Albion, Crosby

After our Liverpool tapas trail on Thursday we went over to Crosby beach just up the coast. We really did see it at it's finest. It was such a beautiful day, so we walked our dog, Sam, along the beach. What I love about 'Another Place', the sculptures by Antony Gormley is that everyone can and does appreciate it, public art at it's very best. The 100 cast iron figures have now become weathered and barnacled giving them a more permanent timeless look. Some were even clothed. After stretching our legs, we sat on the grass watching the clouds and ships go by. (Also we cleaned our feet/sandals, my advice is to keep to the hard sand.)

Of course, food wasn't far off our minds, we went over to suburban Crosby village to have our tea at the new Albion. I've been following chef Steven Burgess for some time now on twitter so it was an opportunity too good to miss. He's now in the kitchen here full time and a co owner with Alex McElhoney.

We weren't overly hungry after our epic day of tapas so we settled on a starter and a mains to share. Steven also came out for a chat and sent some of their home-made bread out. The menu is one of the more interesting I've seen for a while, they're going for the concept of 'old British, locally sourced, home-made produce found in dusty recipe books'. Spot on.
We had the Cumbrian Mutton & treacle bacon turnover cucumber chutney (£6) to start. This was good but needed tweaking, we thought it was a little dry, the flavours were strong though. The bread is home-made and a bit cake-y in texture.

Our mains, the Slow braised beef shin, crispy potato, 'Balmoral' sauce, shredded bacon (£14.50) has the makings of a signature dish like the pork belly is at Chester's Sticky Walnut (a similar style of local bistro). I'd actually personally prefer a cut like this to steak, there's more flavour in it. Mrs Bacon made the mistake of keeping her eye off the ball whilst I snaffled most of the fantastic mash, she wasn't best pleased.

We were quite stuffed so didn't have any room for puddings, the portions here are not on the small side. 
Albion in Crosby isn't quite the finished article yet, you wouldn't expect it as they've only just opened, but what a good start though, there is nothing in the area remotely like this place. I think they've pitched it perfectly. It's 'foodie' but not too much, I'm sure locals will love it. (It sounds like they already do). I'd love to see some great ale on tap to match the food as well.
We plan to return on another sunny day, walk the dog on the beach and sample more of the food. This places has all the makings of another regular restaurant for us that demands repeat visits.

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