The Hot 20: the most popular Liverpool restaurants

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.

The name says it all: La Famiglia Bar & Restaurant is a family-run outfit serving fresh, traditional Italian cuisine rethought, using the finest ingredients. It’s also The Best Restaurant in the North West according to the 2024 Italian Awards.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Barnacle is a Modern British bistro from Paul and Harry Askew. It may be a step down from The Art School’s fine dining but it offers hearty, honest and accessible cooking with big flavours. Local produce is celebrated on a menu that showcases the best of the land and sea.

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.

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.

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.

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

The Ivy is an exuberant over-the-top place that’s perfect for glamming up and going out. As such, it couldn’t have found a better city to call home than Liverpool.

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

North Garden is a part of Liverpool’s culinary history. This family-run restaurant has been serving seriously addictive Cantonese dishes for well over 30 years.

The second of these completely vegetarian and vegan restaurants (the first is in south Manchester suburb Withington), Sanskruti takes its cue from the diverse cultures and cuisines of India, and divides the mains on its menu into South Indian Paradise, Gujarati and Punjabi.

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.

With simple, regularly changing menus to showcase the best seasonal ingredients available at market, you can expect carefully prepared plates of stylish food at this equally chic wine bar and bistro tucked away on a “secret” jigger just off bustling Castle Street. 

Just a chopstick’s throw from Liverpool’s Chinese Arch, the original Chamber 36 serves specialities from across East Asia including a strong selection of traditional Chinese dim sum.

Man Tsuen Ho’s may be a relative newcomer to Liverpool’s Chinatown but you wouldn’t know. Everything about it looks like it has been on the spot since 1988 and not changed a jot.

Sometimes you don’t want glamour and modern fusion though. You want exactly what made you fall in love with Chinese food all those years ago. It’s prawn cracker as a madeleine moment.