The Coolest Restaurants in Liverpool

Gary Usher’s fourth restaurant, and counting, generates a warmth that somehow manages to radiate down the road. As you approach, past the huddle of no-messing black-clad bouncers and the grim bouquets for a young murder victim, there it is, on the corner of Slater Street, glowing like the farmhouse light that guides the lost on a cold and lonely night. Inside the 19th century watchmaker’s factory it’s all brick and wood, softly lit, homely and hospitable, the old building’s raw materials displayed to their best advantage: solid and reassuring.

Passionate about Venetian small plates. Akin to the backstreet Venetian tapas bars which inspired this central Liverpool bar and restaurant, there is something about Salt House Bacaro that makes you never want to leave. Part of Paddy Smith’s Red and Blue group, the team behind Salt House Tapas and Hanover Street Social, Bacaro is all about cicchetti: diminutive small plates, perfectly formed.

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

Following a punchy review by Confidential’s Deanna Thomas – and, latterly, the Guardian’s Grace Dent – it has been hard to secure a table at Liverpool’s maverick newcomer Belzan. The self-described ‘neo-bistro’ opened in 2018, the baby of a £20,000 Kickstarter campaign by the owners of Duke Street cocktail emporium Filter and Fox.

Wild child of a restaurant from the former Michelin star winning Masterchef winner. Roski may well bring Liverpool its first Michelin star, thanks to the balls-out cooking of former MasterChef: The Professionals winner, Anton Piotrowski. Gracious in joint victory with Keri Moss, he substantiated his credentials at Devon’s Treby Arms pub earning a Michelin star after being told it could never happen. His Liverpool restaurant takes on the former Pushka site and it’s a simple, elegant space. White tablecloths and gentle lighting places the focus firmly on the food. Food-wise, choose from a selection of five and seven course tasting menus, littered with invention. Dishes include shards of dehydrated carrot flecked with Thai flavours, and Piotrowski’s take on Liverpool’s signature dish, scouse, here taking the form of a tower topped with crisped fermented turnip, sprinkled with parsley dust, a layer of smoked vegetables, locally bred beef brisket aged for 100 days, infused with Norwegian spices and caramelised onion and served with beef knuckle marrow gravy. Tiny, crisp ants are served with the seared scallop, and names are fun too: Olympic Breakfast, for example and Piotroski’s Gone Carrots (his Masterchef winning dish), actually a take carrot cake, presented in a tiny plastic flowerpot, with crumbly chocolate soil and a real baby carrot. Dig into the soft, light carroty sponge for layers of cream. Wines are worldly. Thrilling stuff.

The Pen Factory specialises in the kind of Middle East-meets-Spanish creations you’ll find at Volta or The Refuge in Manchester, where small plates are par for the course. From broad bean and kikone bar snacks to Southport potted shrimps, ‘Spanish’ chip butties, spiced harissa slices and duck ragout with orzo, everything is reasonably priced, perfectly presented and made for sharing.