An off the cuff decision took us to Halligans last week, ahead of the Royal Wedding. The unit was previously called Bamboo and the chef still has connections with the previous venue.
The restaurant is laid out over two floors, although the upstairs is only used when really busy, and the night we went it was comfortable, so we were seated near the window downstairs, affording me a view for a change, as the Oxton society passed by the window going hither and thither.
We got stuck into a bottle of Chardonnay and then the meal itself. I had scallops to start , accompanied with asparagus and crisped palma ham, SWMBO had the chicken liver pate. This comes in its own preserves type pot with door stop toasted bread slices. All was very tasty.
For the main course I selected the roast belly pork, and the other half had a a very good braised daube of beef. Both were served with a selection of vegetables and potatoes. The veg included red cabbage, a choice which only seems to be available in restaurants....who does eat red cabbage at home?
All in all it was very pleasant, and the fixed price menu at £12.50 is very reasonable ( scallops were extra though). The staff are always very friendly, so the only criticism was the speed of service. No it was not slow, quite the opposite. We booked for 8pm, nobody arrived after us, and we were almost last out of the door at 9;15ish. It was our fault for not asking for a break between courses, something we always try to do, but it still felt a bit like they wanted to be done so they could shut early. So remember to ask for that breathing space when you go.
Lucky we did not have cheese really.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Fraiche
Last Saturday we went to worship at the alter which is the food heaven of Marc 'Pierre' Wilkinson. The restaurant is tucked into a small parade of shops in Oxton, with a chip shop one side and a double unit tapas bar , the Courtyard, next door.
I don't think I have ever been to a one star Michelin restaurant before, although I may have been in Rome or Paris without realising it, so I was intrigued to see what makes a restaurant that special.
The venue limits covers to ten, so as well as our party of four there were two couples in. One were being treated as a wedding present, the others were 'regulars' as they continued to point out to anybody who would listen. More about them later.
We were served all night by two delightful waitresses who explained the construction of each course in precise detail. And what a menu we had. We started with roasted almonds, were treated to a leaf of watercress with champagne oyster sauce. Then followed carrot soup with a mint froth, celeriac with fois grois and a hens egg. and a selection of breads. The main was Gressington duck followed by the cheese board and finally roasted pineapple. It was all extremely yummy, and lived up to the £55 price tag, and the one star rating.
We accompanied the meal with a bottle of Mud House Sauvignon Blanc which was great and a bottle of Chateau Musar Gaston Hochar 2000 from Lebanon. It was here that the first crack in the operation showed itself. The bottle we were offered was corked, although only just. The waitress had to take advise from the chef before it was changed. That should not have happened, and what would have developed if he had disagreed? We were then offered a 1999 vintage as the second bottle with no explanation why, and finally, I got all the sediment in the final glass, after which the waitress said, ah, I think I should have decanted this wine!! Yes, love, you should have .
We did not let a dodgy bottle of red spoil the evening and we all agreed we would go back if the right occasion presented itself.
What happened next, however, would have cost the chef his star if it was anything to do with me. Previously mentioned self important couple indicated to the waitress that as they were regulars they would like to say hello to Marc. Out he came to talk to them about how he chats to other top chefs around Europe as he strives for a second star in a such a small premises. What he did not do is acknowledge the table of four punters who were right behind him. How difficult is it to say 'hello, was everything to your liking' as he passed?
Now he may think that being in the Gordon Ramsay school of rude, arrogant chefs is the way to get on, but it did him no favours on Saturday.
I don't think I have ever been to a one star Michelin restaurant before, although I may have been in Rome or Paris without realising it, so I was intrigued to see what makes a restaurant that special.
The venue limits covers to ten, so as well as our party of four there were two couples in. One were being treated as a wedding present, the others were 'regulars' as they continued to point out to anybody who would listen. More about them later.
We were served all night by two delightful waitresses who explained the construction of each course in precise detail. And what a menu we had. We started with roasted almonds, were treated to a leaf of watercress with champagne oyster sauce. Then followed carrot soup with a mint froth, celeriac with fois grois and a hens egg. and a selection of breads. The main was Gressington duck followed by the cheese board and finally roasted pineapple. It was all extremely yummy, and lived up to the £55 price tag, and the one star rating.
We accompanied the meal with a bottle of Mud House Sauvignon Blanc which was great and a bottle of Chateau Musar Gaston Hochar 2000 from Lebanon. It was here that the first crack in the operation showed itself. The bottle we were offered was corked, although only just. The waitress had to take advise from the chef before it was changed. That should not have happened, and what would have developed if he had disagreed? We were then offered a 1999 vintage as the second bottle with no explanation why, and finally, I got all the sediment in the final glass, after which the waitress said, ah, I think I should have decanted this wine!! Yes, love, you should have .
We did not let a dodgy bottle of red spoil the evening and we all agreed we would go back if the right occasion presented itself.
What happened next, however, would have cost the chef his star if it was anything to do with me. Previously mentioned self important couple indicated to the waitress that as they were regulars they would like to say hello to Marc. Out he came to talk to them about how he chats to other top chefs around Europe as he strives for a second star in a such a small premises. What he did not do is acknowledge the table of four punters who were right behind him. How difficult is it to say 'hello, was everything to your liking' as he passed?
Now he may think that being in the Gordon Ramsay school of rude, arrogant chefs is the way to get on, but it did him no favours on Saturday.
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Da Piero
Well we don't get out much do we, first restaurant review for ages.......
Friday saw us visit this Italian restaurant in the heart of Irby, along with some work colleague and a couple of friends. The restaurant is well thought of locally, and has two knives and forks in the 2011 Michelin guide.
It has about twenty covers, making it cosy, and the decor is a bit '50s. There is also talk of them taking over the unit next door and expanding so it will be interesting to see how that changes the look and feel of the place.
Now onto the food. The four of us on our table had a wide choice of dishes. I had crayfish tails to start, the others had Pepata di cozza, a clam based dish, then we had seabass, an ossobuco and meatballs. The ossbuco is a traditional Sicillian dish and looked excellent. The mains all came with puy lentils, chopped saute potatoes and mixed veg. I sometimes find seabass a bit bland but this just about stood the flavour test, I suspect it was farmed though. That said, we all agreed it as very pleasant and it negated the need for a pud!!
The wine was provided in the price of our deal, and was fine, although I would not know what it was....
So all in all a good forage into the unknown and a venue we will return to. Ambiance is all important in Italian restaurants and the small floor area might stifle that if too many food trendies were booked in.
Dawn and her staff were very attentive and were good enough to e-mail us in the week to thank us for our service. Maybe the other Michelin restaurant on the Wirral could learn a bit from Da Piero
A brief word too for the pub over the road, the Shippons, where the guv'nor was very welcoming and resigned to his punters regularly going over the road, when he served food himself. We might try that one day ..
Friday saw us visit this Italian restaurant in the heart of Irby, along with some work colleague and a couple of friends. The restaurant is well thought of locally, and has two knives and forks in the 2011 Michelin guide.
It has about twenty covers, making it cosy, and the decor is a bit '50s. There is also talk of them taking over the unit next door and expanding so it will be interesting to see how that changes the look and feel of the place.
Now onto the food. The four of us on our table had a wide choice of dishes. I had crayfish tails to start, the others had Pepata di cozza, a clam based dish, then we had seabass, an ossobuco and meatballs. The ossbuco is a traditional Sicillian dish and looked excellent. The mains all came with puy lentils, chopped saute potatoes and mixed veg. I sometimes find seabass a bit bland but this just about stood the flavour test, I suspect it was farmed though. That said, we all agreed it as very pleasant and it negated the need for a pud!!
The wine was provided in the price of our deal, and was fine, although I would not know what it was....
So all in all a good forage into the unknown and a venue we will return to. Ambiance is all important in Italian restaurants and the small floor area might stifle that if too many food trendies were booked in.
Dawn and her staff were very attentive and were good enough to e-mail us in the week to thank us for our service. Maybe the other Michelin restaurant on the Wirral could learn a bit from Da Piero
A brief word too for the pub over the road, the Shippons, where the guv'nor was very welcoming and resigned to his punters regularly going over the road, when he served food himself. We might try that one day ..
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Tasting menu's
Not really a restaurant review, or linked to the Wirral, but at the weekend we stayed in a country house hotel in the North pennines, and part of the deal was to take their seven course gastronomique extravaganza on the Sunday night.
It was billed as a tasting menu, and as such there were no choices. what you got was what you got. Now I could not fault the food, except for the last course, rhubarb and stuff. I do not like rhubarb, and neither it appeared did the majority of our fellow diners. That aside though, the menu included smoked duck, parsnip soup and venison cooked pink and was very tasty.
It is an interesting assumption to make though that what the chef wants to cook is what the punters want to eat. In this case it worked, but watch this space as tasting menus become more popular, and we visit a few restaurants that do them.
It was billed as a tasting menu, and as such there were no choices. what you got was what you got. Now I could not fault the food, except for the last course, rhubarb and stuff. I do not like rhubarb, and neither it appeared did the majority of our fellow diners. That aside though, the menu included smoked duck, parsnip soup and venison cooked pink and was very tasty.
It is an interesting assumption to make though that what the chef wants to cook is what the punters want to eat. In this case it worked, but watch this space as tasting menus become more popular, and we visit a few restaurants that do them.
Friday, 28 January 2011
The Queens Arms
When we moved into Oxton, a urban village just outside Birkenhead, almost ten years ago, there were four restaurants and two pubs here. The restaurants were The Bamboo, a thai come oriental, Villa Jazz, a double unit traditional restaurant doing lamb shank, ribs and steaks, a mad Italian and Beedles.
Beedles was run by a husband and wife, he ran front of house and she ran the kitchen. The property was owned by her mother, there was a row and she sold from under them. its a fish and chip shop now. Bamboo closed after the couple who ran that had a bust up, although the lady of the relationship has opened a new outlet in the same unit, Halligan's, which will be reviewed in due course.
Villa Jazz closed amidst a cloud of urban myths, and nobody quite knows the ins and outs of it, but it is being redeveloped and should open during 2011 as a new bar and grill.
The mad Italian just had enough of turning people away when he did not fancy the cut of their jib. He shut at 9pm, which meant you were out at 9pm so it was a very eccentric operation. It is now a Michelin starred restaurant and we have a booking for April, when you can read our reviews here then.
The two pubs, the Shrewsbury Arms and the Oxton Bar and Grill (OBT for short) have stood the test of time and have been established in the area since the mid-1800's. Both do food, but it was a third pub which we chose to visit and review this week.
The Queens Arms sits on Storeton Road, between the Halfway House in Prenton, and Oxton village. It has been a pub since 1845 and has changed little in external appearance, although it has become a modern wood and chrome place inside.
The reason for the visit though was to test the increasing reputation it has for its bar food. The new owner was fortunate enough to employ the services of a chef from each of the Villa Jazz and Bamboo, so although the food is pretty standard pub grub, it is turned out to a high standard, cooked to order and does not have the microwave packaged appearance of the Hungry Horse or Country Fayre type catering.
Our steak pie and fish and chips were first rate, and as Thursday was curry night, the neighbouring tables which had selected those seemed very pleased with the result. We washed ours down with draft Courage Best, although there was an adequate wine list should we have been so inclined. Mains were priced at about £7 for 'pub grub' up to £12 for steaks and mixed grills, the curries were £8.
The place was pretty full and most people were eating, we shall definitely be going back. As for the waitresses, would they know the offside law? would they care? probably not. They were very helpful and pleasant, and just what you need from a serving wench. The only thing that bugs me, and it's a general criticism of busy pubs, is that the staff keep saying 'who is next please?' instead of having the wherewithal to spot the punters as they get to the bar. A good skill to have and one which makes all the difference on the punters side of the bar.
Beedles was run by a husband and wife, he ran front of house and she ran the kitchen. The property was owned by her mother, there was a row and she sold from under them. its a fish and chip shop now. Bamboo closed after the couple who ran that had a bust up, although the lady of the relationship has opened a new outlet in the same unit, Halligan's, which will be reviewed in due course.
Villa Jazz closed amidst a cloud of urban myths, and nobody quite knows the ins and outs of it, but it is being redeveloped and should open during 2011 as a new bar and grill.
The mad Italian just had enough of turning people away when he did not fancy the cut of their jib. He shut at 9pm, which meant you were out at 9pm so it was a very eccentric operation. It is now a Michelin starred restaurant and we have a booking for April, when you can read our reviews here then.
The two pubs, the Shrewsbury Arms and the Oxton Bar and Grill (OBT for short) have stood the test of time and have been established in the area since the mid-1800's. Both do food, but it was a third pub which we chose to visit and review this week.
The Queens Arms sits on Storeton Road, between the Halfway House in Prenton, and Oxton village. It has been a pub since 1845 and has changed little in external appearance, although it has become a modern wood and chrome place inside.
The reason for the visit though was to test the increasing reputation it has for its bar food. The new owner was fortunate enough to employ the services of a chef from each of the Villa Jazz and Bamboo, so although the food is pretty standard pub grub, it is turned out to a high standard, cooked to order and does not have the microwave packaged appearance of the Hungry Horse or Country Fayre type catering.
Our steak pie and fish and chips were first rate, and as Thursday was curry night, the neighbouring tables which had selected those seemed very pleased with the result. We washed ours down with draft Courage Best, although there was an adequate wine list should we have been so inclined. Mains were priced at about £7 for 'pub grub' up to £12 for steaks and mixed grills, the curries were £8.
The place was pretty full and most people were eating, we shall definitely be going back. As for the waitresses, would they know the offside law? would they care? probably not. They were very helpful and pleasant, and just what you need from a serving wench. The only thing that bugs me, and it's a general criticism of busy pubs, is that the staff keep saying 'who is next please?' instead of having the wherewithal to spot the punters as they get to the bar. A good skill to have and one which makes all the difference on the punters side of the bar.
Monday, 10 January 2011
The Cock and Pullet
Yes, really that is the name of the first establishment the Wirriallian has visited in 2011. I found it hard to believe that's what they called this revamped pub in the heart of Tranmere, but they have!!. It used to be called The Royal, and had been in disrepair for a while.
Rumour had it that a chef/owner from one of the other restaurants in the area had taken it on and was relaunching it as a gastro pub. So why not pop down to see.
Well, that rumour was clearly unfounded as we entered the 'parlour'. The unit has one bar, with a large pool table in the original public bar. The lounge bar had been tastefully decorated and festooned with old black and white pictures of the area from the late 1800s hundreds and early 1900s. The floor was newly laid too. imitation leather bench seating hugged the walls and the round traditional pub tables and chairs completed the look. Loud music played from the various speakers perched near the ceiling
It takes a brave man to open a pub which is going to major on wet sales, these days, and one of the problems for a relaunch, is how do you manage the clientele? This pub had previously been a blokes boozer and the current punters continued that stereotype. About ten people hung at the bar watching the racing from the all weather at Wolverhampton, drinking lager and Guinness while occasionally popping out for a roll-up in the porch.
They were all very pleasant, but not the sort the aristocrats and artistic types from Oxton would want to mingle with. That said, the bitter on view was an eclectic mixture of local microbrewery and St Austell from Cornwall so that might tempt a few in.
There seemed to be storehouse or stables outside which could easily embrace a kitchen and some outdoor seating for better climes, so I am going to put this one on the back burner at the moment and see how it gets on during the Spring and early Summer. Hopefully by then the place will be rocking.
Rumour had it that a chef/owner from one of the other restaurants in the area had taken it on and was relaunching it as a gastro pub. So why not pop down to see.
Well, that rumour was clearly unfounded as we entered the 'parlour'. The unit has one bar, with a large pool table in the original public bar. The lounge bar had been tastefully decorated and festooned with old black and white pictures of the area from the late 1800s hundreds and early 1900s. The floor was newly laid too. imitation leather bench seating hugged the walls and the round traditional pub tables and chairs completed the look. Loud music played from the various speakers perched near the ceiling
It takes a brave man to open a pub which is going to major on wet sales, these days, and one of the problems for a relaunch, is how do you manage the clientele? This pub had previously been a blokes boozer and the current punters continued that stereotype. About ten people hung at the bar watching the racing from the all weather at Wolverhampton, drinking lager and Guinness while occasionally popping out for a roll-up in the porch.
They were all very pleasant, but not the sort the aristocrats and artistic types from Oxton would want to mingle with. That said, the bitter on view was an eclectic mixture of local microbrewery and St Austell from Cornwall so that might tempt a few in.
There seemed to be storehouse or stables outside which could easily embrace a kitchen and some outdoor seating for better climes, so I am going to put this one on the back burner at the moment and see how it gets on during the Spring and early Summer. Hopefully by then the place will be rocking.
Saturday, 1 January 2011
2011, food heaven.....
It really is frustrating trying to find sensible constructive comments about restaurants by searching on the Web. One is never sure whether the owner is posting, or whether you only get to hear about the one or two bad experiences, and rarely about the good times.
A lot of basic information seems to be missing as well. Can you park, is it on a bus route, and if so, which one? What are the staff like? Is it a 'regulars' place and do they make you feel like one? Is it child and dog friendly, and should, therefore, be avoided by the dinkies and grey pounders amongst us?
So, I am going to try to be a restaurant critic for the Wirral, and see if I can produce a useful web site based on my experience of restaurants, take-aways and pub grub. I am not a foodie, or a wino, so don't expect specialist comment on here. It's really about whether I like somewhere and more important whether it likes me.
I could start with a few reviews of the regular outlets I use , but I won't. I am going to slip those into the Blog as it starts to get established. So watch this space, I will try to do a unit a week, and see whether I develop a following and see some of the comments I get.
If people do not like what I say or have a different view of a place, it could get lively, bring on the starters!!!!
A lot of basic information seems to be missing as well. Can you park, is it on a bus route, and if so, which one? What are the staff like? Is it a 'regulars' place and do they make you feel like one? Is it child and dog friendly, and should, therefore, be avoided by the dinkies and grey pounders amongst us?
So, I am going to try to be a restaurant critic for the Wirral, and see if I can produce a useful web site based on my experience of restaurants, take-aways and pub grub. I am not a foodie, or a wino, so don't expect specialist comment on here. It's really about whether I like somewhere and more important whether it likes me.
I could start with a few reviews of the regular outlets I use , but I won't. I am going to slip those into the Blog as it starts to get established. So watch this space, I will try to do a unit a week, and see whether I develop a following and see some of the comments I get.
If people do not like what I say or have a different view of a place, it could get lively, bring on the starters!!!!
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