Sōlō by Tim Allen (Aughton)

First up, the interior is a converted pub in tasteful and very homely decor.  On entering, my group felt right at home, the feel was utterly unpretentious and I was delighted to discover it is a husband and wife team (Tim in the kitchen literally on his own with Kitchen Porter assistant) and his wife on front of house and in the restaurant.  Amazingly, they were able to accommodate my group of 8 guests after the British Open being held in Liverpool for 2023.

The set lunch meal was a staggering £45 per head for this special, no choice menu for this size of group, but the normal menu is still an incredible £42.50 for 3 courses.  This is frankly outstanding value for money when having food of the quality.  When I return (which I am already planning), I will definitely be staying over somewhere so that I/we can enjoy the full tasting menu at £95.

Our meal started with some of the best focaccia I have ever had in my life and dare I say, I think it even may be a fraction better than the beloved Sportsman, in its outstanding lightness and crust appeal made with its own butter.  Next came a construction of tomatoes with tomato consommé with yuzu sourdough, Parmesan and Iberica ham.  The consommé was utterly transparent, light, with good flavour to compliment the  sumptuous, peeled tomatoes and the lightly cooked sour dough had the perfect crunch (not too oily) with befitting parmesan and ham to accompany all.  Cornish cod was next which came with aerated eel dashi, horseradish, a lovely, smoked Pike roe and nori seaweed.  This all came together beautifully, the roe not too salty, the dish again light in feel and went down extremely quickly.

The meat here comes from the nearby Butcher Fowl Emporium and the meat dish was a maple toffee pork with English peas, truffle ‘snow’ and puffed potatoes.  Delicate is not the word.  The whole table was again blown away how the wonderful pork had been cooked and balanced with the maple sweetness which was not too sticky or sweet as can very often be the case, but at the perfect level.  My group of Singaporean dining companions are somewhat used to meat with an Asian twist, to the extent that anything less than excellent is immediately picked up on – the entire table gave this dish a resounding thumbs up on its handling and wonderful flavour (as did I, especially the sublime texture of the pork) which is probably the biggest compliment to gain from the tough dining crowd.

Cumbrian Duck came with fermented cherries, Scottish girolles, green pepper and sweetcorn.  I was initially concerned about the use of sweetcorn as can sometimes be almost too sweet when combined with other sweet aspects, but again, the fermented cherry had toned this down and the portion size of sweetcorn and all to accompany the superb duck was just right.  Another, carefully conceived and executed dish, gaining empty plates across the board.

The dessert was a triumph.  Lemken Strawberries were served with a vanilla ‘fresher’, garden lemon verbena and meringue shards that resembled the delicacy of my dessert at 3 Michelin starred Zen in Singapore.  This was perfectly light, sweet, refreshing and gorgeous in one.  In a final twist, as the chef knew that we had been enjoying the golf at the British open, the lemon verbena soft cream sphere was presented as a golf ball in a lovely touch for the group. A stunning dessert.

If that wasn’t enough, I was delighted to see that coffee was sourced from Difference coffee, one of the finest coffee producers in the world that only supply their coffee to chosen venues (the Yellow Bourbon being wonderfully full in body but lightly citrusy at the same time) and was the perfect finish with chocolate truffles that were pure velvet inside.  The conclusion was that everyone was sated yet not bloated and frankly, there was nothing that everyone did not enjoy – a huge hit rate.

As mentioned, I cannot speak more highly of this venue and for all the reasons above it is my firm recommendation that you try this venue if you are passing through anywhere near Liverpool or the surrounding counties.  This was the best meal from Tim Allen I have had to date, is easily one of the strongest 1 Michelin starred venues I have enjoyed.  I am frankly excited for the potential of where this could go.

Food Grade: 86%