German's chippy bombed
And so farewell then our newest best friend chippy, which made its own pies and was the only thing that Kenny Regeneration could do to make us go there. But did they even know about it? We'll never know.

News of a special chip shop, the F&C, reached us in March through our good friend, Kensington neighbourhood campaigner Steve Faragher, who runs the excellent KVFM online radio station for L6/L7.

We duly went and gave it a praiseworthy review here which was read by thousands. But don't read it now if you happen to be looking for a fish fry. It's pointless.

Why? For the F&C has F'n shut. After we published, Chris German's already successful chip shop had many new visitors, including some who were not so much in love with the fat of the chipper but the fat of the land.

Chris's rent was suddenly hiked up, unbearably, by 46 percent a week. Result: it was forced to close.

Success all round for the go-getting spirit of enterprise fostered by Kenny Regen. Or not.

Kebab anyone?

Makeover Mattas
Meanwhile, another closure, but only a temporary onehis time. Mattas, Liverpool's favourite international food store, called us wanting us to tell you that it is shutting up shop for the next five weeks. It is doing itself up. Having a makeover, including new signage and all sorts of poshness. Dalip Matta says they will be open for business again at the end of August, so exotic homemade curry dinner parties will have to revolve around a jar of Uncle Ben's for now.

Stamp away the heartache
Unless of course, you happen to be going away in August to, for example, somewhere like Spain.

Then you will need a bit of the lingo, and it wouldn't help to be nifty on your feet either, come those hot Torremolinos nights,

Lunya, in College Lane, Liverpool One, has become the trainees' stamping ground for this, literally. Every Monday night it is offering flamenco dancing classes. Confidential found itself, on a completely spontaneous trip, in this selfsame lesson last week.

We assumed all you would have to do is think of the school/workplace bully's face beneath your feet and slam those heels down. It's a little more complicated than that, but if you are a bloke there is good news: there are no moves to learn, you just stand there while women dance around you. Bit like life really.

Stamp away the headache
We adjourned to sample Lunya's Monday night food/booze offer. Spend £15 on eats each (there is a pretty decent tapas banquet for that) and there is a bottle of wine between two. Celebrity chef Brian Mellor and charming girlfriend Irina, who he met in Romania, were doing just that when we clattered in.

We do advise caution with these offers: Like Ray Milland in Lost Weekend, one bottle is never enough and two, as we discovered on Tuesday morning, is too many.

The wine-high club
A sommelier, trained by Southport born chef Marcus Wareing, has joined the mile high club at Panoramic.

Christina Holzer, who joins as head waiter and sommelier, previously worked at Pétrus in 2007. The restaurant, then owned by Gordon Ramsay, gained two Michelin stars under Marcus Wareing’s charge in the kitchen. After Pétrus, Christina joined Restaurant L’Estranger, voted as the best restaurant in London by readers of the Good Food Guide in 2009 and also praised for having “surely one of the best lists in the capital”.

Christina is from Switzerland, so high altitude should be no problem. And so long as she doesn't mind swapping sweeping Alpine vistas for a view of Moel Famau (on a clear day) they should all be laughing up there on the 34th floor as Christina gets cracking 'em open.

Feel the Byrne
Speaking of well-known chefs, Aiden Byrne, Kirkby's best know Michelin starred chef, has taken over at the Hillbark Hotel over on Frankby, Wirral.

Exciting news for those who like their upmarket scoff in upmarket surroundings: try getting a table at Byrne's Church Green pub, in Lymm, and you might have to wait six weeks.

Confidential has already toured the very swish kitchens and remarkable wine cellar in Hillbark and we are looking forward to seeing what Aiden, ex-head chef at the Dorchester, does when we all pile in there next week.

We will once again be taking pictures of our dinner and reporting back.

The world’s most famous vegetarian was annoyed that the firm was using images of him and the other Beatles to attract customers.

There were a dozen snaps of the Fab Four on the walls of the fast food outlet.

When the row first blew up 18 months ago, animal rights activists PETA said that Macca, 68, would never want his photo used to endorse meat consumption.

Erm, probably best if we don't tell him about that massive steak we had in the Hard Day's Night Hotel the other week. Or the fact that it's like Beatles Stations-of-the-Cross in there.

Got any food and booze stories you want to tell us? Then email editorial@liverpoolconfidential.co.uk and we'll probably publish it.