Botanico

Went to Botanico in Woolton Village for brunch this afternoon with Holly. It's only just opened - it was previously Crust then changed to Il Ristorante by Crust which didn't last long and now Botanico Brunch & Bistro, Bakery, Afternoon Tea. Still has the Italian vibe as it does woodfire pizzas and pasta from 12pm. Brunch is served all day till 5pm. They have a bakery at the back with baked goods, cakes and gelato.

The interior was great with all the plants - the new thing now. A lot of places are going for this vibe.

It was really busy and we booked for 12:15pm and was 15 minutes early. The host girl didn't know what to do - so the manger who was running around had to deal with the situation.

Holly got a Soy Cappuccino and I got a Matcha Latte. Holly said her coffee wasn't great and really bitter. My matcha didn't look great and wasn't made properly. They didn't give me a spoon to mix it and it was really bitter. I only managed to drink half of it.

On the menu they do Buttermilk Chicken & Waffles and Pancake stacks. But no other waffle option so I asked if I could get the waffles with one of the pancake toppings

Waffles with forest fruits & lemon creme fraiche - £9

The fruit was really sour and I wished I went for something savoury. It would have been better if it was American waffles and I wished I asked before ordering it!

Holly got Smashed Avocado on Sourdough - Topped with crumbled feta, toasted seeds, roasted cherry tomatoes, green salsa and added 2 poached eggs - £10

The interior was nice and the menu looks good and we want to go back for dinner but the service was awful. There was a lot of staff but most of them didn't have a clue what they were doing. Our drinks went to the table next to us. They didn't bring us the jug of water we asked for. We got our food, finished it and had our plates taken away then our waitress came over to ask if we had our food! We asked for the bill and paid on card, then as we were putting our coats on, our waitress came over to ask if we needed the card machine. The host girl was just useless was watching her as people were coming in and she just had no service and just didn't want to be there at all. She wasn't greeting people and didn't know what to do. We were early by 15 minutes but that shouldn't have thrown her off as she had the screen up with all the bookings so should have just went ok let me just check if your table was ready and she just stood there like "I don't know what to do" until the manager came over to sort the situation out.

Considering the awful service we do want to come back and try dinner - they also do afternoon tea. The food did actually come quick and hopefully given a bit of time the staff will find their feet and know what they're doing - so we hope anyway! I hope this is just new place nerves and they do find their feet as this is definitely something we've been after in Woolton village and hope it does well.

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Skaus

Went to Skaus on Allerton Road with Kelly for lunch today. Kelly's been a few times so had to give it a try to see if it's as good as she makes out. It was busy when we got there at around 12:30pm. Someone had just finished so we got their table. It was a lot smaller than I thought it was.

Kelly got a Dirty Chai Latte and I got a Matcha Latte - £3.60 each

We're both not a fan of these cups with no handles. Not practical when you have a really hot drink!

As always I did already have a look at the menu before going and still couldn't decide when I got there what to get but eventually settled on 

Two poached eggs on grilled soda bread added hot smoked salmon - £8 + £2.95

It looked crap and it wasn't anything special. I prefer just having smoked salmon rather than an actual piece of salmon. This is something I'd eat with rice for dinner not what I'd put with toast.

Kelly got

Omelette roast breakfast radish, goats cheese, wild garlic pesto & seeds - £11.95

This looked nice and wished I went for it! 

The menu is pricey as your usual avocado and toast is £13.50. Probably wouldn't go back again as the menu isn't for me and pricey for what it is. The thing I should have tried was their Scouse hence the name of the place. This is what they originally started out as - making scouse and have now branched out to have a bigger menu. Funny enough I've lived in Liverpool all my life but never actually had a proper bowl of Scouse - it's basically a beef stew. Not something I'd go for but would have been good for today as the weather was grim when we were out. It was like winter, cold, rain and just miserable when it was actually hot and sunny yesterday!

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Neighbourhood Cafe

Finally went to Neighbourhood Cafe on Woolton Road. I've been saying I need to try here for years and eventually went today for lunch with Holly. It's bigger than I thought it was and always looks busy when I go past it.

It looked full at the back and we manged to get the table right by the window.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese, topped with capers, red onion and tomato bagel - £10.95

Matcha latte - £4.50

I'm sure when I read this on the menu it said it had avocado. It actually looks crap and tasted just how it does - crap. Was really disappointed. Hardly any smoked salmon, a few salad leaves and the bagel wasn't even toasted. I've had a lot of smoked salmon bagels and they've been so much better than this. I could have made it better for less than half the price! 

Holly got Avocado toast, topped with feta, tomato, 2 poached eggs and added bacon - £9.95 + £1.75

Matcha latte with almond milk - £4.50 + 50p

Holly said her's was nice. I was really disappointed considering I've been wanting to try here for years. It's always busy so thought it was going to be good but don't think I'll be going back again. The menu online is different and I forgot to take a photo because I am convinced my bagel should have had avocado but I didn't say anything.

Haven't eaten out in a while but have been disappointed today and last weekend when I went to Il Ristorante by Crust and the roast I had at The Old School House. Hopefully whatever next on the list is a lot better!

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Tiny Rick's Cafe

Went to Tiny Rick's Cafe with Holly this afternoon which is a cereal and board game cafe. We've been meaning to visit for a long time and finally did!

You can choose whatever cereal you want that they have on offer and have different sized bowls which are priced differently. You can have individual bowls, or have a mix. You can have extra toppings on top like chocolate, marshmallows etc. They do milkshakes. They even have a challenge where if you can eat 12 bowls of their standard house cereals in an hour you get them for free. If you can't complete the challenge each bowl will cost you £1. We seen a 14 year old try it (he said when he finished the 6th bowl that he was giving up and asked was that the furthest a 14 year old has got). Me and Holly think we could do the challenge either before or after a gym session. Definitely after a long run I could do it.

At the top of the leader board is "Kyle v food" who did it in 20 minutes, "Beard Meats Food" 40 minutes and "Ed McIntyre" 58 minutes. I think I'd probably take the full hour.

We both chose the American cereals because it's pointless trying cereals we can get in the supermarket any time. 

I opted for the 3 separate bowls which was £5. 

I tried Nutter Butter - Peanut butter cereal (the one on the left), Churros - cinnamon churros (look like churros) and Honey Buns - which were also meant to be cinnamon, but were't that cinnamon unlike the churros.

The honey buns were my least favourite and wish I tried Vanilla Chex I think I would have liked them more.

Holly got the regular mix bowl that was £5.50 with almond milk.

She got Hershey's cookies and cream pillows, Twinkies and Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.

The Hershey's ones were nice but the Twinkies weren't great she wished she got something else.

We also tried a Smores Pop Tart. So much sugar.

It's £2 to play a game which you get an hour and the maximum you pay is £5. You get to choose your game and go through the rules then you go up and get your timer started. We spent an hour deciding what game to play as we didn't have a clue on how to play any of the games. Every game we picked up we read the instructions but still didn't have a clue what they meant. We needed someone to actually explain the games to us.

Holly said she'd played Takenoko before and knew how to play it then read the instructions and didn't have a clue so we gave up on that.

Then we tried Sushi Roll but didn't have a clue on that, another Sushi related game, Sonic the Hedgehog but nope had no idea. We managed 1 round of Stranger Things - Eggo but it lasted less than a minute as a I won so we gave up on that then played Feed Me which we were quite good at but there was 40 levels. We got through 20 levels before we got tired of playing it. Most of the games you need more than just 2 people to play. 

You pay at the end before you leave and we got charged for 2 hours when we only played Feed Me for an hour then spent the other trying to decide and learn a game. It was fun in there but I think it is more for people who know how to play board games which we don't. I'm definitely not good at card games, I just can't get my head around them and loads of the games are games we've never heard of which didn't help. We enjoyed our cereal even though we are definitely all sugared out now.

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Bloom n Bean

Went to Bloom & Bean will Holly for our catch up. We've been wanting to go for a while as it's all over Instagram and they had a competition where if you followed them on Instagram and sent them a DM you could be a cake taster just before Christmas. But neither of us won and we would have been perfect for it.

When we walked in it wasn't what I was expecting. It's really small, there's just a bench across the wall with 3 little tables attached to it so you can't move it. Only really works if there's 2 of you to sit next to each other and then 3 high chairs looking out the window. The interior is very Instagram with flower lights on the ceiling but a very weird set up.

We went at 2pm and it was empty no on there then as we sat down more people came in and it got full where there was no space for anyone else and this group came in but they got take outs. It was a very strange atmosphere - empty fridge with only 1 girl running the place. The girl said she had no receipts so she took our order on an iPad then completely forgot what our order was as she didn't write it down and had to keep asking what we ordered.

I got a matcha and vanilla latte with coconut milk. Holly got a hibiscus and dragon fruit latte with coconut milk - she had no oat milk with a slice of rainbow cake.

We were trying to work out what the flavours of each colour of the cake were - think the top was lavender, the blue - blueberry, green - just plain vanilla (should have been matcha) yellow - lemon and the orange - chocolate orange. The cake was actually really nice.

My latte was really nice. Was nicer than the one I had in Leaf on Smithdown. Holly's one was nice as well but I preferred mine. They were both glittery as well not sure what she put on it.

  

Holly's a better photographer than me taken with her iPhone S10.

It was cute but it was just a really weird place like it was empty with only 1 girl running it. She didn't have a lot in when people asked for things and the toilet you walk right into the kitchen and it was right at the back. Didn't like how the chairs were set up and everyone facing the counter - definitely would have preferred a proper table with chairs instead of both being squashed together with a tiny table. There wasn't many cakes to choose from and when I asked the girl if they had any macarons because I seen them on Instagram the girl was like we haven't got any, I think they will bring them back in the summer which was strange how she didn't know. But they were offering 20% student discount so it was reasonably priced after discount.

After we walked down to Queen's Avenue. Liverpool's version of Diagon Alley.

Love this painting but it's £1750. But pricey. 

The street is really cute and looks nice but was dead. There's only 1 restaurant with no one in it. It's a shame but it's quite out of town off Castle Street so most people don't even know it's there. I only know it's there as I walk past it to go to and from work otherwise I wouldn't have known.

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Woolton Village

Lunch catch up with Danielle to One Percent Forest this afternoon post gym. I've been here before with Holly last year. It's a cute little Icelandic, Scandinavian style cafe turns bar of a night.

I was on an eating out ban for January but there really isn't anything to do really if you don't go out for food sadly!

I got the Smörgåsbord (open sandwich) - toasted sourdough, oak smoked arctic salmon, homemade beetroot hummus, fresh dill and rocket. There was actually a lot of salmon on the soughdough. I should have said no rocket as I hate rocket but Danielle did eat it.

Danielle got the Chilli Ploughman's Sandwich - cheddar, tomato and chilli chutney, cherry tomatoes, rocket and sriracha on sourdough. So much cheese!

They seem to be really generous with the ingredients. Really didn't need that much cheese or rocket! It's nice to support cute little Independent places especially when it's only a walk away. So I don't feel that bad that I've broke my eating out ban as I am helping a small local business! 

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