It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I was spoilt.

To mark the celebration, my other half took me for a meal to one of Liverpool's most prestigious 

restaurants, Panoramic34.

It's name is literal.

Situated just off The Strand on the edge of the business district of the city centre, the 

restaurant and bar is nestled 34 floors up of West Tower, giving you a panoramic view of Liverpool and surrounding areas as far as the eye can see.

It's a sumptuous experience of white linen table cloths with under table lighting,
red velvet carpets, dark wooden cladding, dimmed lighting and suited up waiters,
 all in the name of fine dining.

 Now, when booking they do ask you to arrive 15 minutes before and due to it's demand,
you're given a 2 hour time slot for your meal. Though saying that, we did spend an extra
 half hour due to full bellies and were not rushed at all.

Once we arrived after our quick trip in the lift, our coats were taken and we were led to our table. With a glorious view of the Albert Dock, Liver Birds and all along the River Mersey, we settled in with a glass of Champagne and a birthday treat for me. Jo Malone's Earl Grey & Cucumber Cologne.

The menu itself, is a small yet grand selection of foods, with about 5 or 6 each course and one 

vegetarian option for each, which looked divine. Vegetarians, will not be disappointed, I didn't
 see a mushroom/tofu alternative in sight! From veal to the finest steak, to Monkfish and elaborately sautéed, boiled, fried vegetable sides, we lapped the menu up along with our Bellini's.

  

The painstaking decision was made, for starters I devoured the scallops and black pudding,
with salt baked celeriac and sour apple puree, a seemingly strange combination but the saltiness of the black pudding, the sharpness of the apple provides a kick for the smooth scallop and earthy celeriac.

The other half chose cauliflower and artichoke gratin. I personally, am not a fan of either
of those vegetables, but soaked and covered in the creamiest cheese sauce it was a hearty dream, especially in this weather. Look at the dainty little cauldron it's served in! How can you not love it?

Going onto the mains, (I didn't take a photograph as I only had my phone and couldn't make
slabsof meat look appetising in the lighting, despite my best efforts. I tried and failed.)

 The other half ordered the Venison saddle with boulangere potato, parsnip, kale and carrot puree with blackberry sauce. I chose the beef filet with parsley root puree, oinion and braised grelot and roasted parisienne potatoes with sweet potato and celeriac boulangere as a side. Truthfully, I wasn't quite sure what I had ordered, I saw beef and potatoes and knew that was for me, Que Sera.

 We both like to live on the wild side a bit, so ordered rare. I can tell you now it was melt in
the mouth make you happy down south in the stomach kind of rare.

The sweet potato and celeriac came in a somewhat caramelised, thinly sliced square tower,
with the celeriac in-between the sweet potato.

 Each side had a marvellous reason to be on that plate, a beautiful experience for those old tastebuds. The sweet and sour combination of each meal is what I will dream of for days to come and attempt to perfect it at home.  

 Dessert was a sordid affair of  the Chocolate  Lovers Assiette to share, consisting of
chocolate cheesecake, honeycomb ice cream,  chocolate delice, chocolate tart and mousse. It was airy, rich, silk, light, dark and everything you could ask for as a chocolate lover.

 However, yours truly was left to do most of the handy work, so sorry to the chefs if it looked like we hadn't eaten much, I had! Don't trust men to do a woman's job, that job would be to eat chocolate.

With our appetite well and truly quenched we ended the night with an Irish Coffee, for me it was
 a little to strong, though who am I to judge coffee? I like it milky and frothy and three sugars.
 I see you coffee lovers looking aghast.

As it was the day after bonfire night we were treated to a spectacular event of being able to see the firework displays going off around the Wirral, from Hoylake down to Chester that lit up the night and ended our night on a very satisfied high.

 It was all a very fabulous affair, perfect for special occasions. I do feel however, my snap
happy approach to the whole evening did slightly begrudge some of the waiters and possibly appeared to them as not taking the whole fine dining experience seriously. Trust that I was, now time to book that afternoon tea.