Sunday Dinners: The Collingwood, West Kirby

Where this time?
The Collingwood, Black Horse Hill, West Kirby, Wirral. CH48 6DS. 0151 625 4525

Why go there?
Easy. It's the Michelin-starred chef on the kitchen tools, innit?

Well, actually, no. Aiden Byrne, although lending his name to The Collingwood, by his own admission very rarely dons the whites in here. 

]If you want a slice of that action, the Saturday Kitchen man is still firmly holed up at The Church Green in Lymm.

Here in West Kirby, you will find another Byrne, Aiden's brother, Louis, running the kitchen on a day-to-day basis.

“But both are excellent chefs and Aiden does call in now and again to see what's happening,” our waitress keenly informed us.

What's the deal on the table?
There is no deal, as such. There is a choice of two main course Sunday roasts for £12, placing it at the higher end of the scale, shall we say.

The main course...
Chicken, a modest, boneless skin-on breast, which came with an interesting,  spicy shard of dark meat in place of forcemeat; The other choice: a single slice of topside, cooked medium rare.

ChickenAccompaniments were identical for both meats – Yorkshire pudding and a jug of thin gravy that tasted of brown.

Horseradish? Condiments? You don't ask, you don't get. 

Yorkshires...
....Weren't too bad for 5pm when dinner was served, but not sizzling and crunchy, straight out of the furnace, which they may well have been at one o'clock. But they do insist, here, that Sunday lunch is available until 7pm and, as such, the quality must remain the same throughout service.

Big and home-cooked uneven, they gave the impression of having sat around for a while. A bit like the seals basking in the sun off the shores of the nearby Hilbre Island, but without the factor 15. Happily they had not yet acquired the same texture.

Roast potatoes
“What variety of spuds?” we wondered. “What variety?” repeated our server uncertainly, before going off to check with the kitchen. Maris pipers, it turned out. Three economical nuggets.  They did not bear the characteristic crunch (from a god roughing up, missus) but were not unpleasant either.

Veggies
An appetising dish of roasted Chantenay carrots, roast parsnips, broccoli and green beans.

What if you are a vegetarian or don't like Sunday roasts?
There are one or two non-meat choices on the bar menu, served all day every day, and, for the rest, several other pub grub staples such as burgers and risotto.

But you might struggle to be completely animal free. Even the chips are cooked in dripping.

Bangers and mash for kidsChild friendly?
If you are a kid with a big appetite, or can pass for 10, you are laughing. 

There is a very good value Young Person's menu. £6 buys three courses and a drink, which proved, in relative terms only, mind, bigger than the adult portions. 

Lots of good, soft, garlic ciabatta was followed by bangers and mash, which was whipped up with the same care and attention as you would expect on a full size plate in the best gastropub (“best mash ever”).

Meanwhile, a boulder of fish (in a heavy-going batter),  chips, tasty marrowfat mushy peas and white sliced bread and butter, defeated the seven-year-old who thought the fish too oily. He had a point though, as we discovered when, still as peckish as West Kirby seagulls, we attempted to finish it off for him. 

Remember that Summer Pops tent?Proof of the puddings
The children wanted the chocolate brownie, popcorn and home-made ice cream off their inclusive mini-menu, as did one of the adults who ordered the standard £6 version. However, there wasn't a great difference in size when they all came.

Eton Mess resembled the old stripey big top at the Summer Pops, but with too many hard meringue discs, too much piped cream, an odd basil jelly and a strawberry sorbet that did little to cut through, it was all too much.

On the other hand, the brownie was a rich, proper, cocoa-packed treat and won the dessert round by a sugar mile.

All in all
The Collingwood pub might have been rebranded in Aiden Byrne's colours last winter, but we are talking only figuratively.

The exterior is in need of a lick of paint and while there is a pleasant beer garden and grassy area to amuse the younger members of families, the large, Furniture Outlet Village-style interior remains slightly gloomy, and, on this occasion, largely empty.

This was on a pleasant, sunny Sunday. On the wet Morrissey sort, and depending on your mental constitiution, you might struggle. 

But if you are passing....

*Liverpool Confidential reviewers dine unannounced and the company picks up the bills. Not the restaurant, not a PR company.