Pork belly, potato bread, carrot pesto and pies
FROM the new Duke Street Market, out to Lark Lane and the docks, and back again – wherever you happen to be wandering in Liverpool at the moment, you’ll find somewhere to have a decent plate of scran. Our intrepid food and drink writers have been out and about to find their best-loved dishes this month.
Here’s what they recommend you eat this August.
Olive oil salted potato bread - Pilgrim (£3.50)
Bread. My dish of the month is bread. Out of all of the incredible dishes that the city of Liverpool has to offer, I’m putting all my eggs in this unforgettable, unfathomably delicious batch of dough from Pilgrim. As you may already know, Pilgrim resides on the glorious first-floor mezzanine of the new Duke Street Market after choosing it as the launchpad for its flagship restaurant following lucrative success on BBC2’s My Million Pound Menu.
Now, back to the bread. I’ve actually also eaten a whole host of sophisticated Spanish delicacies at Pilgrim including wood-fired octopus tentacle and a £70 joint of melt-in-the-mouth Chuleton beef. Still, the less-than-a-fiver olive oil salted potato bread reigns supreme. It’s nothing more than a nibble, don’t get me wrong, but what it lacks in quantity it truly makes up for in flavour a hundred times over.
The doughy disc had that freshly baked warmth that’s just right and a sweet-but-smoky aftertaste that I had no idea was even possible to infuse into a lowly carb. What was the icing on the cake – or rather, the seasoning on the bread – though was the heap of charcoal salt which came on the side ready for dabbing. Crunchy, even smokier and certainly visually intriguing too. Sheer gastronomic genius. I’ll never look at my breakfast toast in the same way again. Stephanie Whalley
Pilgrim, Duke Street Market, 46 Duke Street, L1 5AS
Roast heritage carrots, carrot-top pesto, toasted hazelnuts, goats’ curd and oat crackers - The Little Shoe (£12)
Stop what you’re doing and listen up. You need to go to The Little Shoe and try the mind-blowing carrot dish before it’s too late and the ingredients go out of season. Because that’s the thing about The Little Shoe: you eat seasonal, or nothing at all. "But what’s so good about a pile of carrots?" I hear you say. Well reader, a few weeks ago I’d have said the same thing – but now they’re all I can think about.
But not just any old carrots. I’m talking roasted heritage carrots of all colours, sitting pretty on a bed of pesto made from carrot tops (waste not, want not) and salty chunks of soft goats' curd. And as if that wasn’t enough to make you giddy, on top of that are crunchy, roasted hazelnuts and a crumbling mess of homemade oatcakes. Are you drooling yet? You should be. So many flavours. So many textures. You’d be a fool to miss out. Read our full review here. Megan Walsh
The Little Shoe, 112 Bold Street, Liverpool, L1 4HY
Homebaked pie - The Lodge (£11.50)
There’s something about a Sunday afternoon and a walk through a park with a dog that just cries out for something big and stodgy, and that’s apparently still the case even during our recent heatwave. We found our Sunday salvation inside a rather quiet, unassuming (and air-conditioned) Lark Lane pub called The Lodge. Their pies, which come from the award-winning Homebaked community café in Anfield, are made with rich buttery pastry and are fit to burst with somehow-still-pink strips of steak. Mushy peas, thick gravy and squidgy homemade chips complete this lovely ensemble. A bowl of food worth plunging your face into, for sure. Rebecca Fry
The Lodge, 33 Lark Lane, Liverpool, L17 8UW
Glazed pork belly – Delifonseca (£16.50)
You always know your meat is in good hands at Delifonseca. Award-winning Wirral butchers Edge & Son have been part of the Brunswick food hall since 2016, offering the very best free range, British livestock that has been traditionally bred and naturally farmed and fed. Match that with the creative skills of head chef Martin Cooper and you’ll understand why they chose the motto 'Life’s too short for a bad meal'.
The restaurant blackboard at Delifonseca Dockside boasts an ever-changing menu where new dishes come and go, depending on what’s in season. I booked in for a late Sunday lunch of glazed pork belly with crackling, burnt apple puree, celeriac remoulade and pickled shallots. Every detail on the plate was an absolute joy.
But the big news this month is that the Dockside team look as if they're very close to opening the new waterfront extension with a bar area, bigger kitchen and increased dining space. Watch this space... Vicky Andrews
Delifonseca, Brunswick Way, Liverpool, L3 4BN
Like that? Here’s the best dishes from last month.
