I have visited Le Gallois twice and both times I have been impressed with the taste and quality of…read morethe food served. The variety of food on offer is fair but would be better if the menu expanded. I have always left feeling well fed, which might surprise you if, like me, you were led to believe that French portions are on the petite side. The decor is a little out-dated but nice and comfortable. The size of the restaurant is kind of small but again, comfortable. The owner is friendly and approachable. The price is a little expensive but the food and atmosphere is nice and enjoyable, so I don't mind too much. I enjoy going there but will keep visits as a treat for special occasions.

Excellent spot for a genuine French meal. It has a bistro feel. We had the mussels (main course),…read morelamb shank, and side salad. All three were excellent. The mussels came stacked in a veritable mountain along with a side of chips -- the only issue is that you'll struggle to eat the mussels before they start to cool. The lamb shank came with garlic mashed potatoes and was tender, flavorful, and delicious. The side salad had a simple mustard-accented dressing that worked well. The owner -- Fred -- is very nice and widely travelled. All in all, a delightful experience.

I honestly cannot fault this place!…read more Tuesday is 2 courses and a free bottle of wine night. I kept having to check with the waitress that I could order something, but NOTHING is off the menu! NOTHING AT ALL! You have a couple of quid supplement on some thing like steak or duck, but otherwise it's a total foodie fest! My starter had lovely ripe fig with soft goats cheese, and the main (Assiette de France) was a pot of olives in fresh herbs and oil, a tomato pickle, a mini baked Camembert, two pairs of frogs legs, two fish cakes and some leaves serve on a slate. The house red wine is Fleur de Lys and the service is polite and connected. What's not to love. Next time I'm here, this is my destination of choice! I have to say how lovely the couple were at the next table. So friendly, with some great tips. I hope you celebrate the BIG birthday coming up with suitable aplomb, and maybe you'll give Facebook another chance :-)

Can't fault the food and service here. Le Lunch Rapide for £10.50. Three courses. Everyone a…read morewinner. Great fast and friendly service. Busy restaurant for lunch gave a great ambience and the price is a bargain. You will not be disappointed

Is this... wrong? Or is it tongue-in-cheek? Ah, of course, it's very tongue-in-cheek. Le Frog…read morefocuses on British food and gives it a French twist. First of all, the place is decorated spiffingly. Literally. Spiffingly. It's astonishingly gorgeous, just my kind of quirky decor - a ceiling plastered in newspaper, lovely quaint wooden features, neutral and pastel colours... the whole thing looks like it could have come out of a Hans Christian Anderson story. There are plenty of French favourites on offer like starters of a twice baked cheese soufflé, French onion soup gratin, tartlet with spring vegetables like asparagus, mushrooms and spinach, and more unusual options such as black pudding with chicken roulade, Thai fishcakes, potted shrimp with warm brown toast and hot smoked salmon or tempura veg. I'd call it a more Modern European affair to be honest with its additional pastas and risottos (the spaghetti with salmon and lobster is just heavenly indulgence) and you can have these in small or large portions. The sharing platters are excellent value and mains like lamb shank, duck breast, baked chicken, pork trio, a filo parcel of sun-blushed tomato, goat's cheese and spinach, all of which occupy the fusion cuisine spectrum Le Frog seems to operate within. Oh and there's steaks for the super carnivorous. The side orders aren't just supporting actors here, they're stars. Veg are cooked perfectly al dente, the broccoli hollandaise is delicious, I'd highly recommend the breads with dips and you can get potatoes in many forms - French fries, Cajun fries, garlic and chive mash and even the garlic bread comes in three varieties. All of these are stonkingly good value at under £3 each! Sorry about the dreadful pun, but I'm hopping crazy for Le Frog. See if you agree.

I hate frogs, but I like this place. Never really been a fan of French cuisine, more weird than…read morewonderful I'm afraid. However I was told the menu also carries a Mediterranean twist which worked in its favour!! I was unable to find my peace with the decor of the place, yes the decor is quirky but is it cool?? I wasn't so sure.....you'll have to decide yourself. The food, well again I must say if I'm honest I have had better. It lacked substance I thought. Perhaps the French have over the years had so much red wine with their food that their taste buds have been filed down. My marinated breast of chicken lacked a bit of umph!! The lemon, thymed and garlic chicken was served on roast vegetable cous cous with chive creme fraiche. I'm not sorry at all that my taste buds are absolute whores!!!!! Yes they are , they have been around the block and indulged in every fit cuisine around and had their way ever which way. This meal didn't quite do it for me. Having said that I did only try one of the mains and I'd like to try some of the other ones. Perhaps an update is needed. I'm sorry froggy it takes more than a decent decor to impress me son!!! We'll meet again and we 'll see if seconds are any better!!

We used to love eating here but it is no longer open.read more

I remember from my youth that this site used to be home to a little Chinese restaurant that always…read morelooked quite dark and dingy, even when it was open, as if there was something going on inside that they didn't want you to know about (maybe some Yakuza bosses were having a meeting inside, who knows). Thankfully, the Chinese there has now been replaced by a lovely little French restaurant called Bistrot Verite (who'd have thought bistro in French was bistrot, hey?) Named after it's owner (a highly reputable chef in the area, I'm told), this cosy little restaurant is placed not far from Birkdale station, making it perfect to hop off a train and venture in for a good meal and a bottle of wine or two before hopping on the last train back home. Their reliance on fresh local produce means the dishes change from time to time depending on what is in season but this makes for an excellent variety of food ranging from lamb to tuna steak and salmon and asparagus pasta. The staff there are friendly and engaging, contributing to the warm and pleasant atmosphere making for a great dining experience. C'est bon (GCSE French in practice, there).

Quite what the difference between a 'bistrot' and a bistro is I have no idea, but if anyone out…read morethere is far more cultured than me, answers on a postcard please. What we do know it does is successfully bring a taste of France to the wealthy suburbs of Birkdale, and what better to put these affluent types in the mood for their next jaunt to gay Paree? (I did phonetics there, I'm sorry. Oh, I mean... ferneticks.) With a reputable chef at the helm and a flair for innovation stamped all over the menu, you can't go wrong with this place, and its location in such a well-to-do area between Southport and Liverpool means that going wrong in the land of Birkdale isn't really an option, and the restaurants follow suit. The mussels are absolutely staggering; the French do throw them together very well and I was most impressed with the almost slurp-worthy white wine sauce. The seasonal dishes are cooked to perfection and presented very prettily, and the accompanying wine list is most impressive too. The service can't be faulted either, and for staff who must be starstruck on a daily basis by sporting heroes and actors, they're extremely down to earth and most of all, friendly, accommodating and helpfully informative with the menu, and to be honest, the prices aren't all that bad for the generous portions you get given Salut, as they say on the continent.

Much like the language used in alot of my reviews the menu here is a Anglo-French fusion. True fine…read moredining options are actually not as common as you think. Majority of restaurants that claim to be fine dining are anythjing but. While I have never been a big fan of "fine dining" in the first place I have dined at enough decent fine dining restaurants to know the difference. I like the fact that they are spreading their wings and pushing the boundries a little bit by having a gourmet night with different cuisines once a month every month. French gourmet evening in August, Thai is spetember, British in October and Indian in November. Good stuff Trufflets. I purposefully skipped past majority of the options on the menu and went for the home-made char-grilled beef burger, cheddar, salad and gherkin in ciabatta, with string fries and coleslaw. To test the menu in my opinion you have to try out something from the menu that you know best and have tried in copious amounts in other restaurants. This way you start to build a portfolio of dishes in your mind. I am here to report then that their Beef burger was not bad indeed. The gherkins was a surprisingly nice touch.

High quality food that won't disappoint. Great atmosphere and friendly staff. The only downfall is…read morethe expensive price.

The Left Bank Brasserie is tucked away behind the main streets in Ormskirk. It is a lovely little…read moreplace which appears tiny from the outside but is spacious inside. As soon as I walked in with my parents they were greeted warmly by the owner as they regularly go to the Left Bank for lunch. The owner then introduced himself to me and he was charming and very welcoming. We were there on a Sunday and we had a 2 course meal for £6.95. I had Dip Fried Goats cheese and then Lamb Rump Steak with mint mash and veg for my main course. Every mouthful of the food I had was heavenly and cooked perfectly. The service was impeccable and I can't wait to go there again.

This is what I've been waiting for. Excellent, simple cooking done to perfection…read more The second venture from the guys who brought us Sticky Walnut near Chester, have smiled upon us with Burnt Truffle. On a residential road in Heswall it's about an hour away from Manchester City Centre via car, and well worth the trip! The building is lovely, a large house and when we entered we were seated upstairs amongst around 10 other small tables. Decorated excellently, it gives off a lovely but quite casual bistro feel. After a quick glass of champagne, I started to place my order. For the record, I could have eaten EVERYTHING on this menu! Every single one of the dishes sounded great. We enjoyed some sourdough bread with truffle butter and then came my starter, the cured salmon, gazpacho, avocado, cherry tomato and pickled cucumber - which was excellent! My main course was also brilliant. I had opted for the confit duck leg and faggot, which was served with braised celery, skordalia and cherries. Melt in your mouth meat and the vegetables were a great accompaniment. I finished off with the blackberry frangipane tart with a crème fraiche sorbet. I was a very happy lady. I cannot fault Burnt Truffle. For the food you're eating, the prices are extremely modest! And the service is second to none.

Unless you've been living under a rock (apologies to the community of insects and other creatures…read morethat do), Burnt Truffle in Heswall is the Kickstarter funded (well the first £100k) sister restaurant of critically acclaimed Hoole bistro, Sticky Walnut. Opening in July 2015 Burnt Truffle has also garnered near universal praise, so what better way to spend a birthday lunch, than having a lovely drive up the M62, M56, and M53. Complimentary fizz is always a welcome surprise, however, complimentary bread, sourdough, truffle and walnut butter to be precise is as good as it gets. Perfectly baked sourdough with rich, salty, and creamy butter with a hint of truffle should be the way all meals start. (Thank you, Emma) I opted for the grilled mackerel, Jerusalem artichoke, poached turnip and nut ragu to start. The beautifully cooked fish married perfectly with the subtle artichoke puree and slightly al dente turnip. The crunchy nut added a welcome different texture to proceedings. Having visited an acclaimed Manchester-based French restaurant the night before and sampled their signature chicken dish I probably shouldn't have opted for chicken for my main. However, since seeing its development on Twitter via Manager Emma I couldn't help myself. And I know I shouldn't make comparisons but the Burnt Truffle dish of truffled chicken mousse, poached breast, pancetta fat potato, shimeji mushrooms and caramelised onion was hands-down the clear winner of the 'cockfight'. Everything was inch-perfect. The lightly crumbed truffle chicken mousse was creamy and rich, the breast was moist and full of flavour, the crispy potato bursting with pancetta flavour, and I could have eaten a whole bowl of the crispy chicken skin as crisps - possible business idea? The hand cut truffle and parmesan chips were as good as they have always been on my previous visits and I decided that the honey roast chantey carrots were so good I now feel sorry for all other carrots I would be eating going forward. Despite my lack of a 'sweet tooth,' I couldn't resist the chocolate marquise, caramelised pear, blood orange and pistachio for dessert. The dense chocolate marquis was balanced impeccably with the sweet pear, salty pistachio and tart orange. Having visited the Burnt Truffle late-ish last year and included it in my favourite meals of 2015, as well visiting the original sister restaurant Sticky Walnut just prior to Christmas, you may feel I'd had my fair share of 'Elite Bistros of the World', but when the food is this good, and as well priced as this I am adamant I could visit daily and never grow tired of it. So many restaurants over complicate things; be it the addition of an unnecessary ingredient, a gimmick or ridiculous presentation. Not at Burnt Truffle. The highest-quality ingredients, cooked with care and precision at what it is genuinely unfathomable value (£55 for 3 courses and a large glass of wine). Owner Gary Usher said it best himself when he spoke before opening the restaurant: "the philosophy is to serve quality ingredients without the fuss." Mission accomplished. P.S. - Just to further reference the fabulous service. As well as the complimentary prosecco and bread, at the end of the meal I was brought the below. Now that's the very definition of great service.