Barnacle, Liverpool

26 February 2022
https://barnacleliverpool.co.uk/

We fancied a day out and decided to head over to the always wonderful Liverpool, and it was absolutely my kind of day out - a trip to the Museum of Liverpool to see an exhibition about the impact of the Blitz on the city, and a trip to News from Nowhere, the fabulous radical bookshop round the back of Lime Street train station. Jane is not a fan of bookshops generally, but didn’t complain at all when I told her we would be visiting NfN on our trip, so I felt under some pressure to find somewhere lovely for a late lunch/early dinner to say thank you.

Barnacle stood out immediately, for the following reasons:

• It’s a collaboration between chefs Harry Marquart, Kieran Gill, Jake Lewis, and Liverpool culinary star Simon Askew of ‘The Art School’ fame.

• The menu pays homage to Liverpool’s seafaring identity and long history as an important hub for world fayre, past and present, particularly featuring a range of fantastic produce from Merseyside, its harbour and coast.

• It is hosted in Duke Street Market, a fantastic, vibrant food court housed in a former warehouse.

• The restaurant is named after Simon Askew’s dad, Captain ‘Barnacle Bill’ Askew, who sailed the world with the Blue Star Line.

And all of those points are entirely true. Even the last one.

Barnacle is evidently the featured restaurant at Duke Street - it’s on the first floor, occupying pride of place right at the top of the stairs. And everything about it is just so… appealing. The colour palette is great. Time has been taken over the artwork on display in the restaurant and on the menus. And the positioning of the bar and tables has been well thought through. The whole package creates a feeling of tranquility which is easily, and often, lost in a busy food court environment. In addition, the staff are attentive, knowledgeable, laid back and unfailing friendly.

View into the restaurant, bar and kitchen

Our table setting

After a traumatic trip to the bookshop, Jane felt she had earned a drink and we kicked off with a couple of cocktails. We kind of had to, given that the majority of them had great nautical themed names. Jane’s ‘Close Quarters’ was right up her street, with vodka, passionfruit, butterscotch, vanilla, lemon and pineapple. She loved the sweet, velvety profile, which was way too sugary for me. My Rhubarb Spritz, with its rhubarb cordial, white port, tonic and prosecco was excellently refreshing.

My Rhubarb Spritz and Jane’s Close Quarters

Here you’d usually expect me to start talking about food - just get on with it, Sarah, FFS. But I’m going to take a moment to talk about the other thing I drank, which was Brannan’s Dry Cider, made in an orchard just outside Southport. My first snifter of Merseyside cider. It was very, very dry, and at a hefty 7% I didn’t sit and knock them back for the rest of the night, but it had that sharp, almost slightly oily quality of a really good small batch cider. It went really well with the food.

Brennan’s dry cider, made in Merseyside

And, with no further ado, the food started coming thick and fast.

To kick off, we were given a complimentary pre-starter of oatmeal stout soda bread, celeriac butter with a sharp sprinkle of sea salt, and artichoke dashi. The bread came within a whisker of being the toast sandwich for both of us - it was spectacularly good. Rich, savoury, slightly tart in the way of all good soda breads, and paired with the earthy and salty butter it was just fantastic. We managed to persuade a member of staff to give us the recipe, and we have already made a batch for ourselves to snack on at home. The dashi was a lovely addition, too, providing a note of sweet freshness to the bread.

Oatmeal stout soda bread, celeriac butter with sea salt, and artichoke dashi with mushroom and sprout

And to the starters. There were two things on the menu that I wanted to order, which had been causing me a disproportionate level of angst. However, Jane did not let me down and ordered one of them herself (with zero intervention from me, honest). My seafood chowder was exactly what it should be - rich, creamy, with a generous variety of seafood and sea herbs. In addition, the chef added a sprinkle of puffed barley, which gave the dish enhanced texture which worked really well. My only criticism was that it could have been served a couple of degrees hotter, but that took nothing away from my enjoyment of the dish.

‘New Liverpool Seafood Chowder’ - crab, clam, cockles, smoked pork and kohlrabi

Jane’s pork belly, black pudding and apple dish was delicious, although I would expect it to be given how well the elements have been proven to work together. The black pudding was creamy and rich, the apples sharp and sweet, and the pork savoury and just a little salty, particularly given that it also arrived with a kind of puffed pork scratching, which added an additional crunch. There was also a great, meaty gravy with a little crispy sage, which worked brilliantly. Jane loved it, and so did I.

Old spot pork belly, black pudding, Granny Smith apples and celeriac

Just before we get into mains, I’m going to jump on my soapbox for a minute and say that, in Britain, duck does not feature anywhere near enough on restaurant and pub menus. Why is that? What’s wrong with us? Are we idiots, perhaps? I was reflecting on these questions as I was eating my main, which was Cumbrian duck with a separate duck ragu, roasted beetroot, a cashew and carrot puree, roast carrot, and a gravy made from Tales of the Orient tea. The duck was fantastic - full flavoured with a great, crispy fat layer, and the rich ragu provided a really good contrast of flavour and texture. The puree was kind of like the best savoury peanut butter you’ve ever had, and I suppose took the place of mash potato on a traditional roast plate. It worked really well with the duck and the sweet carrot.

The gravy blew my mind. Tales of the Orient tea is made by Quinteassential, and is a South African style Rooibos with fruity and peppery notes. There was a definite kick of that tea flavour, but it was also meaty and rich. Paired with the duck and the cashew, it was just amazing. I nearly asked for a bottle of it to take home with me.

Salt aged Cumbrian duck, beetroot, carrot, cashew nuts and ‘Tales of the Orient’

There are few things that Jane enjoys more for dinner than a really good quality piece of beef, so when she saw ox cheek (and mash) on the menu, she was all over it. Cheek is a particularly lovely meat, because of its soft texture and gentle flavour. This dish was no disappointment. It came with sweet Roscoff onion, which is a type of red onion grown in northern France, earthy mushrooms and crispy, salty kale. There was also a great meaty, hearty gravy. We felt that it wasn’t as special overall as the duck dish, and Jane felt that the mash potato wasn’t lumpy enough (a persistent bugbear of hers whenever she eats mash that she hasn’t made herself).

Cumbrian ox cheek, mash, Roscoff onion, carrot and swede

I wanted to take a brief moment to tell you that we’re about to encounter an important moment in Jane’s life. She loves custard more than any other person I’ve ever met. Perhaps it’s because she spent so many years in America not knowing what it was, and part of her feels that she needs to make up for lost time. Who knows. When we were looking over the dessert menu, we both commented that custard featured as the first element in the description of this dish, which suggested it was the star of the show. At this point, I’m going to hand over the Jane to tell you what she thought of the custard at Barnacle:

Plato’s Theory of Forms says that everything we see, everything physical in our world is a mere copy of the one true form of something. The computer you’re using is but a shadow of the one, true, perfect computer. Well, I can now confidently say “EAT IT, PLATO!”. And indeed, if Plato were around to eat Barnacle’s custard, he’d realise that the chefs in this small restaurant in Liverpool had managed to physically manifest the perfect essence of custard. At once thick, like a warm custard you’d have over a crumble on a cold day, but cool and refreshing like a crème Anglaise, this custard was full of vanilla flavour that coated your mouth with perfection. In short - it was good.

Eat it, Plato, indeed.

When she took the first bite, she got very quiet and then her eyes got very wide, then she muttered the immortal words: “This is the best custard I’ve ever tasted in my life.” I told her not to say anything rash. She repeated the sentiment again. I’m informed that the poached rhubarb and cake crumb was very good too. Never mind asking for a bottle to take home - it was all I could do to stop her from robbing the kitchen on the way out.

Custard, poached rhubarb and ginger crumb

The review of the custard and rhubarb dessert is impossible to follow, and I know when I’m beat. My chocolate fondant was rich and decadent, and the quenelle of raspberry whipped cream had great flavour. Honestly, I think a raspberry ice cream would have worked a little better with the warm dessert, but I really enjoyed it. And it did that wonderful oozy thing when I cut into it, which I love.

Guandaja 70% fondant, sea salt and raspberry

A shot of that wonderful, oozy thing a chocolate fondant does, because why not?

We were really looking forward to our meal at Barnacle, and it didn’t disappoint in any way. It’s now my top recommendation for a lunch or dinner spot for anyone visiting Liverpool. As well as great food and service and a lovely ambiance, it’s also really good value - we paid less than £40 a head for three courses and pre-starter. There is a great drinks menu featuring a wide array of pretty much anything you could want, including a massive range of gins, a number of which hail from Merseyside. And if you fancy a change of scenery for you post-dinner bevvies, you can pop downstairs to one of the other Duke Street bars. What more could you ask for?

And what about the toast sandwich?
It’s fair to say that we both got a bit saucy this time around…
Sarah: The Tales of the Orient gravy with the duck dish. Unusual and delicious, I nearly scraped all of the glaze off the plate trying to get at every bit.
Jane: Like you had to ask? Barnacle’s custard - the best custard in the world.