The new version of the restaurant, inspired by the Camino de Santiago which traverses Spain, Portugal, and France, will be situated in the Allerton district of Liverpool.
After winning on My Million Pound Menu, Duffield opened the original Pilgrim in 2019 with business partners Dave Bone and Anthony Power at Liverpool’s Duke Street Market, offering a ‘radically seasonal’ menu of Spanish small plates.
The project received positive acclaim, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand and favorable reviews from critics such as Grace Dent and Marina O’Loughlin. However, Pilgrim closed in 2020; plans for a permanent location fell through at the last moment. Shortly after, Duffield was diagnosed with brain cancer but has since made a full recovery.
The new restaurant and wine bar will accommodate 24 guests and will include an open kitchen, terrace, and a compact green space filled with pollinators, shrubs, and herbs for use in the dishes.
Under the guidance of chef Jack Williams, the concise and frequently updated menu will include items like butterflied mackerel with guindilla sauce, heritage potatoes with caramelized onions and Serra de Estrela cheese, and fig leaf ice cream.
“We’re so delighted, excited, relieved… you name it, to finally be opening in our own space. This little site in this corner of Liverpool is exactly what we’ve been looking for. Even when we stripped it all back to bare bricks, it felt like home,” Duffield shares, whose background includes experience at Smoking Goat and Nuno Mendes’ Taberno do Mercado.
“Being part of a neighborhood like Allerton is crucial to what we aim to achieve; we want locals to drop by for a bottle of wine they enjoyed and check out what’s new. We also want visitors from Manchester or even London to feel welcome at the kitchen bar, sharing a chat with us.”
