Have you Thai'd Mamasan Liverpool yet?
Location & Venue:
I seem to upset a lot of people every time I mention this but guys...Wahaca has gone. In its place (and making a much better use of the space) is Mamasan, a new South-East Asian restaurant set to take the city by storm. Originally from Glasgow, this is Mamasan's second site, though the owners are no strangers to running successful restaurants. You can find the restaurant on School Lane, spanning 3 floors and a roof top bar. Despite the restaurant's generous floor plan the interior is a cosy, luxurious space making use of hanging flower canopies, wicker chairs and dark velvet furnishings. It reminds me a lot of the old Miyagi, a 'Rainforest Cafe meets The Vincent' type scenario ifyouknowhatimean.
Food and Drink:
We'll get right to the point here: the food at Mamasan is great. It's rare to find a menu where you'd eat everything on it but this one had me struggling to choose for an embarrassing amount of time. The starters, 'Thai' chicken and prawn tacos came as three delicate little pancakes filled with crispy bits, a bit like chip shop scraps but packed with flavour. Likewise the fried chicken with sriracha wasabi caramel was thick with flavour- that perfect combination of sweet, spicy, salty and fresh.
The main courses are more generous in size- a bowl of Pad Thai was enough for me to eat for lunch the next day and came with a cute little array of toppings for me to customize my noodles like a Thailand version of a bag of salt n' shake. Duck leg with grilled pineapple was another solid choice- sitting in a bowl of fragrant red curry sauce. Sides aren't included with dishes like this and have to be ordered separately, we toyed with getting rice but instead decided to play fast and loose with a portion of 'Thai Dirty Fries'. Clearly the food here isn't exactly authentic but there are plenty of other restaurants in the city you can get the real deal if that's what you're after. This place has flavour, and bags of it.
Cocktails are the star of the show on the Mamasan drinks list and it's certainly not style over substance which is always a risk in this type of place. Understated, refreshing and unique, each cocktail was a hit. Recommendations: The coconut and lime mojito or the raspberry and rose marg.
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Price: £££- Not cheap! Whilst cocktails and mains were reasonably priced the starters are around a tenner each.
Conclusion: I liked everything we ate at Mamasan and would definitely recommend it. They have a few months to find their Liverpool niche now and as long as it doesn't become WAG central I'll definitely be going there again.
* This meal was gifted but as always this is an honest account of my experience.