Good Taste Magazine Winter 2017/2018

goodtaste

Winter 2017

The Delicious Winter Issue Your essential food and drink guide for Merseyside and beyond

WARRINGTON’S BRAND NEW RETAIL MARKET

NOW OPEN Everything you need for Christmas UNDER ONE ROOF • Hot Food, Cafés and Eateries • Family-owned butchers • High quality retail outlets • Groceries • Fish & Game • Cheese • Fruit & Veg Time Square, Warrington e: infodesk@warrington.gov.uk t: 01925 632571

Contributors

Stephen Crawley, the man behind Higson’s Brewery returning to Liverpool, talks beer and food on page 13

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Brussels sprouts, and Maray Bold Street’s head chef Liv Alarcon’s recipe will have everyone asking for seconds. Page 30

Art School chef patron Paul Askew shares his tips for a perfect Christmas at home on page 32

The most wonderful time of the year In our autumn edition it was all Keats and mellow fruitfulness. Now as the days get colder, it’s the turn of The Winter’s Tale, the most wonderful time of the year – and a perfect excuse to eat, drink and be merry.

In this edition we look at the season’s brilliant produce, and favourite recipes for Christmas and New Year.

Merseyside’s top chefs have shared their favourite festive recipes with us, and the city’s drinks experts have been hard at work choosing their top tipples.

There’s also a travel theme, inspired by our Merseyrail feature, which looks at brilliant hidden gems, all short walks from stations on the Wirral line. This complements our two Eat Your Way Around features, focusing on beautiful West Kirby and festive Chester, both great days out that are easier by train.

This time of year many of us will book Christmas show tickets, so we’ve picked out some brilliant bars and restaurants inside theatres, where the food is as much of a star as the actors on stage.

Our cover picture is one of the Everyman’s beautiful puddings. While it’s not specifically a Christmas dish, it certainly feels celebratory enough to grace any festive table.

We’re a seasonal publication, and our next magazine is out in the spring. In the meantime, we’ll have daily updates on our website www.goodtastemagazines. co.uk and our weekly newsletter, delivered free to thousands of food and drink lovers. It has all the best dining deals and discounts, plus news on the hottest new places to eat and drink in Merseyside and Cheshire.

Please do get in touch with us and tell us if you’ve found a great hidden gem, or you’re a new venue that’s opening. We’re here to celebrate the brilliant food and scene, and the people at its heart.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and enjoy this wonderful time of year.

Jade Wright

Jen Perry from Room Forty talks us through how to host the perfect vintage New Year’s Eve party, 1920s style. Page 43

A wintry trip to Iceland inspires Graffiti Spirits director and travel writer Matt Farrell. Pages 46-49

Editor, Good Taste Magazine jade@goodtastemagazines.co.uk

About us We are team of experienced journalists who eat, sleep and breathe food and drink, who’ve worked for years at the heart of what has become one of the most exciting scenes in the UK.

What we do We bring you all the latest news, reviews and insight you need to be sure you experience the best Merseyside has to offer, from restaurants and bars, to cafes and independent food and drink producers.

Contents 9

How we do it We have updates throughout the day, every day, on the Good Taste website www. goodtastemagazines.co.uk, as well as our weekly newsletter, delivered free to your inbox with all the latest news and offers, and with our seasonal Good Taste magazine, available for free in selected venues across Merseyside.

10

How you can be a part of it If you’re interested in stocking Good Taste, or are a food and drink business who’d like to share a story, we’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to reach customers with Good Taste, get in touch with us at info@goodtastemagazines. co.uk or sales@goodtastemagazines.co.uk.

Contacts Editor: Jade Wright Email editor@goodtastemagazines.co.uk Sales: Email sales@goodtastemagazines.co.uk Magazine design: 23Design Web design: Bold Creative Thanks to the following people, without whom this magazine would not have been possible: Paula Brown, Erica Wright, Dawn Collinson and Janet Tansley at CopyMedia, Karen Burns Barnes, Matthew Barnes, Jo Mountford at the Women’s Organisation, Francis McEntegart, and, of course, baby Beatrice, who has inspired the whole thing.

14

Cover image: Chocolate fondant pudding at the Everyman Theatre. Copyright Good Taste Magazines.

Find us on social media at: www.instagram.com/goodtastemagazine www.facebook.com/GoodTasteMagazineUK www.twitter.com/good_tastemag Good Taste is a registered trademark of Good Taste Magazines.

Good Taste Magazines, 54 St James Street, Liverpool L1 0AB Email info@goodtastemagazines.co.uk Copyright Good Taste Magazines Liverpool 2017. Reproduction in whole or part prohibited without permission. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in advertisements, articles, photographs or illustrations. All prices correct at the time of going to press.

4

goodtaste

18

28 22 34

44

30 46

50 www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

5

News

The Lunya staff who have moved into Liverpool ONE

ONE direction for Lunya Family-owned Catalonian restaurant bar and deli Lunya has moved into new, larger premises in Liverpool ONE, on the corner of College Lane and Hanover Street.

Following a £200,000 investment by founders Elaine and Peter Kinsella, the new Lunya Liverpool occupies one floor of beautifully crafted space, allowing the independent business to enhance its high street visibility and combining the dining area, bar and deli into one. The whole

operation is now on the ground floor, giving full accessibility for all.

“The increased open plan space and additional features of the business will enable Lunya to grow the number and size of its regular events, which range from wine and food tasting evenings to gin experiences,” says Peter.

“We think the new Lunya looks stunning and feedback from our loyal guests and customers supports this.

“We’ve literally been overwhelmed since we opened.”

The restaurant, designed by DifferentStudio, retains a relaxed, traditional and informal setting.

A 20ft mural spanning both floors joins a 140 sq ft map of Spain, highlighting the locations of Lunya’s key suppliers and the story of the people and the land behind the produce.

Lunya Liverpool, 55 Hanover St, Liverpool, L1 3DN, www.lunya.co.uk

Harry reflects on busy year for Izakaya

Izakaya director Harry Marquart

6

goodtaste

With its perfectly crafted sushi and excellent range of Japanese-inspired cocktails, Izakaya is building up a great reputation on its bustling Castle Street site. It was opened by three friends – Harry Marquart, Kurt Wilson and Gabriella Rose King – who all share a passion for Japanese food and culture.

Harry explains: “Izakaya is a place that I would like to go to after a hard week and just relax with some decent food and have a few drinks.

“We want to open more but it’s imperative that we see a full year of trading before we look to expand.”

Harry is a big fan of the Liverpool food and drink scene. “I am so proud to be part of it,” he says. “There are some brilliant restaurants popping up and it’s becoming more cosmopolitan by the day.”

Harry is also working on a school meal

initiative, giving children fresh meat from local butchers, free range eggs and locally sourced seasonal vegetables.

“The ultimate goal of the business is to try and solve one of the largest obesity problems we have ever faced,” he explains.

“Food education is the only way to do that and there is very little happening to overcome it.

“Looking back opening a city centre restaurant, launching the school dinners project and completing my first property development was very satisfying. At the time I didn’t feel satisfied, in fact on the latter, I think that was the closest I will ever come to having a breakdown but I feel stronger than ever coming out of the other side!”

Izakaya, 6 Castle St, Liverpool L2 0NB, www.izakaya-sushi.co.uk

News

...and bake!

Those clever bakers at Room Forty have announced their winter programme of classes designed to turn even the complete novice into a wannabe Bake Off Star Baker.

Classes take place in the early evenings and on Sunday mornings at various venues in and around Warrington and St Helens and last approximately three and a half hours.

Course costs include all materials and bakers leave equipped with new baking skills, recipes and the fruits of their labour.

Proprietor Jen Perry says: “We are passionate about baking, passionate about real, additive-free food and delight in passing on our baking skills.

The feedback that we have had following our classes has been astonishing. We have fun teaching and the groups have great fun learning. More importantly we

are being inundated with photos of the amazing loaves that our past students have baked at home.

Proof indeed that the classes work.”

The Room Forty Festive Baking classes include: Christmas Cake – Bake your own. Class on 5 December 2017 Christmas Cake Decorating.

Classes on 3 and 12 December 2017 Not Quite Gluten Free – learn to bake lower gluten breads using rye, spelt and Kamut flours. Class on 21 January Bread Baking for Beginners – learn to master white and wholemeal loaves, sodabread and the secrets of the perfect pizza. Classes on 6 and 15 February.

Classes cost £45 for the beginners class and £55 for all the others, including the cost of all ingredients,

samples of bread and nibbles to eat, and copious quantities of tea and coffee.

Aprons and equipment are provided.

Fun comes as standard.

To book a class contact Jen at Room Forty on 01925 357940 hello@roomforty.co.uk www.roomforty.co.uk

Afternoon tea has been given a delicious, wintry twist at Thornton Hall. The stylish hotel set in pretty Wirral countryside has crafted a special menu in celebration of the season’s sparkly loveliness.

The new menu features an assortment of festive finger sandwiches, including turkey and cranberry, honey glazed ham and mustard mayonnaise. Then there’s the very rich, very wicked sweet treats freshly baked Battenberg, glazed lemon tart, mince pies, mint chocolate muffins, apple and cinnamon macaron and mulled wine pate de fruit.

That’s not forgetting the plain and fruit scones, with lashings of clotted cream and seasonal Cheshire jams.

Teas range from the classic English breakfast to the exotic mandarin rose petal, and there’s a choice of coffees and types of milk too.

Winter Afternoon Tea is £23.50 and can be booked at www.thorntonhallhotel.com or by calling 0151 336 3938.

The pizza masters at Liverpool’s Santa Maluco have launched a weekly vegan Rodizio menu. Taking place every Monday, this new menu allows diners to pay a fixed price for unlimited pizza, and choose from a huge variety of plant-based pizza base and topping options, taking the hassle out of eating out for vegans, vegetarians and healthconscious foodies.

With ingredients such as falafel, pickles and ratatouille, as well as vegan cheeses and vegan ‘meats’, these wood-fired pizzas are made with seasonal ingredients and can be washed down with one of the restaurant’s delicious rum-based cocktails.

Priced at £10.95 before 4pm or £15.95 after 4pm. www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

7

News

Good Taste Magazine launch Our print edition launched in style with a food and drink lovers’ party at Aloft Hotel on North John Street, Liverpool.

Guests included restaurateurs, bar owners and chefs, plus foodloving actors and writers. They drank Good Taste gin and tonics and bespoke cocktails designed for the magazine by the mixologists at Liverpool Gin. Wirral chilli growers Chilli Gourmet and artisan chocolate maker Bala Croman at The Chocolate Cellar provided a selection of delicious local produce.

The private launch was followed by a public launch at the Liverpool Food and Drink Festival in Sefton Park.

Can you keep a secret? Tucked away behind a discreet door above Seel Street, 81LTD is a throwback to the days when the area was full of secret bars, offering after-hours drinks to everyone from well heeled merchants to those whose businesses were, let’s say, slightly less salubrious.

These days it’s home to a friendly crowd, with great music and a cosiness that really comes into its own as the nights get colder. 81LTD has been open for five years, but has retained a distinctly cool feel, and as you’d expect from the team behind Santa Chupitos and El Bandito, a great selection of drinks.

It’s open weekends only. However, it’s available for private hire and cocktail masterclasses any day or night of the week. Entry is through Salt Dog Slims below.

It’s guest list only – to ask for a code text 07803 361 052 with your full name, party size, date and time of arrival. To book a party or table reservation email info@81ltd.com.

8

goodtaste

Bar of the season

News

Portland Oregon and London’s Camden provided the a more street food-led scene,” he says. “It was growing rapidly inspiration for one of South Liverpool’s coolest places to eat. in London and I sensed that it wouldn’t be long before the trend 358 Portland Street is the culmination of years of work – came to Liverpool. and thousands of air miles – for founder and head chef John “I grasped the opportunity of recreating restaurant dishes, McLoughlin, pictured. presenting them in a more casual style, without losing any “I was following the scene in Camden and in of the quality finesse. This formed the basis of our “It’s not Portland where street food operators occupy ‘pods’... philosophy ‘it’s not fast food, it’s flavour with flair.’” fast food, they are everywhere and the diversity of the food is With more than 28 years in the business, he’s incredible,” he explains. certainly seen some changes to the city’s restaurant it’s flavour scene.

“I was inspired to open Portland St. I’d opened so many other businesses for other people I’d previously with flair” “Back then, there were five decent restaurants in the worked for in my career. The desire to open my own city,” he says. “Many of us had to leave the city to gain restaurant was so overwhelming that if I hadn’t, I the experience we needed, which has in turn, given the would have regretted it later in life.” scene in Liverpool the impetus it needed to grow.”

John, something of a veteran chef on the Liverpool scene, His advice to new chefs is simple: “Just work hard, be reliable, spotted a change in the way restaurants were operating here in watch, learn and constantly ask questions of good chefs above Merseyside too, and was ahead of the trend on his Smithdown you. Believe me, you will learn something new every day.”

Road restaurant.

“Places like Bakchich had just opened and Mowgli was in the Portland Street 358, 358 Smithdown Rd, Liverpool L15 5AN, process of being built, the city scene was largely moving over to www.portlandst.co.uk Bold Street favourite The Italian Club has celebrated 10 years of serving authentic Italian food.

Owners and real life partners Rosaria Crolla and Maurizio Pelligrini designed the deli-restaurant in 2007 and it has been celebrated by the likes of Giles Coren in The Times and Olive magazine, which featured it in their top 10 Italian restaurants in the UK. Menu favourites over the years include the bruschetta valter, a serving of toasted bread beneath fresh cherry tomatoes and delectably creamy goat’s cheese drizzled with olive oil, garlic and basil – a reminder, as Rosaria puts it, “that simple dishes executed finely are often the best”.

The antipasto misto, a beautiful selection of Italian cured meats and grilled vegetables, had Giles Coren swooning.

Since the birth of The Italian Club, the pair have opened The Italian Club Fish on the same street and more recently The Italian Club Bakery.

Rosaria added: “Liverpool is a family city and all we’ve tried to do is bring our own families’ culture of wining, dining and entertainment to Bold Street and we are so grateful to everybody who has supported us.”

The Italian Club, 85 Bold St, Liverpool L1 4HF, www.theitalianclubliverpool.co.uk www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

9

MasterChef: The Professionals champion Anton Piotrowski talks about his new restaurant in Liverpool

All you need is love

Love brought Anton Piotrowski to Liverpool, and it’s at the very heart of his new Georgian Quarter restaurant, even down to its name.

Röski, on the site of Puschka on Rodney Street, is a fusion of his surname and his partner Rose’s Christian name.

Now Rose and Anton, formerly executive head chef at the Michelin-starred Treby Arms near Plympton in Devon, are sharing the love with their customers.

“I was living down south in a small village in Devon, running a Michelin star restaurant and by chance I met Rose who’s from the city, and a year later, here I am. Love brought me to Liverpool.”

As well as the love of a good woman, Anton has also fallen for the city itself, and particularly its dining scene.

“It’s got an incredibly cool, diverse food scene which is only on the up,” he says. “I think it’s about to really be put on the culinary map as more and more exciting things are happening and people are really starting to recognise it.

“Then there’s the people - they really are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met and after being here for just short of seven months now, I can honestly say it feels like home for me.”

Any particular favourite places to eat and drink?

“For me it has to be Etsu,” he says. “My girlfriend took me there for one of my first meals in the city and I was blown away by the freshness of their ingredients and the skill of the chefs.

Truly some of the best sushi I’ve ever eaten.

“You can’t go wrong with a few drinks in Salt Dogs or El Bandito, and Alma de Cuba is always a favourite for date night.

For a good night out with friends and a little taste of everything happening in Liverpool the Baltic Market is the place to go.”

What was it about Puschka that attracted you?

“It’s on one of the most beautiful streets in Liverpool with both cathedrals on either end and immediately I loved everything about it.

“But, not wanting to jump into anything too quickly we continued looking around Liverpool, the Baltic Triangle in particular as really exciting things are happening there at the moment.

“We must’ve viewed over 100 properties but I just couldn’t get Puschka out of my head. And so after

10 goodtaste

a month of searching we went back and made an offer, which they accepted straight away, and then the hard work began.”

Röski is a small and intimate 26-cover restaurant.

“We specifically looked for smaller venues so as to keep the level of consistency so high,” Anton says. “Big flavours and taster menus that change with the seasons and what we can get our hands on at the time. My style of food is massively inspired by my travels and my heritage.”

Dishes include whole roasted caramelised cauliflower, caramelised cauliflower purée, Parmesan custard, frozen apple, Garam masala curry oil – the latter inspired by a recent trip Rose and Anton took to Israel. On the sweeter side there’s white chocolate curd, Yorkshire forced rhubarb, and builders’ tea ice cream. “And of course, some of my classics from Masterchef, like Pigeon Wellington and Röski’s Gone Carrots, my take on carrot cake,” he says.

The restaurant was initially going to be a crowdfunded venture, but it did not reach its £60,000 target.

“Not hitting our target didn’t impact our opening at all,” adds Anton. “I think I rushed into it a little too quickly without having done my research. They take 10 per cent of the target in the end and so for us it wasn’t worth it. Going to the bank ended up being a much better option. But it was amazing to see how many people got behind us and supported us, nonetheless.

And that’s something I’ll forever be thankful for.”

Röski, 16 Rodney St, Liverpool L1 2TE

Gem hunter

While looking for sapphires in Ethiopia Piero Di Bella discovered a taste for the local cuisine – and brought it back to the Wirral

It was on a trip for his former career that Piero Di Bella first fell in love with Ethiopian cuisine.

Before he and his wife Dawn opened up their award-winning Wirral restaurant Da Piero, he spent years finding and cutting some of the world’s most beautiful gemstones. It was on a trip to Ethiopia, searching for sapphires, that he fell in love with the local cuisine.

“The food was so addictive,” he explains. “I’d try a dish and I’d want more the next day and the day after.

The balance of flavours and the use of spices was like nothing I’d ever tasted before. The flavours were so intense, the combinations so unusual.

“Even the way of eating was different.

They’d serve a dish with a soft bread rather than cutlery - the bread was the spoon.”

In Ethiopian cuisine, a wat – stew or curry made with meat or vegetables and spice mixtures such as berbere – is eaten with injera, the bread which is the vehicle for almost every meal in Ethiopia. “The bread is made with a special flour, teff, which makes a beautifully light, almost spongy, consistency. It was like nothing I’d ever tried before.”

Piero realised that Ethiopian food did have some Italian influences, following years of occupation.

“They served pasta just like we’d make

at home in Sicily. The Italian influences had mixed with the traditional Ethiopian style and created this amazing food.

When I came home I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“I wanted to try to make some of the dishes at home, or to find a restaurant where I could get them back in Italy, or in the UK, but nothing tasted like it.

“When I spoke to people there, they said it was because you couldn’t get the flour over here, it isn’t easy to get hold of, and the spices are different from the ones we are used to buying in Europe.”

In time Piero, Dawn and their son Alan opened Da Piero in Irby, a Sicilian restaurant which stacked up an impressive collection of awards for its beautifully cooked, authentic food.

They are currently celebrating another mention in the Michelin Guide.

While still cooking his native Sicilian dishes, Piero has used the patience of a gemstone hunter to track down suppliers for the flours and spices he needs to recreate those amazing Ethiopian dishes.

He’s now found a wholesaler and is importing everything directly.

Together with his chef son Alan, pictured above, he’s painstakingly recreating the dishes he fell in love with for a new series of evenings at Da Piero.

“Our customers are quite adventurous in their tastes. They come looking for

good food and something they can’t get anywhere else.”

The menu will offer some of Piero’s Ethiopian favourites, including zighini (a spicy beef dish), dorowot (a beautifully flavoured chicken stew) and a number of vegan options. All are served with injera and a selection of authentic side dishes.

“Most of the menu is completely vegan,” Piero adds. “And a number of the breads are gluten free. It is very healthy food, and there is so much flavour noone would miss the meat.”

Da Piero’s Ethiopian evenings run through the winter, alongside their traditional Sicilian menus.

Da Piero, 5-7 Mill Hill Rd, Birkenhead, Wirral CH61 4UB, www.dapiero.co.uk.

0151 648 7373

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

11

TAKE A ROASTING, IRISH STYLE When it's ok to pop your trouser button...

Food so good, you’d think your ma was here.

McCooley’s, Moonshine Warehouse now in Concert Square and Mathew Street are raising the roast dinner game – all for only £8.

Choose from roasted topside of beef or chicken breast fillet, with an accompanying homemade Yorkshire pudding the size of your head, rich onion gravy in all the right places for pure unadulterated joy.

As for the trimmings, sage & onion stuffing, buttery carrot & swede mash, guaranteed crowd pleaser roasties… and seasonal market veg are all spot on!

Veg option available. Book now on bookings@mccooleys.co.uk or 0151 305 2411.

Restaurant | Lounge | Private Dining

Festive Dining Throughout December.

Lunch, Dinner & Afternoon Tea

lawnsrestaurant.com Make a reservation

0151 336 3938

Raspberry Soufflé 12 goodtaste

By Chad Hughes

Thornton Hall Hotel & Spa, Neston Road, Thornton Hough, Wirral CH63 1JF

Inspiration on Tap Stephen Crawley and, below, Hayley and James Dodds

Meet the team breathing new life into Liverpool’s brewing heritage Stephen Crawley is a man who knows his beer. Born and raised on the Wirral, he entered the beer world here in the North West selling Labatts and Rolling Rock to Greenalls, Bass and Isle of Man Breweries – before becoming managing director of Edinburgh-based Caledonian, where he stayed for 20 years.

Yet at the back of his mind he mused over a move back to Merseyside.

“Liverpool doesn’t have a major regional brewer,” he explains. “Yes, there are some great independents, but it lacks a brewer synonymous with the city – Manchester has Holt’s, Hyde’s and JW Lees’’ When he saw the opportunity arise, Stephen set about changing that by resurrecting Higson’s, which was founded in 1780 in Dale Street and closed in 1990.

He came back to Merseyside, and bought Liverpool Craft Brewery. He’s now working with its joint founder and Crosby craft brewer, venue owner and fellow beer lover Paul Seiffert, who is now H1780 Tap & Still retail director.

After an extensive refurbishment, and with the help of a team of beer-loving investors, Stephen is opening the doors on his vision for an urban beer and spirits experience with a brewery and

distillery, three bars, a kitchen, a shop and a tasting room, in the heart of the L1 in the bustling Baltic Triangle.

It’s been a labour of love. The H1780 Tap & Still in Bridgewater Street has required a huge amount of work, but it’s the perfect home for Higson’s and Love Lane beers and a new selection of gins from The Ginsmiths of Liverpool.

There’s great food too, although Stephen is keen to point out it’s not a restaurant – it’s the Tap & Still after all.

“We don’t want it to feel formal,” he explains. “It’s a place where we serve really good food with inspiration from some east and west coast USA craft brewery taps, and great British food served in the brewery dining rooms of a bygone era” (maybe just like Higson’s).

“The idea is that you can go on a brewery tour (from Feb 1, 2018) or pop in to buy some beers or a bottle of gin, (from December 7) then stop off and have a snack. Maybe from there you might want something on toast, or a main meal, but it’s all very relaxed.”

Stephen has found a pair of kindred spirits to run the food side at the Tap & Still in husband and wife team Hayley and James Dodds.

James was another Wirral lad working away. Originally from Neston, chef James worked at the Chester Grosvenor before working around the country, mostly across the south west.

There he met Hayley, who works front

of house, and the couple gained a strong reputation at restaurants including HIX Oyster and Fish House in Lyme Regis, before an unusual step to Darsham Nurseries café in Suffolk.

“You say garden centre and people think ‘jacket potatoes’,” laughs Hayley.

“But this was something completely different – a cafe that was based completely around its produce.”

James adds: “We could go out into the cottage gardens every day and pick exactly what we wanted. It was a chef ’s dream to have those kind of fresh ingredients, and that flexibility in the kitchen. We loved it.”

The reviewers loved it too, with Tracey Macleod giving it 15/15 in the Independent, her last full marks going to the three Michelin-starred El Bulli.

James is clearly a chef who loves his veg – his right arm is even covered with the most beautiful sleeve tattoo of gorgeous fresh vegetables.

While the lifestyle was idyllic, the job at the H1780 Tap & Still was the challenge they’d dreamed of, and the couple are now settled in Wirral,

working with small regional suppliers on some exciting new menus. There are three main sections to the menu – the snacks, the ‘on toasts’ and the main meals – all offering fresh, lovingly-cooked food.

James adds: “Hayley and I have fallen in love with the place. We’ve been all over the world together, we got married in Thailand and it’s great to travel, but with an opportunity like this, there’s no place like home.” www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

13

Wild at heart Dawn Collinson meets Wild Loaf Bakery owner Jessica Doyle

A

s a graduate of London’s world famous Central St Martin’s, Jessica Doyle always had her sights on a creative career.

But it took a placement with the Biennial in Liverpool to broker an unlikely introduction to what’s become her passion: bread.

At 22 and armed with her degree in performance design, the owner of The Wild Loaf bakery took up an internship with the contemporary art festival.

“They commissioned artists to work in Anfield, where I’m from, and they set up in a bakery I used to shop in when I was younger, that needed a new lease of life,” says Jessica. “In uni I only cooked really basic things but I did one class of baking and just loved it. I knew I wanted to be creative – I’d been DJing as well – and I thought this could be the thing.

When I made that first loaf it felt really therapeutic and rewarding and I thought of all the opportunities that could come from just making bread.

“I went home and carried on baking, so they gave me a go at being a baker and then eventually I became head baker at Homebaked Anfield.”

It was while she was working at the community bakery, opposite Liverpool’s Anfield ground, that Jessica first discovered the bread which has become the basis of her own business.

“I did a course at the community college, the head baker there introduced me to sourdough and I thought it was amazing,” recalls the 29-year-old.

“Making sourdough is a really oldfashioned process which appeals to me.

It was actually similar to what I’d done at uni because there was a process, it was about nurturing something and allowing it to grow.”

With Homebaked Anfield focusing more on traditional white bread and pies, Jessica decided the time was right to go it alone and take on a new challenge.

She started out supplying city centre restaurants including The Pen Factory and 60 Hope Street. “And from there it

14 goodtaste

Jessica Doyle and, right, some of the delicious Wild Loaf produce was just like a domino effect.” At the end of 2015, she – and a commercial oven bought on ebay – moved in to Cains Brewery where she spent a year building a business clientele.

“I was pretty much on my own in there then, now it’s gone crazy,” she says.

Ambitions to grow The Wild Loaf and share it with walk-in customers as well as restaurants saw Jessica open a bakery and shop on Hardman Street in January.

Now, alongside sourdough loaves and sandwiches, her team of bakers create what are arguably the finest fresh-baked doughnuts in the city.

“The only day we don’t bake is Sunday.

Each sourdough loaf takes 21 hours to make, so we make on Monday and then bake Tuesday to Saturday.

“The sourdough taste comes from the

fermenting process, it’s just time, there are no additives. The longer it proves, the more the yeast ferments,” explains Jessica.

“We do ours for about 21 hours and the dough actually isn’t that sour because we found people preferred it smoother. It does become a bit too acidic if you leave it too long.”

As for the independent food scene in Liverpool, Jessica says she’s seen a growing appreciation of the artisan process.

“People seem to want to know where their food is coming from and the story behind it, and they like to ask the maker,” she says.

“It’s really sparked their interest and it’s exciting to be able to do that rather than just to go to the supermarket and pick it off a shelf.”

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

15

There’s something truly relaxing about travelling by train. Where the car brings its inevitable stresses – the traffic, the battle for a parking space, finding exact change for the meter and racing back before it runs out – trains are a chance to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Best of all, the region has a brilliant collection of great independent places to eat and drink, all accessible by train. Here are some of our favourites, all close to Wirral Line stations…

Buffet without the car Manor Road

Rock Ferry

Julian’s Restaurant Nearest station: Manor Road

The Refreshment Rooms Nearest station: Rock Ferry

Julian’s opened in February 2004 and is owned and run

by Julian and his partner Jackie Davies. It is a bistrostyle, intimate fine dining restaurant serving International and modern British cuisine.

Julian spent 14 years at the Chester Grosvenor before working at restaurants across the region, including a stint as head chef at the Wheatsheaf Inn, Raby, being named Chef of the Year in the Wirral Tourism Awards.

Julian and Jackie serve up fresh, honest, home-made British cuisine. It’s a real hidden gem, two minutes from the train station, massively popular with regular customers, but you’d have to know it was there to go looking. Book early for their Burn’s Night celebrations, and Julian’s popular Sunday baking and cookery classes.

20 Birkenhead Rd, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 3BW, 0151 632 6241

Just a short walk from Rock Ferry station, The Refreshment Rooms overlooks Liverpool’s stunning waterfront.

It was established in the 1880s as part of the ferry complex and re-opened under its original name in 2012.

They serve excellent locally sourced food seven days a week from 12 noon until 9pm, and are justifiably proud of their suppliers - Appleby’s of Wirral, Ward’s Fish, Wirral Watercress, Nicholls of Parkgate and Born & Bread of Wallasey.There’s live music on Fridays and Saturdays and well behaved dogs are welcome.

Bedford Rd East, Wirral, CH42 1LS, 0151 644 5893

16 goodtaste

Nine Leaves Nearest station: Hoylake This licensed loose leaf tea lounge is well worth a stop-off and is just a minute’s walk from Hoylake station.

While they specialise in fantastic teas, coffee lovers aren’t neglected, with velvet roast coffee from Birkenhead coffee roasters Adams and Russell.

Beers come from Wirral’s Peerless Brewery and the produce is locally sourced and used to create hearty homemade dishes, including the famous gluten-free carrot cake. Dogs are welcome, the kids’ facilities are great and it has wheelchair and pram access.The Earl Grey lemon drizzle cake will have you racing back for more.

7-9 Albert Road, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 2AB, 0151 633 2505

New Brighton

Blackberry Grove Nearest station: New Brighton New Brighton is a great family day out, and award-winning, family-friendly Blackberry Grove is well worth a visit.

With an impressive collection of awards, Jo and her team serve breakfasts and brunches from 11am, right through to evening meals and beyond.

They have an extensive menu and are particularly popular with vegans, vegetarians and gluten-free eaters, although the gourmet burgers and triple cooked chips are a big favourite with carnivores.

Dog-friendly and perfect for all the family, it’s five minutes from the train station and a great place to start your New Brighton day out, before a wintry stroll along the beach and – weather permitting – an ice cream on the prom.

3 Grosvenor Rd, Wallasey CH45 2LW, 0151 639 9608

Hoylake

Merseyrail has regular services to 67 stations across Merseyside, providing affordable travel for all the family.

There’s unlimited off-peak travel after 09.30 on weekdays and anytime on weekends and bank holidays with a Day Saver or a Family Ticket. The Family Ticket is valid for up to two adults and three children aged 5 – 15.

Plan your journey at merseyrail.org or download the app.

Looking for great places to eat near West Kirby and Chester stations? Visit merseyrail.org/goodtaste for a guide to Chester’s burgeoning food and drink scene, and plenty to see, do, eat and drink in beautiful West Kirby. www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

17

Eating Out In West Kirby

Worth taking a ride out for

W

ith its beautiful beaches, great selection of independent shops and a bustling bar and restaurant scene, West Kirby is a holiday paradise right on our doorstep.

With incredible views out to the Welsh Hills across the Dee Estuary, it’s also the gateway to Hilbre Islands. At low tide, visitors can walk to the islands and take in some of the amazing wildlife that call them home, from rare birdlife to grey seals. If you listen carefully you can ever hear them sing.

The last few years have seen a real boom in restaurants and independent shops full of great local produce and gifts – perfect for spending the afternoon exploring. Food is very much on the menu, with some great little treasure troves.

By the station there’s Deli 1381, specialising in Portuguese cheeses, cured meats, fine wine and port, not forgetting the famous pastel de nada, which are the best this side of Lisbon and worth a trip on their own.

There’s also a relatively new Whitmore and White, a little sister of the popular Heswall shop, offering a great selection of wines, spirits, cheeses and accompaniments. You can take out or eat in, watching the world go by through their huge picture windows.

Or for a combined shopping and food experience, head to Nancie Henry opposite the station. Nestled above the designer clothes shop is a gem of a restaurant, Cafe at Nancie, with French influences and a great locally sourced menu.

18 goodtaste

Sunday lunch at Nancie Henry

Eating Out In West Kirby

Tapas Kitchen

The village now has a fresh, foodie taste of Spain thanks to Tapas Kitchen. The restaurant on Banks Road is a cool, contemporary eatery serving delicious tapas inspired by the smells, tastes and flavours of Spain.

The team has clearly gone to great lengths to source the most authentic produce from Spain, as well as some excellent local suppliers.

The bread is wild sourdough, the lamb is the finest from the Welsh hills, and the sublime sausages are imported directly from Spain.

The white Botifarra sausage – a white pork sausage, part of the mixed grill tapas – is something special, with incredible flavour and texture.

Look out for twists on other authentic Spanish classics

including wild boar meatballs, braised Basque-style lamb shoulder and Fabarda, a pork sausage stew.

Assisted by their ‘man in the know’ – Basque chef and Spanish produce expert Javier – they have created a menu complemented by ever-changing specials bringing together flavours from some of the region’s finest producers.

The drinks offering is pretty impressive too from specialist Spanish craft beers including Cerveza La Socarrada, a beautiful honey and rosemary beer.

Good Taste recommends their flight of Spanish gins, with three Spanish Sikkim gins – Privee, Fraise and Bilberry, served with fruits, berries, botanicals and Fever Tree tonics.

There are also some great soft drink options, with a unique selection of smoothies and elixirs.

It’s a great chance to trade in your turkey this Christmas and indulge in their delicious Spanish-inspired range of festive tapas.

Hickory’s Situated on Village Road, Hickory’s has become a West Kirby institution over the past five years.

Famed for its delicious, authentic Southernstyle food and fabulous hospitality, the familyfriendly restaurant and bar has become a firm favourite with diners from across Wirral and beyond.

With its packed programme of seasonal events including the Big Fat Christmas Quiz, An Audience with Santa and character-themed breakfasts with the Snow Princesses there is plenty going on for the whole family.

Sports lovers can watch on multiple screens, including all the NFL action on New Year’s Eve, all washed down with a selection from their impressive craft ale collection.

From Thanksgiving (November 23 for us Brits) onwards, the whole place transforms into a veritable grotto with show-stopping decorations, amazing warming cocktails and fabulous seasonal dishes alongside the traditional BBQ classics.

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

19

Fun (and food) for all the family At Tate Liverpool there’s lots to explore, play and have fun with activities specially created for young people to be inspired by art.

Families are invited to visit Tate Liverpool’s free family space situated on the first floor and open daily. Families can discover a whole galaxy of art with a free fun rocket backpack which is available every day. Designed to help young children and adults explore the Tate’s ‘Constellations’ modern art collection together, it provides a number of arty activities.

Kids aged 12 or under can eat for free when an accompanying adult buys a main course from the seasonal menu at Tate Liverpool’s dazzling café. There is a child-friendly menu, younger visitors can enjoy an activity sheet with crayons and the café provides highchairs.

For details call 0151 702 7400 or visit www.tate.org.uk/liverpool

Wirral’s award-winning family attraction, Church Farm, has launched a new vegan and gluten-free cake menu at its popular coffee shop just in time for Christmas.

Visitors will now be able to tuck into a tasty beetroot falafel and roasted vegetable panini, washed down with a choice of soy lattes and finished with a tasty chocolate cake – all vegan friendly. Also hot from the oven are a range of delicious gluten-free cakes including a muesli flapjack, chocolate brownie, Bakewell tart and peanut butter cake. Ceri Newton, who runs Gorge’Us which provides the cakes, says: “I’m gluten intolerant myself, which I know is ironic for a baker, but it means I personally understand the problems some people can face trying to find something they can eat.”

The farm also hosts a Santa Experience lasting 30 to 45 minutes, with farm animals and a play area, with a chocolate gift for children and mulled wine and a mince pie for adults.

For more information call 0151 648 7838 or visit www.churchfarm.org.uk

20 goodtaste

World Museum’s café re-opened this year with a new menu serving locally-sourced food, freshly-made by National Museums Liverpool’s team of in-house chefs.

The renovation of the café has made a feature of the original architecture, and intricate plasterworks adorn the wall.

Open daily from 10am – 4:30pm, breakfast is available until 11:30am and the café has a range of additional facilities including free WiFi, highchairs and microwave facilities for the youngest visitors’ bottles and baby food.

For more information call 0151 478 4336 or visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Now Presenting...

KITCHEN COLLECTION

at our stunning West Kirby showroom

James James Kitchens is an award winning kitchen design business.

For over 40 years the design team have designed and installed beautifully engineered contemporary German kitchens and are delighted to add the classically British Laura Ashley Kitchen collection and bedroom range to its portfolio. Join us in our newly refurbished showroom for coffee and a browse. We look forward to welcoming you soon.

Call into our stunning West Kirby showroom or email dom@jamesjameskitchens.com to make an appointment to begin your kitchen journey.

James James Kitchens. 19-21 Grange Road, West Kirby, Wirral CH48 4DY T 0151 625 9329 | dom@jamesjameskitchens.com | www.jamesjameskitchens.comwww.goodtastemagazines.co.uk | jamesjames_uk

21

Eating Out In Chester

Whether you’re looking for Michelin-starred dining, American-style steaks or a fabulous cocktail, Chester has it all. As the nights grow darker the city really comes into its own, with excellent shopping in overhanging black-and-white half-timbered rows, the return of the Christmas markets, and great sales bargain-hunting as January comes around. Best of all, it’s a gastronomic city, with great places to eat and drink whatever your tastes and budget. So loosen your belt a notch and treat yourself to...

Chester Graces

Upstairs At The Grill One thing all the best steakhouses have in common is an obsessive focus on meat and its quality – something the team behind Upstairs At The Grill take to a whole new level.

Housed in the former Customs House at the bottom of The Rows on Watergate Street, this hidden gem took its lead from some of New York’s finest steak emporiums. The team work with their own butcher to source cuts based on breed, marbling, age and heritage, aiming to offer their guests the finest cuts this side of the Atlantic.

Celebrating its 15th birthday this year, the restaurant fuses a classic English Gentleman’s Club with a Manhattan speakeasy, with cocktails taking centre stage alongside their impressive range of steaks, seafood, and signature dishes such as the twice baked Stilton soufflé or the Arnold Bennet omelette.

Diners can choose from a range of classic cuts such as Porterhouse, Delmonico and bone-in ribeye or ring the changes with one of the more unusual steak selections such as fillet steak on the bone, Bavette, or the increasingly popular Flat Iron.

The knowledgeable team guide diners through the various options from sirloins and ribeyes to the USDA Rib Eye – a sweet, buttery cut imported from the USA and, of course, the classic Chateaubriand, from the head of the fillet and regarded as the ‘king of steaks’.

Sauces such as traditional Béarnaise and indulgent Cropwell Bishop Blue Cheese provide the perfect accompaniment. Don’t miss the triple-cooked beef dripping chips with truffle oil and Gran Morvaria Parmesan.

In true speakeasy style, the drinks range includes home-infused bourbons, gins and liqueurs collected by the passionate bar team during their regular forays to some of the globe’s more unusual producers, including more than 80 gins.

Upstairs At The Grill, 70 Watergate St, Chester CH1 2LA www.upstairsatthegrill.co.uk 01244 344883

22 goodtaste

Eating Out In Chester

BarLounge Chester’s original cocktail bar is still very much at the top of its game.

After 18 years, BarLounge Chester is still the place to be, at the heart of Chester’s buzzing social scene.

Known for its outstanding service, super knowledgeable bar team, and, of course, those showstopping cocktails, the venue has a fresh new look after a complete refurbishment earlier this year.

BarLounge is beautiful in summer, but in the winter just oozes Christmas spirit. Its famous covered terrace is the place to be during the festive season, with plenty of comfortable seating, cosy blankets and hot water bottles, beneath festoon lighting and the trees alive with thousands of twinkly lights.

As well as the drinks, there’s an excellent food offering, which features the best of British bistro-style food with a twist, or you can pair a fabulous Winter Warmer cocktail with tasty festive nibbles.

There’s also a packed calendar of events throughout December. Check social media for full details, and don’t miss the New Year’s Day Bottomless Brunch, with live music, DJs, amazing brunch dishes and bottomless drinks for two hours for just £20!

BarLounge 75 Watergate St, Chester CH1 2LB, www.barlounge.co.uk, 01244 327394

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

23

Eating Out In Chester

PR

Chester Grosvenor Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor has had a Michelin star since 1990, and its list of former kitchen staff reads like a Who’s Who? of chefs across the region.

His tasting menus are well worth trying, or for a more relaxed feel, the two AA Rosette La Brasserie is a classic Parisian-style brasserie, with a striking hand-painted glass skylight.

Their afternoon tea is a real treat, perfect for birthdays and special occasions.

ws,

r’s Ro FACT wCahelkswteays at the

covered f the in each o r o o fl t rs fi ets, are main stre ritain city’s four t only in B unique no in the world. where uble but ever y llowed do a e v a h y The wn at g in the to r y. in p p o sh level Centu e the 13th least sinc

The Chester Grosvenor, Eastgate St, Chester CH1 1LT

Sticky Walnut He’s now got award-winning, crowdfunded restaurants Burnt Truffle, Hispi and the latest, Wreckfish, but Gary Usher started it all at Sticky Walnut, his beautifully simple Chester bistro.

He famously opened the doors on a budget so tight that he had to choose between a combi-oven and new tables and chairs!

Of course he chose the cooking over the decor, and the cash was well spent on a Rational oven. It’s all rustic exposed bricks and wooden furniture, and looks none the worse for it.

Dishes on the menu include the namesake starter which comes with roast beetroot salad, spiced pumpkin seeds and ricotta. Don’t miss the early dinner menus, which offer three courses for a great value £19.

Sticky Walnut, 11 Charles St, Chester CH2 3AZ

24 goodtaste

r y,

03 Hen FACTWInale1s,4 the future

Prince of at the ordered th lled Henr y V, pe uld be ex Welsh sho e should ster – non from Che sunrise city before enter the on pain er sunset re is or stay aft ation. The of decapit r e ever of the ord no record eing repealed. b

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

£

£

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

25

Long gone are the days when theatres offered little more than an overpriced ice cream and a warm glass of white wine at the interval. Now theatre bars and restaurants are as creative with their menus as they are with their choice of show

Set the stage for a great night out The Everyman, Liverpool What to eat: The ultimate test of a theatre restaurant is whether you’d eat there even if you weren’t seeing a show. The answer, in the case of The Everyman is, yes: I have, many times, and writing about it makes me want to do it again.

The Everyman is something special. Founded in the 1960s in Hope Hall, it has always had a beautifully bohemian feel and ground-breaking work on and off stage.

Its bistro has always been special too, drawing a crowd of arty, sociable types, as happy to talk about politics as they are about plays, and making the building much more than its theatre space.

These days, as well as the downstairs bistro, there’s a gorgeous street food cafe on the ground floor and bar on the first floor, with perfect peoplewatching spots to watch the world go by.

Open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 11pm, they serve breakfast, lunch, pre-theatre and supper in the street café.

Expect vibrant, lively dishes of roasted cauliflower with maple and tahini dressing with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds (£5), mullet with baked celeriac and a buttered shrimp and lemon sauce (£13) or a chocolate fondant with black cherries and ice cream so good that it will have you fighting your dining

26 goodtaste

companions for the last spoonful. Service is fast and friendly, and the flavours so dazzling they’ll last you right through to the curtain call – after which, you will doubtless come back for more.

They even have their own gin, and use it in one of the puddings – the delightful Everyman Gin, poppy seed and lemon parfait with homemade shortbread (£5). There’s a great range of local beers too.

Don’t miss the pre-theatre set menu, which is great value for money, with two courses for £14 or three courses for £18.50, and the pie, pint and a play offer on Thursdays. You can reserve and pay for your pre-theatre meal in advance when you book tickets online.

What to watch: The Everyman’s Rock ‘n’ Roll panto is always a must-see. Forget the reality star-laden traditional pantomimes that abound, this one is genuinely funny, well acted and a real highlight of the festive season.

This time The Little Mermaid has had the Everyman treatment, and regular writers Sarah A Nixon and Mark Chatterton have adapted the well-known ‘tail’ that never flounders. Unlike most other pantos, the multi-talented cast sing, dance, entertain and play music live.

Break out the glitter and wave your flashing wand as the legendary rock ‘n’ roll panto brings Christmas to the Everyman once more.

The show runs from Saturday 25 Nov to Sat 20 Jan 2018, with a live band, plenty of laughs and more than a few surprises.

The Everyman Theatre, Hope St, Liverpool L1 9BH, everymanplayhouse.com, 0151 709 4776

Storyhouse, Chester What to eat: Storyhouse is a new public space in the heart of Chester – a theatre, library and cinema, home to a yearround programme of theatre and film, along with a host of activities.

The restaurant is something special. The Kitchen at Storyhouse offers daytime and pre-theatre dining seven days a week – with fresh, colourful, modern cuisine, inspired by the flavours of the Levant, made freshly every day.

Don’t miss the creamy roast aubergine with pine nuts, tahini and zhoug (£6.50), sizzling sea bream with spiced almonds (£8) or Fattoush salad, with its sumac-tinged tender gem lettuce with radish, cucumber, pita and tomatoes. Beautifully presented and packed with flavour, it’s a feast for all the senses, and quick to arrive, too.

The main café bar in The Kitchen serves coffees, teas, wine, beer and spirits. You can take your drinks and food anywhere in the building, including the library, theatre and cinema, although drinks will need to be in a plastic glass to go in the theatre and cinema.

The Kitchen serves locally-roasted coffee and a range of teas, pastries and cakes from 8am-11pm. Grab a coffee and a book and settle down in a comfy chair. Bliss.

The rooftop Garret Bar, part of the Garret Bar and Theatre, is a grown-up bar with panoramic views, open during main theatre events. Perfect for pre-theatre and interval drinks along with serving events happening in the Garret Theatre.

What to watch: Chester’s new £37m arts complex has a great range of things to see and do this winter. Their biggest show is Enid’s Blyton’s The Secret Seven in a new version, set at Christmastime on the Wirral. It runs between December 1 and January 14.

There’s also a series of films including Home Alone, It’s A Wonderful Life, Edward Scissorhands and Gremlins.

And you can bring the little ones to meet Father Christmas, who will be storytelling in The Den, and to enjoy carols and Christmas-themed arts and crafts.

Storyhouse Chester, Hunter St, Chester, CH1 2AR, www.storyhouse.com, 01244 409 113

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

27

Theatre dining

The Royal Court, Liverpool What to eat: Liverpool’s Royal Court has opened its Courtyard Bar & Kitchen, a new drinking and dining space.

It serves food from midday until 10.30pm, offering lunch, dinner or a late bite after a show.

The generous cheese or charcuterie boards are good value, particularly the cheese (£8), with its Cornish yarg, mature Cheddar, avocado, goats cheese, Wiltshire blue, chutney, crackers, celery, walnut and grape salad.

The building is on the site of the old Penny Farthing pub and it has been completely renovated from top to bottom. The top floor dining area is fitted with floor to ceiling glass windows giving expansive views of St George’s Hall, St John’s Gardens and Lime Street.

The downstairs bar has local craft ales on tap and a wide range of international bottled beers. There is a new drinks terrace and garden in the old yard which provides a little oasis of greenery in the centre of town.

The interior design was drawn up by Martin Mark, winner of BBC’s Great Interior Design Challenge, and involved a number of theatre staff including the set building team. Some of the tables were made out of pieces of past stage show sets.

What to watch: Their Christmas show is the big one.

This year it is The Scouse Nativity which runs until January 13. After that it’s Her Benny, from 25 January to 10 February.

The Royal Court, 1 Roe St, Liverpool L1 1HL, www. royalcourtliverpool.co.uk/, 0151 709 4321

28 goodtaste

Hot stuff Chilli fiend Karl Nicholson from Liverpool-based The Scoville Sorcery Company talks about what gets him hot under the collar

At The Scoville Sorcery Company, we produce five different flavours, in a variety of chilli products. The five flavours follow the “Sorcery” theme and are the elements, Fire, Spirit, Water, Earth and Air. Each element has a vastly different array of ingredients, along with different heat levels.

Within these flavours, we offer our hot sauces, beef jerky, sliced nuts, chilli jams, chutneys, spice rubs and salt mills.

How did you get started?

It all started with passion. A general passion for amazing produce. A passion for Scovilles (I’d have my cereal spicy, if it was not frowned upon!). A passion for supporting local independents and a passion for watching people smile as they consume something you have produced.

I did plan on becoming a professional chef, until adulthood.

I then decided that I enjoyed it too much to risk ruining it by working in a busy and stressful kitchen, day in, day out.

The production of our products is currently quite leisurely, therapeutic and enjoyable, which eradicated that issue.

What are you most proud of?

It makes me proud when I see people enjoying our products.

This is one of the reasons we do what we do. I’m also very proud that we use locally-sourced ingredients and support local independents.We use Mattas on Bold Street an awful lot. The guys are great in there.

We use organic where possible; also, no preservatives, additives or synthetic flavourings. All natural fresh ingredients.... this makes me proud. We also grow our own chillies for some varieties.

Who do you supply?

Currently we are not in any shops, unfortunately. As a relatively new business we have devoted the majority of our time to research, feedback and simply making sure everything is right before it hits the market.

We currently only supply our produce online. We are, however, filling our diary with farmers’ markets, and planning on contacting local independents to potentially stock our products.

What’s next?

We plan on four seasonal Limited Edition varieties for 2018. Potential ingredients will be pumpkin for our autumn edition, and various Christmas spices for our winter edition.

Plans for a yearly harvest edition are in the pipeline. This would vary each year, dependent on what chillies have grown best in our poly-tunnels. www.facebook.com/thescovillesorcerycompany

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

29

Christmas dinner

As head chef at Bold Street’s Maray, Liv Alarcon has a busy December. Here she shares her Christmas tips, including a perfect recipe for sprouts that’ll have everyone coming back for seconds For Liv, Christmas is all about family, and spending time with those you love the most.

“On Christmas Eve my dad travels to his friend’s butchery to pick up the turkey or goose – goose is my firm favourite.

“All the trimmings are always on the table but staples have to be parsnips, roast potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and, of course, bread sauce.

“My mother is a culinary genius, in my house the kitchen is still very much her domain when I'm home for Christmas. I just pick up anything I can to help and any kitchen mishaps that require fixing.

“On Boxing Day we always have glazed ham at my grandparents’, I can't remember a Christmas where we haven’t done this.

“At Christmas we always drink Peter Lehman's Masters Black Queen sparkling Shiraz. It's not your average everyday wine so we save this for special occasions. After dinner drinks are always Brandy Alexanders.”

After a busy time in the restaurant, Liv enjoys a break at Christmas but she does have one or two quick and easy dishes up her sleeve: “My favourite festive recipes come from my very first job in Liverpool – sprouts, manchego cheese, Marcona almonds and honey and caramelised almonds – great stocking fillers and all round table snack pleasers.”

How about New Year? “My perfect New Year's Eve is for our evening service to be very successfully over at Maray, and a huge after party with my closest friends, family and partner. My toast to the New Year will always be with an Aperol spritz, nothing more, nothing less.

“My new year resolutions have always been job related: to work even harder than last year, and with that happiness will follow.”

Liv’s Cep Tahini and pistachio sprouts Ingredients:

Cep Tahini: Tahini sauce, cep powder, water and salt Cherry puree: cherries, fresh or frozen, caster sugar Par-boiled sprouts Crushed pistachios

Method:

To make Cep Tahini, use Tahini that’s already been blitzed with garlic and lemon juice, add the cep powder and water until fully incorporated, taste and adjust seasoning.

For the cherry puree, place a suitable sized pan on the stove and allow the pan to get very hot before adding the cherries and slowly, to taste, the sugar.

Reduce by half and blitz until smooth. Taste again.

If the consistency is too thin, reduce it some more until it has a gel consistency.

30 goodtaste

Fry off your par-boiled sprouts until they have a slight golden colour. Transfer into a bowl and season with salt.

Put two pound coin sized blobs of cherry gel around the plate and add two large circles of cep tahini in between the cherry circles. Sprinkle crushed pistachios on the plate, pile the sprouts on top keeping them central and add another sprinkle of crushed pistachios over the top.

Who said sprouts had to be boring?

Christmas dinner

Panicking about Christmas day’s mega-banquet? Dreading all the shopping and the planning?

Now the recipe box delivery companies are bidding to take the stress out of those early stages by delivering your Christmas dinner in one big box.

Much like the episode of The Good Life when Margot has her Christmas delivered ‘in a van’ – and then returns it because the tree is too short – we took up HelloFresh’s offer of a trial Christmas dinner in a box to see if it’s really as easy as they make out.

From butter-basted roast turkey with pigs in blankets to creamy sprouts with garlic and pancetta, The HelloFresh Christmas Box delivers the all the pre-measured ingredients and a recipe card - everything you need to create the perfect Christmas Turkey meal.

In true Good Life style, we invited our next door neighbours round to try it with us, ordering a box to feed four people, which would normally be £69.99.

Who wouldn’t want to come round for Christmas in October?

The delivery: We were given a delivery day, and then on the day, they sent an email with a one hour window for the box to be dropped off. We waited, the hour passed, no-one knocked or rung the bell. I checked my emails to find a message saying it had been delivered to the porch. We don’t have a porch.

They’d dumped it in the garden and not bothered ringing the bell.

The box: It hadn’t been the best start, but when I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised. Everything was well packed and the meat and dairy items still cold, wrapped up in fleece insulation and ice bags.

They hadn’t skimped on the ingredients, with Lurpak butter and a Gressingham Free Range Bronze Turkey Crown, which would have cost about half the price of the box on its own.

There were tiny pre-measured packets of herbs and spices, with a single star anise for the slow-cooked spiced red cabbage.

The instructions: The recipes were all there, and we liked that it was divided up into tasks to do the night before and on the day itself. It would have been more helpful still to have had

Tried and tested: The HelloFresh Christmas Box the jobs arranged chronologically, rather than dividing each up by recipe, so the turkey instructions were separate to the potatoes and the vegetables, meaning we had to write our own master list of instructions and timings.

The verdict: The food itself was good. The quality was excellent and we liked the recipes – particularly the spiced red cabbage cooked in apple juice and the sprouts in cream.

It could maybe have done with some stuffing, and the basic box we ordered didn’t come with a pudding. The quantities

were mostly about right, although we were left with quite a bit of turkey and had to add in another bag of potatoes.

Overall, it was better than I’d expected. It would be particularly good for people who didn’t usually cook from scratch, and who might not have store cupboard ingredients such as herbs and spices to hand.

While our Christmas is more Tom and Barbara than Margot and Jerry and I’d probably stick to buying the ingredients locally, if you’re strapped for time it’s a decent option.

The HelloFresh Christmas box can be ordered until Sunday December 17 with delivery taking place on Friday December 22. To order your box visit www.hellofresh.co.uk/christmas.

Anton Piotrowski’s tips for top roasties For the best roasties you’ll ever eat pick out the smallest Maris Piper potatoes you can find, boil until the potato is light and fluffy, strain off all excess water and then dip each individual potato in sunflower oil.

In another pan warm up beef dripping till it comes to about 50c, basically until it’s melted, and dip each individual potato in the dripping using a fork.

Place the potatoes on a tray and leave to set in the fridge overnight so on Christmas Day all you need to do is whack them in the oven for 35 minutes at 200c. Season with salt and a tiny bit of caster sugar to finish. Another tip is to use the excess fat that comes off the potatoes for your gravy. About four tablespoons of the fat should do it, and you’ll be left with the richest gravy you’ve ever tasted.

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

31

Christmas Paul’s perfect

Paul Askew, Chef Patron at The Art School Restaurant, shares his tips for the perfect Christmas feast

“Usually Christmas Day starts with a state of exhaustion after the busy Christmas period,” says Paul.

“When I opened the Art School I did promise the family that I’d have Christmas Day and Boxing Day at home.

“We have a very traditional Christmas, I’ll collect a turkey from Wards or Callum Edge, I will always go for the very best free range bird. I do many things traditionally, but I quite like to bone and roll the legs and make a chestnut forced meat stuffing.

“The stuffing I make is usually sought after. I usually have to make a couple of kilos of it and share it round my friends.

Do you have a kitchen cheat?

Something that looks impressive but isn’t too tricky?

“It’s not really a cheat but advanced preparation can save a great deal of time on the day, the great thing about the stuffing is it can be prepared in advance.

“Another thing to do at home is to buy in the pre-made blinis, I think they’re fantastic. Warm them through, top with a little bit of crème fraiche, then smoked mackerel or smoked salmon, a little bit of caviar and finish with a sprig of dill.

Looks amazing, tastes amazing – you haven’t had to make the blinis, you’re just giving everybody something nice and getting to enjoy the fizz!

How about the drinks? What do you like to serve your guests?

“Certainly on arrival, to get the engines started, it has to be a glass of fizz,” says Paul. “I don’t think it’s any secret that my favourite is Charles Heidsieck, the original Champagne Charlie and the house Champagne of the restaurant. The Blanc des Millénaires is absolutely off the

32 goodtaste

scale and if there’s ever an occasion to open that it’s Christmas Day. “During the meal there’s a couple of wines that I love to serve, particularly with turkey.

“Although turkey is a white meat I like to try and get the gamey flavour from the leg and the stuffing. So I tend to go with a Rioja or Malbec, even though they’re associated with red meats the little spices you get from the meat works well. And, of course, the red follows on lovely with the cheese course – which is always a favourite of mine.”

What would you most like in your Christmas stocking this year?

“A little moment of calm and peace and quiet,” he laughs. “It’s been an incredible year, lots of amazing fantastic things have happened but also lots of very difficult things have happened so I think I’ll be looking forward to having a little time out when we close for a week in January to recharge the batteries.”

What’s your perfect New Year’s Eve? “A full restaurant, with guests enjoying lots of fabulous food, drinking plenty of bubbly then at midnight being joined by our Black Watch bagpiper coming in to pipe in the new year.

“I’m really looking forward to this year

as we’ll be able to take guests down to our newly opened cellar for the first time – for a few wee sherbets into the early hours! It’s lovely to have a drink with the staff, as well as the guests and of course have some of my family join in too. I’ve always looked forward to working New Year.”

What would you eat and toast the new year in with?

“I love wild food, so I guess If I was choosing off my current menu to start a little turbot and lobster followed by a nice plate of venison.

“I’m a big fan of the cheeses so I’d have them with a glass of port and who knows may even finish off with a malt to get into the spirit.”

Dry January or party after all that December working?

“Normally my approach is to keep the party going, having worked flat out through December we have our own Christmas party in January, it’s always an occasion to let off steam.

“Funnily enough I did one year do dry January – no booze or bread until Valentine’s Day, so effectively six weeks.

It nearly killed me but I did it. I haven’t made any promises for this year yet so we’ll see.”

“Funnily enough I did one year do dry January... it nearly killed me”

Paul’s stuffing recipe I like to use some minced pork and minced turkey, usually the leg meat because I like the depth of flavour of that. I mix it together with some cooked chestnuts, crumbled in. Add some diced dried apricots, a little garlic and some diced onion, a little grated carrot.

I’ll season with some Maldon sea salt, some cracked black pepper and add a few cranberries.

I make a little patty of it first and cook that off to check the seasoning and adjust to taste. You can serve it separately or, as I like to, bone out the legs and put the stuffing in the leg cavity.

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

33

Tom of Finland

Haig

Casamigos Tequila

Naughty but oh so nice, Tom’s organic vodka is inspired by the Finnish artist and gay icon of the same name. Made in Finland from a blend of the finest organic wheat and rye with no added sugar. £32.50 from Selfridges and Amazon.

Up the style stakes with this stunning Single Grain Scotch Whisky from the House of Haig, created in partnership with Goldenballs himself.

Made with grain whisky from three cask types, it offers sweet notes of butterscotch and toffee for a smooth taste. £45 from major retailers.

Have a white Christmas this year by enjoying a bottle of Casamigos Blanco Tequila. Set up by George Clooney and chums in 2013 it promises to be so smooth who needs salt and lime. £65 from Selfridges and www. harveynichols.com.

Get in the Christmas spirit

Disaronno

Nicholson Gin

Captain Morgan

The world’s favourite Italian liqueur has created a series of limitededition fashion collaboration bottles, this time designed by Missoni. In all major retailers, priced £15.

One of London’s oldest gin brands. Legend has it that the Duke of Wellington and Sarah Bernhardt were fans. £32.57 nicholsongin. com

This old favourite is having something of a resurgence.

Blended with spice and natural flavours and aged in charred white oak barrels to create a unique flavour.

From all major retailers.

34 goodtaste

Festive gifts for foodies

Get your recipes down in style with a personalised notepad or diary. These Leuctturm and Moleskine 2018 diaries and notepads are available in 10 colours which can be personalised. See www.urbancottageindustries. com. From £17.76 inc delivery.

A lovely gift idea for family and friends, the Mclaggan Smith Mugs collection offers china mugs and teapots that can be printed with a name or message of your choosing. From £9.50 for a small teapot. www.msmugs.com

This premium spirits collection is proudly distilled in Liverpool. Handcrafted in a copper still, it’s produced using potato, not grain, which gives the gin a creamy mouthfeel and distinctive taste.

Available from Amazon £14.99

Lily O’Brien’s, the luxury chocolatier, has a gorgeous festive house containing their new Chocolate Connoisseur’s Christmas Collection. It’s £9 from selected Waitrose and Debenhams stores or online at www.lilyobriens.co.uk

Newby Teas is the most awarded international brand in high-end luxury tea. The Crown Assortment contains 36 sachets including Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Masala Chai, Strawberry and Mango. £15 from newbyteas.com

Fudge Kitchen have been hand making fudge to the same secret recipe for 30 years, using traditional methods and a lot of love. It’s made with fresh whipping cream and produced in small, hand decorated batches. Available from www.fudgekitchen.co.uk www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

35

Drink

A walk on the DARKSIDE As Tappers releases its new winter gin, founder Dr Steve Tapril tells Jade Wright exactly how it came about

T

he time was, not that long ago, that gin had fallen out of favour.

Thankfully those days are long gone, and now bars, festivals and many a drinks cupboard are brimming with beautiful bottles, packed with botanicals.

Even given all that, Tappers is something special, a small independent family business producing 40 bottles per batch from the shores in West Kirby.

Each bottle is individually filled, labelled and wax sealed by hand.

It’s a labour of love for Steve Tapril and his team.

“For a good few years before I started making gin I used to spend a lot of my time obsessing over it,” he says. “Ever since I discovered that there was more to gin than a Gordon’s G&T, with so many new products being released with all kinds of unusual botanicals, flavours and back stories, I spent my time tracking down the rare, quirky, weird and wonderful.

“I used to visit gin festivals, armed with notepad and pen to take notes, and had my own gin blog where I shared my opinions and was followed by some respectable industry names. I had a collection of about 60 different gins at one point.

“As I delved deeper, I discovered that many of the gins I thought had been produced in various towns and cities in small batches were, in fact, made to order and produced by some of the big distilleries.

“They are known as contract-distilled gins, and I was pretty devastated to learn about that. As a gin nerd I thought I

36 goodtaste

knew everything there was to know, and as a consumer I thought I was spending my money on provenance.

“I decided to put my hand to making gin myself. I thought ‘well, I’m going to do it properly then and prove a point’.

“I was incredibly naive about what that would involve! Fortunately there have been some extremely supportive people, venues, and other local businesses that have helped us along the way.

“I released Darkside Gin in May 2016 after trialling it on friends, family and some friendly local landlords. It’s a nod to West Kirby, where I grew up and have lived for most of my life, and to Wirral and Liverpool as a whole – from the local seaside botanicals that inspired the flavour, to the name which comes from affectionate Liverpool-Wirral rivalry.

“It took a year to find the right balance of some very unusual botanicals like the foraged sea beet I use – it’s a little like spinach, but grows along the coast.”

E

ach season, Tappers release a new batch of gin. Autumn’s was Darkside, a herbal gin.

“Most gins are citrusled, like Gordon’s,” adds Steve. “After releasing Darkside, testing the water with it, and finding it was doing very well, I decided to look at releasing something else - something seasonal, still very British but not specifically local.

“For winter, an aromatic gin fit the bill with spruce needles, birch bark, cassia and

meadowsweet - a real smell of winter and a taste of Christmas in a bottle. That was when I thought about releasing a gin for every season.

“For spring I had to go with floral so I used foraged gorse flowers from Caldy Hill, cowslip flowers, chamomile, elderflower, orange blossom.

Summer had to be citrus - lots of lemon with lemon peel, lemon verbena, lemon balm and grapefruit peel for a nice long G&T. “The autumn release is probably my favourite though. It was the hardest to finalise, especially since it was the last seasonal gin to release and I wanted it to be special to finish off the range. I made a lightly spiced gin with elderberries, rosehips, bilberries, fennel seeds

Drink

and ground ivy. I love the colour the usual amber hue (from infusing juniper) has turned rust coloured from the bilberries. A perfect match for the season. Darkside took so long partly because it was about developing a formula by which I group botanicals by intensity and type of flavour and in relation to juniper.

“Everything is based on juniper.

Juniper is what defines gin as being gin, after all, and I use a lot of juniper in my gin since the method I use (to compound, and not to distil) is very old-

fashioned and I wanted to produce an old fashioned gin.

“Compound gin retains all of the flavour of the botanicals since nothing is distilled away.

“It means I have to be incredibly careful and precise about the quality of ingredients I use. It’s why my gin is distinctive in colour and flavour and also why many of them can be taken neat like a “sipping gin” which is quite rare for gin.

Everything is entirely natural, nothing is stripped away as it is with distillation.

“Once I had the formula down for Darkside, the other gins have been easier to develop.

I

spend a lot of time researching botanicals and how they’ll taste and then a lot of time testing how they combine with one another.

Sometimes I’m lucky and they come together quickly, and other times they don’t play ball and it takes me a while to realise which one is the culprit so that I can make changes.

“In terms of producing a batch (of just 40 bottles):

it takes about a week in total to infuse all the ingredients, over different stages and for different times, and to then bottle, wax seal and label them all by hand.”

This season’s gin is the aptly named Wintergreen.

“Herbal gins like Darkside aren’t particularly common but aromatic ones like Wintergreen are even more rare, so I was taking another gamble that it might not be popular but I’ve never made a gin for that reason,” explains Steve. “I make them more for myself to be honest; to know I’ve created something and that it’s different and unique, and then if people like them that’s just a bonus. I was also worried it might dent the popularity of Darkside.

“As it turned out, I had a lot of people who weren’t big fans of Darkside suddenly drinking Tappers because they liked Wintergreen.

“I love the way, with all of the seasonal gins, people tell me they have a favourite and they’re excited for when it makes another appearance.

“Wintergreen has a huge following of all of the seasonal gins. The aroma is what it’s all about: the smell of a pine forest in a bottle. It’s got a crisp, sharp taste as well, perfect for the time of year.

It also makes a mean mulled gin.”

The Tappers Christmas party must be something to witness – what’s on the drinks menu?

“Biased me would say mulled gin with Wintergreen or a gin hot toddy with Darkside, both of which are really warming and perfectly seasonal,” says Steve.

“If I were to cater to other tastes, though, since it’s not all gin, gin, gin, I’d offer up mulled wine and, of course, some bubbly.

“There’s some incredibly impressive English sparkling wines out there that I’d encourage people to look into instead of just relying on good old Prosecco.” www.tappersgin.com @tappersgin www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

37

Drink

A trip to Malawi led the IT director of Liverpool’s School of Tropical Medicine to set up his own distillery

By Janet Tansley

Gin is Eric’s perfect tonic G

one are the days when, offered a gin and tonic, the only real choice you had to make was whether you had it with a slice of lemon or, being really bold, went for lime!

Now there’s a plethora of gins and gin liqueurs and one of the names shaking and stirring this growing industry is Wirral Gin. Wirral Gin has just celebrated its second anniversary, having begun in October 2015. Thanks to traditional copper pot stills – the favourite a small one named Thumbelina! – and the passion of its founders Eric Healing and wife Tracey, it’s capitalising on a rapidly expanding market with, already, a few changes and plans of its own.

Eric, 48, who combines his role as still master with his job as Director of IT at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, says: “I was always the kind of kid who, at 10-years-old, would be out in the garden with my chemistry set picking rose petals and making perfume for my

38 goodtaste

mum. Take that process, add alcohol – and it’s a great starting point for making gin!

“I started Wirral Gin (company name Ginhouse Beverages) after spending time in Malawi, which is one of the great producers of gin, with the School of Tropical Medicine. Malawi Gin is exceptional.”

He and Tracey initially created two gins using the vapour extraction method, one a tangerine-based product and the other infused with juniper and Bog Myrtle, a small flowering shrub found in bogs and marshes.

“I was convinced that the tangerine gin was better but Tracey was convinced by the Bog Myrtle one. Needless to say that when we took them around Wirral on blind tasting sessions, the Bog Myrtle won by a mile and that became Wirral Gin.” They added Pink Dog Gin, a roseinfused gin named after their pet Vizsla, called Pink, and those are the

two brands they continue to focus on.

However, Wirral Gin has just joined forces with fellow local gin giant, The Hand Made Gin Company, pioneered

by Peter Golightly, with whom they now make up Epic Spirits and which will continue to hand produce specialist gins for hotels, bars and companies, including the likes of Thornton Hall, The Red Fox in Thornton Hough, Pollards Inn in Willaston and, most recently, the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool.

Thanks to a new distillery in Dibbinsdale, Wirral, they now produce between 200 to 300 bottles of gin every day, and they have opened a shop and started weekend distillery tours.

Adds Eric: “Peter and I joined forces because we have known each other a long time, have a similar background and a shared passion.

“We have got new premises, new opportunities with plans for more gin liqueurs and, even, new vodka…it’s really exciting.”

Drink

Jane Clare’s tipple tips

Sherry isn’t just for Great Auntie Betty I love lots of things about Christmas but mainly the food. Oh, and the wine. I like wine a lot too but I guess that’s why I’m here. I’m always excited about wine options for cheese, desserts and puddings and I do my best to sneak some into my life in July, let alone at Christmas. Here’s some of my favourites: Tawny port: A tawny port is amazing with chocolate desserts and is a shoo-in with Christmas pudding.

Tawny has been aged in oak and is rich and warm with notes of fig tumbled in butterscotch with a seam of dried fruits. Pop the tawny in the fridge as you first sit down to dinner and it will be the perfect temperature by cheese and pudding time.

One of my favourites is Taylors 10-year-old Tawny Port. Look to pay around £22 for a 75cl bottle for a decent tawny, but you can pay much more.

Sherry: Sherry isn’t just for Great Auntie Betty while she’s watching the Queen.

It’s a magnificent pairing for a platter of cheese, walnuts and dried fruits.

Find a creamy sweet oloroso, enjoy its aromas of raisins, dates and spices and heaven will be right there in front of you.

If someone wants ice cream with their Christmas pud, pour a dribble of luscious PX sherry over the top. Oh my.

I tasted the amazing Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Oloroso Dulce in a tapas tasting with Sherry Wines UK. You can find it at Whitmore and White (around £22).

Ice wine: These wines are made from grapes which have frozen on the vines and when picked, the concentrated sweet, essence of the grape juice is squeezed out, leaving the ice behind. In ice wine you’ll find sweet, rich notes of apricot, orange peel, mango and honey. A glass is fab with blue cheese, lots of it.

The last couple of years Lidl has sold a lovely ice wine for under £15.

Most local independents will have a selection.

Madeira: I love, love, love the stories behind wine. Madeira is a fortified wine and is aged under heat. Go with me on this.

Centuries ago it was discovered that wines were “cooked” when shipped across the heat of the equator and were much better for it, not just in flavour but in robustness.

What does this have to do with Christmas? Flavour my friends, flavour. Madeira is created in different styles, from different grapes, but the underlying notes of nuts, raisin and caramel are perfect for your Christmas pudding and hard cheeses.

Blandy's is a good name to look out for, or alternatively a 50cl bottle of Barbeito Boal Reserva 5yrs is about £15.50 from Corks wine merchants.

Love your independent wine merchants, love each other and have a great festive time. X Jane Clare is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and plans wine tastings in Merseyside.

Find Jane online as One Foot in the Grapes or phone 0779 512 1003 www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

39

Drink

Winter warmers Let McCooley’s wow you with oodles of festive cocktail merriment this year…

The popular Irish bar, which has now opened its second site on Mathew Street is offering a trio of winter cocktails, all priced at £5.25.

The Irish Love Story, right, is slightly spiced with cinnamon and orange.

It’ll leave you feeling warm and full of Christmas cheer. It comes garnished with a candy cane.

The Chocolate Snowflake, left, has put its maker on the naughty list. It’s intensely indulgent and dreamy… but who diets over Christmas anyhow?!

Finally, the Nollaig Bellini is decadently delicious, sparkling with flakes of gold and pomegranate seeds.

Perfect for your new year night out.

The perfect gift this holiday season, Il Gusto festive Christmas liqueurs are decanted into a stylish glass bottle with the customer’s choice of both size and shape and inscribed with a complementary personal message. They are then filled with a rainbow selection of flavoured vodkas, gins and other classic spirits for a perfectly tailored gift.

Established by Richard Mosconi over 15 years ago, Il Gusto now has 13 shops in the UK , and two in Italy, including concessions in Harrods and Selfridges. With products from leading Mediterranean and worldwide producers, there are over 70 different designs of bottle in a variety of sizes.

Prices start from £14 at www.ilgusto.uk.com

Cocktails with the appliance of science Liverpool independent bar and restaurant group Graffiti Spirits is concocting a pioneering new menu with molecular cocktail expert Stuart Bale, taking inspiration from Heston Blumenthal's scientific style, for city speakeasy cocktail bar 81 Ltd. Graffiti Spirits Group cofounder John Ennis, right, is the group's designated drinks man with a passion for rare spirits and in-depth knowledge of drinks.

He and Nick Thomas, Director of Salt Dog Slims

40 goodtaste

and Slims Pork Chop Express, have recently spent time in London working alongside bartender extraordinaire Stuart Bale.

Having known Stuart since his time at 69 Colebrooke Row, the Graffiti Spirits Group team were intrigued to learn of Stuart's quest to open a molecular mixology drinks lab.

With the forthcoming menu set to launch in the New Year, Stuart, John and Nick are finding exciting ways to use modern techniques to offer the

guests of 81 Ltd a new and unique drinking experience never seen before in bars.

Featuring sweets that taste like drinks, clear drinks that taste of the unexpected, and bespoke concoctions such as their very own pineapple rum and a new type of lime juice, 81 Ltd customers should prepare to have their tastebuds simultaneously confused and delighted by this thrilling and innovative scientific take on food and drink.

Watch this space…

Drink

Grown in Amalfi and distilled in England, Pococello provides a zesty, citrus zing to keep you refreshed throughout the winter.

With their vivid yellow, perfumed skins, Signor Aceto’s lemons are packed with the essential oils that make Pococello ideal for serving up as a cocktail or refreshing short during Christmas celebrations.

Available to order online at Harvey Nichols, or 31 Dover, retailing from £24.95 per 500ml bottle.

Hope Street is home to a new cocktail bar in the shape of the dramatic Masonic Bar. Owner and creator, Tom BirchMantova and his wife Rachel, have transformed the Masonic Lodge’s former 1851 entrance lobby into an opulent lounge with, at its centrepiece, a bespoke dark walnut and copper topped bar. Rachel says: “We’ve created a superb team of staff to look after our customers, recruiting staff locally along with Oliver Power who is relocating from Cheltenham and George Sanders from The Alchemist in Chester.”

They’ll soon be creating a further bar space downstairs which will become a high-end bottle bar.

Masonic Bar, 22 Hope St, Liverpool, L1 9BY Co-Op and Majestic are now selling Bosman ADAMA wines.

This luxury wine will make an extra special addition to your Christmas celebrations, whether with a sumptuous festive lunch or while relaxing around a fire on a winter’s evening.

The South African Fairtrade winery is situated in the shadow of the Limiet Mountains in the Western Cape and has been in the Bosman family for eight generations.

The aim at their family home is to make wines of exceptional quality often using unusual blends.

Available from the Co-Op at £9.99 www.wine.coop.co.uk/bosmanadama-fairtrade-white

When it comes to the big celebrations, cider often gets left out in the cold.

Now, thanks to fourth generation cider maker Jean-Pierre Stassen, it’s firmly back on festive tables.

He says: “Beautifully presented in 750ml Champagne-style bottles, complete with cork, our cider is made for sharing.

It fits effortlessly into sociable occasions. It’s a pleasure to drink – it’s long, full of flavour and refreshing.

“Cidrerie Stassen brings people together over their love of good food, good drink and good times.”

Stassen is rooted in heritage and 120 years’ worth of history. It was founded by Léon Stassen in 1895 and handed down through four generations of the Stassen family.

After World War II, there was a lack of Champagne, so Léon decided to make his sparkling cider to offer an alternative, using a strain of champagne yeast which is still used in the Grand Cru to this day.

Stassen ciders are available from the cider aisle at Sainsbury’s and selected bars and pubs across for around £8£9 per bottle.

Looking for an alternative to the traditional whisky gift at Christmas?

Appleton Estate is Jamaica’s oldest distillery and has been crafting rum for over 265 years.

Appleton’s Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old Rum joins the range of award-winning premium aged rums, all produced from ‘cane to cocktail’ on the Appleton Estate in the lush Nassau Valley in Jamaica.

This special rum is made from rare, golden rums, all aged for a minimum of 12 years. The long years of tropical ageing give it its rich mahogany hue, confident woody character, and smooth robust taste – all of which make a bold statement of quality.

Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old Rum is £38 from Waitrose and Tesco.

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

41

2017

XMAS AND NEW YEAR

NOW TAKING XMAS BOOKINGS

PACKAGES AVAILABLE FOR GROUPS OF ALL SIZES Whether you want a traditional Christmas meal, after-work drinks and canapes or a hog roast with our famous Oompah Band, we can make your Christmas Party one to remember.

Book at either Bierkeller, Shooters or Around The World and you won’t be disappointed.

0845 533 3000

6 THOMAS STEERS WAY, LIVERPOOL L1 8LW

INFO@THEBIERKELLER.COM

WWW.THEBIERKELLER.COM

42 goodtaste XmasBooking_LIV.indd 1

10/11/2017 11:40

VAMP IT UP give your new year’s eve party some speakeasy style with tips from jen perry of room forty

S

R

11:40

The 1920s provides a fabulous theme for a fantastically glamorous party that everyone remembers.

Set the scene To create the intimate setting of a salubrious speakeasy, cover furniture and 21st century items in dark velvet, faux fur and luxurious fabrics. Subdue the lighting using small table lamps and (fake) candles in old liquor bottles.

Gather small tables to sit around and silently play black and white movies.

If your party is at home fill your bath with ice and store your drinks in it – instant ‘bathtub gin’.

Hide cocktail menus inside old books and serve all your drinks in crystal glasses and tea cups. Silver and glass platters should be used for canapes, and dress bartenders in uniform.

Plan the arrival The entrance to your venue needs to be subtle. Use a side entrance or a flag to show where the party is.

A gruff bouncer on the door adds authenticity but the most important part of arrival is a secret code to gain entry.

Real speakeasy customers would arrive with a book so if the authorities turned up they could pretend it was a book club with their tea cups! Don’t forget to add any secret entry codes to the invitations – which should be black and white art deco type if possible – and instructions for the dress code.

Food and drinks Most of today’s cocktails were invented in the 1920s, mixed to hide the awful taste of bathtub gin and moonshine, so anything goes.

The important thing is to serve them in secret – you could be raided at any time. Canapes are the perfect party food for an evening speakeasy, as most people will have had dinner before they come. Bagels for later will soak up the moonshine!

Music Fill your playlist with authentic Twenties sounds like Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke.

If you have the budget, the sound of a live trad jazz band will add a wonderful energy to your evening. A pianist, with a sultry singer, is also rather swanky.

Dress to impress Think glamorous beauty, sequins and tassels, heavy make-up, feather boas and pearls to complete the Jazz Age flapper look. Every moll needs a gangster, so men grab a violin case and think Jay Gatsby in tuxedos and spats, or baggy trousers and braces.

Dancing Why, the Charleston, of course darling!

The foxtrot, samba and tango were also popular in the period so why not try some Strictly moves – just mind the furniture!

For tea cups, props, canapes and waitressing for your speakeasy party contact Room Forty Afternoon Teas on 01925 357940 www.roomforty.co.uk hello@roomforty.co.uk www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

43

Social

OUT to LAUNCH

Wreckfish finally opened its doors with a launch party offering fabulous food and fizz – as you’d expect from awardwinning restaurateur Gary Usher. The £200k Kickstarterfunded, 100-cover restaurant opened in the Ropewalks area of Liverpool city centre, with high profile support from the likes of Tom Kerridge, Simon Rimmer and several other Michelin-star chefs. Gary and the team’s campaign reached the £200k goal with just 45 hours of the deadline to go.

44 goodtaste

The winners of the Liverpool Food and Drink Festival Awards were announced at Alma de Cuba. Hosted by Simon ʻRossie’ Ross, Breakfast Show presenter on RadioCity2 105.9 FM, the evening saw the city’s top talent celebrate together at the annual awards ceremony.

The Favourite Place to Eat Out award was presented

by Good Taste Editor Jade Wright, left, to Amalia Italian restaurant, Liverpool.

Social

Hilton Hotel, Liverpool One, hosted its eighth annual Star Ball to support children’s charity Variety and the DM Thomas Foundation for young people, raising more than £40,000. Celebrity guests included boxer Paul Smith, Everton legends Ian Snodin and Kevin Ratcliffe, and Liverpool hero John Aldridge

The Art School restaurant hosted a ʻMaverick Encounter’ with award winning Champagne house, Charles Heidsieck. The Maverick Encounters aim to celebrate modern-day mavericks, individuals who push boundaries, go against the grain and thrive in the face of adversity – all characteristics that mirror the House’s legendary enterprising founder, Charles Camille-Heidsieck, the original Champagne Charlie.

Diners had the chance to see up close the culinary skills of chef patron Paul Askew, while sampling ʻoriginal and impossible’ pairings with Champagne. www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

45

NORTHERN

BITES Bar owner, restaurateur and co-founder of the Graffiti Spirits Group Matt Farrell enjoys a taste of the world’s northernmost capital city, Reykjavik

W

ith a thriving nightlife and café culture, Reykjavik is seeing a surge in tourism. Coupled with Iceland’s breathtaking scenery and immense scope for outdoor adventure it makes for an exciting unique escape.

Once not so accessible, the food scene now is fast becoming acknowledged as a strong part of a new Nordic kitchen revolution.

Talented home-grown chefs are creating thoughtful dishes in exciting venues.

The economic crash forced Icelanders to look at their internal food resources, allowing fresh and intriguing ideas from a vast array of local produce on their own doorstep.

Nestled behind Reykjavik’s main street Grillmarkaðurinn (2a, Lækjargata) is owned by two of Iceland’s most innovative chefs, Hrefna Rosa Saetren and Gudlaugur Frimannsson. They also own Fiskmarkaðurinn (Aðalstræti 12), a specialised fish restaurant located nearer the harbour.

This two-floored grill restaurant is designed around the elements of rock and water and includes an open kitchen.

46 goodtaste

Sample the best local produce Reykjavik offers, matched with thoughtful and wellbalanced dishes.

Puffin, Minke whale steak and charcoal grilled reindeer can be tried on the menu, all a first for me, but by no means the last.

Located at the top of the new marina is eatery Matur og Drykkur.

(Grandagarður 2) simply translated as ‘Food and Drink’, it serves small plates in a cosy, relaxed atmosphere and is one of the city’s most popular local lunch hang-outs.

On recommendation from the latter’s chef we visited The Food Cellar (Aðalstræti 2) a basement eatery situated in the heart of downtown Reykjavik.

Pianists, unmissable roasted pork belly, cosy low beamed ceilings and a warm seasonal menu made this perfect for a chilled Sunday evening.

If you’re looking for food on the go, then close by is the famous hotdog stand Baejarins Beztu Pylsur (Tryggvatagata 1), frequented by many a celebrity over the years. It claims to offer the best hot dogs in town. Try ‘The Clinton’, a classic with mustard, aptly named after Bill Clinton’s personal favourite. turn to page 48

Travel

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

47

Where to drink Downtown Reykjavik gets wild at the weekend, which is no surprise for a country which only legalised beer around 25 years ago.

Cocktail culture is slowly becoming part of Reykjavik’s night scene. The new kid on the block, Pablos Discobar (Veltusund 1), is one of the best named bars around. Head to the top floor for a lively loft-style cocktail bar. It’s a young party atmosphere and there’s a healthy mix of locals and tourists.

Apotek Hotel Bar (Austurstræti 16) is another lively table service cocktail bar, adjoined to a trendy hotel and Argentinian restaurant, where award-winning ‘pharmacists’ mix together an array of exciting cocktails, from painkillers, stimulants and even placebos. If mezcal is your poison, then try the Smokey Pomegranade.

Finally, end the night at Jacobsen Loftið (Austurstræti 9), recommended by the bartenders and locals a like. Enjoy the brennivín schnapps until 4am and see the sun come up although you could be drinking for some time, particularly in the winter.

Looking to unwind? Then head over to the slower paced Slipbarrin (Mýrargata 2) located in the stylish Icelandair Hotel (Mýrargata 2) on the old harbour. Bartenders are attentive and knowledgeable and with an array of in-house infused spirits, grab a stool around its island bar and work through the menu.

Above: Christmas in Reykjavik. Below: Icelandic cod

What to do Aim to use Reykjavik as a base and search the island. Iceland is a photographer’s utopia and it’s all about the outdoors, trekking, sledding, bathing in the hot springs and spotting the famous Northern Lights. Only expect a few hours of daylight in the winter months so plan your activities well.

Feeling confident? Then rent yourself a car from the airport - this will keep your trip spontaneous, ready for that next adventure - and will save the hefty taxi fare from the airport. Most cars are equipped with snow tyres and prepared for the elements ahead.

Geysir and Gullfoss Falls are on the Golden Circle Tour, which lasts around eight hours.

Along the way there is also a secret lagoon and a family tomato farm called Fridheimar (Reykholt) - sample the tomato soup while sitting in the very greenhouses that produce it.

If you have longer than a few days head down to the Iceland’s south coast for some breathtaking waterfalls and black beaches.

If you’re searching for the Northern Lights then download the aurora forecast app and prepare to be patient. Try Seltjarnarness area for one of the key sighting spots near the city or find the darkest spot possible away from any artificial light.

Where to stay Eyja Guldsmelden Hotel (Brautarholt 10) is a new eco hotel from the popular Danish hotel group. A cool boho hangout located in an up and coming neighbourhood just up from the main shopping street (Laugavegur) and far enough away from the downtown noise.

A first-class organic breakfast, warm reception area and decadent four poster beds come as standard. Staff are extremely accommodating for any tours or local guidance.

Reykjavik Roasters (Brautarholt 2) is also located on the corner of the same street and is arguably the best coffee in town, after all the above you will probably need one!

48 goodtaste

Words by Matt Farrell, bar owner and restauranteur, co-founder of Graffiti Spirits Group graffitispiritsgroup.com Follow Instagram: @fazmangoes

Travel

Iceland Quick Facts Country size 103,000 sq km (40,000 sq miles) Bigger than Hungary and Portugal and a little bit smaller than Cuba.

Despite the name, ice only covers 10% of the land Capital Reykjavik Population (2016) 332,000 Median age 36.3 Currency Icelandic Krona ISK

www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

49

Were you a Dirty Stop Out?

The Dirty Stop Outs Guide to 1970s Liverpool is a reminder of those brilliant nights, and the people who made them what they were. It’s available priced £13.95 from bookshops and online at www.acmretro. com/dirty-stop-outs-guide-to-1970s-liverpool

50 goodtaste

Merseyside’s bar, restaurant and club scene of the 70s is to be celebrated in a new book.

The Dirty Stop Outs Guide to 1970s Liverpool is an affectionate look back at the era defined by glam rock, industrial action and the rise of punk, told by the people who were there.

From the a la carte menus at the revolving restaurant on the top of St John’s Beacon – now the Radio City tower – to chicken in a basket in the Coconut Grove and Allinson’s, the book looks back at the food the city loved.

That’s not forgetting the legendary bars, from the demolition of The Cavern to the opening, and later dramatic closure, of Eric’s. The story of the decade is told through its food, drink and great nights out.

Author Jade Wright has collected memories, pictures and mementoes from people across Merseyside for the book. She says: “It has been amazing to see how much the city has changed since those days. It seems like a different world.

“These were the days of Liverpool Stadium, The She Club and grabbing a granny at The Grafton, when cabaret was king and wrestling drew huge crowds. Big bands played small venues, girls danced around handbags and the brave ones drank Pernod and blackcurrant – and lived to tell the tale.

“You could see David Bowie at the Top Rank Suite for 50p, when clubs like The Babalou, The Beachcomber, The Timepiece and Ugly’s drew big crowds, while The Shakespeare, The Mardi Gras, The Royal Tiger Club, The She and The Victoriana were all massively popular.

“The newly built St John’s had The Top Rank Suite, Bailey’s, Romeo and Juliet’s, Studio 54 and then Rotters, plus The Moonstone and The Penny Farthing.

“I loved hearing about the revolving restaurant where the Radio City Tower is now, and people’s brilliant memories of going there for dinner. Looking at the prices it must have been a real special occasion place, and the stories about people sitting down at the wrong tables after going to the toilet – they didn’t account for the restaurant having moved – are fabulous.”

As well as the city centre, there are sections dedicated to the booming scenes in North Liverpool, Wirral and along the Sefton coast too.

“Over the water the club scene was massive in New Brighton, Birkenhead and Wallasey, with venues springing up in grand old hotels, houses and cinemas,” says Jade. “These were the days of lidos and bathing beauty contests, and while many were embracing mass market foreign package tour holidays for the first time, the long hot summer of 1976 saw the Wirral and Southport coasts filled with sunbathers, desperate to escape the heat of the city.

“There are great stories of days and nights out by the seaside – a real peek into another world.

“Southport still had its sea water bathing lake, and couples on days out could steal a kiss on the River Caves boat ride at Pleasureland or trip the light fantastic at Tiffany’s in Ainsdale and show off their moves at the Dixieland.”

the kitchen

With the crossroads of the Eastern Mediterranean as our culinary starting point, we have collected recipes and ingredients from Greece to Turkey, Libya to Lebanon and returned to the kitchen to cook up wonderment.

The Kitchen is situated in Storyhouse – Chester’s new theatre, cinema and library. Take a seat at one of our sharing tables and discover the modern flavours of the Levant.

Hunter Street, Chester, book at thekitchenstoryhouse.co.uk www.goodtastemagazines.co.uk

51

52 goodtaste