[...]Montreal- an awesome mix of North America and olde Europe, never eaten so well, locals crazy friendly and helpful.
Leeds- I'm glad it's my nearest city. I'm not sure it's worth a fleeting visit, mind[...]
HELL yes on Montreal for your reasons.
Leeds is good as it has a good theatre, a good municipal art gallery, a strong sense of identity, some decent pubs and the wonderful Henry Moore Institute. i mean, you know, those are the reasons i would give. plus at a house-party the other night i met a son of Leeds and he taught me some rude words in Urdu (even better, his Oslo-bred mate told me a few Norwegian swear words).
Baboon's Brixton anecdote reminds me of when i was in (the amazing, agreed wrt this) Portland OR and getting on really well w a young German or Austrian man (i actually forget his nationality, but it was one of those, and he spoke to me in his excellent English) .
we traded stories about getting ID'd for booze one day, and at one stage i laughed at him in the laughter of recognition but had to apologise fairly profusely because he felt i was just taking the piss.
Chicago, Philadelphia, Galway, Milan, Seattle, Vancouver, New York are all good for food in places i've been recently. (in fact the actor Wentworth Miller said filming Prison Break in the Chi was quality as the food there is incredible. he's right, as Padraig will tell us.)
as is TO and, of course, Brum (baltis!).
Cork is very good for coffee actually, despite its relatively very small size.
speaking as a Brit, out of the big provincial cities after London and Edinburgh and Cardiff, i do rate Manchester and Liverpool and Brum and Glasgow the most. i have never ever been to Bristol or Swansea which i want to rectify asap. because i like pretty things to visit i would probably choose Edinburgh over Glasgow but i guess i would live in the latter, it's a lot bigger.
the slow food movement in Portland OR is a strong one, and the coffee there is amazing. also their brew-pubs, i think Munich is the only town i've been to w a similarly strong beer vibe that good.
Sheffield is quality as i think every Dissensian and blogger would agree.
Tea i think asked after York: oh mate, the pubs. the Guy Fawkes Tavern. EPIC WIN.