LOVE LANE BREWERY & KITCHEN
by Si Hall & Nicky Rigby-Smith
Love Lane in Liverpool is the only brewery, bar and distillery with
their own kitchen.
They've spent a lot of time experimenting with how fresh ingredients
can affect flavour. They've created a brand new menu that is inspired
by their multi award winning beers and gins. From the malt from their
brewery to The Ginsmiths of Liverpool Gin used in their sorbet.
Sometimes you just want a couple of beers (and the Love Lane beer
flavours are something to write home about, honestly) and some really
hearty but nice grub.
Seared steak salad with radish. pickled chilli, confit tomato and
vinaigrette (GF). Perfectly seared, buttery soft and tender, another
generous portion.
Dry rubbed Porterhouse pork chop, salsa verde and fennel slaw (GF).
Another flavour surprise, this combo really worked wonders.
Aubergine and lentil dahl, baked rice and spiced onion (VE GF). Woo,
this had a kick to it, in a nice way. Chef Andy picked up this recipe at
a cookery class in Goa.
And so we begin... We then shared a Artisanal (locally-sourced) cheese board (the cheese
not the board) great selection.
A number of people who highly rate this place asked 'when was the
last time you had a really tasty humble sausage roll?' A touch of sweetness came via a decadent but light White chocolate
and walnut blondie with warm chocolate sauce
We almost laughed, the word 'tasty' isn't in the vicinity of a sausage
roll, because well, it's just a sausage roll. So we started there, with the
Pork and Leek Sausage Rolls (from the Beer Bites menu). Instantly the
penny dropped. This was the ONLY tasty Sausage Rolls we'd ever had,
there was nothing humble about those flavours. Well, we can all see why everyone loves this place, the clever team
are very serious about what they do, focusing on quality but it's all
heavily underlined with a sense of playfulness, constantly tinkering
and tweaking new recipes, food, beer and gin.
We were inspired to see what else they've put a taste twist on. Kicking
off with Cheddar Croquettes and Basil Mayonnaise (VG). Lightly
crispy, cheese oozed out as it should, worked well with the basil, very
nice.
Courgette Fritti with a spring onion salsa (VE). A lot of courgette
based Vegan dishes can be pretty tasteless and bland, but not here.The
Chef just tapped the side of his nose when we asked what made these
just so moreish, his secret remained that, but they were a winner.
We'd seen a number of very impressive looking Main Plates come out,
so we opted for a bit of a caveman (sorry, caveperson) meat feast...
Paprika roasted half chicken with Harissa and watercress (GF). This is
huge but finger licking lovely, the Harissa is a nice touch.
46 wirrallife.com
Andy the Chef popped out with a sample of something else he was
developing - a selection of his own beef jerky. He gave us a few pieces
of his 'secret recipe chilli' version. Mega tasty, the BANG! All of our
lids were blown clean off (much to his amusement), the inferno was
nailed on for a good 4/5 hours!! Brilliant.
This is the kind of business everyone would love to own. It's got it
all. And it's a really great space. Philip Hammond (The Chancellor)
recently popped in when he was in town. Not bad at all.
Food, Beer and Gin alchemy at it's best.
To find out more, visit www.lovelanebrewing.com