Eastern Oven: Middle Eastern food at Kirkgate Market

If you have never eaten your way around Leeds Kirkgate Market, there is no better place to start than Eastern Oven, also known as فطاير أبو محمد or Abu Mohammed's Pies. It is a small food stall tucked inside the market, and it has quietly built a reputation as one of the best spots in the city for Middle Eastern food. The stall sits at Stall 5 in the 1904 Hall, which is worth a moment of your attention before you even order: the market itself is a Grade I listed building that first opened on this site in 1822, with its first covered sections going up between 1850 and 1875, and the 1904 Hall where the stall lives was designed by Joseph and John Leeming and completed in 1904. It is the kind of place where the building is almost as much of a draw as the food.

The food is Middle Eastern, Halal and Turkish-style, and it is made fresh to order. The shawarma wrap is the obvious place to start, with your choice of lamb or chicken and garlic mayo, and the falafel sandwich is just as popular. If you want something a bit more distinctive, the lahmacun is a thin flatbread topped with minced meat, and the za'atar bread is a great lighter option. Hummus, kebab wraps and a proper cup of tea round out the menu, with manaqeesh and pides also making regular appearances. Everything is reasonably priced, with most items landing between £1 and £10 a head, so it is easy to try a few different things without spending much.

It is a women-owned business, which is worth knowing, and it is genuinely family-friendly. There is a kids menu, highchairs and buggy-friendly facilities, so it works as well for a quick family lunch as it does for a solo bite. Accessibility is handled with a lower counter so staff can help you more easily, and there is seating nearby if you would rather sit than carry your food off. You can eat in, take away or order delivery, and they take both credit cards and cash, which is handy in a market setting.

The atmosphere is pure street food: casual, unpretentious and smelling of grilled meat and fresh bread, with limited seating mostly made up of benches. It is the kind of place that rewards a bit of browsing rather than a rushed meal. The numbers back it up, too: it holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Google from 251 reviews, and on Wheree it scores 9.2 for service, 9 for location, 9.2 for food quality and 9.5 for atmosphere. If you want to see what is on before you go, they are active on Instagram at @easternovenleeds.

One thing to plan around is the opening hours, because it is not a seven-day-a-week spot. Eastern Oven runs Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:30 and is closed on Sundays, so it is very much a weekday and Saturday-lunch kind of place. If you have never been to Kirkgate Market before, this is a great excuse to finally go, and if you have, it is a good reason to go back. It is simple, honest food in a building with a lot of history, which is about as good a lunch as you can find in the centre of Leeds.