Polpetta’s Lasagna Stole the Show at Baltic Market

We weren’t planning to stop at Polpetta. But after walking around Liverpool on a cold wintery day, we needed some seriously good food.

We were already in Cains Brewery Village, so Baltic Market felt like the obvious answer. The problem was walking in and immediately being faced with far too much choice.

Baltic Market is exactly the kind of place where you know you’ll find something good to eat. You just might not know what that something is until you start looking.

We didn’t have much time and we were starving, so rather than doing laps of every stall, we sat down, pulled out our phones and started scrolling through the options.

Naturally, despite everything available, we gravitated towards what we already know and love.

Italian food.

Polpetta grabbed our attention, so we opened their Instagram and started looking through the food. Everything looked so good that, honestly, how bad could it be?

We stopped mid-scroll, looked at each other and agreed on the lasagna and their Sunday special roast beef sub.

The sub arrived first on a metal tray lined with branded parchment, stacked so high that the sauce covering all that beef was already escaping out the sides.

Now the question was whether it tasted as good as it looked.

The bread was fluffy with a good crust, soft enough to bite through without fighting it but sturdy enough to somehow hold everything together. The beef was moist with a little pull to it, paired with crispy parmesan and herb potatoes, while the mustard mayo brought a decent kick.

Personally, I’d have taken horseradish.

But that’s me.

Either way, it was hearty, comforting and exactly what I wanted after spending most of the day walking around in the cold.

It just never really had a chance.

Because then the lasagna arrived.

I could tell before taking the first bite that this was going to be good.

It had that properly homemade look to it. Nothing perfectly shaped, slightly burnt cheesy edges, rich tomato-heavy ragù, béchamel, parmesan and oregano, all giving off this wonderful deep smell before we’d even touched it.

Then there was something I hadn’t seen on a lasagna before.

Truffle Alfredo.

I’d never had it on a lasagna before, but after tasting it, I wondered why I hadn’t.

My partner took the first bite and I watched her face light up. Then I tried it and had exactly the same reaction.

Every bite seemed to get better. Rich ragù, creamy béchamel, a little hit of truffle and those crispy pasta edges.

This was the best lasagna I’d eaten in Liverpool.

Suddenly, the very good roast beef sub sitting beside us had become the supporting act.

And then we realised we’d made a mistake.

We had only ordered one lasagna.

My partner looked at what was left on the plate, then looked up at me.

“Can I have that?”

I looked down at the lasagna and wondered whether Molly ‘Meatball’ McCann, UFC fighter and one of the people behind Polpetta, would approve of us fighting over it.

In the end, I submitted.

My partner finished it.

I may have lost the fight over the lasagna, but getting to try it in the first place felt like a win I was more than happy to take.

Next time, we’re not sharing.