Situated on Banks Road, West Kirby, Wolf & Lamb is a cosmopolitan restaurant offering French and European cuisine. The restaurant is light, airy and spacious – industrially designed with re-used materials and featuring bespoke art pieces created exclusively by renowned visual company, Decent Peoples – this really adds to the relaxed atmosphere.
Greeted by owner Tom and Restaurant Manager Jerome, we were seated to our table and offered the menu and wine list. The menu offers half plates – which is a great idea for smaller appetites or those who prefer small plates so we decided to choose a selection of these dishes to try.
Out first was Scottish langoustine with octopus and avocado salad. This was a colourful, pretty and delicate dish. The langoustine came served on a bed of avocado salad with grapefruits, apple and passion fruit puree. The flavour combination was out of this world. We paired the dish with a refreshing glass of ‘Corte Giara’ – an Italian pinot grigio. Wonderful.
The Wirral Life team are very fond of steak tartare so we were delighted to see this on the menu. Served Japanese style, the steak tartare came with quail egg and cucumber. A wonderful combination of tastes and with lots of flavours – steak tartare can be bland but this definitely wasn’t the case here. Would recommend as the best in the North West. We paired the dish with one of the finest bordeaux’s, the Notre Dame de La Solitude which has notes of black cherry that punches through and compliments the tartare.
The Ouef surprise which was a trio of shrimps wakame, truffle and Iberico morcon is a superb take on the classic egg and soldiers dish but with an inventive twist. Arriving in egg shell cases, each one is made using a base of finely scrambled egg and lemon cream. The shrimp wakame was divine with shrimp and Okinawa seaweed. The truffle was delicious and the morcon, which was a mix of chorizo and cured ham was tasty. As this is a slightly heavy dish, we paired with a light red wine, a Spanish grenache El Circo. Perfect!
Out next was the Lobster Bisque. Served cappucino style with crystale blue prawn tempura, this is apparently one of the most popular dishes on the menu. The bisque was cooked to perfection – the flavours and consistency were outstanding. Accompanied with the prawn tempura the dish offered the perfect taste combination. We had a glass of Chablis 1ER Cru, a French chardonnay. This paired beautifully, cleansing the palate.
Crispy soft-boiled egg served with potato, butternut and hazelnut oil. Again, another clever dish. The egg was encased in potato shavings and crispy covering and came sat on a bed of butternut squash cream. The test here was how well the egg was cooked – and when cut through we were delighted it was runny in the middle! We paired with a refreshing and clean, white Grenache ‘Le prelat’.
Our final dish, was French pigeon with roasted vegetables and winter fruit. A very generous portion, presented beautifully with rich, exquisite flavours. The pigeon was served medium – excellent! We paired with a glass of Hecular, a red monastrell; perfrect with berry flavours.
Feeling super full and satisfied we decided to give dessert a miss – although the menu looked great – and try out the cocktails instead, which was a great call we must say, as they we’re fab!
Wolf and Lamb is definitely a hidden gem and a restaurant Wirral should be proud of. If you’ve not visited before you need to.
Owners, Tom and Jerome are warm and accommodating, their passion for the restaurant shines through with its relaxing atmosphere, carefully created menu and outstanding quality of food. Wolf & Lamb has to tried to create something different and it has truly worked!
In addition to the main menu, Wolf and Lamb also offer a bar menu for lighter bites; and special nights such as ‘Bring your own Vinyl’.
Overall: First class!
Booking is advisable: Call 0151 625 3409.
