Birmingham et Leeds: faire son shopping anglais ailleurs qu'à Londres [fr]

[en] As the editor for ebookers.ch's travel blog, I contribute there regularly. I have cross-posted some of my more personal articles here for safe-keeping.

Cet article a été initialement publié sur le blog de voyage ebookers.ch (voir l’original).

La livre sterling est toujours au plus bas: 1.68 CHF pour 1£ au cours d’aujourd’hui. C’est pas drôle pour les anglais (et étant à moitié anglaise, je peux vous dire qu’un peu de mon coeur est là-bas), mais pour nous, c’est plutôt pas mal.

On vous a déjà encouragé à sauter dans l’avion pour aller faire votre shopping à Londres, et j’aimerais vous proposer deux destinations “shopping” alternatives en Angleterre: Birmingham et Leeds.

Je connais les deux villes de première main. La première, parce qu’une très bonne amie à moi y a habité plusieurs années, et que j’allais régulièrement lui rendre visite. La deuxième, simplement, parce que ma grand-mère y habite.

Aussi bien Leeds que Birmingham vous offrent des rues et des centres commerciaux genre “paradis du shopping”. New Street à Birmingham, Briggate à Leeds, pour ne citer que les principales.

Ayant eu l’occasion d’expérimenter également Oxford Street et Regent Street à Londres, je peux vous assurer qu’on a un peu plus d’espace vital dans les larges rues de ces deux autres villes.

Pour vous y rendre: les deux ont leur propre aéroport, mais pas forcément hyper bien desservi. Leeds est également à deux heures trente de train de Londres (prendre son billet à l’avance si on ne veut pas payer le prix fort) et à une heure de Manchester. Quant à Birmingham, j’y allais personnellement via les aéroports de Liverpool ou East Midlands. Depuis Londres, on compte trois heures de train, si ma mémoire ne me fait pas défaut.

Enjoy your shopping!

A Brief Update on Going Solo Leeds [en]

[fr] Des nouvelles de Going Solo Leeds (c'est dans moins d'un mois)!

As I’m about to head to the mountains again for a few days (back Wednesday), here’s a brief update on Going Solo Leeds, which is taking place in less than a month (September 12th).

Did I forget anything?

Going Solo Leeds Registration Open [en]

[fr] Il est désormais possible de réserver sa place pour Going Solo Leeds, qui aura lieu le 12 septembre.

As announced a few days ago on the Going Solo blog, registration for the Leeds conference on September 12th is now open:

Hop along to our partner Expectnation‘s site to sign up right away.

Here’s the deal:

  • Early Bird (first 25 tickets — hurry up some have already been sold!): £150
  • Normal: £220
  • Late Bird (will kick in approx. 10 days before the conference date): £300
  • On-site (if you really want to play it ‘last minute’): £350

A comment or two:

  • for the Lausanne event, the first 25 tickets were sold in under a week
  • there will be advanced seminars (3h workshops) on the Saturday morning — more about them shortly, but know already that if you have already registered for the main conference when they are announced, you will get a special discount on them (they will be open only to conference participants)
  • Jet2.com is a low-cost company that flies to Leeds-Bradford International airport
  • Leeds is 2.5h from London by train (book early, and you could pay as little as £22.50 return)
  • the programme for the main conference is going to be very similar to the Lausanne one (don’t change a winning team) — videos are online for you to have a preview if you wish
  • the Going Solo team is pretty excited about all this!

Of course, let me remind you that Going Solo Lausanne was a nice success, and that you can now check out the videos of the talks online.

Who is Going Solo for?

Going Solo is a one-day event for freelancers and small business owners working in somewhere in the internet industry (designers, consultants, journalists, social media people, developers…) — or even outside of it (we actually think the topics we’ll cover are relevant for all freelancers).

Looking forward to seeing you in Leeds, and thanks for spreading the news around you!

Great Indian Food in Leeds [en]

[fr] Maliks Restaurant est un excellent endroit où manger de la nourriture indienne à Leeds.

Besides telling you about an excellent place to eat Indian food in Leeds, let me try my hand at using the hReview plugin.

ew, it breaks. Maybe it doens’t like Markdown? help?


11 Merrion Way,
Leeds,
LS28BT,

+44-1132-246-8828

place

Best Indian food I’ve eaten since India!

Maliks outside

I went to Leeds Market this morning with my Dad, and we had decided to go and eat some Indian food. The places he remembered were (un)fortunately all closed, and we ended up having a meal at Maliks, just behind Merrion Centre.

Well, let me tell you — this is the best Indian food I’ve eaten since I came back from India! We chose the lunchtime buffet, a real deal at £6.95: two delicious starters (fish and tandoori chicken wings, really yummy), vegetables and two choices of meat which actually tasted like they’d been cooked in India. I ordered a naan to eat my meat with (extra but really worth it), and I wasn’t disappointed: huge and fluffy.

Maliks first floor 1

There were two choices of dessert included in the buffet: Rasmalai (perfect, not chewy at all) and rose-flavoured rice pudding.

Unlike most Indian restaurants which tend to be a bit dark and stuffy, the inside is modern and well-lit. It’s a nice change. I mean, “exotic Indian” interiors are nice the first few times you go and eat Indian food, but one can get fed up of them.

We talked a bit with the owner at the end of the meal. He told us they’d only just opened. I asked him if I could take a photo with him on it for my review. He also showed us upstairs — there’s a huge room there if you’re thinking “reception”.

More photos:

Maliks Restaurant in Leeds: here it is! Maliks Restaurant in Leeds: upper room Maliks Restaurant in Leeds: location

My rating: 5.0 stars
*****