LEAF Smithdown Rd

LEAF’s fairly new local, up Allerton way, continues the theme, with over 60 varieties of loose-leaf tea (the OG LEAF is housed in a former tea room so the name and USP was meant to be) served alongside coffee and cake, cocktails, beers and wine, and an eclectic all-day menu.

Brunch favourites include eggs benny and a brekkie butty with your choice of smoked bacon, sausage or halloumi, but actually the whole morning vibe is geared so there’s plenty of non-meat and plant-based choices, including spinach-based dosa pancakes and scrambled ackee on sourdough. Sandwiches, salads and soups, including a daily special, cater for the lunch crowd, and hot and cold platters of three varieties (Greek, fish, vegan) will suit hungry mouths or the early evening drinking set. The “nibbles” section can equally be treated thus, as a selection of tapas – chorizo cooked in sherry and honey, for example, or crispy fried squid – or as starters to a “sit-down meal” – crab rarebit, say, or mushroom and walnut pâté. Mains really are global, from Goan vegetable curry to jerk marinated rump of lamb, which, at time of writing, was accompanied by tabbouleh with charred tender stem broccoli, feta cheese and mango, and an Exotic Garden green tea dressing, harking nicely back to the original inspiration for LEAF. There’s also lots for the fish and seafood fan (ask for the day’s market choice), plus steak and chips, and burgers. Flatbreads are a thing, with everyone catered for with the likes of a seitan shawarma vegan number or Moroccan chicken with hot harissa mayonnaise.

Sweet-toothed punters should be happy with the counter selection of freshly made cakes, and desserts include classics such as Eton mess and sticky toffee pudding. Drinks other than tea and the usual include two gins distilled with LEAF tea – LEAF dry gin using Champagne Cassis tea and Turncoat x LEAF Chai Gin – and the house beer Exotic Garden Pale Ale, brewed in collaboration with Baltic Triangle’s Black Lodge Brewing.

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