Dish Cult Meets: Tim Haggis, Owner and Founder of Hafla Hafla

Dish Cult: What inspired you to make the jump from cooking in your home to attending food festivals? And then ultimately securing residency in Baltic Market?

Tim Haggis: I have a family history in bars and restaurants so it always was something I wanted to get involved in. I went on a course at The Guardian in London called “Street Food Entrepreneur Masterclass” and listened to some very inspiring founders who had done big things in London. The next day I quit my job and started on the street food circuit! And as they say, the rest is history.

DC: Where did your Middle Eastern cookery influence come from?

TH: So we started as a street food trader at various food and drink festivals around the UK. We tended to cook lots of Middle Eastern food at home and played around with it all over the years.

DC: Have you always wanted to open your own restaurant?

TH: We opened in October 2018! It was always a dream to have a place on Lark Lane, I grew up around here and worked for years at my uncle’s wine bar just down the road. There was an old Bargain Booze that was empty for a few years and the opportunity came about to take it over and convert it. It was a huge job, we had to completely gut the building and rebuild it from scratch basically! It was a big gamble taking it on due to how much needed doing but, I’m extremely happy with how it turned out.

DC: Where did the name Hafla Hafla come from?

TH: Hafla Hafla loosely means Party Party in Arabic. I just wanted it all to be about fun and having a good time. We try our best to stick by this mantra when coming up with new dishes and cocktails.

DC: How did you come up with the menu?

TH: The menu was developed through the years of street food as we used to try out a lot of different specials at each event. Now our team of chefs collaborate and try out specials every month. We like to keep the menu ever-changing so regularly change things up to keep things interesting for all our regulars.

DC: What’s your favourite dish on the menu?

TH: I’ve got a few favourite dishes to be honest. The Half Persian Roast Chicken has to be up there – just juicy, tasty roast chicken, what’s not to love! Love the Market Fish with Spiced Rice – tangy pomegranate glaze and a mint yoghurt, YUM! And our new menu addition, Crispy Fried Mushrooms with Raz Ketchup are ridiculously addictive, I can’t get enough.

DC: What is your favourite ingredient to cook with?

TH: We try to have a large chunk of our dishes vegetarian so we’re always trialling new veggie specials. Another new fan favourite is the Tenderstem Broccoli with Babaganoush and Chickpeas, simple but good. Our team loves to come up with veggie dishes and this is one of them.

DC: If you could describe the food in three words, how would you describe it?

TH: I’d say our food is fresh, tasty and local. All of our suppliers source locally where possible, most veg is just from the local market and all our meat is sourced from trusted farms and suppliers in the lakes.

DC: Do you have any plans to open up a Hafla Hafla at a different location?

TH: At the minute we’re just concentrating on our two locations. It’s been a wild last two years with Covid, so we’re just excited about this year and looking forward to summer. You just can’t beat the Lane in the summer with Sefton Park on your doorstep.

DC: Are there any other cuisines you would like to branch into?

TH: We have some plans to keep progressing with our fresh fish Mediterranean style offering as it was extremely popular last year and potentially looking to use our charcoal grill that we used to use at festivals for some one-off specials at the Baltic Market, so there’s plenty to look forward to.