ECHO political editor Liam Thorp and recent vegetarian convert ventures to one of the city’s most stylish venues and is bowled over
11:33, 11 Jan 2025Updated 11:34, 11 Jan 2025
Echo political editor Liam Thorp experienced a mouth-watering meal at Buyers Club in Liverpool
As a fairly recent convert to vegetarianism, I am still very much at the stage of struggling not to be jealous of my carnivorous counterparts when dining out.
I became a full vegetarian when my son was born last year. I still loved eating meat but I felt I needed to do my bit to help the planet and also help myself to feel healthier along the way. It has mainly been fine, but eating at restaurants has often brought with it a pang of jealousy.
That’s because for some restaurants, a veggie option can still very much feel like an afterthought as priority is given to what meat dishes adorn the menu. On the whole I think this situation is improving across hospitality and here in Liverpool. This view was only strengthened by the superb experience I enjoyed last weekend.
As someone who enjoys a meal out, I am not sure why I had never made it to Buyers Club before. I have always heard great things but happenstance and an unrelenting obsession with Indian food had somehow kept me away – until now.
Set back from the busy Hardman Street in Liverpool city centre, the stylish restaurant and bar has been a key part of the city’s thriving hospitality scene since 2015 and continues to draw throngs of diners and drinkers each week.
In a bid to create some more time for each other after navigating the first year of parenthood, my wife and I had pledged to go on more dates in 2025, ideally without our little bundle of joy. Alas a lack of babysitting options meant the little man had to join us this time around – and judging by the way he wolfed down all set down in front of him, I think he was delighted by this turn of events.
What I liked about the menu at Buyers Club was its simplicity. It is essentially pizza, pasta and nibbles done really, really well. It has been a long time since I paid £15 for a bowl of pasta but as I was tucking into the sumptuous wild mushroom tagliolini in all its buttery, truffley richness – I felt it was worth every damn penny.
The Cacio E Pepe Butter Beans dish was a sumptuous delight
My other half felt similarly animated about her sun-dried tomato pesto spaghetti and the small chap sat beside us could not be halted in his mission to devour the special baby tomato pasta the attentive staff kindly located for him.
An honourable mention must also go to the delicious and pleasingly gargantuan portion of focaccia bread that accompanied our feast and felt like a meal in itself. The thick, almost meaty slices were perfection when dipped in olive oil or the pasta sauces we were all enjoying so much.
However, amongst all this deliciousness, there was one stand out dish that I have been thinking about every day since. Our starter of cacio e pepe butter beans had such a profound effect on my psyche that I have found myself picturing it when in the shower or during our morning office news conference.
Now I am prone to a sweeping statement here and there, but I don’t believe I am being hyperbolic when I say I think this is currently the best vegetarian restaurant dish in Liverpool. It is the kind of dish where you are already thinking about the next spoonful before you have swallowed the previous one – and then worry you haven’t spent enough time savouring that first mouthful. The kind of dish where you start to miss it before its gone. The kind of dish you want to marry and move to a small farm in sunny Italy with.
What we are talking about is a stupendous and outrageously moreish cacophony of butter, pepper, truffle and pecorino cheese that somehow gets better with every taste. In case I haven’t expressed this enough – I am head over heels in love with this plate of food.
But don’t let my deranged ramblings about this particular offering lead to the suggestion that the rest of the menu isn’t also absolutely top notch. Simply put, this is a Liverpool restaurant at the peak of its powers and everyone involved should be very proud of themselves.