For those who don’t already know, Salvo’s Salumeria is an awesome Italian cafe and delicatessen in Headingley. It’s next door to, and little sister of Salvo’s restaurant, named ‘Best Neighbourhood Italian’ by Gordon Ramsay’s F Word. It’s such a versatile place – you can get a great coffee or lunch, attend an Italian regional evening or stock up on tasty deli and store cupboard items. They will even make you up a gift hamper, which we gave as a Christmas gift to my in-laws last year to a warm reception. My only complaint about this little gem is that it is quite little! On a busy Saturday you can struggle to get a seat, but at the moment (weather permitting) there are lots of lovely tables al fresco.
We went there for lunch on saturday and it was delightful to sit in the balmy summer air sipping on a San Pellegrino. I had a spicy penne arrabiata, which was perfectly al dente and made with proper Italian sausage (not processed pepperoni type meat). Tom had a salami & swiss cheese ‘piadine’, which is a rolled flatbread. It was fresh and filled with peppery rocket to compliment the spicy salami. We also shared some mixed olives – which are such a treat! I think there were 4 different types in the dish, including one that was bright green and quite buttery – it tasted rich like expensive olive oil.
While we were there, we were of course tempted by the deli. There are so many types of salami for starters, let alone the cheese, olives, tomatoes, bread. We had no plans for tea, so we stocked up on Italian tapas. I asked for some advice about what would go well together, and they really knew their stuff. I brought away things I wouldn’t have necessarily chosen, and we really enjoyed it! I can especially recommend the salami infused with fennel and the sun dried black olives, yummy! If you are extremely lucky you can also get your hands on some smoked buffalo mozzarella. They fly it in to Leeds Bradford once a week (can’t remember which day) and it is available in the deli the following day. You can try it in Salvo’s on the affumicata pizza, and you will be hooked!
To top it all off the service is great – friendly, chatty and good advice. They’re also building a new kitchen at the back to improve on the tiny stove they currently use (I don’t know how they do it!) and based on their day time food I’m dying to go and try one of the regional evening dinners sometime soon.
