The coolest restaurants in Liverpool

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

With its six foot chandelier and gold leaf ceiling Restaurant Bar & Grill Liverpool is one of the city’s most spectacular dining settings. A £500k refurbishment in 2021 brought to life the original features of this Grade II Listed heritage building. Now it’s one of the most photogenic backdrops in Liverpool, and the food’s not half bad too.

You’ll find Barnacle clinging to the mezzanine at Duke Street Market. It’s a good place for seafood as you might expect but it’s recently had a bit of a refresh and gone more casual. What Barnacle has lost in bistro-posh, it’s gained in accessibility and broad appeal. The restaurant-y vibe has been replaced by long tables in keeping with the rest of the food hall.

Following punchy reviews in the local and national press, it has been hard to secure a table at Liverpool’s Belzan.

Squished on the cusp of the Knowledge Quarter and the Georgian Quarter and resident in the old Flying Picket since 2015, Buyers Club is a neighbourhood bar and kitchen-restaurant, complete with gallery, garden with coffee and spritz kiosk, and even an intimate music venue.

Following in the footsteps of other successful models in the region, with communal dining tables and a mezzanine served by a choice of resident kitchens, this 100-year-old warehouse-turned-foodhall is one of the Ropewalks newcomers breathing life back into Duke Street.

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

The world’s greatest hand-held food is promised by Madre – tostadas, quesadillas and tacos tacos tacos. There’s also all the Mexican drinks vibes you could ever wish for, from beer and cocktails to tequila and mezcal – inside the historic Atlantic Pavilion or outside in the sunny courtyard.

Serving irresistible Middle Eastern fusion small plates, Maray is a slow-burning smash hit. Inspired by (and named after) the Middle-Eastern flavours of Paris’ Marais district, it provides an informal, communal dining experience which revolves around excellent falafels, small plates, fine wines and cocktails.

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.

This women-run family business is inspired by Molly’s great nan Minna, who turned a plot of land behind her council house into an allotment and encouraged her neighbours to grow their own veggies there. This interest in sustainability and community has fed into Minna’s cafe.

Nord is a real asset to Liverpool’s dining scene. Housed in a bit of an unlovely 1960s office block – the former HQ of Littlewoods – the building has had some serious TLC. Now the subtle décor has shades of Mad Men rather than The Fall And Rise of Reginald Perrin with pendant lights, earthy tones and a statement orange bar.

Oxa is the casual sister restaurant to the ground-breaking Restaurant 8 in Liverpool but it is by no means the poor relation.

Piccolino Liverpool is located in a particularly grand building on Cook Street with a small but perfectly-formed terrace at the front. The impressive exterior seems appropriate because Piccolino always works well for fancy events, birthday parties and glamorous dates.

Chef and co-owner Andrew Sheridan (who you might recognise from Great British Menu) has uprooted Restaurant 8 from Birmingham and returned to the city of his birth. It’s a tough blow for the Brummies; the restaurant had built up a mighty reputation in the city, being awarded three AA Rosettes. But it’s excellent news for Liverpool.

Tiger Rock Renshaw Street is the newest and biggest of the Liverpool Pan-Asian street hawker venues. As well as a range of casual classics from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, you can enjoy some fantastic cocktails in a separate bar area (bellinis are a speciality).

‘Dim sum, roast meats and big plates’ promises both Yum Cha’s website and the restaurant awning but there are small plates too, perfect for group sharing, and loads to tempt the veggies and vegans of the party: this menu is sizeable without being scary.