A midweek brunch always feels like a proper treat to me so I had a spring in my step when I made plans with a friend to catch up on Lark Lane.
After wearing my daughter out on the playground in Sefton Park, we wandered over to the lane, having not yet decided exactly where to eat. Chatting away, we ended up walking the full length of the road without settling on anywhere and when we came to a stop outside The Bookbinder it looked like a good option with two children in tow and the need for some space for a pram.
READ MORE: Popular Liverpool breakfast spot so busy we almost left disappointed
Inside it was bustling, with people chatting away over food, and a waitress busily flitting from table to table with trays of coffees and a notepad. We found a nice big table by the window, with plenty of room for said pram, and I wedged my little girl into the corner seat so she didn’t attempt to wander off.
The waitress popped over to tell us breakfast was still being served for another hour and the lunch menu would also start in 10 minutes. We settled on breakfast but it took me a while to decide exactly what to order, from the six options.
The £10.50 full English sounded tempting, but I knew really I wasn’t hungry enough for it, so settled on the Avocado Toast, for £7.50 and a flat white coffee, while my friend ordered the Breakfast Butty, which was also £7.50 and includes rashers, a Cumberland sausage, mature cheddar, fried egg and hash, plus a skinny cappuccino.
We then had to wait a while to place our order, in fact I started to wonder if we were supposed to go up to the counter, but it was clearly just a busy time to arrive. Not to worry, inside was cosy and full of chatter, and we had a nosey at the second hand books that lined the windowsills in keeping with its name.
Once we’d ordered, and after a quick trip upstairs to the quite posh toilets, the food arrived pretty quickly. Probably quicker than it took to order to be quite honest.
I was impressed with mine as soon as I set eyes on it. Two massive pieces of sourdough toast, slathered in perfectly ripe avocado that had been mashed just right, with slight chunks still left in it. On top sat two poached eggs, only a tiny bit overdone it turned out, and some crispy parsnip shavings, which I'd been surprised at when I read it on the menu but worked very well it turned out.
It also had a drizzle of ‘vin cotto’ which I hadn’t heard of before but google tells me is an Italian dark sweet paste. I couldn’t really taste that to be honest, but overall the whole thing was a triumph. The sourdough - a tricky bake that many of us failed to get right during lockdown one - was perfectly chewy, full of those big lovely air bubbles and had a a really crusty crust.
My friend said she’d normally be put off ordering any sort of breakfast burger, simply because of the mess it’d create while attempting to eat it. But she was pleasantly surprised when her ‘breakfast butty’ arrived and it wasn’t the messy dish she’d been dreading.
As well as the usual bacon, Bookbinder’s Breakfast Butty came with cheese and Aioli sauce - a combination she said she wasn’t 100% sure would work but decided to take a risk on. However, she had no reason to worry, saying it was delicious and had a unique flavour making a typical breakfast butty that little bit different.
With no kids menu, I’d asked the waitress if the kitchen could do a sausage on toast for my daughter and they bought out a lovely Cumberland sausage with a nice piece of soft brioche toast, which she smothered in ketchup and demolished.
Overall I’d give The Bookbinder 4 stars out of 5 after our visit with top marks for its great food, friendly service and inviting atmosphere. Well worth a visit and a bargain too, with our bill coming to a very reasonable £24.30.
The Bookbinder is at 2 Lark Lane, L17 8US and you can find out more here.
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