The Real Ale Trail, The Beer Train, The Great Yorkshire Burp Fest or Angelina Vs The Hop...whatever you call it it is a CRACKING way to spend the day hopping from pub to train to pub to train from Staybridge to Leeds with every stop a pint winner on the way. But then it happens, with a dawning realisation and not a little horror you discover that you are 3 sheets to the wind and your body cannot sustain you a moment longer on naught but beer and Scampie Fries. You need to eat. You need to MEAT.
We decided Huddersfield would do just spanky, having as I recalled an Argentinian Steak House. Yes I was drunk and yes it is in fact a Brazilian Grill, a la Fazenda but waaaay smaller, no salad bar and about a tenner cheaper.
But! The comparison is unfair. Fazenda (or 'Home' as I like to call it) is a huge, slick, cosmopolitan arrangement with more accoutrements than you can shake your rapidly hardening meat stick at. Botafogo is a teeny tiny one room affair with, I suspect, no more than 30 covers. You're going to need to book. Or alternatively you can stagger in stinking of Black Sheep, get told there's no room and then look at the owner with huge sad lambykittenpup eyes filling with sad tears until he relents and tells you he will try and squeeze you in if you come back in an hour. I recommend lots of mascara for a truly devastating effect if you find yourself in this position.
One more pub and a zigzaggy walk later and we were enjoying free drinks whilst we waited for a table to clear. There were lots of apologies for the 20 or so minutes we had to sit, but the free drinks and homely atmosphere made this no problem whatsoever.
Just like Fazenda you order your drink, pick some sides if you want them (fries and nibbles come free) and then sit back as the dripping meat skewers wend their way toward you, heavy with mindblowingly succulent flesh. We gorged, drank red wine, gorged some more, I was poleaxed and dropped a huge bowl of herby oil dressing all over Chris, they cleaned Chris up, Chris ate for almost an hour solid and then declared he didn't eat late at night and couldn't finish (I stress he had been stuffing his face for an hour at this point), we all laughed, 3 of us gorged some more and we were utterly sated. Well done Botafogo, you handled us so so well.
A gorgeous, friendly, low key, well run, well staffed and sublimely well catered restaurant that deserves to become a landmark for Huddersfield. I thoroughly recommend the short train journey out of Leeds to give Botafogo the support it deserves.
For Ade and I paying together plus a really nice bottle of wine was a very reasonable £54, without the wine you are looking at less than £20 a person- so get thee down there and wrap thy gums around some good meat!
And remember, all life is sacred.
Unless it is delicious. read more