East Side Story: Free State Kitchen

Cool, calm and collected, Free State Kitchen has arrived at the top end of town, to show us how fast food, done well, should be enjoyed very, very slowly. We salute them.

We love it when we discover totally new corners of the city. Those hidden, previously off-limits places that remind us of how much more of the city we have to discover.

Who know, for example, there’s a green space tucked behind Hope Street, with ivy clad walls, picnic tables and beatific statues of Jesus?

We do now. And this half acre of sunny garden adjoins our favourite new restaurant in town - the slightly brilliant Free State Kitchen.

With their juicy burgers, generously stuffed pulled-pork baguettes, and heavenly pastrami on rye, they’re a shot in the arm for the maze of backstreets between Hope and Rodney and the best excuse to head uptown for a recession busting meal we can think of.

We spoke to co-owner, Kate Hughes (between slugs of Brooklyn Lager, and mouthfulls of crunchy home-made slaw, of course) about burgers, beer gardens and why Liverpool needs a little more Brixton in its soul.

So, what’s the big idea?

My husband, Gary, and I are really food fans, both eating out and cooking at home. We travel extensively with food being the top of the list and have dreamed about opening our own place for years as felt we could offer something really unique and special to Liverpool’s fast casual dining scene. We’ve seen so many people doing a great job across the city in recent years, such as Lucha, Tribeca, Puschka and Kasbah, that we felt it was time to add a new independent to the city!

Does catering run in the family, or is this a venture into the unknown?

Our family business has always been in the licensed trade and I knew I’d always open a businesses serving food and drink from a very young age. After working for the last eight years in event management and reaching the big 30, myself and my husband decided it was now or never. We spend quite a while looking at concepts and locations, plus trends in The USA and London and built our business plan on that research.

We then approached our good friend Dan regarding managing the kitchen, who’s been a Chef for many years for the likes of The Wanted, Westlife, Tori Amos, Pixie Lott, Alfie Boe and many more as we were always confident he’d be the best man for the job as his food is amazing!

We love the cool and clean look. Where did you get your inspiration from?

Once we found our current location at 1 Maryland Street, with its fantastic garden, we knew we had somewhere special. We’d looked at many places around the Ropewalks Area but none had the qualities and great feeling as this place.

We took a lot of inspiration from places in the USA such as Boudin in San Fran and Yardbird in Miami plus spent quite a lot of time in London visiting Brixton Village and the like of Mishkins, Spuntino and MeatMarket, which we took various points from, and worked them to suit our venue such as the caged wall storage and Georgian glass partitions.

From day one, we’ve worked with our great architects, Matthew and Mat at MgMaStudio, who’ve been instrumental in opening up the building with the massive doors to bring the outside and inside together.

We also have a create design agency, iLo Create, who’ve added some fantatsic features such as the painted sign on the gable wall facing Rodney Street and branding on our shipping container!

What about that garden? What’s your plans for it?

We love how it still feels a bit like the convent garden it once was, and really wanted to respect the building’s previous life as Notre Dame Convent. The garden is a huge part of Free State Kitchen which we plan to run events and summer themes from Clam Bakes to children’s gardening classes and acoustic music.

Tell us about the thinking behind the menu?

The name Free State Kitchen comes from the fact that we always wanted an American Restaurant and it happened to find its home on Maryland Street! Maryland is also named the Free State which just seemed perfect for the relaxed vibe we wanted to create.

We want to offer traditional American Classics and are much more than a burger joint! The menu focuses on East Coast cuisine so think Maryland Crab Cakes, Seasoned Clams and seafood, home cured Pastrami, seasonal salads, mac’n'cheese, Buffalo Wings and Baltimore’s favourite sandwich, The Scooch.

We also have a range of daily specials, sweet pies and ice cream sundaes, all made in house with as much local produce as possible and the weekend brunch is on the way!

We use Larkin’s Farm, The French Corner Bakery, Bexley’s Butchers, Cheshire Farm Ice Cream and The Liverpool Cheese Company for our food.

Is Liverpool getting its act together, food wise?

Yes, I think it is! I’d love to see more independent food shops such as bakers and fishmongers open up again as we have every kind of produce on our doorstep. But I still think we need a bit more of what London has to offer such as Brixton Village!

Free State Kitchen
1 Maryland Street