Let it be known that Christmas is NOT cancelled
December is here, the advent calendars have been cracked open (including ours) and lockdown 2.0 has been lifted. Liverpool has been put into tier 2 and you know what that means don’t you… Christmas menus are back.
We’ve put together a handy collection of the city’s most festive offerings - a list we will be regularly updating as and when new launches land. There’s lots of nice and there’s plenty of naughty, so whether you’ve been good or bad this year, who gives a damn? Eat, drink, be merry and fill your winter boots - just make sure you do it at a safe distance and for Krampus’ sake, wash your hands.
Byron
What’s that you say? It wouldn’t be Christmas in Liverpool without a festive Bryon burger? How right you are. Well sleep easy because from December 3rd, you will be able to sink your teeth into the B-Rexmas burger. As a seasonal evolution of the classic B-Rex, the Christmas edition features a juicy beef patty, American cheese, bacon, onions, jalapeños, deep-fried onion ring, BBQ sauce… *pause to take a breath*… mayo, pickle and a scoop of mac ’n’ cheese. Quite the mouthful - in more ways than one.
Prefer a chicken burger over a beef burger? Go for the C-Rexmas instead. Accessorise it with a side of Byron Baubles - mac ’n’ cheese balls topped with signature Rexmas sauce, devilishly comprised of chopped jalapeños, bacon, cheese, and BBQ sauce. Available as an individual or sharer portion but let’s face it, sharer portions are individual portions at this time of year. That’s not all either… you can wash it all down with a mince pie milkshake, muddling thick vanilla ice cream with a heap of crushed mince pies. (A wheelbarrow to roll yourself home is not included.)
Available from 3rd December, open to eat in or takeaway.
Byron, Liverpool ONE, 43 Paradise Street, L1 3EU
Alberts Schenke
Listen, Christmas is going to be different this year. We’ve all come to accept that, right? Good, well at least now it won’t seem even the slightest bit strange eating your way through a pizza-based bottomless brunch in honour of the festive season. Our good friends at Alberts Schenke are teaming up with the lovely lot over at Rudy’s Neapolitan Pizza to offer 'Liverpool’s finest bottomless brunch this December'.
Bold claims indeed but we’re feeling pretty convinced at the prospect of limitless Rudy’s pizza and a never-ending supply of prosecco, espresso martinis, pornstar martinis, ‘haus’ mulled wine and Kozel beer. Tickets are £24.50 per person, which grants you access to 90 minutes’ worth of the aforementioned delights. For those more convicted to conventional Christmas delicacies, there will also be an array of festive specials running throughout the month of December, including roast Cheshire turkey and a vegan, wild mushroom nutloaf.
Available for the month of December. £24.50pp. Bookings now being taken for groups of six or less. Head over to the Alberts Schenke for full safety guidelines and ‘Haus Rules’.
Alberts Schenke, 16 Hanover Street, L1 4AA
Six By Nico
We’ve all been eager to hear which tier we were to be allocated post lockdown 2.0 but it’s got nothing on the anticipation of the Six By Nico Christmas menu drop. Well it’s finally here and it goes by the name of ‘Miracle On’ and promises to be 'the most spectacular feast imaginable'. As with all Six By Nico menus, this one boasts six taster plates, each complying to the theme of the moment and in this case, IT’S CHRISTMAAAS!
Dishes include the ‘Memories of a Christmas Market’ - sausage & onion compote with smoked sausage foam, crispy onions, pickled shallot and potato airbag; ‘Who Hate’s Brussel Sprouts?’ - chanterelle mushroom, sprout tops, ewe’s cheese royale, confit egg yolk and fermented black garlic; and ‘Bob Cratchit's Three Bird Roast’ - breast of duck, turkey roulade with pistachio & prune, chicken liver parfait, duck fat turnip fondant, pomme souffle, fig and red wine gel with game sauce. Dessert teases a Buche De Noel - spiced raisin cake, dulce de leche mousseline, sour cherry, white glacage and hazelnut, with white chocolate aero. The signature six-course sophistication will be complimented with a festive-inspired snack box and vegetarian counterparts for each plate, as is customary under Nico’s coveted care.
Available Monday - Sunday, from 3rd December - 11th January. £29 per person; add matching wines for an additional £26pp.
Six By Nico Liverpool, North John Street, L2 5QY
Lu Ban
Coming in hot with another seasonal menu that smashes straight through the boundaries of Christmas tradition is Lu Ban. Whetting our appetites with 'a delicious journey offering a range of dishes and delights inspired by Tianjin cuisine', this one is perfect for those of you who are already sick to the back teeth of deep-fried cheese and the KFC gravy burger.
Elevate your palate with a more high brow spread, expertly curated by Lu Ban’s in-house chefs. The full Christmas dinner menu features four courses of pure fusion pleasure, with dishes including Chinese style air dried ham with poached pear, cinnamon, radish, ginger and Chinese onion oil. The additional Christmas lunch menu showcases a more concise edition of the full menu, including roasted duck leg pancakes with orange, plum, hoi sin sauce and signature Lu Ban spice. For the Lotus Biscoff lovers out there, make sure to leave room for ‘The Egg’ - whipped coconut, mango sorbet, Biscoff crumb and dark chocolate. To compliment their festive fare, Lu Ban are also offering a range of gift vouchers and dining experiences, so make sure to check out their website to get a load of those.
Christmas dinner menu offers 4 courses for £55pp. Christmas lunch menu is £40pp and is available on Thursdays and Fridays from 12pm. Both menus available from 3rd December.
Lu Ban, Cains Brewery Village, Stanhope Street, L8 5XJ
East River
Inspired by the stretch between Brooklyn and Manhattan, East River brings a bite of the Big Apple to Liverpool and what better way to get into the festive spirit than with a taste of Christmas in New York City. Post-lockdown 2.0, the guys at East River will be launching their brand new Bottomless Roast offering and in a double-pronged attack also come this year’s festive specials, complete with a list of limited edition Christmas cocktails.
We’re talking pigs in blankets wrapped in crispy bacon, deep-fried brie balls with cranberry dip and a festive turkey burger with onion stuffing, melted brie, cranberry sauce and lashing of gravy. On the drinks list there’s the Bad Santa - Woodford Reserve, pedro ximanez, cinnamon and bitters; the Egg Nog Flip - cognac, Baileys, oat milk, cream and white chocolate; and the Jingle Juice - Amaretto, pomegranate, lemon, cinnamon, egg white and rosemary. Fancy something stronger to warm your cockles? There’s always the Winter Martinez - sloe gin, rose vermouth, cranberry and orange bitters, or the Yule Mule - vodka, bitters, gingerbread and ginger beer.
Available 7 days a week to eat in, takeaway or collect.
East River, 103 Allerton Road, L18 2DD
The Florist
If you can guarantee anybody is going to put on a multi-sensory spectacle, it’s The Florist. Throughout the balmier seasons, the popular restaurant is a pastel Instagram dream, bedecked in botanical paraphernalia and its iconic romantic wisteria. This winter though, the venue is being transformed into a 'floral wonderland' where guests can 'sleigh all day', dine out on festive fare, sip Christmas cocktails and feel like they’ve walked straight into Narnia via Hardman Street.
The full Christmas food menu is still yet to be revealed but we’re being promised something 'delightful and show-stopping', so watch this space for more on that. In the meantime, there’s plenty to get excited about at the bar. Cocktails include a chocolate orange negroni and a frangipane daiquiri, while The Florist ‘Christmas mugs’ offer December’s mandatory mulled wine and spiced cider. For the beer boffins out there, there’s the rather intriguing ‘Christmas Tree Beer’ - a lowlander winter IPA brewed with spruce needles handpicked from discarded Christmas trees. The turn of the decade might have brought us Coronavirus but it also brought us Christmas tree beer. What a time to be alive.
Now taking Christmas bookings. Reservations are limited to parties of 6 and stringent safety measures are in place. Visit the website for more info.
The Florist, 24 Hardman Street, L1 9AX
The Shipping Forecast
The weather outside might be frightful but the forecast at this much-loved Slater Street venue is full bellies, festive flavours and a high chance of having to undo your top button. Bringing you a 3-course festive menu, a Christmas Day menu and a festive buffet menu, it seems the elves over at The Shipping Forecast have been super busy preparing for the season of stuffed faces and over-indulgence.
The festive menu features classic Christmas dishes with a generous helping of elegance, including a roast pear, butternut squash and sage soup with coconut yoghurt swirl; pork belly with a miniature apple pie and red wine jus; and a pumpkin and beetroot tartlet for the vegans of the party. The 4-course Christmas Day menu levels up the boujie with a shallot and armagnac tarte tatin, a garlic and rosemary lamb rump and a luxurious nut roast wellington - just to name a few. The festive period isn’t complete without a good old buffet and The Shipping Forecast festive buffet is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Think hot chicken wings with Korean BBQ sauce, cheeseburgers, halloumi burgers, nachos, triple cooked chips and a super greens salad for when the inevitable desire to detox sets in.
Menus now available until 30th December. Bookings are provisional and updated on a regular basis in accordance to government guidelines. Deposits are protected. Maximum bookings of 6 people.
The Shipping Forecast, 15 Slater Street, L1 4BW
Neighbourhood
Turning heads with a 'Christmas like no other', you can always rely on Neighbourhood to be your go-to party-starter. With a trio of festive menus to choose from, these guys have got everything covered from mid-week treats to your weekend knees-up. Seasonal set menus include the Working Lunch, the Work Week Hustle and Weekend Vibes, all of which feature a range of delicious dishes designed to tick the boxes of tradition but with a cool, contemporary twist.
Starters include sashimi and yuzu tacos, chestnut and truffle soup, and crispy pulled duck lollipops. The main course brings a choice of turkey ballotine with all the trimmings, grilled miso salmon, spiced cauliflower fritters or chargrilled steak with truffle parmesan chips and shoestring onion fries. The dessert menu seduces with praline churros, caramelised vanilla pineapple, flambeed Christmas pudding or chocolate and peanut butter meltdown. Oh, and if you can’t be a little extra during the festive period, when can you? Upgrade your Working Lunch or Work Week Hustle package to include bottomless gin, vodka, prosecco, beer and seasonal cocktails for £25 per person.
Menu now available and restaurant taking bookings. Working Lunch - 2 courses, £19.95pp, available Monday-Saturday until 4pm. Work Week Hustle - 3 courses, £30pp, available Sunday-Thursday from 4pm. Weekend Vibes - 3 courses, £35pp, available all day Friday and Saturday.
Neighbourhood, 62 Castle Street, L2 7LQ
El Gato Negro
The acclaimed Spanish tapas restaurant is reopening its doors and getting into the festive spirit with a new menu guaranteed to put a little fizz into Christmas. Returning just in time for the seasonal celebration, Tipsy Tapas invites guests to enjoy three small plates from the restaurant’s extensive award-winning menu and bottomless Prosecco, Bellini, house wine or beer for £35pp (drinks are available for 90 minutes from the point of being seated.)
Available every Saturday from 12pm to 4pm, it’s the perfect menu for those looking to add a little extra sparkle after a hard day’s Christmas shopping.
A number of new dishes have also been introduced to El Gato Negro’s main menu including glazed pork baby back ribs (£11); classic beef meatballs in tomato sauce with parmesan shavings (£7.50); braised ox cheeks with horseradish mash (£12); spicy chicken skewers with roasted peppers and onions (£7.50); salt cod fritters with tartare sauce (£7), and griddled stonebass with chickpeas in fritarda sauce and sourdough croutons (£10). See the full menu.
El Gato Negro reopens this Wednesday Dec 2nd. Hours of service are Monday to Sunday, 12:00 – 21:30 (food service) and 12:00 – 23:00 (general service). Reservations for El Gato Negro Exchange Flags can be made online.
El Gato Negro, Unit 2, Walker House Exchange Flags, Liverpool L2 3YL
Honest Burgers
We started this feature with a burger, so let’s bookend with one. The Honest Christmas special (£13) is nearly as old as Honest itself. This festive favourite has returned for another winter, featuring Honest beef, smoked bacon, deep-fried Camembert, cranberry sauce and rocket. Time Out apparently once called it “naughty enough to make Rudolph blush."
This year they’re also offering a Veggie Christmas version (£14) featuring the Beyond Meat plant patty and This Isn't Bacon. You'll be getting the same molten, oozy Somerset camembert as the meaty version, made using the traditional techniques passed down by the French, but this time it's made with British milk and vegetarian rennet. Top this with cranberry sauce and rocket and you have yourselves a veggie merry Christmas.
Order in advance for delivery and pick up; or order in person for takeaway.
Honest Burgers, 100 Bold St Liverpool L1 4HY
