We had a lovely weekend away in Liverpool this past January, and what’s better on a freezing cold January day than a hearty Sunday lunch. It can be a risky tactic in a city you’re unfamiliar with as places get booked up quickly and you can’t always just walk in somewhere. Thank heavens in that case for Albert’s Schenke on Hanover Street who came up with exactly what we needed.
The company was established in 2015 in Manchester and have expanded across the North West with their traditional bier halle and cook haus; the perfect replication of Bavaria and a lovely cosy proper pub feel.
We hadn’t booked a table but were seated straight away when we arrived at about 5pm and the place was bouncing (in a good way; it was certainly popular. Having not eaten anything since breakfast we were starving so went from starters and a Sunday roast each and that, my friends was our first mistake.
We thought we’d keep things traditional by ordering the cheese and ham croquettes and the haus pretzel (which comes with mustard and pickles for starter and the roast chicken (for me, standard) and the schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) for Dave. They have a fixed price menu of £20.50 for two courses and £24.50 for three, which I think for the centre of a busy town I thought is actually really competitive.
First off I have to say the food is absolutely top notch. The croquettes were really cheesy and complimented the roasts really well as a starter. My chicken dinner was also beautifully cooked, the complimenting veggies were roasted I garlic (subtly, not overpowering) and there were plenty of gravy. The pretzel and the pork knuckle were absolutely huge! So portion control was a issue for sure. However, for the price and the quality, I was absolutely blown away.
Dave’s pork knuckle was huge, like, we could have shared it huge but the quality of the meat was out of the world as it just fell off the bone and was almost like really tender pulled pork. As the starters and the mains pretty much came out at the same time (kind of like in Wagamamas style) we took the pretzel to go and had it for lunch the next day. We have good appetites let me assure you but even this was no match for us.
It was all washed down with a pint of German lager for Dave a glass of white wine for me and our final bill came to about £56, so the drinks aren’t cheap, but the value and quality of the food more than makes up for it.
Fingers crossed the expand even further across to the North East and open the next haus in Newcastle.
