Food Review: Dough Bar, Liverpool

Image: Dough Bar

Liverpool is a city crammed full of culinary choices, but that doesn't make the addition of a new option any less welcome. Situated right by Liverpool Lime St station and underneath the huge Grand Central student accommodation, the recently opened Dough Bar runs on the gloriously straightforward procedure of pizza and booze.

Pizza is one of the nation's enduring food loves, a deceptively simple concept that is fast enough to eat quickly and even better to eat when you're gettig pissed with your mates. It's the latter which Dough Bar excels at, with a bit of ingenuity defining the pizzas allayed to a cracking selection of drinks, cocktails and craft beers the main focus.  

To get things started we plumped for a pint of Fubar, a lovely pale ale from local brewery Tiny Rebel and an Invisible Frank cocktail (a citrus heavy vodka delight), and ordered a portion of Calamari and a plate of Loaded Fries to start.

The former was a plentiful portion of tender fish that belittled the price tag, the fries came piled with pulled pork, jalapenos and cheese. Both were gone quickly as we ravenously dived in.

 

Starting the weekend with a Spanish breakfast and big Mac #pizza @doughbarlpool

A photo posted by Skiddle (@skiddleuk) on Sep 25, 2015 at 11:58am PDT

Whilst our starters were pretty conventional options, with the pizzas you're offered the chance to go for slightly more outlandish toppings. As well as the Calamari, you can also have pickled cucumbers, nachos and cashew nuts and more among the unusual options, as well as a club sandwich which utilises cooked dough as the bread.

That led us to opt for two choices with varying degrees of leftfield swag. First was the Spanish Breakfast, which combines some straightforward toppings (spicy sausage, chorizo and mushrooms) with some more out there choices, namely black pudding and potatas.

The final topping was an egg, something that, depending on your pizza know how you could place in either of those categories, but believe us this is standard procedure in Italy and really nice. The running yolk combining with the potatas was an absolute winner as well; we can see this dovetailing with a pint of their Platform 10 Pilsner, our next drink order, as an epic hangover cure.

Our second choice was the Drive Thru, modelled around a rather famous alternative fast food option. Lashing mini burgers, lettuce, gherkins and Dough's very own 'Blag Mac' sauce on top of a standard pizza, there's no denying the first few mouthfuls result in a bit of a strange experience.

Once you've got your head round the fact this is a big mac on dough, separated that act of seeming fast food blasphemy from the actual taste, the end result is moreish in the extreme. We had a Whiskey Sourz cocktail with it, but again we can see this working brilliantly the morning after with a massive beer. 

And that's where Dough Bar will sort you out the most. Whether you're starting a big night out or trying to get over the one you've just had, this is the tonic you need. Our feast came in at about forty quid for two, and that involved squeezing in a desert between us, the dreamy Peanut Butter Waffle shown above. You want quick tasty grub in a relaxed environment, head their way.