At only £15.95 for 2 courses and £17.95 for 3 courses, it won’t break the bank either.

Space is very limited, as the first 2 sittings have already sold out. So we’ve decided to add an extra sitting at 6.30pm. If you’d like to book just call (0151) 648 9898.

Don’t forget if you book your table on Twitter by direct message, or on Facebook you’ll receive a “surprise”! After you’ve finished your meal, You’ll be presented with several silver envelopes, each containing a surprise. Pick one and you could win anything from a salt and pepper set, to a meal for two including drink! You can find our Twitter page here, and our Facebook page here.

The Menu is as follows;

To Start

Spring Vegetable Soup with a freshly baked bread roll
Black Pudding Topper with Apples and Peppercorn Sauce
Fantail of Melon with a Mango & Ginger Sorbet from Cheshire Farm
Smoked Mackerel salad with a Horseradish Dressing

Mains

All of our meat is supplied by Derek Massey & Sons Butchers, Heswall.

Roast Topside of Welsh Beef & Homemade Yorkshire Puddings
Roast Lamb reared in Ness, Wirral
Roast Loin of Pork reared in Shropshire
Honey Glazed Ham reared in Shropshire
Leek & Stilton Freerange Chicken Breast
Roasted Vegetable Tart

All main courses come with a selection of vegetables & potatoes.

To Finish

Continental Chocolate Pudding with a Hot chocolate Fudge Sauce
Bread & Butter Pudding with “proper” custard
A selection of local cheeses from the Chester Cheese Shop & Biscuits
Selection of Cheshire Farm Ice Creams

You know @CocaBeenSlinky and @pilgrimfamilyuk came all the way up from London, just to come to the Wirral TweetUp? Amazing having met them and everyone else.

We even got a mention from Sarah Brown, Gordon’s wife – who lives in number 10… You know who I’m on about

I can’t thank Twitter enough, we’ve met some amazing people, and very much looking forward to the next one. Would especially like to thank @novawildstar, @sarahg, @ap4a and @guruchill for all their time and help. You guys rock.

Just top them with whatever you like; maple syrup, chocolate sauce, fruit or just dust them with icing sugar.

Simple Yeast Free Waffles

Ingredients

• 250g Self Raising flour
• pinch salt
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 250ml milk
• 3 eggs, separated
• 90g melted butter
• 1tsp. vanilla essence

Method

• In a large bowl place the flour, salt and sugar.
• Lightly beat the egg yolks and add them to the flour mixture with the milk vanilla essence and melted butter.
• Beat the mixture until well combined and smooth.
• In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until stiff, fold the eggs gently (the idea is to retain the volume) into the flour mixture with a metal spoon.
• Brush a waffle iron with melted butter and place over a medium heat. When hot place 3-4 tablespoons of the batter on it and close.
• Cook the waffles for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove it from the iron and keep the waffle warm while you cook the remaining batter.

Traditional Waffles

Ingredients

• 15g fresh yeast or 3 tsp dried yeast
• 175ml, warm milk
• 250g plain flour
• 2 Eggs, separated
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 40g melted butter
• 3 tbsp Preserving Sugar

Method

• Mix three tablespoons of the milk with the yeast and set aside for 8-10 minutes or until becomes frothy
• In a bowl combine sieved flour with caster sugar and salt
• Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla essence, melted butter and remaining milk and yeast mixture until smooth
• In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the yeast mixture.
• Cover and place the batter in a warm spot for 1 hour or until risen and frothy.
• Stir the batter and if too thick add a little more milk.
• Heat a waffle iron over a moderate heat
• When hot sprinkle with a little of the preserving sugar and pour over 3-4tbsp. of the batter and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the waffle is golden brown.
• Sprinkle the waffles with a generous amount of icing sugar and serve hot

All of them were taken by Mark & we don’t charge him commission to hang his photographs, as we’re not just about local food, we’re about local people too. You can find more out about Mark and Formidable Photography on our Gallery Page.

We recently asked him to come in and take some pictures of our food. It’s his first foray into the world of food photography, but as I’m sure you’ll agree he’s done a marvellous job!

Seabass with Chilli, Ginger and Spring Onions

Fig & Mozzarella Salad

Black Pudding Topper

Our "Proper" Profiteroles

To nominate a restaurant, write to Chris Higgins, Wirral Council, Corporate Services, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey CH44 8ED or e-mail chrishiggins@wirral.gov.uk. Include the name and address of the restaurant and why you think the chef should be a finalist in Wirral Chefs Shine. A panel of industry professionals will judge and pick the final six. The closing date for nominations is Friday, February 26.

OUR annual search for Wirral’s top chef begins this week – and forget Masterchef, cooking really doesn’t get any tougher than this.
Over the last six years the best chefs the borough has to offer have slaved over many a hot stove in a bid to win Wirral Chefs Shine.
Another sizzling summer of competition in 2009 ended with Emma Wombwell, from the Cowshed Restaurant at the Wheatsheaf in Raby, picking up the title for the second year in a row.
As 2010 is Wirral’s Year of Food, we’re playing our part by making this year’s competition more exciting and unpredictable than ever.
The six finalists will still be depending on YOUR votes – but this year they also need you to nominate them before they even make it into the competition.
And it doesn’t end there.
In the past shortlisted chefs have been given a list of seasonal ingredients they must use to create three courses.
This year, we’re putting their knowledge of food to the ultimate test by making them pick their own ingredients, which must be seasonal and locally sourced.
But there’s a twist – we’re throwing an extra ingredient into the mix, which all our chefs must use somewhere in their menu.
Our chosen extra is chocolate and we’re hoping to see some real imagination and innovation, whether it’s used in a mouthwatering dessert or even as part of a starter or main course.
The price this year will be £18.95, so we want to see some top quality dishes which would wow even a Michelin inspector.
To add to the pressure, we’ll be inviting a group of professional chefs to each finalist’s big night.
Wirral News readers will again be invited to each final to score the chef and meal and we’ll be revealing their identities in the paper and on our website as the months go on.

A Chefs Shine evening will take place on a Tuesday night from May to October.

On the night diners will be asked to score on the starter, main course, dessert, presentation, use of chocolate, balance, originality and customer service.
The highest scoring chef will pick up the title of Wirral Chef of the Year 2010 at the Wirral Tourism Awards for Excellence in November.
Wirral Chefs Shine 2010 is supported by Wirral Council, the Mersey Partnership, Liverpool Community College and Wirral Met College.

Do you think your favourite Wirral restaurant has what it takes?
To nominate a restaurant, write to Chris Higgins, Wirral Council, Corporate Services, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey CH44 8ED or e-mail chrishiggins@wirral.gov.uk
Include the name and address of the restaurant and why you think the chef should be a finalist in Wirral Chefs Shine.
A panel of industry professionals will judge and pick the final six.
The closing date for nominations is Friday, February 26.

Taken from the Wirral News

We still have space for our Valentine’s Weekend, yep, the whole weekend. We’re running our special menu on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, giving you the chance to get out.

Maybe you’re thinking it’ll be too expensive? Our menu is just £17 for 4 courses per head, and you get free wine if you book via Twitter, so it won’t break the bank.

We literally have only a handful of tables left, so you best be quick.

We bought them exactly a year a go as a Valentine’s Day fad. I’d seen them on a kitchenwear website, and thought they’d be perfect. Just something that would sit on the tables, and remind our customers what day it was. We were even going to give them away to the people that had booked that evening, until everyone commented & said how nice they were.

So we decided to let them stay. Over the last year we’ve sold just over a thousand of them. Seriously. It’s a talking point to say the least. People make them talk to one another, children give them names, and the adults… well, erm, I’ll just say we find them in “various positions” when they vacate the table! They even took part in the office nativity at Christmas.

The one question i get asked often is “where do you get them from?”. My answer is, we sell them. The main reason for this blog post is to make people aware that we sell them.

Just before Christmas, the little people have been wandering off. Jumping into peoples handbags, some have returned, but many, sadly have not.

We sell them for just £6 a set for the plain black & white ones and £10 for the limited edition range, that we design ourselves.

So why not come in and pick up a set? They make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift.

Very simple, easy, little mess and little washing-up afterwards, very indulgent, creamy & fruity!

Ingredients

• 200g strawberries
• 200g raspberries
• Dash of sugar
• Dash of port
• Broken up meringues
• 250ml double/whipping cream

Method

• Whip 250ml double cream until it just holds soft peaks
• Break 4 meringue nests into pieces and add them to the cream with the raspberries & strawberries
• Add the sugar and Port
• Fold in lightly with a metal spoon
• Divide the mixture among four dishes or glasses and serve

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1 Chopped Onion
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
• 1 Chopped Potato
• 450g Peeled and Chopped Carrots
• 1.2l Veg or Chicken Stock
• Handful of Fresh Coriander

Method

• Heat the oil in a pan.
• Add the onion, and cook for 5mins until softened.
• Stir in the ground coriander and potato, and cook for another minute.
• Add the carrots and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat.
• Put the lid on and cook for about 20 mins, until the carrots are tender.
• Add most of the coriander leaves and blitz with the blender until smooth.
• Add seasoning to taste and serve garnished with a few coriander leaves.

So we’ve decided to start from scratch. How to prepare vegetables, how to chop correctly, thus making it easier in the long run. Starting from the basics and working from the way up is the best way. Especially when what they know, is from TV and various online recipes.

Today they’re making soup. Nearly there – being left to simmer now. We’ve used onions, leek, potatoes, carrots, swede, all to a fine dice. Added 50g of butter, 25g of flour and 1l of stock. They’ve done really, really well.

Photocopied worksheets for homework! Test next week, only joking!

Just in case you want to follow here’s the recipe they did today for 4 portions of soup;

Ingredients

• 300g Mixed vegetables; onion, carrots, turnip, leek, celery
• 50g Butter, margarine, or oil
• 25g Flour
• 1litre White stock
• 100g sliced potatoes
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Method

• Peel, wash and slice all the vegetables (except the potatoes).
• Cook gently in the butter or margarine in a covered pan, without colouring.
• Mix in the flour and cook slowly for a few minutes without colouring; cool slightly.
• Mix in the hot stock, stir and bring to the boil.
• Add the sliced potatoes and add the salt and pepper. Simmer for 30-40 minutes; skim when necessary.
• Liquidise with a hand blender.
• Serve and enjoy!

We taught them they can also double quantities to make more servings which you can cool and freeze. Especially handy for busy people who want to have an easy dinner when they get home from work.