Liverpool Food & Drink Festival

I arrived early at Sefton Park for the second day of the launch event weekend for the 2012 Liverpool Food & Drink Festival - it was drizzly but promised to brighten up later. Fortunately, I managed to park nearby and avoid the queues that had formed by the time the sun eventually decided to join the festivities.

I was soon handed my first food of the day, a delicious Red Thai Curry from Liverpool FC’s ‘Boot Room Sports Café – like Brendan Rogers’ forays into the transfer market, it was clear I was going to have to pace myself.

The next thing I ate were some delicious rose and champagne macarons from the Wirral’s award winning chocolatier, The Chocolate Cellar – keeping things sweet, I also bought some treats from Montezuma, Divine and Rococo Chocolates to take home. (Rococo's milk chocolate Sea Salt Wafers are one of my all time favourite indulgences).

After some Churros & Chocolate and a classic lemon and sugar pancake from La Creperie, I began to feel sorry for the staff at the nearby stretched, Reggae Reggae Sauce VW camper van who had to listen to Levi Roots’ jingle on a constant loop throughout the day!

Whilst some folk made their way by tractor, Juice FM arrived in their funky Mitsubishi Warrior, the people from Soreen came in their big, yellow van, John West rocked up on his rowing boat and the people from Typhoo left disappointed when they realised their boat was a tiny bit too big for Sefton Park’s lake.

There was plenty of colour, culture and flavour on show from restaurants such as Lunya, Chaophraya and the glamorous Alma De Cuba dancing girls, who must have been relieved when the sun finally did break though.

More glamour was added to the event by the celebrity chefs and TV personalities – Paul Hollywood (sans Mary Berry) hosted the ‘Bake Off’ tent where members of the public and special guests including Lisa Faulkner and Michelin starred Tom Kitchin competed in various challenges.

In the ‘Celebrity Chef Demo Area’, the hugely talented and entertaining Aiden Byrne from The Church Green in Lymm (aided by Brian Mellor from Cheshire’s Harthill Cookery School) cooked in front of a packed out audience whilst his partner Sarah and other members of the team served up the best burgers of the show, grilled to juicy perfection on their Inka Grill barbeque.

The biggest highlight of the show for me was lunch in Chef Paul Askew’s London Carriage Works ‘Pop up in the Park’ in conjunction with Liverpool Community College that was so good, I am going to write a separate post on it.

Along with the fact you can get Kippers By Post, other highlights included some great breads from ‘The French Corner Bakery’, Noman Musa’s and Ning's yurt and, of course, Mr Whippy!

I’m already looking forward to next year! 

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Nopi - Breakfast, London

Ever since I received a copy of Yotam Ottolenghi’s ‘The Cookbook’ as a gift, I wanted to visit one of his restaurants. With the publication of ‘Plenty’ and the opening of Nopi this desire grew ever stronger. On my last trip to London I finally made it to one… albeit only for a quick breakfast.

What the website says: ‘The dishes, typically offering bold flavours and colours and using plenty of spices and fresh herbs, were dreamt up by Ramael Scully, head chef, and Yotam Ottolenghi, executive chef. Our location in London’s West End Theatreland makes NOPI ideal for a dinner before the theatre. Please look at our fixed-price pre-theatre menu, alongside our regular Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner menus.’

What I ate:

Nopi’s breakfast menu is full of fabulous sounding delights: Morning pastries, including croissants and pain au chocolat; sourdough with butter, jam or marmite; Welsh rarebit and the interesting sounding Shakshuka and Asian inspired Black rice with coconut milk and tropical fruits – but there was only one choice for me… the French Toast with star anise sugar, berry compote and orange yoghurt. I love French Toast and this one was particularly good!

Food high points: as mentioned, the French Toast did not disappoint – a definite high point for sure - a generous portion with a beautiful balance of sweet and spice. I also enjoyed the very gingery Carrot, Ginger & Apple Juice!  

Food low points: I only had the French toast and loved it so there were no negatives – maybe more of the compote?

Décor / ambience: I love the whole styling of Nopi – the white washed walls, marble and tiling and the gold accents and soft wooden tones give a clean, classy feel. I rarely mention the toilets in my food posts but I did like the fly ‘targets’ on the urinals.

Service: I was the only customer and was seemingly forgotten – I sat for ages looking for someone who I could order a coffee from and again for someone to ask for the bill.

Verdict (Would I return?): with its central location on Warwick Street and the fact they are open from 8am Monday to Friday and 10am at weekends, next time I am staying in London I’ll definitely return for brekkie. I am also keen to have a lunch or dinner. 

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101 Brasserie at the Macdonald Townhouse Hotel, Manchester

Another short and sweet, easy to digest post aimed at clearing the backlog of places I have eaten at and am yet to write about – I need to get out less!

Formerly The Portland on Princess Street, The 101 Brasserie at the Macdonald Townhouse Hotel, is one of those places I have been meaning to eat since for quite some time, not least since reading about the £3.5 million renovation of this Grade II listed former Victorian cotton warehouse (built 1870).

What the website says: ‘After its recent makeover, our 101 Brasserie offers modern British cuisine in a truly stylish setting. You can enjoy regionally-inspired dishes, created with the finest seasonal ingredients available, always focused on flavour. Using only the finest Scottish beef, Scottish lamb and wild white fish, our menus also offer an ever-growing range of organic food and drink.’

What we ate:

Starters: Slow Cooked Crispy Duck: new season asparagus emulsion, celery & pistachio – the little ‘tart’ of duck topped with the crispy skin was absolutely delicious; packed full of rich flavours. The asparagus was well cooked, retaining the perfect amount of bite.

Grilled Mackerel: roasted fennel, radish, green apple dressing and fennel pollen – the mackerel itself was well cooked but on the whole this was the weakest dish of the evening. I found: the roasted fennel was over caramelised and chewy; the radishes failed to lift in the way that I usually find and the apple dressing and fennel pollen just didn’t work for me.

Mains: Duo of Spring Lamb: roast loin and slow cooked shoulder, peas, bacon & minted dressing – the loin was spot on but the shoulder was a little dry. The rest of the classic flavour combinations came together well.

Free Range Pork & Apple: loin and belly, pickled cabbage & apple butterscotch – the pork was cooked well and I particularly enjoyed the pickled cabbage. I was glad that the apple butterscotch was not too sweet.

Desserts: Peanut Butter Parfait: poached cherries, peanut praline, rye toast & cherry purée - beautifully presented; good range of textures and the peanut butter was not overpowering as I often find in some desserts.

Chocolate Essencia: chocolate brownie, crispy chocolate, orange jelly & barley sorbet – again beautifully presented/arranged (not 100% convinced by the green plate); good strong chocolaty flavours well balanced with the orange and barley; I enjoyed the different textures especially the toasted barley kernels.

Food high points: loved the duck starter and the desserts were very strong. Well cooked meat and fish throughout.

Food low points: for a restaurant serving a 4* boutique hotel, I think a few things need to be taken up a notch i.e: reduce the amount of olives in a serving but source better ones; the same with the olive oil for the breads and I never like the use of those sticky sweet balsamic glazes in place of vinegar (the bread itself was good).

We found the vegetable sides too were no better than average: slightly overdone Coriander glazed carrots and Sautéed broccoli with toasted almonds – small things that they could easily put right.

Décor / ambience: as previously stated on my blog, hotel dining rooms are not generally my favourite restaurant environments as they can lack a little character – whilst this could be said of the rather typical ‘modern and stylish’ furniture and artwork, the fact that the hotel reception and lobby is on the other side of the hotel manages to give the bar and restaurant area its own identity. I particularly liked the bar area and comfy seats – perfect for a pre meal cocktail or post meal coffee.

Service: I found the service to be good – for us, it struck the correct balance between formal and informal.

Verdict (Would I return?): the whole menu read well and there are a number of dishes I’d still like to try. I’ll be looking out for the autumn menu, due in the few weeks. 

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Bakerie Bread & WIne Bar, Manchester

I eat quicker than I write and have built up a backlog of places that I have eaten at and am yet to write about – therefore, I have decided to knock out a few short and sweet posts aimed to be quick and easy to digest.

What their website says: ‘BAKERIE bread + wine bar has opened its doors to the public. Serving delicious freshly baked bread and an eclectic wine selection with over 70 bottles to choose from as well as some great real ales and continental lagers.’

‘This friendly and unpretentious venue situated in the NQ on Lever Street houses communal benches making it the perfect place to sit, break bread, share wine and pass the time.’

What I ate:

A Sea Board Platter - with Lime and Chilli Prawns, Salt and Pepper baked squid and Caviar (black roe) – which came with dill crème fraiche, caper butter and a basket of Bakerie bread.

Roast Prime Cut Roast Beef Sandwich – sliced roasted beef topped with a horseradish crème fraiche served open with rocket salad and Bakerie bread.

Food high points: the bread, of course! Plus a generous serving of roe (worth the £1 supplement). Well cooked beef and juicy prawns.

Food low points: having to wrestle a piece of string from my mouth that had been left on the beef. I also found the squid to be a bit of a damp squib – not very punchy for ‘salt and pepper’ and it could have been crispier.

Great to visit the neighbouring ‘Tasting Store’ and bakery – I bought a sourdough and a decent bottle of red wine to take home. 

Décor / ambience: a much larger space than I anticipated. I was the first to arrive as they opened for lunch but it soon filled up with a lunchtime crowd (mainly office workers).

Service: friendly, efficient service – the food arrived promptly and with a smile. Although, once I got the bill it did take a while for me to be able to pay (I eventually went to the bar).

Verdict (Would I return?): I’d like to go back to try the ‘Sunday Roast Board’ that has some tasty looking options on it and looks great value for £8.95.

Have already revisited the ‘Tasting Store’ and bakery and will do so again! 

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