Christakis Review – Greek & Mediterranean Cuisine

AD – Gifted Meal

Today’s post is for all those Liverpool City dwellers out there, or those looking for a restaurant recommendation for an up and coming trip. I was kindly invited down to Christakis in Aigburth a few weeks ago to try their menu, the meal was gifted, however all opinions are my own.

If you aren’t from Liverpool, or the surrounding areas, then you are unlikely to have heard of Christakis. First and foremost, Christakis is a well-known, borederline famous, Greek restuarant across two sites in Liverpool. One of the restaurants is located in the heart of the city centre on Duke Street, and the other on Aigburth Road (the restaurant I was invited down to). Christakis also has a residency in the Baltic Market, located in the Baltic Triangle area of the city.

Christakis is the perfect setting for any special occasion, with weekend belly dancing shows in the Duke Street restaurant you will most definitely be entertained.

What did I order?

Starters

Hummus (v/gf) – Creamed chickpeas with tahini, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Served with a side of warm fresh bread.

Spinach Pie (v) – Greek savoury filo pastry filled with spinach, onions, herbs and feta cheese.

Mains

Chicken Kebab – Skewers of marinated pieces of tender chicken. Served with chips, rice and salad.

Kleftico (gf) – Shoulder of lamb braised in the oven with tomatoes, onions, celery and herbs. Served with chips. rice and salad.

Dessert

Baklava (v) – Sweet filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup.

Christakis Aigburth Road Review

Greek/Mediterranean food is becoming one of my favourite cuisines at the moment, I have always loved it, but lately I just can’t get enough. Christakis encompasses my love for Greek food all under one roof, and will be one of my go to restaurants when I’m looking to satisfy my craving.

Hummus is a staple dish in my diet, I’m always purchasing it when I do the weekly food shop. Paired with pitta and veggies it’s the perfect starter or lunch time snack. I obviously had to get this on my visit to Christakis, and I was not disappointed. It was creamy and delicious, the warm bread was soft and accompanied the hummus really well.

The Spinach Pie was new to me, and I’m so glad I tried this out. The pastry was perfectly crispy, and the dish was super savoury, everything I love about a starter.

Believe me when I tell you that the Chicken Kebab was the nicest kebab I have ever eaten in my almost 26 years of life! I know that sounds dramatic, but it truly was a taste and texture sensation. The chicken was juicy, tender and flavoursome. I loved every mouthful and would get this dish again and again. If you go to Christakis, you MUST get this meal.

My boyfriend decided on the Kleftico. Personally, Lamb isn’t a dish that I would usually opt for, however I had to give this a try and it was unreal! The meat literally fell of the bone, and the tomato based sauce was to die for!

This was my first time trying Baklava, and I am now fully obsessed! I can barely walk past a bakery without wanting to purchase a whole bunch of Baklava. If you don’t have a sweet tooth, then you probably wouldn’t enjoy this. However, as self confessed sweet lover, I adored every bite. It’s sticky, chewy and sweet, and is now one of my new favourite desserts.

If you have never visited Christakis before, then you need to get yourself down there ASAP. The food is incredible and the staff are wonderful. The staff made the experience even better by being attentive, giving food recommendations, polite, funny and charming. I can’t wait until my next meal at Christakis!

Until Another Day x

Triyit New Year New Me Review

I am so happy to share that I was chosen for my third Triyit box. If you are not already aware, Triyit are a review company allowing brands to obtain consumer feedback on their products, at completely no cost to the reviewer. If selected for a campaign, you will be sent a short survey to complete, to ensure you are the correct fit, then box of goodies will arrive a few days later. Once you have tried all of the products, you will be sent another survey to give feedback on all of the products.

With that being said, I’m going to share with you everything I received in the Triyit “New Year, New Me” campaign, and my thoughts on each product.

Verival Berry Granola

I love cereal, especially granola, so I was over the moon to discover the Verival Berry Granola in my Triyit box. This delicious granola is 100% organic, high in fibre and free of palm oil. I served up my granola with milk, but it would be amazing with yoghurt too. I find that some granola’s can be very hard to chew and sometimes too crunchy, but the Verival Granola was just the right texture. I was so impressed by the taste and how filling it was, I’ll definitely be keeping a look out for this whilst food shopping.

Marston’s Resolution Beer

Whilst I am not a lover of beer, my boyfriend certainly is. The Resolution Beer from Marston’s Brewery has a 4.7% ABV and it’s only 88 calories per bottle. I asked my boyfriend sum up his thoughts on this beer and he was really impressed. He described it as light, crisp and refreshing, it was definitely a thumbs up from him. I even had a sip and for someone who doesn’t like beer, I actually thought it was quite nice!

Cheeky Panda Pocket Tissues

I always like to have a packet of tissues to hand, you never know when you might need them. The Cheeky Panda Pocket Tissues are completly plastic free and are made from 100% bamboo, how fab is that! Most pocket tissues have an outer packet made of plastic, but not the Cheeky Panda, the tissues are housed in a really cute sustainable box. The tissues themselves are also hypoallergenic, fragrance free and are super soft too!

Juice Burst Apple Juice

Now this is a product that I have purchased in the past, so I was very happy to receive a bottle of the Juice Burst Apple Juice in my Triyit box. Apple Juice is my go to fruit juice, I much prefer it to Orange. Juice Burst pride themselves in being recyclable, vegan and containing no added sugar. The drink is also super refreshing and vert tasty, it’s a yes from me!

ZENB Veggie Bites

I was a tad disappointed to find the ZENB Veggite Bites in my box. I received them in my last Triyit campaign and I didn’t like them at all. With that being said, it was a different flavour this time around they were Beetroot, Orange and Cacao Nib. Much to my disappoint, I didn’t enjoy these either. They are definitely an acquired taste that’s for sure. The Veggie Bites are organic, plant based, gluten free and contain no artificial flavours or preservatives.

Aqua Libra Raspberry and Apple Sparkling Water

Flavoured water is so tasty, so I couldn’t wait to take a sip of the Raspberry and Apple sparkling water from Aqua Libra. This drink contains no sugar, no sweeteners, no calories and no artificials, that’s a lot of no’s! Unfortunately, it’s also a no from me too. I’m not a fan of sparkling water and I couldn’t really taste the Raspberry and Apple, it was too subtle for my liking.

Bugs Bakes Dog Food

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Triyit always like to include our beloved pets in their campaigns, so they sent over some dry dog food from Bugs Bakes. My dog Oscar is a fussy little bugger when it comes to dry dog food, so he wasn’t too keen at first. We mixed the pellets in with some wet food and he was more than happy to gobble it down. Bugs Bakes food contain eco-friendly fruit and veg and have 100% plastic free packaging.

I really liked the majority of the products featured in the New Year, New Me campaign, with my favourite being the Verival Berry Granola. Have you tried anything mentioned here, or would you like to try them?

Until Another Day x

Six by Nico Liverpool – New York Menu

So this post is definitely a bit different to my usual content, however I want to expand my horizons and incorporate some lifestyle type posts to my blog.

Six by Nico is a new restaurant located on North John Street in Liverpool which opened at the back end of 2019. Six has 5 restaurants in the UK & Ireland these can be found in Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast and Glasgow, the latter being the first to open. This restaurant isn’t your typical eatery, the menu consists of 6 themed tasting courses with the theme changing every 6 weeks. The themes across the different restaurants have so far been Guilty Pleasures, Thai Street Food, The Chippie and even Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

In Liverpool, the January-February theme is New York. New York is my favourite city I have ever visited so I was over the moon to hear that a whole menu was designed around the Big Apple’s culinary delights. The food menu is a set price of £29pp with the option to include a wine pairing with each course for an additional £26pp. I’m not a fan of wine so I didn’t add this to my meal. This weekend my boyfriend and I went on a little date night to Six so I thought I’d share our thoughts on each course. Please bare in mind that this is a tasting menu, so the portions are designed to be small and à la carte.

Course 1 – Beef Burger Doughnuts

Tomato Ketchup / American Mustard

The first course was absolutely delicious. The burger was encased in a doughnut like bread, the bread was sweet similar to that of a Bao Bun, but slightly crisp on the outside. It tasted exactly like a beef burger and the addition of Ketchup and Mustard was a much loved bonus.

Course 2 – Eggs Benedict

Smoked Ham Hough Terrine / Brown Butter Hollandaise / Quail Egg

I really enjoyed this course. The ham terrine was so tasty and was complimented well the with hollandaise sauce. I don’t usually like hollandaise sauce, but this tasted completely different and wasn’t like the conventional yellow sauce. To accompany this dish there was a little breadcrumb encrusted ball, the menu didn’t say what this was, but from the taste I’m guessing it was black pudding.

Course 3 – Little Italy

Beef Ragu / Saffron Pappardelle / Parmesan Espuma

Wow, what a little treat this was! I could have eaten an entire plate full of this pasta. The Beef Ragu was served alongside a delectable Parmesan foam, that once mixed in with the pasta added a wonderful cheesiness to the dish. Although the portion was small, it was extremely rich in flavour and had me struggling to finish the remaining 3 courses.

Course 4 – Sweetcorn Chowder (vg)

Roasted Corn / Potato Terrine / Squash Dumplings / Lemon Gel

I am not a seafood fan at all, but at Six you are able to switch out individual dishes for the vegetarian option. I opted for the Sweetcorn Chowder for this one instead. Out of all the courses this one was the one that I least enjoyed, I just didn’t like the texture and taste of the squash dumplings, it was really unusual. I loved the potato terrine and would have happily eaten another portion of this instead of the dumplings.

Course 5 – Flatiron Building

Smoked Flat Iron Steak / Jerusalem Artichoke / Lovage Emulsion / Brisket Croquette

I love a good steak, I typically have my steak cooked medium, but this slice was a lot rarer than I would normally go for. We were originally asked when ordering if this was okay, to which I agreed, however I kind of wish I’d asked if mine could be cooked a little longer. The Brisket Croquette was my favourite part of this dish it wasn’t too crispy and the beef inside was cooked wonderfully.

Course 6 – The Big Apple

New York Cheesecake / Apple Compote / Pecan & Oat Granola

And last but definitely not least, the star of the show! This dessert didn’t look anything like your traditional cheesecake, it resembled an apple almost perfectly. The Apple Compote was particularly tart but combined with the sweetness of the cheesecake was a perfect taste bud explosion.

I really love the concept of Six by Nico, it’s a nice alternative to going to the same restaurant and picking the same meal each time. It allows you to try different foods that you wouldn’t necessarily chose.  This is my second time at Six and it definitely won’t be my last.

Until Another Day x

Please note – this wasn’t a gifted experience.