I was pleasantly surprised when it became apparent that the old 'Banksy' building, on the corner of Berry Street and Duke Street, was going to be a restaurant rather than yet another Costa Coffee, as rumours suggested. That was over a year ago now, but I have only just got around to trying it out. Actually, it was about two weeks ago when I visited but my blood pressure has only just returned to normal after a MASSIVE salt intake! I know that I should expect fast food to be salty but, man, those salt and pepper chicken wings.
It took me so long to visit for a few reasons, one being that there are lots of new places to try in Liverpool lately, which is fantastic, and another is that having a 3 year old means that you don't get out as much as you used to. I think the main reason, though, is that I try onto rush to all of the hip new places that crop up, some have too much style over substance and others are crammed with people wanting to tell the whole of Liverpool how trendy they are with a load of bad Instagram pictures. I would rather focus on the food.
After leaving it too late to try another new restaurant on my list, we plumped for Yardbird as it was nearby and did not look too busy. There wasn't a table straight away, but they offered to call us when a table was free, which was very good of them. We headed over to Red Door, the old Metropolitan, for one and we were so glad it was one. I was expecting it to be a lot better as it is a good space for a pub, but the beer was awful and the place itself was all a bit meh. Anyway, back to the chicken.
The menu consist of various forms of chicken wings, chicken strips, chicken burgers, you get the picture. The signature dishes are southern fried chicken with gravy and biscuits and chicken with donuts and hot pepper, but I decided to go for the 'Dead Man's Swerve'; a crunchy chicken burger with hot buffalo sauce and pickles. There was only one lonely pickle on my burger, but it was a very good chicken burger and definitely worth the £6 price tag. All six of us ordered different dishes, but they kind of looked the same really. There were no real complaints other than the saltiness of the chicken wings and the chips, but there were no 'wows' either. The highlight of the meal was the coconut curry sauce, that accompanied the chips, which was rich and creamy with just a little kick.
Yardbird is most definitely better than any of the fried chicken joints you will find in Liverpool and it is a cool little place to head to with friends, I just have a feeling that it can be so much better.
Image taken from Yardbird Facebook Page
