Negresco Deco, Woolton Village

Apr 27 2007 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Emma Johnson at the newest of south Liverpool’s eateries

With two courses for £12.95, or three courses for £14.95, it seemed too good a bargain to pass up and featured three starter options including soup of the day and a choice of traditional Sunday lunch featuring either: roast boneless rib of beef, suckling pig, half-roasted free range chicken or roast leg of lamb.

All of the main courses came with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables finished with fresh jus roti (a dark stock which can be made from chicken or lamb).

Uninspired by the soup of the day, we split the starters – for the purpose of reviewing.

Thus it was the Parfait de Canard for me – which translates as smooth duck liver parfait – with fresh baguette, onion jam and sage butter; and the Smoked Salmon Fume or wild Alaskan salmon on rye bread with lemon and capers for my other half.

After placing our orders, it was a while before the starters arrived but I don’t mind that, I quite like the anticipation. When the dishes did appear we were more than ready to tuck in, especially after half a large glass of wine and a bottle of Peroni.

The salmon looked great, alluringly pink and curled nicely atop a thick slice of rye bread, scattered with a sprinkling of salty capers. Following a nasty run-in with some undercooked salmon abroad last year, my hus- band has been running scared of the stuff for a good 12 months, so this must have been pretty exceptional fish as he wolfed it down in no time before making a start on my serving of rye bread.

My parfait, I must say, had an unusual colour, rather more blue-grey than I had anticipated and the first taste being with the eyes and all that. However, the colour had no bearing on the actual taste: not too creamy with a bit of texture and the onion jam was sweet enough to offset the strong duck flavour.

On to the main courses, and they could not have been better.

I was presented with a thick brown slab of beef surrounded by perfectly-cooked roast potatoes and a Yorkshire pudding, all sitting on a sea of slightly sticky jus. On the other side of the table, an adequately-sized leg of lamb arrived nestling against its own selection of roasties and a sea of jus. Two oval plates of vegetables also arrived with the main courses.

Both Sunday roasts were faultless and the vegetables could not have been better – nicely crunchy cauliflower with a thick cheese sauce and a plate of root vegetables, including sweet potato and carrots, created a homely and fulfilling dish.

Yet somehow there was room for pudding and, veering off the set menu and dessert of the day, we went for a trio of ice cream (him) and the gateaux de crepes aux pommes (me).

The ice cream was perfectly fine but the gateaux took top honours – a cute miniature tower of crepes layered with apple compote and drizzled with honey sauce and a blob of ice cream, it was fabulous. One restaurant down, two more to go . . .

emmajohnson@dailypost.co.uk

Negresco Deco, Speke Road, Woolton, Liverpool. 0871 3108474.

Interior: A jazzy 1920s-style white tablecloth affair. Gorgeous.

Service: Impeccable, friendly and efficient.

Menu: Varied with a French feel.

Value: The Sunday lunch menu is pretty astounding value for money.

The bill: £44.70 with two Peroni beers and two glasses of wine.