Last Friday Ricky and I hopped on the train to spend a couple of nights in one of Travelodge’s Liverpool hotels. Our plan for the weekend was nothing more than to eat some good food, grab a few drinks and chill out after a hectic few weeks. As you can probably tell from the photos, we did pretty well on the food front!

We arrived in Liverpool about 4pm and wandered down to our hotel which was a short walk from the station. In fact, it was a short walk from just about everything and made a great base for eating & drinking and generally exploring the city centre. Our room was bright & spacious and our bed had what felt like the world’s plumpest pillows which made me immensely happy. It’s the little things, ya know?

We enjoyed a couple of drinks in our room before heading out to Salt House Bacaro, a Venetian tapas-style restaurant just around the corner. Small plates dining is my absolute favourite for obvious reasons (hello 6 plates of food!). And guys, I don’t even know where to begin describing the food at this place!

We ordered a selection that included, amongst others, fillet steak with tempura scampi (the winning dish!), sea bass with broad beans + chorizo, plus stornoway black pudding + sauteed chicken livers. Of course, when we saw the parmesan fries + garlic mayo being delivered to the table next to us we couldn’t resist, so we ended up with 7 plates (and happily scoffed them all!).

The whole meal was an absolute dream – we couldn’t fault a single dish and it was wonderful to be able to sample such a wide variety of Italian dishes that differed from the usual pizza and pasta. Needless to say, if you’re ever in Liverpool I’d wholeheartedly recommend Salt House Bacaro!

We started the following morning with a long lie and brunch at Leaf – a recommendation from Hannah at Hannah Bakes Things. I didn’t manage to get any decent snaps but a full english and smoked salmon + scrambled eggs on toast set us up perfectly for the day. We had a little wander round the docks, checked out the maritime museum then decided we’d reached an acceptable time to head out for a few pre-dinner drinks!

Our first stop for drinks was Salt Dog Slims, which came recommended by a friend. It’s a pretty small bar but has a relaxed atmosphere, great tunes and friendly staff who were only too happy to advise on beer and cocktails. The highlight for me was a cocktail which was finished off with rum set alight and then sprinkled with icing sugar for an impressively large flame. I certainly wasn’t complaining about the resulting toasted marshmallow smell either!

We managed to squeeze in one last meal for the weekend (I told you we did well!). We opted for more casual dining at The Shipping Forecast, a large bar with gorgeous industrial style interiors. The menu was packed with nachos, burgers and hot dogs. We were both swayed by the burgers – for me, a beef-bacon-cheese-avocado affair, and for Ricky a chicken burger piled high with pulled pork, onion rings and barbeque sauce.

Suitably stuffed, we decided to head back to our room with a bottle of wine and a pack of cards. It may be a sign of my age, but that felt like a pretty great end to the weekend!

Note: Our Travelodge stay was provided free of charge and we were also given some money towards eating out. As always, all words & opinions are entirely my own. Please see my disclaimer for further details.