We arrived and were greeted by their sales and marketing manager, Emily, who was an absolute babe - she told me all about her job which was genuinely so interesting, but that's a side note so I'll shut up now. She introduced us to the cocktail extraordinaires behind the bar who immediately plied us with alcohol and spicy popcorn. Delicious would be an understatement; we had the Mezcal Cooler and the Hurricane (I drank the latter and it was just phenomenal).
Our table was on the upstairs-ish area, a mezzanine if you will, and we had some cute lil' balloons as well as packets of wipes which believe me came in very handy. They were lemon scented and everything, which quite frankly made me feel like I was on an aeroplane. Not a bad feeling, I'll give you that. Mal, the director, came over to tell us about the menu and the ideas & ethos behind all of the food and drinks - he has an enthusiasm for what he does which is just electric, and it was fascinating to hear all about the wings (which are smoked in-house) and the wine (produced by fifth generation Barossa vigneron and winemaker, Grant Burge, an 'old boy' who now resides in sunny Australia).
Our first course was a selection of starters to share: deep fried pickles, vegetable quesadillas and the star of the show: battered mac & cheese balls. Honestly I can't tell you how good the mac & cheese balls were - crunchy, cheesy, chewy. I had heart eyes that's for sure. Sam was very impressed that I tried the pickles, although they weren't something I would ever choose, and I have to say they weren't as awful as I thought they might be... The quesadillas were wonderful too, in a way that they were dusted with spice and didn't fall onto your lap when you ate them. Solid 10/10
When the main course of burgers and wings came out, so did the GB wine - a choice of red or white. Now, if you know me then you know I'm not a wine drinker ever. But of course, in the name of fairness, I gave it a go (white, not red, I wouldn't go that far) and it was the nicest wine I've ever tried, although I wouldn't have a clue how to describe it, soz. There was a choice of three different burgers: pork, chicken or bean. I went for the chicken burger, which was different to your average chicken burger in that the chicken itself had been deep fried.* It had sauce and salad and a toasted bun, all of which were lovely. There was also a choice of two of their types of chicken wings: Louisiana Hot Sauce 2, or peanut butter and jam. I went for the hot ones, and of course my mouth was on fire but the chicken itself was incredible. Plenty of meat, and plenty of sauce - that's when the wipes became a necessity. *How many times can you say chicken in one sentence?
Pudding was a rum and ginger chocolate brownie. OH BOY. It was just something else; slightly warm, chocolatey, soft, hints of spice, vague flavours of rum. We also got the chance to try the hard shakes - but I don't like anything remotely milky so I gave that a miss, but Hannah definitely enjoyed them. To finish off the meal, we had little chocolate truffles that contained the same base rub spice that had earlier adorned our popcorn. Hot damn. Mal brought over another selection of cocktails, and by this time we were all very merry and talking about show tunes karaoke.
The whole evening was just perfect - it was my first launch party and I couldn't have enjoyed it more than I did. MOJO has an amazing atmosphere, fantastic music and lovely people. The food was surprisingly good, and if you're a frequent late night visitor I'd well recommend popping over early and getting yourself some mac & cheese balls. Thank you to everyone who made the night so lovely, I'll be back soon!
Have you ever been to MOJO? There's venues in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
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