81 Renshaw Street – The Arts Cafe

Merry Christmas readers, 81 Renshaw were the hosts for our Christmas Toast and what a beauty it was. Settling on somewhere in the City Centre that wasn’t going to be victim to the fast turnaround Christmas shopper ethic. We’d booked in and pre-ordered our breakfasts to ensure the Christmas special was one to behold – however as usual our identities were completely hidden.

We’d used the venue as a Christmas meet up the year before and with a few missing the revisit was on the cards to get the full seal of approval!

Plotatron 9000 – 

“A festive bunch o lads arrived mostly on time to the delightful surroundings of 81 renshaw to be welcomed by a wench elf of delightful manner. Coffees were promptly ordered and delivered lively brew they do here. Food had been pre ordered with advance swaps fulfilled with aplomb and gusto by the kitchen. Best sausages I’ve had in ages,everything cooked just right and the egg was just the best sort of runny. 
9.5/10“

Ab Fab

“You could tell there was something magical in the air, not least due to the fact I arrived before my food for once. 81 Renshaw had pulled out all the stops, giving the place, and us, a very festive feel.

Far from being the full English minus the meat here, for once, the veggie breakfast actually managed to cause ripples of jealousy, with more than one person rushing off to order extra Halloumi (hello, you). The veggi sausages, whilst not gourmet quorn ones, were good old faithful Linda Mac’s, a mile above some I’ve had. Poached egg, wonderful as was the toast. But the star in the crown had to be the little bit of veggie black pudding. Not sacrilege as some carnivores would have you believe, but a lovely touch that sealed the fate of making this in the top three best veggie breakfast in Liverpool. Throw in some hash browns and it would have won.

Food aside, the bants were even more cheery than usual. The crackers, so thoughtfully provided, offered jokes even more dreadful than our usual ones. The staff were super. Great time all round. Ho ho ho

9/10”

Grill Scoff Herring – 

“Greeted by an Elf Wench and a massive table, I was the first to the venue.  81 Renshaw proved a fine choice for last year’ Christmas Special and standards were more than matched this year.

It needs to be noted that preorders were taken as such a large group was a guarantee for the December edition, so the ability to deal with then element of surprise usually associated with a Toast outing could not be rated.

However, service was well executed and patiently dealt in good humour.

The ingredients were deliciously cooked and carefully selected and a fine breakfast was had.

2 very nice coffees and the opportunity to spoil myself were gratefully received.

Good value for money too.

8/10“

Luther Two-Tashe – THE HOLLY AND THE FRY-VY 

“81 Renshaw St.

I won a tape measure in my cracker so here goes.

Coffee – good quality, 120mm diameter cup served at great drinking temperature.
Sausages – 2 off 90mm x 30mm diameter
Bacon – nice and crispy 2 off 150mm in length
Egg – beautifully poached – standard egg size. 70mm diameter, 30mm thick.
Mushrooms – sliced, 15-20 items. Lovely.
Beans – nice and soft, on average 12mm x 6mm diameter.
Tomatoes – cherry style, oven cooked, a lot of stored energy though. Careful when pricking. 25mm diameter spherical.
Black pudding – 2 off slices, 65mm diameter x 6mm thick. Crispy on the top soft on the bottom and very tasty. 3 or 4mm extra thickness and it would’ve been perfect.
All served on a 254mm plate (10″ in old money)

The venue, service, price and occasion all made Christmas toast exactly what it should be – THE event of the breakfast calendar.  I can’t judge on how they’d handle us on the fly, but they put on a real show for us.
Would love to go back and sample as an ‘offthestreeter’

The premium laughter and the addition of Buck’s Fizz, and my direct hit on the bauble with the cork capped off a memorable morning

8.3/10

Merry Christmas Toasties!!”

Johnny Concrete – 

” Drove 120 miles to arrive at 81 Renshaw St and I’m delighted to say I wold have driven many more, one of the best. A first rate breakie of great proportions (see Luther Two-Tashes review) and service which I think it’s fair to say has never been bettered, all washed down with something fruity and fizzy. I won’t list out highlights as if you we’re you know and if not…..where were you? Merry Christmas all, the score lands somewhere in the middle of the dancing ladies and the leaping lords coming in at a barnstorming 9.5/10“

Mr. Kirk Douglas –

“After missing last years incredible installment of 81 Renshaw, I was sick with 12 months worth of jealousy and it didn’t disappoint!

An almighty cheer erupted whence a new Toaster arrived and it wasn’t long before we were spoiling ourselves with lashings…..of Clementine Bucks Fizz.

The venue was as imagined a cosy and welcoming place with the instant need to check the menu to see what else you can get there on a repeat visit.

The Cappuccino gets my award for the best Toast Cappuccino of the year award. Delisharoodle do! We had pre-ordered and that meant no disappointments or messing around it was all scran-bam-thank you-mam! I’d swerved the Tomatoes and mushrooms and got a surprise of an extra sausage, however when looking at the LADZ toms, realised it wasn’t the usual canned pulp but lovely vine cherry tomatoes!

The black pudding was lovely, but was missing a hash brown however the value for money meant that would have been a luxury item. My only beef was my poached egg was a little hard but that can easily be forgiven for the atmosphere, service and quality of the rest of the scran.

This breaky certainly lives up to it’s name which gives it an 8.1/10“

Clarence Boddicker–

“If you missed out on this instalment of Toast you really did, and quite literally miss out on a cracker. 
Our Christmas Toast found us in 81 Renshaw street, a good old Cafe nicely decorated, pleasant to be in without the greasy spoon feel you might find in a Cafe but also not the usual restrauant setting we find ourselves in for our monthly outing, but it finished off a high standard of Toasts this year in style. 

Banter as usual was of the highest standard known to man while we waited on our Full Englishes across the board. Toast, coffee, orange juice and even a little fizzy stuff to limber us up were free flowing and all pretty damn good. Everyone’s order arrived as requested although a little spaced, some guys had finished eating before the last one was served but as the kitchen was in full view of the dining area we could see the staff working tirelessly to feed a pretty big crowd so the wait can be excused. 
The breakfast itself was great I got the large FE priced at a good value £5.95 ( considering toast mountain ) I said at the time it was a good proper breakfast not trying to big itself up with fancy sausages or bacon from a virgin pig. As with another venue this year I would go out of my way to visit again and if it came to walking up the hill to the clove hitch and spending an extra £2 or going to 81 Renshaw St I know where I’ll end up. 
8.8/10“

Overall – 8.85/10

An egg crackering 8.7 puts this Toast outing right at the top. Despite the pre-ordering, the breakfasts dished out were top quality and we can imagine that an off the street punter would get the same incredible service and quality. In fact we don’t need to imagine, because imagination and Christmas go hand in hand so all we need to do is believe and it comes true.

DISCLAIMER: No reindeer or fat humans with white beards and red clothes can be found inside the sausages.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!