I’m a quintessentially English gal at heart. I might be on a lifelong quest to acquire a bubble booty à la Badgalriri and be in a permanent state of yearning for skin the colour of caramel macchiato but I do love a good tea for two with a jam scone chaser. Indian street food is one of my ultimate faves as you know but when the what would you pick if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life questions comes up, you better know that’s it’s always going to be a tight toss up between that and a good old roast dinner.
I’ve been meaning to give Burnt Truffle a go for a long time now and living less than a mile from it’s front door, it’s a pretty poor show that it’s taken me this long. You might actually be familiar with the name already (and it’s Chester-based sibling, Sticky Walnut) because the brains behind the brand are currently celebrating a recent crowdfunding victory for new Liverpool venue, Wreckfish Bistro. Each a unique eatery with a distinctive character, the trio has an almost cult-like following so I decided to finally sniff out the Sunday offering.
There were two of us, one of us went for the full three-courser and the other stuck with just two. One of us was vaguely hungover, the other wasn’t. I’ll leave you to make your assumptions on that one for now and get cracking on what we ate. Okay so from the starter selection, we ordered the chicken liver pâté which came served with toasted sourdough and a spiced carrot chutney. Now I know my carbs and I do suspect that the alleged ‘sourdough’ was in fact a herby focaccia but my god, it was tasty so no complaints from us, supported by claims of ‘the best pâté I’ve ever had’.
When I’m doing the roast dinner rounds, chicken is my regular choice but these guys took the decision out of my hands and forced me out of my comfort zone towards the roast beef which we both subsequently ordered. It came served with a crispy Yorkshire pudding as big as your fist, a smooth carrot puree, cabbage/kale (who knows), the most divine roast potatoes and a generous covering of rich, meaty gravy with some seriously impressive lamination. We ordered some honey glazed chantenay on the side because we clearly couldn’t get enough carrot that day and seriously, those things are like crack. Do be aware that the beef comes served on the medium/rare side if you like yours more well done.
We concluded our little Sunday soirée with two dishes from the modest but nostalgic dessert menu. I went for the chocolate mousse and my other half (who was looking noticeably more chipper after two large glasses of dry Sauvignon Blanc) went for a classic Crème brûlée. The latter was a bit wishy washy in my opinion, like, nice enough but I think the vanilla might have run through and forgot to stop. The chocolate mousse however was the pièce de résistance. Served with hunks of honeycomb that tasted like bonfire night on a spoon, this was that little bit of heavenly indulgence we all need to counteract the Sunday fear. I have to say, I was hella tempted by the tonka bean, dark chocolate and hazlenut combo though so it looks like a return trip is on the cards. Damn.
With the brand’s boujie reputation and penchant for fine dining, I was expecting a heavy dint in my bank balance but I was pleasantly surprised by the damage. The Sunday menu offers 2 courses for £18 or 3 courses for £22, which around these neck of the woods is pretty middle of the road. Okay so it’s more expensive than a Toby Carvery and yeah, your plate won’t be piled as high with frozen peas but your cholesterol and your street cred will thank you for it so let the devil be your advocate.
I am going to be honest and spoil things because constructive criticism is always good and suggest that the atmosphere could do with a bit of lift. I guess we did go there at 6pm on a Sunday, so it wasn’t exactly party o’clock and it is a very intimate venue but a bit of background music wouldn’t go amiss. I kinda felt like I was featuring on a slightly awkward episode of Come Dine With Me where personal conversations were an all-you-can-earwig buffet but to be fair, I would be giving these guys a solid 83/4 out of 10 in the taxi on the way home.
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