Liverpool Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: ‘General Post Office’ now means ‘Global Provisions Outlet’ at this repurposed edifice in the Metquarter – Liverpool's biggest food hall, with 11,000 square feet in which to graze, which opened in summer 2021 and aims to champion independent vendors by offering support and incubation. High-profile initial sign-ups included Nama from Sheffield's JORO – an izakaya-style offering.

2022 Review: Born in 2019, a Liverpool branch of the Manchester- and Leeds-based street food chain that “specialises in Indian vegetarian food and craft beers. It’s always good, lively, and popular” and “very good value” too.

Ex-barrister Nisha Katona is nowadays one of the UK’s foremost restaurateurs on the success of her national chain, of which this “welcoming” and still mega-popular street-food café in a converted former bank was the original (and celebrates its tenth year in 2024). “Always a good choice for all the family: even the young ones will try the food here” – “a very different take on Indian food, including some Indo-Chinese dishes that don’t normally get much of an airing”. Top Menu Tips – “favourite items include Gunpowder Chicken, Maa’s Lamb Chops, Butter Chicken and House Lamb Curry… the cocktails are definitely worth trying too”.

Peter & Elaine Kinsella’s “fun” tapas bar has introduced a generation of Scouse foodies to the delights of Catalan cuisine over the past 15 years. “Sadly the Manchester branch was a victim of lockdown, but the original is still going strong”, along with its deli and Lunyalita offshoot in the Albert Dock.

A “long-standing, mainly fishy” sibling to The Italian Club, a stone’s throw away down shopping hub Bold Street, and blending the backgrounds of Puglia-born chef Maurizio Pellegrini and his Scottish partner Rosaria Crolla; the “busy” outfit “never ceases to produce tasty dishes” – be it seafood platters, battered oysters or their “super fish ’n’ chips”.

Glasgow chef Nico Simeone’s distinctive concept has grown into a national chain with 11 restaurants (including Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) in just six years, offering a quick-changing succession of themed six-course menus for under £50 a head. It’s widely seen as “fantastic value” and has a sizeable fanbase amongst reporters (“every six weeks, the menu renews and for me, it is something to look forward to…”; “we simply love it and we’ve yet to miss a menu!” – “the Tokyo menu was so good we went back a second time”). Only a tiny few say, “you can feel you’re on a conveyor belt with lots of upsells”; or that the whole thing is “a dystopia of where restaurants will evolve”.

2021 Review: Sibling to Manchester’s popular Albert’s Schloss, this ‘bohemian bier halle and cook haus’ replaces The Hub Alehouse. It’s unlikely to be a hugely foodie destination, but – if we’re reading the runes correctly – it should be a good laugh with hearty scoff (schnitzel, burgers, raclette) to soak up some fine brews.

“Very good bistro cooking” and “amazing service” are turning Gary Usher’s six-year-old fixture into a “Liverpool institution”; and it’s become one of the best and best-known outlets in his Elite Bistros chain. But apparently he’s toying with the idea of changing the name of this 90-cover venue, because too many people think it just serves fish!

2022 Review: “Always busy and buzzing with conversation”, this “reliable upmarket resto in the business district of the city centre” – a link in the glitzy national Italian chain – wins solid marks for its “atmosphere, good-quality produce and cooking”.

2021 Review: “Italian small plates (this time)” “from the Salt House tapas stable” – win solid ratings for this “friendly, buzzy restaurant” from the Red & Blue team. It’s “great for a larger party”, with “seats at the bar good for dates”; “it’s crowded so you do get to hear your neighbours’ conversations – although in Liverpool that can be theatre”.

2021 Review: BBC2’s ‘My Million Pound Menu’ winners Dave Bone (chef) Jamie Duffield (front of house), and Anthony Power opened this new venture in Duke Street Market (a revamped docklands warehouse) in spring 2019. The food offering is based on dishes found along the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes in Spain, France and Portugal, and – though we received no survey feedback – it’s receiving a good rep generally (including from Michelin who awarded it a 2020 Bib Gourmand).

2021 Review: “Consistently good food at a competitive price” plus a “useful central location and a great choice of gins” means this modern brasserie from Merseyside’s Red & Blue Restaurants group is “worth a visit”.

2021 Review: Manchester’s tapas smash hit branched out in August 2019, with this large 250-seat opening, in the Exchange Flags development, overlooking Liverpool’s fine town hall (which formerly traded as Steven Gerrard’s ‘The Vincent’). A big and well-stocked bar is also key to the offering.