Delifonseca (Liverpool ) at home (Liverpool )

Regional Dining Discussions U.K., Ireland
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Latest in our ‘at home’ or ‘food in a box’ series, though this time it was food in a placcy bag, because it is very local and so was dropped off at designated time and popped straight in the fridge.

We go to the Deli quite often in normal times. Its not far from ‘town’ centre, has its own parking, we really like the front of house people ( they tipped us off about Moor Hall before it had a star ) and they do GF for my dad and make him and mum feel like they are proper looked after.
All of this is, of course, lost when you are warming stuff up yourself and doing the dishes after.

The food ?
Well, it was mixed (placcy ) bag.

Two starters - beetroot filo with goats cheese ( warm ) and smoked salmon timbale with herbs and avocado ( cold ) were fine. We reckoned we could’ve done the filo ourselves but the salmon was something we wouldn’t have faffed with, esp the mousse interior. Avocado was a bit tired looking but I’m not a huge fan of it anyhow so wasn’t too bothered. Salmon could’ve done with a bit of crunch on the plate too.
Lockdown has definitely made us start asking ourselves - yeah but could we have just done this ourselves ?- a bit more. I’m not altogether sure that is a good thing, but it is definitely a thing.

Main courses were more disappointing. Other half had cod with chorizo crumb and greens, with a mussel and clam sauce. Sauce was lovely and definitely a ‘wouldn’t try this at home’. Cod was, well cod. Not ideal for heating. Not ideal, in my book, unless coated in batter and served with chips. This did not change my view. Greens were, weirdly, over done.

I had a smoked haddock, prawn and trout fish pie with a saffron sauce. There was lot of it, and it looked like a bit of a lump on the plate. Prawns were good and not overcooked but the haddock was just a bit bland, it was all just a bit samey. Ended up whacking some of other half’s clam and mussel sauce on it ,which gave it a lift but made me feel like a ‘two sauce’ glutton.
We shared one pud ( one is still in the fridge ) - a custard tart. It was nice, but not as nice as the ice cream we rustled up ( aka took out of the fridge ) to go with it .

Fifty quid for two, so decent value ( esp my whacking great fish pie).

Either we are getting bored of these meal in a box things, or eating out really is all about, well, eating out. Maybe both :slight_smile:

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That’s disappointing. We’ve had lunch at their place on Stanley Street on one of our trips to your end of the M62 - thought it was very decent.

I think you raise a fair question about “could we have cooked this ourself”. We’ve looked at , say, Cote which does nationwide delivery and decided we deffo could cook it. That said, when you’re not able to get out to a real restaurant, it makes a good change from cooking. But I do agree with you when you suggest that eating out is all about, well, eating out.

Not too long now, mate. We’ve already got a couple of reservations in for May. And may do an outdoor lunch before that.

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That must have been a while back, John.

They gave up Stanley St a long time ago - a real shame how they squandered it, to be honest with you.

When it first opened it was such a brilliant place - hearty and comfortably eclectic food & cracking value.10 minutes walk from my office in town. I used to recommend it back in the CH UK board days :slight_smile: .Me and one of my mates still wax lyrical about being able to go there, have a couple of courses a beer and still have change out of twenty quid. Then they got nominated for a couple of awards, prices went up, portions went down, it became harder to get a table, and we stopped going, after having to send food back a couple of times.
So Stanley St started to die on its ar*e but in the meantime they opened the dockside place and it captured something of the original vibe, plus Tom, the front of house guy ( who used to work at L’Enclume ) came along and just made it a welcoming place to go with fiends, their kids, and family. This is a man who, one Friday night when I went with my girlfriend and ordered a reasonably light meal but asked if she was ordering something with chips ( she wasn’t ) turned up with a side of chips for me , gratis ,and said "You just seemed like you needed some carbs’.
On another occasion he gave us and our friends’ son a ‘selection of puddings’ because he couldn’t decide which one he fancied. Not on the menu, but, hey, the young lad couldn’t decide. What a guy. Plus he told us about Alex, legendary ( in every sense :slight_smile: ) sommelier at Moor Hall.
So, yeah , I really wanted to like it more than I did.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the grand reopening. Don’t trust the buffoon not to put profits and his own stupid soundbites before people’s health so not sure when I will feel safe enough to venture out again. It will be vicarious living through your posts for while yet, I think!

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Evening, mate

2012 according to my notes.

We’ve also got mixed feelings about the reopening. We’ll do what we’ve done throughout the year of shielding - and that’s see what the regulations are and then decide if that feels safe or do we need to take more precautions. Second jabs over the next fortnight though. We did go out (and have a week away “dahn sarf”) last summer. It was mainly OK in restaurants. A couple of times it felt a bit too crowded and we werent keen. And there was a couple of our local places that we decided to pass on for a while - to be blunt, there’s no point reading that the virus is rife in the local South Asian community and then go to a South Asian restaurant.