The Letter B Part 2 - "B"rass Monkey

Even though this wasn’t intended to be the letter B also (well, its second part), we’ve decided to give it a go as we’d heard good things about it. Deciding to go before going to see the newest edition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Doctor Strange, there was nothing better than the thought of a cocktail before the mind-trip of a film.

Found tucked away on School Lane (just down from the Epstein Theatre) the little bar is pretty much separated into three rooms, with one front one, a hallway and a back room, and can only be described as a bit cosy. Due to this though, it’d probably be recommended if you were in a small group or on a date, any group above around six or seven people will probably struggle to fit in.

On walking in the first thing I noticed was the fact nobody was actually eating. The main purpose of the trip (besides the cocktails, obviously) was to get dinner in. The other thing I noticed was the fact that some of the seats were swings. I later learnt that they promote taking selfies on the swings, which is something I definitely wish I’d done.

However, with the fact that nobody was eating there was definitely a pang of fear as I was absolutely starving at this point. Even when we’d gone into the backroom where there seemed to be bigger tables that seemed to be for food, there was still nobody eating. It turns out they do food until 8, and we’d gotten pretty lucky turning up at half 7. 

The backroom itself was different itself. The entire bar was covered in Halloween decorations with the holiday round the corner; however I’d love to go and see the place without the cobwebs and gory hands everywhere. The ceiling was covered in umbrellas and it had four tables, with a couch for each one. Each table could only fit about 4 or 5 people, but there were only two of us which meant that the entirety of the couch was for my comfort.

Ordering cocktails first, we both decided on martini’s to go with our food. I went with the French Monkey Martini (vanilla vodka, Chambord and pineapple) while Becki went for the Monkey 47-75 (Monkey 47 gin, strawberries & lemon that’s topped with prosecco). With the cocktails ranging from between £7.50 to £8, it can only be said that these cocktails are worth their price. You can understand why the bar promotes itself for its cocktails, as they were pretty incredible.

While maybe not the strongest drink, my martini was incredible tasting with the pineapple taste really sticking out, while Becki’s seem to go straight to her head, which had a lot more sweet taste to it.

While the cocktails were great, the same couldn’t be said about the food. The bar doesn’t really promote itself for its food but we gave it a go anyway. I went for an 8oz steak with homemade slaw and sweet potato wedges while Becki went for the Monkey Club sandwich, which include chicken, bacon, the regular sandwich salads and an egg.

It’s safe to say that Becki picked the better of the two. The steak in all fairness wasn’t that good and was just a little too tasteless to be totally enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong though, the meal overall was more than filling enough and kept me full for a long while, though the taste just wasn’t enough for me. Becki’s sandwich though was pretty big in size, no doubt. Large chips also came with it that were pretty good and accompanied her meal well.

Overall though the quirky bar is well worth a visit. It does also do Mad Hatter brews, a local brewery found in the Baltic Triangle. The three drinks, named “Penny Lane”, “Toxteth IPA” and the appropriately named “Nightmare on Bold Street” were sold, and even though I was eager to try all three, the film was set to start and we had to promptly leave.

I’d say you should absolutely visit this place, give it a go, enjoy a cocktail or two and hang around for its atmosphere. However, in terms of food, you may be better off going somewhere else. 

If you’d like to keep up with me, you can follow me on Instagram at Jamesrobertjones or on Twitter @JJ_Journo.

The Letter B Part 1 - "B"altic Fleet Pub

So this entry into the journey is only part 1 as it wasn’t intended to be our destination, however it’s hard not to include such an iconic Liverpool pub. As this wasn’t the intended place to go, this entry will only be rather small unfortunately.

The Baltic Fleet Pub © John Bradley

The Baltic Fleet pub, found on Wapping Dock, is an important feature of the dock and originates from the 1850’s and is now a grade II listed building. It was built after a compulsory purchase order that allowed the widening of the dock road, and in 1856 once the road widening was finished, the Baltic Fleet was given its famous name. It was a renowned past time for sailors who would come into the Wapping Dock, and even has tunnels that heads towards the dock as well as another possible cheeky tunnel that heads to the old red light area of Cornhill. It is also thought that the tunnel was used for victualling ships, smuggling or crimping (a form of merchant equivalent press ganging).

It is also Liverpool’s only brew pub, brewing its own real ale underneath the pub, located in the bow of the ship-shaped building. This started in 2001, making it Liverpool’s oldest microbrewery. I wish I’d found this out beforehand as when I went I had no idea of this, and will definitely be returning to try out some of their own ales.  It was also named one of the best “LocAle” pubs of 2016, an award handed out by CAMRA to the best pubs that sell local real ale.

The building is itself is rather small inside, however this only makes it a more intimate and cosy. I wouldn’t advise going in a big group due to this, however there is a function room for hire. For a Friday night it wasn’t too busy but it still had a very friendly atmosphere that was furthered by the bar staff, who seemed to be having a laugh with some of the customers who I’d assume are regulars. It didn’t have many household beers on tap and instead promoted itself on the fact that it was selling proper ales, and to my delight, German ales. I decided to have a mixture of Fürstenberg and Weihenstephan, a beer which promotes itself on the fact that it’s the world’s oldest brewery.

The bar did close at 11, however this little pub is undoubtedly a brilliant place to start your night before hitting the town. It will be only a matter of time until I return there for a decent pint, and it really does make a good place to have a catch up with a mate too. It does food and reviews suggest that the kitchen serves a good plate, something that I will try the next time I visit.

Overall it lives up to its famed name and is quite a good little place to visit for a drink, whether you’re getting ready for a night out, waiting for a show in the Echo Arena (which it is just five minutes away from) or just having a simple catch up.

If you’d like to keep up with me, you can follow me on Instagram at Jamesrobertjones or on Twitter @JJ_Journo. 

The Beginning: the letter A - 'A'fternoon tea at The Brink.

So this marks the beginning of my brand new blog that I have decided to start after a simple idea me and my girlfriend had: going through the alphabet of things to do in Liverpool. 

Liverpool is undoubtedly one of the greatest cities in the UK, with its rich history and heritage there is no denying that. Having lived in the city my entire life you'd think that I'd have discovered all there is to know, however Liverpool never stops giving and continues to throw out incredible surprises. 

That's where the idea to find a place within the city that can be represented by a letter came from. There is hundreds upon hundreds of things to do, however my goal is to visit the best places within the city and try to avoid places I've visited before. But some places can be exempt from this rule if they're too incredible to avoid. 

Another rule is that me and my girlfriend, Becki, also have to alternate between who chooses where to go. Giving credit where credit is due, she came up with the idea and so had first pick on where to go.

So, this blog obviously starts with the letter A. 

Afternoon Tea at the Brink

It was Becki’s idea to do afternoon tea as the letter A, and she picked out a pretty perfect place. We did come very close to going to Almost Famous due to it being a favourite, however we decided to go next door to the Brink, on 21 Parr Street.

The Brink on Parr Street

The Brink is a charity run café bar that is owned by the charity Action on Addiction in order to help support those recovering from a past addiction, and it’s clear that they’ve put in a lot of effort to make the café as safe and inviting as possible. It sells a variety of food and also ‘mocktails’, and refrains from selling alcohol due to the nature of helping others recover. Celebrating its 5^th birthday recently, it’s obvious to see how the café can be very appealing. The building is bright white to make it as light as possible, and has very interesting décor which involves upside down planted flowers, famous quotes from classic films changed to fit the restaurant and a very entertaining rhyme wall. There was also posters all around promoting student events and classes that occur at the café, including guitar classes (which I may definitely attend) and even support classes for those who need help to write CV’s and find jobs after recovering from addiction. It was very clear that this place is here to help.

It also gained a bit of local fame after Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton visited the café a few years ago, of which the café still has proud pictures of behind the bar.

So, since we decided to go here for afternoon tea, it only made sense to go for the afternoon tea option on the menu, which cost a respective £8.50.

Our afternoon tea

As we ordered two, the food came out on a 3-tier cake stand, with the bottom level being filled with sandwiches, the second with cakes and the third with scones. We attacked the bottom level first, each picking out our own sandwiches. The content of the butties were varied, from honey and mustard ham (my personal fave out of the selection) to cream cheese to normal cheese, as well as roast chicken. As I spent a lot of time trying to eat and Instagram my incredible looking afternoon tea, I fell behind Becki rather quickly, who’d been starving all day. It became pretty obvious that the food was fulfilling that hole rather quickly, as when she was on her last sandwich she was near defeat, even with all the food left over on the upper levels. Seeing the desperation in her eyes, I decided to quickly finish the rest of my selection while she let her stomach settle for a bit and have some of her cuppa.

We then skipped the second tier went onto the scones on the top level, which came with a shot glass of jam and tub of cream and butter. I’ve never really been a big fan of scones, though this may have swung my opinion, as the full sensation I had after the sandwiches was instantly gone after I had one bite. Becki seemed to have the same reaction, as she was able to eat the entire thing and even attempt to tackle the second tier of food.

This involved brownies, sliced strawberry and coconut cake. Brownies will always go down as one of the best desert treats ever, and even though the slices were small, they delivered in spectacular style. The strawberries also went nice with the little bit of leftover cream from the scones, however at this point the entire thing had defeated us both, and our coconut cakes only slightly tasted.

It actually took us a few minutes to move because we were both full to the brim. On paper it may sound like only a few sandwiches and cakes, however it hits the spot incredibly and is extremely filling, and it’s made me wonder what else is on offer at this place, and I will definitely be back to find out.

Afterwards when we got back, Becki could barely move due to being so full. Even hours afterwards the meal was still keeping us fulfilled, a clear statement that it was worth the money paid.

It’s fair to say that The Brink was a very good place to start this journey, and is undoubtedly a very decent place to visit in Liverpool. If the Duchess of Cambridge had a good time there then it’s fair to say you just might too, and understanding the purpose of this café just makes it all that better.

If you’ve struggled with addiction in the past and want a safe place to visit, then this is definitely the place to go. Otherwise, you can get help from Addiction Helper by calling 0800 138 7188 or texting “HELP” to 66777.

Thanks for following and I hope you stick around for the rest of my journey. We will be visiting the location of B tomorrow and I will hopefully have the next blog post up on Saturday.

If you’d like to keep up with me, you can follow me on Instagram at Jamesrobertjones or on Twitter @JJ_Journo.