NESTLING among the noodle bars and the neon lights of Chinatown is perhaps not the first place you’d look for Liverpool’s first dedicated bagel bakery and shop.
Nor might you expect to find a full swing party going on in said shop, on a wet October night, with one of Liverpool’s foremost pop groupettes playing live.
But all of this occurred on Wednesday; the ethereal sounds of Stealing Sheep and the equally sweet smell of cinnamon and warm baking wafting through mist, rain and the Chinese arch.
Actors, musicians and assorted trendy riff raff gathered to give their blessing to The Bagelry, the brand new taste sensation which opens, proper, in Nelson Street next week.
Bagels are ouch-hot with 400 million being sold in the UK last year. Now, thanks to Natalie Murray and Rhonda Davies, they are even hotter in Liverpool with The Bagelry promising dozens of organic, hand crafted, boiled and baked varieties for you to devour - or simply practise hoopla over the head of a Chinatown pigeon.
The Bagelry’s American and Jewish style bakes are already a familiar sight at the city’s farmers markets and in places you don't mind parting with your money, such as Cow & Co.
Realising nobody else in Liverpool was doing anything quite like them, Natalie and Rhonda decided to go for broke. Last month more than 100 wellwishers donated £3,500, via Kickstarte,r to help the duo buy a commerical Mono oven, meaning they could turn out 200 bagels at a time instead of 20.
Other friends chipped in to help in any way they could and the shop even boasts a bespoke wooden bagel rack, made by one of them, for customers to get undecided over.
Natalie said: “We love baking bagels and we’ve found that people really appreciate what we do and look forward to eating them.”
The pair swear the authentic Manhattan flavour is all down to Liverpool’s water which is soft and sweet, just like New York’s. Not hard and scummy like, say, Hoxton’s.
Natalie Murray, bagel queenThe curious will enjoy funny coloured sorts made with beets, with spinach and green tea, with red wine. For the not-so-curious: traditional lines such as seeded, blueberry and onion.
Dough is made from untreated organic Shipton Mill flour and leavened longer using less yeast for a superior flavour, they say.
Oh, and there is also a teensy bit of sugar, unrefined of course. Unlike he party guests who conducted themselves perfectly. Mind you, nobody was saying much, just nodding appreciatively, chewing and gurning.
Here are some pictures.
The Bagelry, 42 Nelson Street, L1 5DN. Tues-Sun 8am-4pm, except Weds 8am-2pm, closed Mon. 0151 222 5379.
