Food Review: Delifonsenca, Liverpool

Nestled in Stanley Street in the North of the Liverpool City Centre, Delifonsenca is a restaurant which initially came equipped with a deli to make your visits easily rotated between eating in and fashioning better morsels for your meals at home. That aspect of the restaurant has since relocated to a sister establishment on the Brunswick Dock, with our destination for the evening now strengthened by a basement bar, lending itself more to a variety of eating options in the restaurant itself.

Despite being on the plusher end of Liverpool there's a reassuringly informal feel to the overall vibe, making it ideal to flirt between snacking and full on gorge mode. In the interests of journalistic integrity we came ready to do the latter, with a ringing endorsement from a group of friends who insisted we would never make it to dessert. Challenge accepted.

Tucking in straight away to a delicately balanced bottle of Chianti (a perfectly light red wine, naturally getting better as the meal went on), the first endearing quality comes in the insistence of main course rotation. Boasting a blackboard menu, you’re given the impression of a consistently evolving and changing set of choices, making this the type of restaurant to fall in love with over time.

To start with we opted for the Great British Platter, which featured slices of rare Welsh beef and deli ham, complete with delicacies of a typically Anglo Saxon slant; Lancashire Cheese, a crust pie, potato salad and a deliciously moreish pickle. We also doubled up with breads and oils, which would be a decision we would come to rue later on, despite the ease with which the tasty food made its way down our throats for a rollicking start to the meal.

The mains then arrived, both coming at a juncture when we were both starting to realise our eagerness with the starters may have been a little too emphatic.  My guest had opted for the Guinea Foul, the meat gloriously tender and accompanied by some delectable dauphonise potatoes.

Your writer got stuck into a Suet Pudding boasting venison, pigeon and lamb and sweetbreads, which was extremely filling and served with a delicious gravy. If we were to take umbrage with anything in the meal it would probably be the accompanying chunky chips, which felt quite average in comparison to the rest of the food, and an easy decision to sacrifice in favour of making that desert challenge. 

So, to the dessert side of things. Those words of warning from friends were becoming more and more prevalent as we were given food which really did fill us up from the off.  Undeterred, we ordered the Cheese Board and a White Chocolate Mousse to finish off the meal, and despite the struggle in finishing it was well worth doing do. 

The cheeses were probably the best part of everything, the Stilton (Colston Bassett) and the Goats Cheese (Soignon Fromage De Chevre) in particular tremendous, whilst the Mousse managed to satisfy the sweet buds. If you are going to eat here then we can’t recommend this aspect of the meal highly enough, and we’d suggest you order another bottle of red and really savour the experience. Next time, that’s exactly what we will be doing.

Overall the restaurant’s experience was great, we received exemplary service and the ambiance ensured that you were relaxed perfectly to enjoy the food on offer. Our bill came in at £91.50 (although £30 was on the wine and a cracking pint of Estrella Damm), and minor gripes about chips aside the food held up strongly. We’d certainly recommend you discover the restaurant for yourself- just make sure you’re a bit better at pacing yourselves than we were.

Delifonsenca are running a special Mothers day menu - head here for further details. For info on Skiddle's Mother Day restaurant information pop to this part of the site.