By Harriet Mould
The Baltic Triangle is Liverpool’s creative playground; a hub for quirky digital agencies, up-and-coming musicians and modish galleries alike, all housed within stunning Grade II listed warehouses reminiscent of a time when Liverpool was its docks.
With this in mind, The Baltic Social’s name change couldn’t have come soon enough. Formerly known as Elevator, it is a cosy café-come-pub by day and relaxed bar by night, entertaining its customers with live music, great food and dangerously good cocktails.
We headed down to sample their 2014 winter menu, and found ourselves pleasantly surprised by what was on offer. What seems to be, at first glance, a traditionally pub grub menu of big breakfasts, burgers and beer, is actually a fantastic selection of big flavours and easy comfort food, certainly creative enough for the Baltic Triangle tribe.
Deliberating for a long while over their dips (spiced hummus, beetroot honey and goats cheese), I eventually settled on halloumi and chickpea fritters to start, and a halloumi salad. Meanwhile, my partner was deliberating over the Baltic Winter One Pots (warming beef, root vegetable and Moroccan chicken stews), but decided upon deep fried goats cheese bon-bons, followed by their very own Baltic Burger.
The food arrived promptly and was wolfed down in time with the Black Keys album that was blasting out of the stage’s speakers. The fritters came with a creamy beetroot tzatziki, which beautifully offset the crisp saltiness of the cheese, whilst the salad was generous, fresh and accompanied by chunky potato wedges, seasoned perfectly with cumin. At the other end of the table, small bites of goats cheese made sweet and spicy by the caramelised red onion chutney they came with were practically inhaled, and I found my hand aggressively batted away when I tried to sneak a forkful. Similarly, the Baltic Burger, was kept carefully away from me, though I could just glimpse the mature cheddar, homemade ketchup, very chunky salted chips and, of course, the sizable burger itself, before it too vanished, washed down by good bottled beer.
It’s pub food, yes, but much, much better.
It was a little too early to try their acclaimed Baltic Fizz cocktail, though the atmosphere suited it: The Baltic Social is a quirkily decorated space, like a trendy city pub, but large enough to not feel shoehorned in, and its clientele are artistic, stylish and very relaxed. It’s not somewhere you’d take your parents, but it is somewhere you’d go for lunch and accidentally stay all day. It’s a fun, loud companionable community. The atmosphere makes the change in title very clear.
After all, what’s in a name? Well, quite a lot as it turns out, because The Baltic Social is just that.
