Where to celebrate graduation in Liverpool and Manchester

Liverpool’s award-winning, fine-dining restaurant The Art School brings together inventive Modern British cooking and an impressive historic setting.

Indian Tiffin Room, the successful North West independent, has brought its authentic street food flavours to Liverpool.

The Black Friar stood empty and unloved for almost 20 years before reopening in summer 2021 after a substantial renovation project. Now a modern British restaurant and a traditional pub, it has two distinct settings with menus to match.

Dakota Grill Manchester is the work of former Malmaison owner, Ken McCollough and it is as dark-hued and handsome as the successful boutique hotel chain. It’s an inviting place with flickering candlelight, very retro-sexy – sure to be the setting for many a first date.

The focus at Dakota is on steaks which are very good – all grass-fed, 28 day-aged, hand-cut Aberdeenshire beef cooked over hot coals.

Exhibition is one of Manchester’s cluster of exciting multi-kitchen concepts (read: food halls) that just seem to be multiplying. In the former home of the Natural History Museum, the location makes it perfect for visitors to Manchester Central, the Radisson Blu and the Midland Hotel.

Grand Pacific is the work of Living Ventures and it easily outshines its sibling venues in terms of pure glamour. Not in a big chandeliers, glass and chrome Spinningfields way, but with a decadent blend of colonial Raffles-style grandeur and some of the best of the city’s Victorian architecture.

Malmaison Deansgate Bar & Grill is a confident operation with prime grass-fed British beef and popular classics. The menu veers towards traditional rather than adventurous but great wines and well-aged, matured steaks mean that doesn’t matter. When you’re serving juicy marbled rib eye that everyone loves, what is there to complain about?

Malmaison Liverpool Bar & Grill is much more than just another soulless hotel restaurant. With its dockside location and terrace, celeb fans and cool boutique vibes, it’s one of Liverpool’s most impressive dining destinations.

With its terrace overlooking Albert Square and Manchester Town Hall, and a beautiful interior featuring a 40-seater private dining room, an open kitchen, and an oyster bar, Piccolino Caffé Grande Manchester is a real destination restaurant. (And, notably, it’s one that doesn’t price people out of the experience.)

The MUSU Collection is a group of innovative modern Japanese dining experiences, all under one roof. With three AA rosettes, this is the cutting edge of Manchester’s restaurant scene.

Sora Manchester is a rooftop bar and restaurant serving up sushi, Pan Asian small plates and views across the city’s impressive Victorian neo-Gothic architecture.

Skof is the first restaurant from chef Tom Barnes who, as head chef at Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume, helped it win its third Michelin star. 

Namaste Nepal on West Didsbury’s Burton Road is a relaxed Nepalese spot that is the definition of a much-loved neighbourhood restaurant.

There’s a bonhomie and a sense of welcome at Vetch, marking it out as a friendly neighbourhood restaurant and simultaneously one of the best fine dining establishments in Liverpool.

Voyagers in The Halyard Liverpool is in the league of hotel restaurants that become a destination in their own right. A sophisticated and well-travelled menu of small plates combined with inviting modern design make it a standout addition to the Ropewalks. Expect an individual take on cool, casual dining.

Sometimes, the clue is in the name and in the case of 14 Bar & Grill, the number refers to the top floor of Daniel House – an unassuming apartment block in Bootle – where you’ll find the restaurant, along with 360º views of Liverpool and across the water to the Wirral. 

Manchester’s highest restaurant, bar and terrace 20 Stories was the opening of 2018 and still maintains its status as one of the city’s most popular place to eat, drink, be snapped and be seen.

With its neutral hues and natural foliage, stripped-back bricks and leather booths, The Alan is a tranquil space in which to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner – the open-plan kitchen serves all day from first thing till late evening – or indeed coffee and cocktails in the bar.

The Alchemist on New York Street is the second of three Manchester venues and nicely turned out, with bags of space and plenty of gold. And while base metals don’t magically become that precious commodity here, theatre is promised at The Alchemist.

Cool Pacific Rim fusion fare for the fashion set. Australasia combines a sense of theatre with professionalism and culinary wizardry, making any occasion feel special.

The sixth Bread Street (not counting Dubai, China and Singapore) has arrived in Liverpool, but it’s not all sandwiches and sourdough – we’re talking classic Gordon Ramsay dishes, from beef wellington and traditional fish and chips to rare-breed steaks and seasonal salads.

At the point Lark Lane tips out onto busy Aigburth Road, you’ll find one of Liverpool’s best churrascaria, the cosy Churrasco Steakhouse, where top-notch British meat and homemade recipes are given the unique lava steak stone treatment, seeing you cook your own tea.

The first thing you notice when you step into fine-dining restaurant Climat is the view. Situated on the roof of Blackfriars House, you’re just above the city skyline, close enough to see the details of the architecture, but high enough to feel like you’re in the clouds.

If you don’t like being told what to do, then Cowshed is probably not for you. The self-described beefhouse (as opposed to steakhouse) offers four types of steak, each served how they want to serve it, not how you ask them to serve it – “trust us”, they implore on the menu.

Dishoom is a legend in its own lunchtime and that’s exactly how it likes things. It’s not enough to serve up top-notch Indian dishes in grand surroundings; there’s a story behind the menu too. But when the food is this good it doesn’t need to hide behind tall tales.

Located on Blackfriars Street with views of the River Irwell, EastZEast is known for its authentic Punjabi dishes and glamorous, fine-dining setting.

The Fountain House is the newest lodger of the Gothic-arched Memorial Hall sitting one corner of Albert Square, and its modern old-fashioned surrounds and plentiful portions of proper pub grub – mostly British but with a little European inspiration – do the imposing building proud.

One of the buzziest spots in the Georgian Quarter, Frederiks models itself on the neighbourhood bars of Brooklyn. Think casual eats, coffee and lounging, with live music and quality cocktails as the day turns into night.

For many people, Argentinian restaurant Gaucho Manchester is the destination in the city for very good steak paired with very good wine. Housed in a converted Methodist church on Deansgate, with an open kitchen, and the original church organ still in-situ, it’s also known as one of Manchester’s best-looking spaces for dining.

With views of the water and a menu that should have something for pretty much everyone, Gusto Liverpool is a busy spot, day and night.

Hawksmoor Liverpool opened in the beautiful Grade II-listed India Buildings, to much excitement in late 2022.

Higher Ground, the permanent restaurant from the team behind Flawd, opened its doors in February 2023. Taking up residence in Bruntwood’s Faulkner House on Faulkner Street, it offers a chilled bistro experience with a focus on championing the finest North West produce.

The Ivy Manchester is an exuberant over-the-top place that’s perfect for glamming up and going out. The décor is wild yet smart and service is smooth and professional. The roof garden is a must.

There’s an abundance about The Ivy with the costumed doorman, and the levels and levels of fun: The Ivy Asia; The Brasserie; The Ivy Roof Garden; the lurid floors; the lacquered screens; the mirrored central bar. It all adds up to a sense of occasion, a place where dining out is something special, something to dress up for.

So named because of Manchester University’s 25 Nobel laureates, The Laureate Restaurant is a large and luxurious space located on one of the higher floors of Manchester’s Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay is the first restaurant that the famed TV chef has decided to open in the city of Manchester, despite already having opened Bread Street Kitchen & Bar in Liverpool last year. 

The manifesto at industrial-chic restaurant and “dine-at-wine-bar” Manifest is “seasonal plates and famous Liverpool hospitality”, with the Modern British menus regularly changing to reflect both local produce availability and the wines that will be matched to the food.

Panoramic 34 was the UK’s highest restaurant when it opened in 2008, and although others have since taken that title, it still offers an impressive vantage point with a 360-degree view of Liverpool, the Mersey, and beyond to Wales. 

Winning small plate fusion in an iconic and glamorous setting. Housed in Manchester’s iconic The Refuge Assurance Company dating back to 1858, this DJ-run restaurant and bar is large and sassy.

Located in the heart of the Spinningfields business district, Tattu Manchester is an Instagrammer’s dream. Think penumbral lighting, body art-inspired cocktails and a full-size cherry blossom tree with hand-sewn silk petals. You’d be forgiven for expecting such opulent surroundings to outshine the food. Not so.

At the entrance to Greenbank Park, with its lake and leafy vistas, The Watering Can offers both inside and outside space, and also a bit of inside-outside space with a dining area partially covered by a conservatory-style glass roof and open panels looking out onto the green space.

Liverpool seems like an appropriate place for a restaurant funded by the people. Wreck Bistro was financed by 1,522 enthusiasts who raised the record-breaking £200,000 required, via a crowdfunding campaign from Elite Bistros’ Gary Usher. Accordingly, it has the feel of a place for the many, not the few.