Art School

The Art School opened in September 2014 in the Georgian Quarter of Liverpool, with Paul Askew the owner and head chef. He previously worked at Liverpool restaurants such as the Philharmonic Hall, where he was head chef for seven years, and the London Carriage Works. The Art School dining room is located in a building dating back to 1888, seating 48 diners plus a private dining room. The ground-floor dining room is an airy room with bright red upholstered chairs and well-spaced tables. There is easy accessibility, which is important for anyone with mobility issues and an issue that many restaurant websites omit to mention. 

In the kitchen there are up to twelve chefs and four kitchen porters. Tonight there were eight chefs serving 48 covers plus the private dining room. The “Excellence” menu at £95 was essentially a three-course a la carte alternative but we opted for the full tasting menu at £125. Both menus included a glass of Charles Heidsieck champagne (which is currently offered at £17 at the River Cafe). I can’t see this approach of throwing in a glass of champagne with the tasting menu catching on in Mayfair. There was also a £55 three course lunch and pre-theatre menu, and remarkably that also includes champagne. 

The wine list had 181 labels and ranged in price from £30 to £950, with a median price of £67 and an average markup to retail price of 3.2 times, which is normal for London but a little higher than is usual outside the capital. Sample references were Donnafugata Sherezade Nero D’Avola 2022 at £42 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £19, Trinity Hills Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay from Hawkes Bay 2020at £62 compared to its retail price of £30, and Andreas Lithic Whisperer Syrah Bovlei Valley 2018 at £80 for a wine that will set you back £35 in the high street. For those with the means there was Antinori Tignanello 2020 at £225 compared to its retail price of £154, and Antinori Solaia 2019 at £590 for a wine whose current market value is £277. The list had an unusual distribution of wines by country, with 26% French but 29% Italian, as well as wines from countries as far afield as Chile, Croatia and Canada. 54 wines, 30% of the list, were priced under £50, when in Mayfair these days in it common to see lists with not a single bottle under £50. 58% of the list was under £75.

A trio of canapés comprised compressed cucumber with a layer of creme fraiche with Kings imperial caviar, which worked well, the salinity of the caviar nicely contrasting with the cucumber. Potato rosti with tarragon emulsion and capers and shallots was a touch salty but crisp and enjoyable. Loch Duart salmon with miso mayo and Asian spice was a bit dry and could have done with more miso; this was the weakest of the canapés but this was still a very respectable start to the meal, the rosti being the star (15/20). A further amuse bouche was tartlet of Morecombe bay crab with puree of lemon and herb infused mascarpone, gel of tomato and sherry vinegar. This was very nicely put together, the pastry delicate and the sharpness of the vinegar nicely balancing the sweetness of the crab.

Sea salt and fennel seed focaccia bread was made from scratch in the kitchen. served warm and offered with Lancashire raw milk butter as well as seaweed butter. The focaccia had very good soft texture and the salt level was well judged. Filo tartlet of salt baked celeriac cake with potato and Croatian black truffle with winter leaves and pickled walnut puree. Thai dish worked really well, the celeriac tender and having lovely earthy flavour, the luxurious aroma of the truffle complementing the intensity of the walnut (15/20).

Loch Fyne scallop was pan-seared and served with Jerusalem artichoke puree and artichoke crisp, apple and golden raisin dressing, Cafe de Paris butter and salmon caviar roe. The scallop had decent sweetness and was nicely cooked but the dish had far too many elements. The artichoke crisps were nice though quite why you would add raisins to pair with scallops, which should already be sweet, eludes me (barely 14/20).

Loch Fyne sea trout came with smoked herring egg and Avruga caviar, which is not real caviar but a herring substitute. This was quite pleasant though the avruga did not add much (14/20). Creedy Carver duck from Devon was salt aged and serves with bai choi and spiced beetroot puree, with confit duck leg wrapped in rice paper and duck jus. The jus was deep and rich and gorgeous, the meat cooked pink, the bak choi offsetting the richness of the duck. For me the confit duck flavour was slightly missing in action for some reason but the breast tasted great (15/20).

Loin of venison was from Eaton Hall estate in a Cheshire and was cooked pink. The meat came with black truffle and celeriac puree, damson puree, bacon lardons, morel farcie stuffed with venison and chicken mousse, parsnip, cavalo nero (kale), girolles and game jus. This was a very good dish though again It had an awful lot of elements. However, the kale was particularly well cooked and the celeriac nicely balanced the richness of the venison. The sauce was deeply flavoured and lovely (15/20).

A pescetarian alternative was fillet of turbot from a 7kg fish, served with cauliflower purée, pomme galette, Romanesco broccoli and Peterhead clam sauce with dill and tarragon. The fish was carefully cooked and had very good flavour, the earthy cauliflower was a good foil for the fish and the sauce had good intensity (15/20). 

Pre-dessert was yoghurt mousse with granola along with mandarin segments with mandarin sorbet and yoghurt granita. This was a very successful pre-dessert, refreshing and with the seasonal mandarin flavour coming through well, the granola offering an extra texture (15/20). The main dessert was Valrhona Manjari chocolate (Madagascar 66%) with clementine and cherry in the form of both crisps, foam, and segments. The mousse itself seemed just a touch drier than optimal and I would have preferred either clementine or cherry but not both (clementine given that it was winter). Overall this was 14/20. 

Coffee was from a company called 92 degrees, a local roaster that started out in the nearby Liverpool docks. This was quite good speciality coffee, a nice change from the industrial coffee that all too often plagues high end restaurants in the UK. Petit fours, when they eventually materialised, comprised a trio. There was blood orange pate de fruits, which I truth were a little chewy though they had quite good fruit flavour, white chocolate fudge which was too dry and a decent passion fruit truffle. The coffee and petit fours were a £9 supplement.

Service was very good, the staff being friendly and enthusiastic. The bill came to £222 each with plenty of wine to drink. If finished had the three-course menu and shared a modest bottle of wine (there were plenty on this list) then your bill might be more like £130 each. Overall I really enjoyed Art School. The menu was appealing, the room is lovely, the ingredients were of high quality and the kitchen technique was solid. Aside from an occasional tendency to add one too many elements to a dish, this was high-class food. There are plenty of worse one star Michelin restaurants in the UK. Plenty.