Chef Scott Gavin at The Monro, Duke Street, Liverpool _460
William Leece meets Lee Harvey and Scott Gavin, keeping up the standards at The Monro
THE Monro, in the centre of Liverpool ,was once famous as being the only pub where the traditional call of “Time, gentlemen please” was delivered in Chinese.
But its growing reputation now hinges far more on its cooking, with the Chinese chivvying-up just a memory.
It’s been credited as the city’s pioneer of the new breed of gastro-pubs, earning praise from influential reviewers across the country for its cuisine.
The kitchens are now in the hands of two young chefs, both working on their home territory, Lee Harvey and Scott Gavin.
Lee moved only a few yards up the road when he started at The Monro nearly two years ago from The Bridewell, while Scott is a newcomer, it being a mere three weeks or so since he arrived from the West Tower Hotel, in Aughton, West Lancashire.
But it was Scott who was dropped right in at the deep end on his arrival – Lee had to have a minor operation and Scott straight away found himself in charge of the team of five chefs and two kitchen porters.
Relief has come, though, in the shape of Lee back in harness as the senior head chef, although he admits he has a little way to go.
He’s been in the business for ten years, learning the ropes the hard way working alongside other chefs and absorbing their knowledge whenever the chance presented itself. The key to Lee’s thinking at The Monro, he says, is to devise the king of menu “that reminds you of what you had when you were young.”
It’s home-style cooking at its very best, with the lunchtime menus at the moment offering such warming delights as braised ox tongue and Glamorgan sausages, for starters, and rib eye steak or roasted salmon fillet for mains, all at a very reasonable £8.95 and billed as a Log Fire Lunch.
The same menu is presented as the Early Doors evening meal, before the main evening a la carte menu kicks in.