Shiraz: North John Street

Shiraz? What? The take-away Shiraz? Where you go at 3am in the morning to get a donna kebab pizza and chips with way too much tomato sauce on, Shiraz? That place lads go for one last chance to neck some inebriated hussy munching on a burger, Shiraz?

The answer is NO.

This is one of the other Shirazes (Shirazez? Shiraz’?). In fact, there’s 3 of them in Liverpool city centre. We went to the one on North John Street. Despite it being a small venue tables were pushed together and we were all seated cheerfully and without problem. Donna Kebab Breakfast anyone?

FTP –

“Good quality of food at a very competitive price but the ambience seemed to affect the banter which seemed low key. A solid but not fantastic 6.5“

Wolf – 

“As much of the chat at my end of the table was about cricket, I’m going to sprinkle my review with tortuous cricket references. 

I arrived at Shiraz late to find the (batting) order had already been made by the early birds. I settled for the extremely reasonably priced Full English, with fresh orange (proper job, not out of a carton) and coffee. As a whole it was like Jonathan Trott’s batting, unexciting but effective. 

The service came in off a short run up to bring the food promptly, but cooked perfectly, the egg yolks flowed like runs off Brian Lara’s bat, the toast perched on the cover boundary of the plate was well buttered, and the sausages, of a good length and positioned symmetrically at long on and long off, were a delight. 

There was no need for a second innings after this breakfast, the portion was more than sufficient, for less than a fiver it was a bargain. Highly recommended if you happen to be in that region of town. 9/10“

Johnny Concrete –

“This was decent. Nice to be back after a few months out of the game, I was a little tired so the comforting Cricketing chat and solid standard breakie were just the ticket. 

I got a small breakfast which was more than ample and bloody nicely cooked, they clearly know their onions here (there were no onions fyi). The Coffee was good also and OJ freshly squeezed and innocent, which can’t be said for them all. 

Would I recommend this to a group of bantz hungry beauts determined to spend a good ninety mins shit chatting…..no. Is it a functional breakie perfect for a pre footie/racing/dogging afternoon….you bet.

Paying up front was a little odd, meant that the ability to tip was gone. We discussed this and reached the conclusion that handing money to someone is a little bit off which could only be remedied with a Tom Selleck style distribution of the currency. 7/10“

Jungle Trouble –

“Fucking Shiraz. I couldn’t believe it when we turned up and half the ladz had ALREADY FUCKING ORDERED THEIR FOOD. What kind of pish is this? Disgrace.

The rest of us rocked up and we all enjoyed some chats about cricket, I say we all but I mostly just nodded my head and laughed when everyone else did.

After texting Ab Fab we were on our way down and then texting him to let him know we’d arrived. And then texting him to know we’d all ordered our food. And then after texting Ab Fab to know that our food had arrived, been eaten and we were ready to go it was good to see Mr. Ab Fab arrive and eat a semi-cold veggie breakfast having been only an hour late. 

Food was great and really reasonably priced. Swaps weren’t an issue. Good to see Seaburger back, even if he was later that Ab Fab and didn’t even eat breakfast. Weird thing about paying at the end, they miss out on tips which they defo would have gotten cause it was great nosh.

Facetiming Kirk was shit. 7.5/10“

Seaburger –

“Shiraz. I arrived so late that I was greeted with the sound of already digesting sausages. No food for me sadly, although I did see some cold mushrooms on a plate and they looked good. I heard someone on another table order some coffee too so I knew they definitely sold hot drinks. I could also smell a faint meat stink on Clarence’s breath so I didn’t feel too left out. Piecing together the missing parts, I reckon my Shiraz breakkie would have been decent so they get a 6.5/10“

Jester Fortune –

“Some idiot left it for me to book and of course I never; 3 of us arrived on time to a nearly full café and I panicked, we grabbed a couple of seats and asked if we could shift things around, this was not an issue.
Probably the best value breakfast in the city. 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 bacon, 2 toast, beans, tomato, mushrooms, hash brown and a cuppa for £4.50 and you know what – it was decent quality. The Mediterranean breakfast also looked appealing and it was no issue to swap the veggie sausage with a meat one. I also believe the rest of the party had no swaps issues. For the ladies or fatties there is also a high protein/low fat option.

Beer selection was limited but wine list looked more than adequate and the rest of the menu looked decent. I’ll be back to sample some authentic Turkish BBQ in the near future. If you’re after a gourmet boho breakfast this probably isn’t the gaff for you. If you want a good quality Desperate Dan breakfast, not be hungry for the rest of the day and walk out with change from a fiver – you’ll love it here.
Staff and service were great.

Bants below par – not sure if this was the venue or just one of those days. 8.599/10“

Overall – 7.51

Final Thoughts – Well, considering it’s most famous as a greasy take-away that’s not a bad score at all. Seems to have been let down by a severe lack of bants and fit waitresses. However if good food at an incredibly competitive rate is what you’re looking for then Shiraz is the place to go.