly ever go out for "date nights" - in fact what are they - we may as well have a five person date with our children! Obviously this can require a fair amount of careful forward planning - not required if there are only two of you - which is something we are well and truly experienced at! So today, we did something we've not done before - we went into Leeds and had lunch that wasn't in Trinity Kitchen - yes, it's true! Though in fact, the restaurant we ended up going to was directly next door to Trinity Kitchen, but it still doesn't count as TK - Cabana Brasilian Barbeque! Now this isn't normally my cup of tea - for no particular reason, just force of habit, but I'm always up for trying new things, why not? I've passed Cabana before but always just assumed it was for young 'uns and not for oldies like us - but actually when we were in there today, there was a real mix of ages - families, couples, older people and groups of students too - which is always a good indicator of how nice the food is I think.

"CABANA IS THE UK’S HOTTEST GRILL FROM BRASIL! FLAME-GRILLED SKEWERS COOKED FRESH TO ORDER, WITH STREET FOOD, COCKTAILS AND INTERIORS INSPIRED BY THE BEACHES, STREETS AND MARKETS OF MODERN BRASIL."

On arrival I have to say the staff were lovely and friendly, not at all off hand - and even opened a special door so that I could enter with my huge pushchair without causing a commotion. We had a sort of booth in the centre of the restaurant with plenty of space for a highchair AND pushchair.

 I love this picture of baby girl - she loves the camera... the restaurant has a sort of festival feel to it, and hubby hit the nail on the head by saying it had a real holiday feel. Which I guess is the idea! A lot of the cocktails are 2 for 1, which explains why I have to two drinks in this picture. The cocktail menu was huge and I had a sort of Mojito style drink - I waited for the ice to melt to water it down a bit, didn't want to be sozzled.

2 for 1 cocktails. Can't go wrong.

Looking happy. 

  

 The kids menu is spot on for kids - and my two ordered beefburger and breast in a bun...

Sweet!

The popular flag?!

They were very keen to make sure they were having fries - which makes total sense as they were amazing - and the Brasilian flag for some reason was a total crowd pleaser. I should also add that there was colouring in to do which is always appreciated.

Cabana Steak

Holiday!

Squid - awesome

The adult menu was huge - I didn't really know where to start. But I've not had squid for AGES and I knew they would do it well, along with the epic dipping sauce. What a winner. For our mains hubby ordered Cabana steak and I had spicy chicken. I should add that the mains come on traditional Brasilian skewers like you would expect from this style of restaurant. The servers bring the skewer to your table and then swipe the food off the skewer directly onto your plate. There is also the option to add things to the skewer like ribs and prawns which I think would probably be a good idea as it would vary the meal nicely. Unlike other Brasilian restaurants, the food isn't limitless, in that you order a main and that's what you get. I actually prefer this as I find the continuous bringing round of skewers in other places really overfacing. The steak was amazing - cooked to perfection and you could tell it was really high quality. The chicken was less interesting, but then that's chicken for you. The marinade was lovely and was just the right level of flavour. The sweet potato fries however really stole the show - WOWEE. They were coated with something heavenly and tasted absolutely divine, like nothing I've ever had before. Beautiful.

Baby girl and daddy looking happy.

 Time for desserts! These were awesome. Frozen yoghurt I think is a really good alternative to ice cream and isn't quite as sickly. You could choose between peanut butter flavour frozen yoghurt or caramel frozen yoghurt - and we also ordered some chocolate filled dough balls. Mama mia they were delicious. In fact ALL the desserts were amazing as you can see...

Chocolate filled dough balls. Heaven.

Frozen yoghurt with a caramel sauce. Gorgeous.

The pricing of the meal was around £10 - 12 for a main which for lunch is good value, but for an evening meal is REALLY good value. I thought the kids menu was spot on - and at £6.95 including soft drink is incredible value when you compare it to Pizza Express and the like. Because of the spaciousness of the restaurant, baby changing facilities and general vibe - which sort of drowned out the occasional screams from my children - I would say that it's an ideal place to take children when you're out shopping in Leeds. For me, Trinity Kitchen is SO busy and we've sort of exhausted the options there. I actually found it cheaper overall to go to Cabana as the kids meals were such good value! Highly recommend and what I want to do now is go in the evening to REALLY get into the vibe - and have a few more cocktails from the extensive menu!

Cabana Brasilian Barbeque

Trinity Leeds

Albion Street, Leeds, LS1 5AT

0113 3917500

Opening Hours 

Mon - Thurs 11am - 9:30pm

Fri - Sat 11am - 11pm

Sunday 11:30 - 9pm

For the purpose of this review I was offered a free family meal at Cabana but all thoughts are my own.

Bathroom Design Ideas

It's difficult to believe that it's almost one year ago to the day that we moved house. With a third child on the way we needed a four bedroomed house with a study - since I work from home. I was sick and tired of moving my laptop and stuff off our dining table, so move we must. The whole process was actually quite straight forward, and we were lucky in that the people we were buying from, and our buyers, were genuinely nice people who just wanted to do things the right way. With around four weeks to go we moved on the 10th April last year, and swiftly called in a decorator, carpet people, and kitchen fitter. Within four weeks we had completely redecorated the house, had a new kitchen fitted and had all new carpets and flooring. You can see our kitchen makeover here.

Now things have settled down a bit, and our baby girl is not so tiny anymore, I'm already getting itchy feet about what we can do next. If we had the money, I think I would extend so the boys have a playroom - mainly so we can get away from them. But the other thing I think we need to sort out, are the bathrooms. There are lots of bathroom design websites, but for me what I want is something REALLY luxurious, with two sinks, walk in shower and large free standing baths - I have none of  those things at the moment.This is our en suite as things stand. Don't get be wrong, there's nothing awful about it, it's just the size.



Whereas what I want is something more like this...

House Renovation, Mexico. Bathroom by Inspiria Interiors

by Light&Salt Design

Ice White House-Luxury home by Quirke McNamara

But I guess in the space available something like this would be more realistic...

Water Jet Mosaics in Various China Projects by ShellShock Designs

Thing is, once you start making changes - where does it end? We have a swirly pattern on our ceilings which needs sorting, the internal doors need replacing, the garage door is a bit rusty - so many things, so little time and money. But the thing is, as a family we spend SO much time at home - we want it to be the best it can be. Also, realistically, money spent on your home is the best investment ever - and even if it isn't, we work hard, don't we all deserve a little luxury?

In collaboration with homify

Easter Sales!

It almost seems like there's no real point in buying clothes at the moment - my life seems to be a constant round of washing clothes that have smeary finger prints on. But I have discovered a new thing - sponging! Yes, it's perfectly acceptable to simply sponge off any unwanted bits of weetabix and food stuffs - brilliant! Also I am trying to train the rest of my family in the art of clothing inspection - when you get ready to go to bed each night, don't simply assume that your clothes need washing. They may not! There's this thing called putting your clothes away and wearing them again the next time - it'll be fine, trust me...

However, I did manage a sneaky trip into Harrogate on Wednesday and managed to pick up some surprising bargains. I've not been a massive fan of Crew Clothing of late, I think it can be the sort of shop where things look good before they've been washed, then end up like limp rags. However I spotted this sailor type top the other day, and I have to say it looks amazing - great with jeans and quite "structured" which means it doesn't end up looking like it's hanging off my shoulders. The square neck line is also great for me as I have quite narrow shoulders - here it is, the Crew Olivia Top £20.

Crew Olivia Top £20

Although the 10 fitted fine, I am trying to go for comfort over style a bit at the moment, so I got the 12 so there was a bit of give when I sit down. I must be getting old.

Who knew that Harrogate has a Whistles! Yes, in fact it has an LK Bennett, Jigsaw, Joules, Space NK amongst many others - though every one of those "posh" shops was deserted although H & M was packed out. Seems that posh people love bargains too. Anyway, I took advantage of the lack of customers to have a good root around in the Whistles sale, and came across the holy grail - high quality black skinny jeans in my size for - £28.50! I am wearing them now, they are beautiful. There aren't many sizes left online, and they also look better in real life - less of a grey tinge and more opaque. Whistles Black skinny jeans £28.50.

Whistles Black Skinny Jeans £28.50

I am still massively obsessed with Baukjen and have been waiting patiently for these bad boy foldover leggings to go into the sale - alas they have eluded me. The blue marl colour has been reduced from £55 to £38 which is tempting, but I can't help but think that blue wouldn't be very slimming, which kind of means that the whole foldover concept is a bit lost in translation. I know what I mean. Foldover Leggings £55.

Baukjen Foldover Leggings £55

I talked earlier about H & M and I was able to complete my annual trip there to get some ballet pumps for Summer. Since I have enormous feet, I have to get in there early to make sure these don't sell out - which they always do. However this year, I have found them a bit smaller than other years. Maybe my mammoth feet have grown yet again?!

I bought mole and black in 7.5 as that seemed to be the biggest size in store - however now I look at the website I can see they are also available in a size 8? Maybe that's where I'm going wrong. Anyway, I will keep shoving my enormous feet into them until they "give" a bit. H&M Ballet Pumps £7.99.

H&M Ballet Pumps £7.99

I am on the look out for some really comfy and warm pyjamas - since I spend so much time in them. If anyone spots any - please let me know!