Salvatore's, Lord St, Southport

Don't you hate it when you do your best to support local businesses (like me on here constantly shouting my mouth off that chains are bad) and get let down by a mix of shoddy cooking and overpriced tourist trap rubbish? This review is going to be a hypocritical one as I had a horrific meal last week in an independent and a fabulous one in a chain (post to follow later). As Spring has finally sprung, me and my mate decided to have a cheesy British seaside day out in Southport. After cheating death on the journey there (that fear you have when the train passes through Bootle and there's a salivating pitbull on the platform, hoping it won't get in your carriage) to navigating the area between the train station and the main drag nearly getting run over by inebriated pensioners on Benidorm scooters not to mention nearly getting defecated on by killer seagulls, we found what looked like a good old traditional Italian called Salvatore's. A fan of a bit of kitsch and 1970s nostalgia, we thought we'd get a decent, traditional and cheap bit of lunch here. The only thing I'd be eating would be my words. Oh dear...

The ambience was a bizarre cross between your typical 1970s Italian and a shabby bar in Benidorm, the cheesy soundtrack of Gypsy Kings in the background accompanied by an orchestra of phlegmy coughs from the clientele. Not one of the customers sounded local- was this going to be a rip off tourist trap? I looked at the menu and my fears were confirmed. Our host, Salvatore was a cheerful, Steve Coogan lookalikey kind of chap so no offence to him, he was the bright light in this dingy cesspit. I had to search long and hard for anything remotely Italian on the menu or veggie for that matter. Someone behind me was eating something burnt involving frozen veg out of Heron Foods or somewhere, the poor folk opposite me weren't eating Italian either. To start, we ordered garlic bread which looked like something I made in school cookery when I was 14- a few rough hunks of bread with a bit of garlic butter on. A poor imitation of one you get for 49p from Belle Vale, except this was near £3. For mains, I ordered Penne Arrabiata and I don't know what it was, but it wasn't Arrabiata. First of all, it was mild and creamy, it lacked its chili kick. Secondly, it was full of mushrooms. I didn't ask for funghi did I? The tinned tomatoes in its sauce were evident. This was the most disgusting pasta I have ever eaten and believe me, I've eaten at some dodgy places in my time. To add insult to injury, it was a tenner! £10 for what? A concoction that looked like a student had made it using whatever was left in the cupboard? Disgusting. A real shame, as this place is crying out with potential and the owner is obviously enthusiastic and a nice guy who's good with people. Sadly, as I left I saw so many more inviting restaurants with 2 for a tenner deals along the road. Suppose I should have just stuck to the chippy.

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The good: Ermmmm let's think. The music was rather nice!
The bad: The food, the price and the dust in the place.

4 Corners, Wesley St, Southport

The last couple of years have seen a rising trend in a new kind of restaurant hitting Britain's high street. Taking inspiration from all-inclusive resorts in Spain and tapping in to the dilemma of finding a restaurant that pleases everyone, world buffets are the latest hot trend. Flash in the pan food fad or a revolutionary way of eating? I'll leave it to you to decide.

After being ripped off in overpriced sandwich bars and facing Chinese buffet fatigue, 4 Corners world buffet seemed like a viable lunchtime option. Tucked away in Wesley St, away from the pushy crowds of Lord St's cafes, this sparkly new eaterie is the first of its kind in Southport. At £8.99, it seems expensive for lunch but when I done a quick calculation of the cost of a butty (which wouldn't fill me) and a dessert, it came to about £7, not too bad considering you can have as much cake until you burst! In all honesty, both me and The Carnivore fancied an Indian for lunch, but the curry houses were either shut or bereft of lunch deals and therefore stone empty. Thankfully, 4 Corners offered curry- yippee!

Upon entering, we were greeted warmly by the staff who explained that diners pay upfront for both drinks and food, and the soft drinks and hot drinks were a set price with unlimited refills, perfect for the thirst that ensues during an all you can eat extravaganza. The ambience was chilled at first, the seating consisting of large tables and cosy booths, however this tranquility was soon to be shattered by the invasion of the dreaded Chav Brigade. Hordes of kids out of control, screaming and playing with the food, along with obese parents who didn't give a damn ruined what could have been a pleasant lunch. The kids were left to run riot and play by the cake and salad display, which is probably why I took a week off work with the flu after visiting here. Sorry for digressing, I just thought I'd set the scene so you can imagine the cacophony I endured.

THe food was in abundance but I saw little evidence of the 4 Corners of the world, unless Costco is a country. Great Britain was represented in this food olympics, along with India, and I suppose the pasta salad and the fajita wraps were a token to Italy and Mexico. The staff were helpful in explaining what some of the more unidentifiable dishes contained, i.e. were they veggie friendly, but this must have been pretty tiresome for them. They could have followed the Chinese buffet example of putting signs on their dishes, saving them a job and cutting down on food wastage.

The presentation of the carvery and the Indian selection was excellent,with dedicated chefs on hand happy to assist, the food served piping hot and not left to go cold like some buffets. My veggie curry (above) was as good as any curry house I'd been to, which I enjoyed with popadoms, a chutney selection and basmati rice. There were 4 curries on offer, but the other 3 were meat so I can't comment on those, but The Carnivore's chicken curry was devoured in no time. On the carvery, the vegetables were plentiful and the salad bar had lots of tasty greens, delicious. The Italian selection was a bit bog-standard, comprising of what looked like frozen pizza and two pasta dishes, one meat, one veg, which weren't very inspirational. The 'Mexican' assortment consisted of wraps and a couple of dips, the filling of which reminded me of one of those kits you get from Aldi with the sauce that no matter how hard you try to get it to infuse well with the meat and veg, it never tastes quite right.

Time for dessert- the cake selection was immense. Lemon meringue, chocolate fudge cake, more fruit than a tropical island, this is where 4 Corners really shone. No matter how mediocre a meal is, as long as there's decadent desserts, you'll walk away satisfied.

My culinary voyage of 4 Corners drew to a close and I was sad that I hadn't actually tasted the four corners of the world and had to finish my meal with a Nurofen for my head thanks to the raucous clientele. As it's a relative newcomer, I'll give it a few months to improve before I return as I'm sure the discrepancies I mentioned are just teething problems that'll get ironed out. The staff are fabulous, so I'm sure they're up to the challenge to make some additions to their culinary journey!

Flavours, Nevill St, Southport

2011 saw the arrival of a fab new development in Southport- an ice cream parlour in an area with a high density of pubs, chippies and identikit chain coffee shops! Flavours has gone from strength to strength since its opening and despite being in a traditional English seaside resort and being part of Silcock's amusement arcade, Flavours retains a certain Continental charm.

Thanks to its potent coffee machine (a rarity in this neck of the woods) and numerous flavours of ice cream, Flavours pushes all my buttons and to top it off, you can have a flutter in the adjacent amusement arcade. If you have been to Germany or Italy and seen how an ice cream parlour is properly done, Flavours fits this template perfectly.The staff are always smiley as well, despite being rushed off their feet by demanding brats. So far, I have sampled their blackcurrant liquorice and after eight flavoured ices and have been bowled over that something has achieved ice cream perfection in little Britain. And yes, I am also pleased to say that I have found a fabulously potent coffee in Southport after a year of searching. Flavours has given the cafes of Southport a much- needed kick up the backside.

Nostalgia, Lord St, Southport

Regular readers of my blog will know that I don't buy into these new-fangled trendy restaurants. For me, eating out is all about an experience, a little journey for the eyes and the senses as well as the tastebuds. In my favourite seaside resort of Southport, I have found the perfect antidote to your chains, your glass fronted wine bars and the nouvelle cuisine brigade. My friends, let me take you in my time machine to Nostalgia.

Nostalgia has been present in Southport for decades, before all those pesky budget airlines took away all its tourists to Majorca and it was still a thriving seaside resort. It sums up the essence of an English tearoom- quaint and stereotypical for foreign tourists, buying into their idealistic image of England being genteel and taking tea in a similar vein to when we go to Spain and watch a flamenco show. The waitresses are immaculately turned out in pinnies and hats (calm down gents, thats not all they're wearing!), 40s music plays in the background, old fashioned decor (please, don't refurb!) and cabinets filled with gooey cakes.

The dishes aren't the most exciting and for the main part consists of soups and sandwiches, but you are in an Olde Englishe tearoom, it'd lose its purpose if it were to serve sushi and curry. You wouldn't expect a cream scone in a Chinese, would you? In a similar vein to pub grub, the hot dishes of the day include traditional favourites like lasagne, fish and chips, and for us veggies, a homemade cheese, onion and potato bake (above) for £5.99 served with salad and crusty bread.

Where they do get imaginative however, are the desserts and drinks. A variety of teas, milkshakes, sticky puds and more really whets the appetite. My drink of choice is the Spider, a mix of cherry coke, normal coke and a dollop of ice cream, followed by either jam roly poly or apple crumble with lashings of custard for dessert.

So, next time you go to Southport, please visit this beautifully nostalgic cafe. You can eat chips, pizza etc any time, cafes like this are few and far between in today's C*sta filled society of no imagination. I guarantee you will leave with a warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach and a sadness that this country ain't what it used to be.

Cafe Bravo, Southport

Potent coffee alert!

I keep saying 'this'll be my last Southport visit this season' but it's a hard habit to break. I love Southport, and even though summer is over, why should I stop visiting? This is what destroys home-grown tourism. In my quest to dig deeper into the Sandgrounder culinary scene (that's the proper word for Southportian/Southportish believe it or not), I ambled up the other end of Lord Street. Wow, a feast for the eyes and senses! I spotted the fab Cafe Bravo which ticked the boxes- veggie options, independent, papers, comfy seats and immaculate toilets.

Cafe Bravo appears to look like C*sta at first, but when you step inside, it is independent through and through. Homemade sandwiches, friendly staff, clean tables and a helping of local charm with an artwork of Southport on the wall. I chowed down on a cranberry and brie panini (flavour of the month for me!) and a hot,strong, rich and black one! The panini was fresh and filling- so much so, there was no room for my dessert at Flavours ice cream parlour! The Americano passed my stringent potency test too.

So, put this one on your itinerary for your next coffee crawl!

Pudding and Pie, Southport

A modern cafe in Victorian surroundings! I love Southport. People are so dismissive of the great British seaside resorts nowadays, thanks to Sleazyjet and Ryanscare offering cheap flights to Spain. Even the chavs are getting particular about where they holiday now (in my opinion, they shouldn't have a holiday as they're living off the taxpayers, but I'll save my rant for another blog!) We should be helping our country as let's face it, Britain is not particularly attractive to tourists with its unpredictable weather and greasy food, but if you delve deeper, our land has a lot of character, fabulous architecture and history, hidden gems, and thanks to its bad food reputation, it now has the world on a plate and some of the best restaurants ever! If you haven't been to Southport before, yes it does have tacky shops selling salt and pepper shakers in the shape of breasts, but it also has classy designer shops. The same goes for its eateries. There are greasy chippies which quite frankly, are very good for a naughty treat, the usual chains that shall remain nameless, quaint Indian and Chinese, old school tearooms and modern cafes with some of the most potent coffee known to man! I found myself in the fabulous Wayfarers arcade, a magnificent Victorian building packed with quaint antique shops, trendy furniture shops and the delectable Pudding and Pie Cafe. The cafe is the focal point of the arcade, with seating both in the cafe and in the arcade itself. I chose to sit in the arcade in order to take in the victorian splendour of its glass roof and simultaneously windowshop. I ordered my usual Americano, generous and potent, passing my stringent coffee test. There isn't much on the menu for us veggies, but what they do have is a break from the cheese butty/ lasagne norm. On my first visit, I chowed down on spicy vegetable wrap which was beautifully stuffed with fresh, spicy veg but at £5, I felt the plate was bare- for the price, it should have come with chips or even a baked spud. On my second visit, I chose a 'proper' meal, the Shepherdless Pie. This is a veggie take on the Shepherd's pie; instead of the mince filling, it was stuffed with a vegetable medley in sauce (I suspect it was soup or stew, but nonetheless it tasted great). This came with chips and salad. The chips are a masterpiece here. Not the cheapo lazy option of frozen skinny chips, but home made, hand cut mis-shapes of potato- YUM! Please note, the chef automatically cooks all chips in lard, but he does have a separate, vegetable oil fryer. If you're a veggie or simply hate lard, you will need to ask for them to be done separately. 'You've forgotten us!' I hear the carnivores cry. You meat eaters are in for a treat with succulent home made pies topped with flaky pastry, full Englishes and more! I'd definitely return here, but I feel it is rather expensive. However, the food is freshly produced. made from scratch and the staff are well mannered. Plus they have daily papers!