Where this time?
The Moon and Pea, 95 Lark Lane, Sefton Park, Liverpool, Merseyside L17 8UP 0151 728 8565.
Why?
The Moon & Pea is the template for what Lark Lane bars and restaurants are - or should be - about. Cosy, warm, welcoming, popular, very busy. Cath Kidston shabby chic and deer heads peering down.
Every neighbourhood should have one. If you don’t live within walking distance or are a stranger to the area, a lazy Sunday afternoon with friends at the Moon & Pea will convince you to download the Right Move app in between courses.
By the time you are paying the bill you will be wistfully searching the terms “L17 8UP, distance 0 miles”.
The Moon & Pea is a very good advert for the area. You are yet to learn of The Albert.
The Sunday deal
One course: £7.95. Two courses: £10.95. Three courses: £12.95.
What’s on the table?
Two meat roasts: Beef or lamb.
For vegetarians: Pies, made lovingly, one assumes, from the Moon & Pea’s offshoot deli over the road. Today’s Sunday choice of pie is cheese and onion.
With all three options the same accompaniments are listed: “Sunday veg and our homemade gravy”.
It is not made clear whether the vegetarian pie gravy is meat free gravy, or indeed whether gravy has any place lashed over a cheese pie. But each to their own. Anyway, they have sold out, so that’s the last you will ever hear of it.
Lamb burger stuffed with feta and olives is guarded by boulders of chipsWhat if you don’t like Sunday roasts?
In the same fixed price deal, there are no fewer than 12 burgers, a whopping five of them vegetarian or vegan.
A juicy lamb burger has feta and olives stuffed into it, like sixpences in a Christmas pudding. Otherwise it is unadorned, in a simple poppyseed roll. With it, four chips the size of Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge, some crisp leaves. A limping bowl of coleslaw is, perhaps, a casualty of the hour.
Elsewhere, there are fine looking Sunday specials, ham, gammon steak, Cumberland sausages and mash. And of course, two more veggie options: sausages and a lasagne. Battered cod and chips, line caught fresh swordfish and seabass. And loads of different salads.
Starters?
A fatal flaw in the three-course dinner deal is that no starters are listed. Oh well.
So it’s straight into second base?
And topside of beef it is. As one of the more economical cuts for an oven roast, it’s quite a chore to get this joint to the point where it melts in the mouth. Especially if it’s not been hanging around for long. Especially if time is of the essence and you are knocking it out for a couple of hundred over a few hours.
But all is not lost. On the plate, two thick, lean tranches of beef arrive well done, a joy for the young and virile, whose jaws enjoy a moderate work out. The open grain and good beefy flavour is ample reward for the effort.
Shoulder of lamb, another economical cut, can, however, take a lot more owing to the fat content. Rendered down and slow cooked, the result is a generous heap of sweet, soft and delicious meat. Highly recommended.
Lamb wins the dinnersMint sauce, English mustard and more?
If you ask.
Yorkshires?
One, rugged, like a Mars boulder. A good crisp oven crunch on top and a silky set batter within.
The roasties?
Three big ones which would have benefited from been roughed up (but not in a Lark Lane bouncer way). And yet, despite little in the way of crispy edge, they were fresh out of the oven, well seasoned, floury and tasty.
The veg
Given the number of vegetarian dishes they serve, it’s no surprise that this is where the M&P comes into its own.
There is nothing flash here, but it is all very good stuff, reminiscent of that dished up by confident mum or other home cook who has been doing Sunday dinners forever. Special call out for the creamy and perfect cauliflower and broccoli cheese, plus sweet garden peas and a shamelessly large pile of well buttered carrot and parsnip bash.
Sticky toffee puddingPuds
Cakes are made in the deli. By Sunday afternoon, carrot and lemon and rosemary are not the most moist we’ve had lately. We have messed up.
The gold stars, instead, are reserved for the hot sticky toffee pudding, bathed in a thick caramel ooze and a melting cap of ice cream, Cheshire vanilla.
Something to wash it all down?
Lots of farmers market lemonades, good coffee and a stunning range of hot chocolates, in white, fudge and more. No alcohol licence but you can bring your own and the offy opposite does brisk trade.
Something for afterwards?
Sefton Park and perchance to dream.
Moon & Pea website here. Open from 7am-11pm daily
Rating:15.5/20
Overall Food: 7/10
Ambience: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Winning main course: Lamb roast
Winning dessert: Sticky toffee pudding
Venues are rated against the best examples of their kind: takeaways against the best takeaways, fine dining against the best fine dining, etc.
Following on from this the scores represent:
1-5: Straight into the dog bowl
6-9: Raid the freezer
10-11: In an emergency
12-13: If you happen to be passing
14-15: Worth a trip out
16-17: Very good to exceptional
18-20: As good as it gets
ALL SCORED LIVERPOOL CONFIDENTIAL REVIEWS ARE IMPARTIAL AND IRRESPECTIVE OF ANY COMMERCIAL RELATIONSHIP. CRITICS DINE UNANNOUNCED AND PICK UP THEIR OWN BILLS, NEVER THE RESTAURANT OR A PR COMPANY, SORRY.
