ZIBA

Liverpool

A stand-alone restaurant in its own right, Ziba is also a key component of the Racquet Club, a luxurious haven owned by Martin and Helen Ainscough, which includes eight individually styled hotel rooms, a health spa, squash courts and conference facilities, all of impeccable quality. The restaurant itself, whilst specialising in modern British food, has the feel of a classy central Parisian brasserie with high ceilings, tall glass windows, wooden floors and small neat tables laid with expensive cutlery and napkins. Signature dish Scallops and Black pudding served with cabbage sit alongside new takes on traditional concepts like guinea fowl and fois gras in a beetroot and ginger compote. There’s a full-bodied wine list, easy one of the cities best, that includes a wealth of varietals from someThe Wicker Man (1973) is an undisputed classic of folk horror, though some of its principals would dispute that. Director Robin Hardy thought he was making a musical as much as anything else and star Christopher Lee has emphatically said he does not consider it a horror film. Well, gentlemen, I respectfully take issue with that. It embodies everything that defines folk horror – the clash of rural and urban, old ways and new, faith and reason. The creeping dread that we feel as it hurtles toward its fiery conclusion is real and the cruelty and glee of the villagers of Summerisle as they toy with their prey is disturbing long after the lights come up. The question at the heart of the story is something that practically