It’s been open for only a couple of weeks, but Wreckfish already feels like part of the local furniture
It may be a dream job, but this reviewing lark is, I’ve realised, a surprisingly nerve-racking business: there’s too much blood, sweat and cold hard cash invested in any restaurant simply to enjoy a good dinner, then dash off the requisite word count on the bus home. In Wreckfish’s case, the responsibility weighs especially heavy: 1,522 people, including a fair few big culinary cheeses, coughed up to help Gary Usher open his new place in Liverpool, making it Kickstarter UK’s biggest restaurant campaign to date.
Admittedly, not many of them are there to keep a beady eye on me on this particular midweek lunchtime. But if the big communal table in the centre remains empty, we’re by no means alone: not only are there the chefs in the open kitchen to keep us company, but on the next table, as if to hammer home the point that this is a relaxed bistro, sits a toddler, merrily working her way through the adventures of Peppa Pig while her parents eat. A couple of pensioners are getting stuck into some juicy gossip and a bottle of wine over by the door, through which the occasional passer-by pops to make a reservation. It’s been open for only a couple of weeks, but this former watchmaker’s workshop in the city’s cobbled merchant quarter already feels like part of the local furniture.
Related: ‘Too poncey’? Delia Smith’s just going to the wrong restaurants | Felicity Cloake
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