THE city’s first authentic “fish caffe” has opened. Italian Club Fish, at the top of Bold Street, is a new concept from the family behind the original Mediterranean style cafe-restaurant located just a few doors down on the other side of the road.

As one of the city's ever-changing, and most independent, shopping locations, traders at the far end of Bold Street have been looking to find new ways to utilise the area’s offer after shops have closed for the day.

This time, proprietor Rosaria Crolla is combining her Italian heritage with her Scottish roots with a menu that twins high quality UK fish and chips with Italian-style shellfish, oysters and pasta dishes.

“I've found, personally, that it's quite hard to get good fish and chips in Liverpool, and there’s no fish restaurants,” she says.

“I wanted to take that ethos of the Italian Club and Italian cuisine to create something of a marriage between British fish and chips and Italian specialities.

“It's very difficult to find a niche in the restaurant market because everything's been done.

“But this is fun fish, young food and not pretentious at all.”

Ms Crolla moved to Liverpool from Glasgow to help her family set up the Il Forno restaurant, on Duke Street, before opening her own cafe with her partner and head chef Maurizio Pellegrini.

The original Italian Club opened two years ago, inspired by Ms Crolla’s late father – who turned his hand from fine dining to fish and chips – and her mother, sister and other relatives can now be found pitching in at both venues.

“We're a very close family and I couldn't have done it without them,” Ms Crolla said.

“I think people like that, and getting to know people in a place, that's very important.

“For me, the Italian Club philosophy is in my father’s memory.

“He believed in keeping it simple, using the best ingredients, keeping it fresh and he believed in the family, and this is a combination of all those things.”