Oxton, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

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”.

A leading link in the Elite Bistros chain, run by chef-patron (and tireless social media poster) Gary Usher, who dropped ‘fish’ from the name at the end of 2023 to highlight the wider-ranging nature of the menu. Fans say it’s “excellent all round”, and particularly “great- value at lunchtime” (plus early evenings) when there’s a two-course set for £17 per person, and a three-course set for £20 per person. Despite its change of name, there are “some lovely fish dishes” on the menu, but that’s just the start of it, with the “unctuous featherblade of beef” singled out for praise this year.

You cross the outside terrace (great in summer) to eat at Gary Usher’s welcoming bistro, along from a parade of shops on the Wirral. For fans it’s a “favourite of the Elite Bistros mini chain: the seasonal menus are much the same as at the others but always delicious, with great staff too”.

“Fabulous food with unusual flavour combinations, lovely staff and great service” make this neighbourhood bistro from Chris Edwards & Owain Williams “well worth the trip to the student quarter of Liverpool”. “Seasonality is the key here” – but “don’t come here for a romantic dinner-for-two: it’s buzzing!”. Top Tip – “the amazing early-bird dinner menu”.

“Local restaurant which has been there for years and always produces high-quality fare with excellent service”, from the “consistently awesome Locke brothers”, Matt & Adam. “There’s a wide choice of dishes – nothing too ostentatious, just good cooking”, “well-executed and reasonably priced” in a “modern European” idiom. It’s popular, so “booking is necessary”.

“At a mere (…cough) £100 for 6 courses, the more wallet-friendly Michelin-starred alternative in Aughton, Solo offers less of an amazing experience, but still a bloody good one” compared with Moor Hall down the road. Chef-patron Tim Allen has a strong CV and opened here in late 2021 in his first ‘so-lo’ venture. “He’s a very accomplished chef – you always get exceptional cooking – and very nice with it” which, via the open kitchen, helps infuse the relatively simple interior with good vibes. Top Menu Tip – “Halibut is far from my favourite fish, but here it’s a shining example of how good it can be when handled by a top chef. Served with a wild garlic crumb, pickled shimeji and a vin jaune foam. A nicely cooked slice of duck breast came with preserved blackberries, a quenelle of pureed, caramelised cauliflower, and an excellent little roulade of hispi cabbage studded with morteau sausage. Great desserts: a blood orange granita, on top of a vanilla panna cotta, with shards of saffron meringue and rather otiose (but excellent) milk ice cream. Then a sort of apple financier-ish cake, topped with a remarkable aerated honey cream/mousse that rounded things off beautifully”.

“Everything about Moor Hall is exceptional: the warmth of the welcome, the quality of the food, the care of the service and the calm dining room” (and that also goes for the prices!) at Mark Birchall’s trailblazing venue, a short drive north of Liverpool. “Set in a Grade II 13th-century manor house, there’s a sense of occasion on arrival and they make use of the cosy lounge as a bar and snack area, with the main restaurant in a light-filled, glazed modern extension with exposed rafters (and even a built-in cheese room where you can choose a platter as an additional course)”. “Like the best-oiled of well-oiled machines, everything passes over you in a show of excellence that’s so well-rehearsed and so well done, it’s almost imperceptible that this isn’t all just an interactive theatrical experience just for you” – with the main event being an eight-course tasting menu at £235 per person: “extraordinarily good food, as is the service, which can also be extremely friendly”. “The downside… the downside is the cost. I wouldn’t – couldn‘t – question the value, but the cost, even with the high prices of eating out” is a sticking point for an increasing proportion of diners, leading to an increasingly disgruntled minority who say “nothing blew me away at a place with such excellent reviews, and I was very surprised”. That’s still a minority feeling though. A more common reaction? – “It’s expensive but, that said, the last time I drove away, several hundred pounds poorer, I felt it was all so perfect that I should start robbing banks, or getting government PPE contracts or something, so that I can go more frequently!”

“This is called Moor Hall’s neighbourhood restaurant and that’s how it feels” – Mark Birchall’s descriptively named operation, complete with brick walls and pitched timber-frame roof, is the more informal option at this famous destination and the Michelin star it holds carries perhaps a hint of distraction in that the dishes – while not exactly ‘everyday’ – are in a much less eye- catching vein than in the main building. “Great food is prepared and served by pleasant and efficient staff and the finishing kitchen/pass is in view of the restaurant – it’s a pleasure to see the calm dedication of the team preparing the food”.

“Been several times and it is just the perfect neighbourhood bistro…” – no-one would seek the roots of a famous chain in Hoole (a gentrified but easily-missed inner suburb near Chester’s train station), but Gary Usher’s well-known Elite Bistros group has grown from these modest beginnings: a small backstreet operation founded in 2011. What is it that makes this “local brasserie style restaurant” a cut above? It’s the “consistently good food, wine and engaging and knowledgeable service”. “The ambience might depend on the clientele for that evening, as it’s fairly small – upstairs was very quiet on our visit, but that made it easy to have a conversation with our friends without competing noise”.

2022 Review: USDA steaks and other meaty treats – alongside a Manhattan-esque vibe – have won local renown for this swish steakhouse in the city centre. Closed for much of the pandemic, in October 2021 the venue finally announced its return via Instagram and its website: “You may have noticed some building work taking place over the last couple of months…we are beyond excited and thrilled to finally announce that we will be back in the New Year… We have some exciting plans to transform our iconic home in the Olde Custom House Building… Our team of chefs and bartenders are already hard at work behind the scenes developing an exciting new food and drink menu… don’t worry, your old favourites will still feature!”.

Another characterful pub in the Brunning & Price chain (a red-brick former warehouse with plenty of reclaimed décor including a bar made of old mahogany doors) in an appealing canal-side location between the train station and city centre. It’s a “noisy” and sociable sort of spot and the food is of “good dependable quality”.

This Georgian pub near the city’s picturesque racecourse, from the Brunning & Price stable, is popular for its “wonderful location and comforting decor”. Reports on the food are more muted, although “if you like fish ’n’ chips you’ll love it – they offer more combinations of batter/fish/sides than most places”. It was built by prominent Chester architect Thomas Harrison as his own home – hence the unusual name.

“After a promising return, the food has dropped off quite dramatically”, according to a number of reports at this long-running culinary icon: a plush, if windowless chamber at the heart of a grand hotel, owned by the Duke of Westminster and next to the city’s emblematic Eastgate Clock. For many years under Simon Radley (here from 1998-2021), it was one of the then-few destinations in the North West to hold a Michelin star. More than one reporter this year opined that “having lost its star on Simon’s departure, it needs to improve considerably to justify the high prices”. One bright spark though – in the adjoining lounges there’s a “reliable afternoon tea: recommend the Gentleman’s version, which includes excellent fish sliders”.

“In the five-star hotel in the centre of town, right by the city walls”, this attractive brasserie sits right on the pavement of Chester’s pedestrianised main drag and a visit injects a good amount of glam mid-shopping spree. On the downside, service can sometimes be “lacking” and it’s not a price-competitive option…

Feedback is more limited than we would like, but is enthusiastic over this grey-hued boutique hotel dining room, run from afar by game expert Mike Robinson. Chef Dan Regan oversees the preparation of a menu that majors in 40-60 day, dry-aged beef steaks from a selection of sirloin or ribeye cuts.

“Recently moved [in August 2023] from a backstreet passage in Chester to a prestigious new location on Pepper Street and with considerably increased covers and ambience”: this “very smart” dining room is winning ever-greater esteem for its accomplished modern British cooking (it provided one Shropshire-based reporter with their best meal of the year) all served by “knowledgeable staff, which they have retained from the old venue”. There’s an à la carte menu of some ambition and for the full blow-out a tasting menu option with eight courses for £80 per person. Top Tip – at lunch there’s a cheaper set, with two courses for £30 per head. See also ‘Twenty Eight’.