We headed to The Printyard in Carlisle to taste their world food menu with some foods you can’t get anywhere else in Cumbria.
Located just off the high street on Post Office Court you can find this wonderful venue tucked into a back alley that offers street food and more.
We opted for sitting inside to get you the best pictures of the food but they had a beautiful courtyard that was lit up with fairy lights and even had a live DJ for people to listen to whilst drinking some of their signature cocktails.
DJ on the decks at the outside area of The Printyard.
We decided to go for the Boogie Nights cocktail jug which contained Captain Morgan’s Tiki rum, pineapple with an aromatic apricot bitters. The drink itself was light, citrusy and was boldend by the Tiki rum whilst keeping its sweetness with the apricot.
There were plenty of other amazing sounding cocktails on offer such as the Watermelon Sugar High, Space Cowboy and Electric Bon Bon but these sounded rather on the sweet side and we opted for a more palette cleansing drink to get us started.
The interior of the Printyard had a laid back rustic homely yet sophisticated feel to it, the kind you can really settle into whilst sipping on some of their premium drinks. It was extremely well lit which for some diners perhaps with sensory issues can be intense.
The interior of The Printyard.
For starters we opted for two different bao buns: one stuffed with pork and the other with gochujang (Korean red chilli paste) Fried Chicken.
We also had Veggie Gyozas and we were meant to get Okra fries but unfortunately they were sold out so instead we got some Pakoras.
We started by sampling the Veggie Gyoza (Japanese dumpling) from their Wok & Sun Asian inspired Street Eats menu.
The Gyoza itself was thankfully not undercooked (nobody wants a rubbery Gyoza) which meant it was light and supple to chow down on. The Gyoza’s filling of mushroom and cabbage with the soy and honey sauce brought some serious umami flavours.
The accompanying Asian slaw brought a fresh, crunchy and peppery element to mix with the Gyoza just to give it that extra bit of bite.
However, what was strange to see in the slaw was roquito peppers, something which isn’t commonly found in East Asian inspired slaw but it strangely worked quite well providing some sweetness.
The Gyoza dumplings served with salad and soy & honey dipping sauce.
Next up for us to try was their aptly dubbed Killer Baos. We started with their self described crispy pork bun.
The belly pork they used was cooked to perfection and had a crispy skin whilst the inside of it had a real melt in your mouth feel that combined with the fluffiness of the bao itself.
Paired with the refreshing spring onion and cucumber it made for a heavenly combination and is definitely our favourite dish out of all the starters.
The crispy pork bao buns.
Unfortunately the gochujang fried chicken bao bun didn’t meet the same expectations as the Pork bao.
I have to say the spice of the gochujang was just right and the chicken was delectably crunchy.
However, whilst paired with the cucumber and spring onion the taste was overpowered by the very salty batter the chicken was cooked in which ruined the greens in the dish and slightly sweetened bun.
The gochujang fried chicken bao buns.
Last up out of our starters we headed out of East Asian cuisine and straight into the universally loved South Asian food with Pakoras from their Bombay Bad Boy Street Food Menu.
These fresh fried fritters were fried to a beautiful goldeness making it delightful and comforting to munch and were served up with Raita sauce to cool down the spice of the Pakoras and a Chili Sauce for those who are brave enough.
Personally I really enjoy spicy food but I could see this being something perhaps a bit too spicy for people who don’t have a high tolerance and if the heat is too much there is always the cooling flavours of mint, cucumber and yoghurt.
Disappointingly there was no mango chutney as promised in the menu. We don’t know whether they forgot to give us it or they had none left. The salad could’ve done with a bit more love as it wasn’t as good as the salad that accompanied the Gyoza and bao buns.
The freshly fried pakoras alongside raita and chilli sauce dip and salad.
Choosing our mains was made tough by the sheer selection of street food on offer.
We decided instead to go over to the mediterranean section and some Greek Gyros from their Apollo menu and their triple dipped fried chicken served with jerk gravy, fries and coleslaw from their soul food menu.
We were really excited to be trying one of very few places that sell Caribbean cuisine in Cumbria and we were partly happy and partly dissatisfied.
The chicken itself was freshly fried and juicy but similarly to the gochujang, the batter it was cooked in was way over salted which meant you couldn’t taste the jerk seasoning and we’d have liked it to have been smothered in a jerk sauce preferably.
We found the coleslaw was creamy and crunchy which helped balance out the saltiness of the chicken strips.
While the jerk gravy was really lush but was certainly not an authentic jerk seasoning and the proposed jerk fries just tasted like regular fries with some very light mild spiciness at best.
The triple dipped fried chicken served with a side of coleslaw and fries.
Finally the last meal we sampled was their chicken Gyros, a pita bread stuffed with chicken souvlaki, greek salad and tzatziki served with fries.
We really have to applaud the kitchen for getting the chicken souvlaki succulent and absolutely packed with flavours of the Mediterranean.
Unfortunately it also means that this is not Gyros as traditionally pork is used so they’ve essentially done a regional fusion of both the classic Greek dishes.
It was lacking a bit in the Tzatziki department and could have done with a bit more sauce.
However the chicken was tender and moist and the added greek vegetables brought some juice too and we will give them grace that the pitta for sure wasn’t homemade but with such a versatile menu we can forgive this.
The chicken ‘gryos’ served up in a pitta with chicken souvlaki, greek salad and a serving of fries.
Overall the food was a great experience and we hope you go on to try some of the dishes we've reviewed here or even some of the foods we haven’t tried from their eclectic world menu.
So what are you waiting for? Book to get some soul food now at the Printyard and you can find them here.