A trip to Liverpool

Saturday, December 14th , 2024

 

On this trip to Liverpool, I very much enjoyed Art School, which has an attractive dining room and offers a reasonably priced tasting menu. I am surprised it doesn’t have a Michelin star. Prices were a pleasant change from London. 

Half an hour from the city is So-Lo, where Tim Allen has gained a Michelin star for his restaurant in a converted pub. This was a superb meal, using high-grade ingredients that were cooked with real skill. The red mullet dish that I tried was particularly good but the whole meal was classy. A terrific place.

EastZeast is a mini-chain of Indian restaurants that began in Manchester. The one in Liverpool by the docks area is huge, seating 300 people on the ground floor alone. Despite the scale, the food was mostly very good, with just one ordinary side dish but with excellent methi chicken and an unusually wide array of pickles and chutneys.

Rudy’s Neapolitan is a small chain of pizza places that started in Manchester and has three branches in Liverpool. It was good, with a proper pizza oven and a pizza crust that was just what a Neapolitan pizza is supposed to have.

Sultan’s Palace is a traditional Indian restaurant specialising in tandoori dishes. It wasn’t as good as EastZeast but it was a perfectly capable, enjoyable restaurant. It was justifiably busy on the evening that we visited it.

I should also mention Baltic Bakehouse, a bakery that also offers excellent sandwiches and good coffee. This is a nice spot for a simple lunch. The bacon butty here was excellent, as was their toasted cheese sandwich using aged Comte and Cheddar.