A-Z of where to eat near Bramall Lane
A guide for home and aways fans for the best 32 places to eat near Bramall Lane, Sheffield.
This is the third consecutive year that The Pinch has published this series — a collection of articles devoted entirely to eating. We have stuffed ourselves so you don’t have to. In fact, YES YOU DO!
Sheffield is underrated and overlooked when it comes to food. We have all the usual chains in all the usual places. However, as a city, we are teeming with quality and variety. This list — made up entirely of places within reasonable walking distance of Bramall Lane — is a testament to that.
So fill up your senses with a gallon of this…
Point of order: Unless stated otherwise, these write-ups were produced by Karl Sheehan. And yes, he’s still hungry.
32 restaurants — an A-Z of where to eat near Bramall Lane…
Bench
7b Nether Edge Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1RU. 1.3 miles to Bramall Lane
We start upmarket. This has been my favourite restaurant in Sheffield for a while now. It isn't somewhere where you would go on a whim — more one to make a night of. It’s got a Lonon feel to it, in a good way. There’s that fine dining influence, but no set tasting menus, offer small plates of varyingly adventurous food instead. The menu changes pretty much daily depending on what is in season. I have been three days apart and at least half of the menu had changed in that time, some items last longer than others. The good thing about the restaurant offering small plates is that you can gauge how much you want to spend although I do have a bad habit of ordering everything on the menu, especially if I am with a few friends. They also have some really good wines here and choose to order from a new supplier every week so there is always something new to have a go at. Fancier than most on this list. But maybe the best?
Best Boy Bagels
43 Chesterfield Rd, Meersbrook, Sheffield S8 0RL
Let’s tuck into proper match day stuff.
I was lucky enough to visit Best Boy Bagels on the day it opened, just before the Cardiff home game (22/23). Situated in the former home of Two Doors Down (now resurrected as Corner Jammers at Hagglers Corner) there must be something about this building that facilitates the production of incredible food.
That day I had a bagel with Guinness pork belly, cheddar cheese and blueberry ketchup. I had gone intending to have the salt beef but when I was standing in the queue and I saw them melting the cheese onto the bagel I had to try this one. It was definitely the right choice, although that said, I have been back a number of times since and it doesn't seem like there is a wrong choice. The menu changes fairly regularly and I have since tried the Chicken Shwarm and the BBQ Mushroom options and both were just as good. All of the bagels are made on-site and they do sell out quickly, so if you are thinking of heading here I would recommend getting there before 12:30.
Ooooh…
Best Boy have since won the Exposed Magazine award for best takeaway 2024 and are currently crowdfunding to move to larger premises on Abbeydale Road — go help em out.
The Broadfield
Sam Parry
452 Abbeydale Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1FR
The Broadfield’s menu is littered with the sort of ingredients that favours serving in heaps. Homemade sausages, maple-glazed ham, and Chips so big they stack like Jenga pieces. And the pies; the pies! Something moist and meaty (or veggie!) surrounded by pastry with enough crisp and that welcome chew. They are homemade and served with hand-cut chips and mushy peas. There’s always a fresh take on fillings, with classic flavours you would expect and others you would not. Uniting them all, are high-quality ingredients, cooked simply, honestly and served, as you’d hope, with no eye for thrift. Perfect winter’s post-match meal.
Butta La Pasta
280 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4NA
I have been a fan of this place since before it even opened. I was lucky enough to attend one of their pop-ups in a church in Meersbrook and had waited for their restaurant to open ever since. Everything about their food is incredibly authentic, and you can tell that an awful lot of care and thought is put into every aspect of the menu. They source a lot of their ingredients from their own allotment and you can see the freshly made pasta being hung up to dry in the kitchen.
The menu changes every week with the latest offerings posted on their Facebook page. It is an unpretentiously decorated, reasonably-sized restaurant, usually with plenty of places to sit. An interesting quirk is the instrumental jazz music which accompanies your meal and makes you feel like a retired private detective who's about to be persuaded to take on one last job. I always order two mains when I come here but I have to say the portion sizes have grown recently and the last time I went there I left uncomfortably full – which is always a good thing!
Calis - 33 London Rd, Highfield,
Sheffield S2 4LA. 0.3 miles from Bramall Lane
I was recommended this place by a work colleague. They said I had to get the chicken burger and to get it dipped. I have to say I had no idea what I was in for. I ordered the double burger because I didn't want to cut any corners. What I received was the two largest chicken fillets I have ever seen in my life sandwiched between two pieces of bread which were struggling to hold up their part of the bargain. The burger had been dipped in an impressively spicy sauce. What started out as a casual trip to try out a new burger place quickly turned into a bit of a challenge. I did enjoy the challenge and I want to go back to go back just to confirm to myself what happened. It is definitely a good place to go on an empty stomach.
Baity Palestinian Kitchen, Cambridge Street Collective
11 Backfields, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4HP
After years of running the city centre into the ground, it seems like some good things are finally happening there and the new food hall seems to be the flagship of this movement and is already doing a good job of breathing some new life into the area. I have tried a few of the stalls there and my early standout is Baity Palestinian Kitchen. I hadn't knowingly had Palestinian food before and I was a bit surprised to see loaded fries taking up a fair part of the menu. I'm not sure if this really is a local Palestinian delicacy or if they are just giving the punters what they want after a few pints in the bar downstairs. What I wanted after a few pints was something seemingly more authentic so I went for the Musakhan. It was essentially a quarter of a chicken which had been seasoned and roasted on top of a flatbread with sumac onions. The chicken was cooked well and stayed moist, I am a big fan of the sumac and onions combo and this is something which I want to try cooking myself. Again for £16.00 I still felt a bit hungry after eating it but it is probably worth it just to try the dish.
Dead Donkey
Joe Baker
240 Abbeydale Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1FL
My match day ritual almost always takes me to Dead Donkey on Abbeydale Road. Quick espresso, pint of Löwenbräu, and a grilled cheese sandwich. Now, full disclosure - I know the brothers who run DD - Ed (good lad, Blade), and Doug (good lad, but a wrong ‘un) but bias aside, their grilled cheeses are something else. If it’s been a big night out before, they genuinely have healing powers. If it’s a 3pm’er, you get one in after the match, before they shut the grill off at 9 pm. Nafees over the road do amazing pakoras and samosas too if you miss them. Always worth having a bag of bhajis, you’ll never be short of mates. Oh and shout out to Zahid’s general store for all the 50p mixes back in the 90s.
Forge House Bakery
Sam Parry
Sheffield Train station, Sheaf St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2BP
Okay, so it’s an egg custard tart. A Portuguese egg custard tart, or to give it the proper name, a pasties de nata. Not a pastry of nothing – as I thought ‘nata’ might suggest – but a pastry of cream. Singed and burnt. With an exterior that holds its contents in a flakier hug than a sweet crust ever could, it’s my post-train-in go-to with a coffee.
Iberico
4 Dyson Pl, Sharrow, Sheffield S11 8XX.
Another authentic restaurant in Dyson Place where you can sit and have a few drinks and try some top-quality Spanish cuisine. I had been wanting to try Iberico ham as a cooked dish, rather than the cured version which it is more famous for, and I finally got to achieve that here. I went with a couple of friends and we ordered more food than three people really should and I wish we could have managed more. This is definitely somewhere that I want to go back to a few times and is quite a unique place for Sheffield I think. Spanish food can sometimes get overlooked but it definitely shouldn't be.
JH Mann
7b Nether Edge Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1RU. 1.4 miles to Bramall Lane
JH Mann have been my favourite fishmonger since they opened. Inevitably sometimes you do pay more than you would at a supermarket but I do think it is worth it for the quality and knowledge that they have. They opened a restaurant in Kelham Island a couple of years back but to be honest I much prefer to sit in the fishmongers and have the food served right there. There are only a few seats in there so it fills up quite easily but if you can get a seat then I would recommend going with the sharing plates and just letting them cook up whatever they have. You get a good amount for your money and it is almost undoubtedly the freshest fish you can get in the city.
Kurdistan
Sam Parry
97-99 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4LE
Right. So. The first rule of Shawarma Club is don’t talk about Shawarma Club because I can’t be arsed to queue any further for the delight of a Kurdistan. There’s chicken and lamb koftes, chicken and lamb tikka, and whole rotisserie chickens. All of it comes with chips and a rainbow of glorious countertop salads, and if you eat in, they’ll hand you a bowl of sunshine-yellow lentil soup.
All that said, there’s one dish that, once ordered, can be consumed in the exact amount of time it takes to walk to the Kop. In our first edition, it cost £2.50. In our second edition, it cost £3.00. Now it’s £4.50. Correlation/causation.
That wise investment returns you a soft, bubbling, freshly cooked naan wrapped around spiced shawarma chicken, a flourish of crisp leaves, pickles, chillis and homemade sauces ranging from sesame-heavy hummus to red-chilli heat. Look, it’s not always quick. They don’t hand anything over until the chicken is singed. The naan is one of the best I’ve ever eaten, but it’s the work of minutes, not seconds. And that’s why it’s so good. If I picked one dish on this list to eat before every game at Bramall Lane, the Chicken Shawarma wrap at Kurdistan is it.
Lemongrass Thai Street Food
77 The Moor, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 4PF
I feel like the Moor Market food outlets are simultaneously overlooked by most Sheffielders but also absolutely packed every time I go in. I saw in an article that the head chef at Joro, Luke French, recommended this place as one of his favourite places to eat in Sheffield so I went to give it a try, and I've since been back a few times. The pricing is on a board about 10 feet overheard and is all slightly out of date, the meal I ordered is listed as £6.99 but I was advised that it is actually £7.99 by the friendly man behind the counter. Apparently the Thai basketball team are due to visit, and the owner is hopeful that one of them will be able to help them change the price list. Pricing quirks aside, I'm always really impressed by the food here. The grilled pork is my favourite, it's full of flavour and every part of the meal is prepared perfectly. The pork is cooked well, the rice is exactly what sticky rice should be and the deceptively spicy sauce they serve with it is worryingly addictive. The portion sizes aren't huge so I would suggest ordering a couple of meals or going to the dim sum outlet opposite and order a char siu bao as a perfect accompaniment.
Lovely Rita's Bakehouse
Stag Works, 84 John St, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4QU.
Rightly or wrongly I often shy away from any vegan desserts, gluten-free etc. I prefer my desserts to be as bad for me as possible. I originally came to Lovely Rita's as I had heard that they make good milk bread. This turned out to be very much true. I took the bread home and me and my wife ate the whole loaf in one sitting with a bit of butter and cream cheese (admittedly not very vegan). In my following trips to Lovely Rita's, I tried some of the desserts and every single one has been top-notch. The stand out for me has to be the Snickers croissant. It has definitely challenged my prejudices on what a vegan dessert can be and I couldn't recommend it enough.
Man Fry Day
Sam Parry
315 Shoreham St, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4FA
To plagiarise John Egan: If you go to a match in Sheffield you have to eat chips. And if you don't eat chips you may as well not go to Sheffield at all.
Man Fry Day is an institution, and is up there with one of Sheffield’s great punning chippys (see also, Codrophenia and New Cod On the block). It’s cheap, it’s on Shoreham Street, and even though it closes at 2:00 pm on Saturdays, the ability to thrill by frying is more astute than the hours it keeps. For me, the three best orders are: a) Fish, chips and curry sauce/mushy peas, b) Chicken Curry and Chips, c) Fish rissole (I’m a huge rissole advocate) and chips. There is no chip butty on my order, and that’s solely down to the indigestion-inducing qualities of double carbs on matchday.
Meraki Greek Restaurant
379 Abbeydale Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1FS
My friend who is from Greece very kindly took us to this place and recommended it as somewhere he feels is a good representation of what he had at home. I have always been a fan of The Greedy Greek and reassuringly he said he likes it there too. My friend did all the ordering in Greek and I was happy to eat what was essentially a surprise tasting menu. Everything was really nice and it was great trying things that I otherwise wouldn't have ordered. I feel some certainty that you could order anything off the menu and it would be well done. The stand out for me was the baklava, if you come here and you're in two minds about ordering a dessert because you're quite full then definitely order one to share. It is absolutely massive. It is also really good, the olive oil they used in making it tastes incredible and probably costs about £100 a can in the current climate, I just hope they stocked up when they got it because I'll be going back for more.
Noodle Inn
156 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4LT
A regular spot for me on London Road, Noodle Inn always provides good food at great value. The big plate noodle and rice dishes are big enough to be a meal (or two meals) on their own, but if you find yourself here when the buy 3 get 1 free dim sum offer is running then I would recommend getting stuck in.
Char siu bao is always going to be my favourite dim sum item but the emperor prawn dumplings are also really good. If I can't decide on the 4th/8th choice then I will blindly follow what the waiter recommends, but this has yielded mixed results.
Pellizco
8 Dyson Pl, Sharrow, Sheffield S11 8XX
This place always seems to be packed. It is a good place to stop by for a few beers and some food, especially if the weather is good and you can sit outside. The menu is pretty varied and has a good collection of authentic Mexican dishes. The idea is to order several of the small plates to share among the table. I do like this because you get to try a bit of everything. I am a bit of an al pastor taco snob and to give them credit they passed the test. Of all the dishes we shared there wasn't a bad one.
Pepe’s
153-155 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4LH
This and Middle Eastern Shawarma are my go-to spots on London Road. They never disappoint. Pepe’s always seems to be busy, especially on match days, but a free table always seems to appear just before your food is ready. The decor has a standard small franchise aesthetic and the service is always fast and efficient. The menu offers pretty much every conceivable manner of serving peri peri chicken and you can't really go wrong. I generally go for the chicken ‘n’ rice box or the chicken XL burger.
Phat Buns
113 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4LE
Phat Buns feels a bit like the younger cousin of Five Guys, one who's into prog rock and anime. The premise is that you choose a burger, choose the type of bun you want it to be sat in, choose from an array of optional extras (such as cheese curd and potato shoestrings) and away you go. The service was friendly and helpful and the decor makes you feel like you're sat in Laser Quest.
I went for the grilled chicken burger with the original bun and added caramelised onion and cheese curd, then chose crinkle fries over potato tots and added a portion of phat sauce. The burger was lovely and squishy, a little spicier than I had expected, which is no bad thing, and all in all it was a decent choice. If you want to be more adventurous, there are Cheetos and Doritos burgers on the menu as well as an all-day breakfast burger.
Potato Oven
66 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4LR
This London Road institution is the place to go if you want a quick meal that won't be too pricey or unhealthy. They offer a wide range of hot and cold jacket potato fillings (as the sign says: "the filling is up to you") and a good range of school-dinner-style desserts. Each jacket potato is accompanied by a large portion of salad on the side. My favourites are chicken curry, tuna mayo sweetcorn, and chocolate fudge cake for dessert. There are places to sit and eat in or the option to take away.
PrithiRaj
Sam Parry
407 Ecclesall Rd, Sharrow, Sheffield S11 8PG
The Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant on Ecclesall road has been a post-match staple amongst my pals for at least ten years, and unlike my other picks, there isn’t simply one defining dish. Instead, PrithiRaj gets the nod for consistently hitting the mark every time I visit. There’s an addictive quality to the knowingly underspiced Butter Chicken. I like heat. I love hot food. I’d normally go for chillis. But this is coconutty, sugary, creamy, sweet dessert of a main is outrageously moreish. If you’re sharing a few dishes, it pairs exquisitely with the Rezalla of minced lamb that’s cosying up to a gang of chilli and peppers and onions. But forget my dish picks. I’ve never been to this place and heard anyone complain, or teeter on the edge of ambivalence. The staff are friendly. You’ll go home full.
Quashqai Kitchen
74 Abbeydale Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1FD
The menu at Quashqai is split into two sections with one half being a variety of grilled meats and the other half being a selection of traditional Persian meals. I have heard good things about the grilled meats but I wanted to try something new. I went for the slow-cooked lamb neck which had been cooked for an unreasonably long amount of time, I think they said 17 hours. However long it was it definitely did the trick. The meat was tender and full of flavour. It all had a home-cooked feel to it and it is the kind of food that fills you up but doesn't make you feel terrible after eating. I should also mention the service here was really good. It wasn't the kind of insincere good service that comes from well-drilled servers doing their job, you could tell the people there have a genuine passion for what they are doing and seem to really enjoy sharing it with you.
Rudys Pizza Neopolitana
40-44 Division St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4GF
I first came here with a friend who was disgusted by the thought of deep-pan pizzas and wanted to show me where the best pizza in Sheffield really is. I do think we're spoilt for choice with Neapolitan-style pizza in Sheffield with Rudy's, Napoli Centro and Paesani all making some really good stuff. There is a Napoli scarf hanging in the open kitchen which seemed to me like a clumsy corporate decorating decision rather than any legitimate link to Italian heritage but maybe I'm just a sceptic. Other than that there isn't anything to fault, it's a strong menu with lots of good options which are all done well. I should also mention the nduja aioli. A friend of the publication, Fran, told me all about this after the first Rudy's opened across from where he lives in Manchester. Whenever I go I intentionally over-order this sauce and spend the next few days at home covering everything I cook with it.
Rum Keg 876 at the Sheaf House
Sheaf House Hotel, 329 Bramall Ln, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4RH
Rum Keg on Abbeydale Road is one of my favourite bars in Sheffield. I am a rum drinker and the guy knows his stuff, making some of the best cocktails in the city as well. Aside from putting on bottomless brunches at their bar, they have also expanded to a food stall at the Sheaf House pub on Bramall Lane. Service was good and my order appeared pretty quickly. The food was all really nice and is what you would expect from an authentic Caribbean food stall. I would have preferred the portion size to be a bit bigger and could have easily have eaten two of the meals but I also understand that £10 is the new £5 so maybe I expected too much.
Shuyo
3 Arley St, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4QP
This is a well-presented place which is in fitting with the New Era Square development which it sits beside. A perfect spot for a third date, you don't need to impress anyone but you don't want to risk disgusting them either. I had been meaning to come here for a while and now I have been I plan on going back. I went for a chicken bibimbap to use as a kind of yardstick for the place and was really impressed. Everything about the food seemed authentic and it was all really well-balanced. I'm not generally a fan of big menus and I would say that this one is towards the top end of acceptable but I do definitely want to go back there and try more of what they have to offer.
The Stag
Sam Parry
15 Psalter Ln, Nether Edge, Sheffield S11 8YN
It’s technically called ‘The Stag’s Head’, but it will always be ‘The Stag’ to me. Okay, so most people go for the beer (Thornbridge Pub). But the food is perfect pub fayre too. The pies are excellent. But there’s a menu hack here well worth taking advantage of. The Stag makes great chips, superb in fact. It’s not inadvisable to dive into fish and chips at £16.00; they are delicious. But the fish finger butty with tartare sauce is a monster. HUGE! Freshly fried slips of fish lay on a big thick, buttered bloomer. And…served with chips…at £10… #menuhacks.
Street Food Chef
90 Arundel St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4RE
This is a great place for fast and relatively healthy food, and I think one of the more authentic Mexican meals you are likely to find in Sheffield. Street Food Chef has a small menu and everything they do is done well.
On my most recent visit, they had run out of guacamole, so they asked me to give them a minute while they made a fresh batch. I liked this: it shows that they are preparing everything fresh. I am yet to try the eating challenge but it is definitely on my bucket list. If you're eating in, I would recommend the toasted burrito over the classic version.
South Street Kitchen
19-20 South St, Sheffield S2 5QX
Part of the regeneration of Park Hill flats, South Street Kitchen sits under the refurbished block and has two floors of indoor seating as well as outside space. The café has a completely vegetarian/vegan menu with lots of choices for people of all dietary denominations. It is also an environmentally-conscious menu, where crushed peas are substituted in for smashed avocado.
The large windows flood the place with natural light and the venue in general has a nicely open and clean feel to it. I have been a few times and my favourite choice to date is the South Street Mezze: as the name suggests, this is a mix of different foods including spring onion and feta fritters and roast onion baba ganoush. There is also a good selection of vegan and non-vegan cakes on offer and they do a pretty decent coffee.
Tamper Sellers Wheel
149 Arundel St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2NU
An iconic brunch spot in Sheffield. Good coffee, and food that looks good and tastes great. A specials board includes a new take on their French toast every week, and the decor makes you feel like you're eating where the cool people eat. What more could you ask for?
Terrace Goods
First Floor, Orchard Terrace, Orchard Square, Sheffield S1 2FB
The best pizza I've ever had was at a place called Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn but I think this place is a close second. Terrace Goods serve Detroit-style pizza which is rectangular shaped as the original pizzas in Detroit were apparently baked in oil drip trays. The dough is deep pan and the cheese is added before the tomato sauce which causes the cheese to melt into the dough. It's definitely not a meal to order if you are on a diet but I generally order a large pizza and end up taking a piece home to keep in the freezer for the next time I get home after the local kebab shops have shut. The chicken tenders are also really good here.
Ying Bakery (London Road)
Sam Parry
42-46 London Rd, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4LR
A post-match Pineapple Char Siu Bao was almost everything I hoped. In my head, sour-sweet pineapple and sticky-sweet pork would be a harmonious if unexpected marriage. However, the titular pineapple is not, as I’d hoped, actually chunks of fresh pineapple. Instead, it refers to the yellowy, crinkly crust on the outside of the bun (rue my ignorance). The crust is buttery, almost custardy, and the top crunches when you bite. The dough itself is good. Rich. Comforting. It was late when I ate it, and it would be better straight from the oven. But the inner layer of char siu pork is treacly and delicious. A steal at the price.
Yum Yum Bites (New Era Square)
8 New Era Square, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4BF
It’s pretty quiet at Yum Yum Bites on New Era Square when I rock up at about 1pm. Just one couple sat down in the twenty covers or so restaurant/takeaway. I’ve been on the train from London, and I’ve pre-ordered on Uber Eats. Just want a snack. Summat heavy enough to drink on and light enough not to feel bloated. I tell them I’ve preordered and the chef is wrapping up. They hand over a folded circle of puffy pancake the size of a small plate. It’s substantial but weighs next to nothing. It’s hot, crispy. Where it’s been folded, there is some teriyaki thrown in. Sweet and salty and sticky. It could be heavier on spring onions. It’s a lovely thing though. And as you get yourself to the final bites, when only a small triangle of folded pancake remains, you hit a pointed reminder that gravity beats us all: the sauce waits for you, and that last bite is the best.
My word! I assume no trouser waist buttons were injured in the research for this piece!
I’m not from Sheffield, but am definitely tempted to come over early on match days to sample some of these.
Sue.
Very timely. Used this article to identity options for my birthday meal. Went for Phat Buns. Thanks Karl.