As part of my gammy handed break from work I thought it was a good chance to meet some of my friends new babies that I haven’t had chance to meet yet due to work and the fact I live in Scotland and they live in the midlands of England. The first of hopefully two of these meets was with Gem. The same fabulous lady that I went to Lassan with last year when Rory was still neatly in situ in her tummy.

We both got the train to Liverpool to meet up as it was only one train for each of us and she didn’t feel ready for a long drive alone with the bab just yet as he’s only 2 months and driving her a little potty with his constant car crying.

After a coffee at the Albert Dock and a sunny walk we decided to get food. We were initially going to get afternoon tea at “Oh Me Oh My” but Rory wasn’t settling and Gem thought that the table set up wasn’t going to be great with him. So we headed to Bakchich on the recommendation of my sis and her husband and my bestie Liz.

I have tried to get a table here before but it was always a wait on the weekend and it was busy again even though it was a weekday. Popular is always a good sign! We were quickly seated at the table just in front of the door but Gem was finding it a bit difficult with the pram and so we moved as soon as someone left to a table in the corner near the window where she felt she was less in the way.

We liked to look of most of the stuff on the menu but decided to get stuff to share between the two of us so that we could have more of a mixture and the best way to have a bit of more of the menu was to get one of the Mezze platters. We actually went for both of them, a meat and a vegetarian Mezze platter, both for 1 persons at £8.95 and £6.95 respectively. We also ordered a Halloumi salad (£5.95) and thought we could order more if there wasn’t enough.

How wrong we were! There was loads of food! So my first comment is how cheap this place is. To have more food than two people can eat for under £25 is excellent value. The plates looked amazing on the table, so vibrant and interesting to look at. So many different things drawing your eyes with their bright colours. Very impressive looking spread.

The meat platter had Jawaneh meshawi (chicken wings), falafel, hummus, mixed shawarma (grilled kebab meat), kibbeh shamiya (lamb parcel) and Baba Ghanoush, served with pickles & homemade bread. As I said really good portions. Less attractive looking than the other plates as well, this was mainly meat and therefore brown but it was very tasty.

The baba ghanoush was more smokey flavoured on the meat plate, I wonder if this was intentional or just that they were different batches. Really nice and Gem loved it. The falafel had a lovely crunchy exterior and was soft and fragrant inside. There was lamb and chicken shawarma. The lamb was succulent and aromatic and very tasty but a little greasy at the bottom. The chicken was similar but less flavoursome unless you got a nice more heavily BBQ’d bit. The kibbeh shamiya was similar to the falafel with a crunchy outside but with a meaty lamb and onion interior. The hummus was good thick proper stuff not like you get from the supermarket. More the type my Lebanese friend went on about not being able to get in the UK.

The vegetarian Mezze platter had hummus, baba ghannoush, tabbouleh, falafel, fattoush salad, manakeesh jibneh, again served with pickles & homemade bread. This plate looked awesome. In retrospect our plate didn’t seem to have any manakeesh jibneh but I didn’t notice this at the time. Not that we needed more food. The tabbouleh was particularly nice and I scoffed more than my fair share of this. Fresh and minty with citrus. Yum.

The halloumi salad also looked brilliant, very colourful. It was crunchy and summery and fresh and felt healthy eating it and delicious with a balsamic dressing with hints of mint and pomegranate. The halloumi was creamy and not salty.

It was such a wonderful cornucopia of colours and flavours. Sadly though we got quite full and had to admit defeat. I have to admit that I started to find the flavours all a bit much once I started to get full but I was still feeling a bit nauseous with all the opiates I have had for my hand. Funnily it was mostly the meat that was left, whereas it’s normally the salad that gets left in these things. Possibly because the salads were so fresh and gorgeous and possibly because it was such a warm day.

We were thankful for the doggy bag we were given and left full and happy. Really want to take my Lebanese friend out here, he has taken me to a Lebanese restaurant in Leicester a few times and this place is a million times better! I can see why my sister and her husband love it so much. Although I do think they need to proof read their menu. They can’t seem to decide on how to spell anything. Give them a try!

Foodie x x

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to follow me on twitter: @_foodie_uk, Facebook: facebook.com/UKFoodie or on Instagram via the link below