The Hot 20: the most popular Liverpool restaurants

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 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.

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

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.

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

Le Viet Social is an independent Vietnamese restaurant serving up dishes that stay true to its roots. Think vibrant street food, wholesome bone broth pho, and casual favourites like banh mi or loaded fries.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Blackstock Market is a huge all-in-one food, bar and entertainment destination. It’s absolutely massive and incorporates Liverpool’s largest food hall as well as being the new home of the Hot Water Comedy Club (now the world’s largest regular comedy club space). Big laughs indeed.

The Seaforth restaurant sits in the grand central atrium of the Municipal Hotel on Dale Street. Once the headquarters for Liverpool City Council, the hotel itself is a slice of old world glamour, and Seaforth’s décor and menu of understated excellence plays its part in this.

Rocking up in the picturesque village of Aughton in West Lancashire, renowned chef Tim Allen (whose Flitch of Bacon bagged Essex’s only Michelin star in 25 years) loved the sandstone building and sunny terrace of the former Seafood Pub Company Wine Bar, and sō-lō was born.

With impressive reviews in the local and national press, Belzan is a Smithdown Road destination. Its whitewashed walls and plain interior belie the skill and complexity on the menu. Think wines and small plates but done better than most other places.

Permit Room is a relaxed all-day dining spot with everything from coffee to cocktails. It’s by Dishoom so you can expect punchy Indian flavours and popular small plates.

This impressively ornate pub was built over 120 years ago and stands proudly on the corner of Hope Street. The Philharmonic splits off into separate rooms, each more show-stopping than the next.

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.

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

The cosy Spice Thai restaurant is hidden away just above a motel bar near Hanover Street, with an interior intended to resemble an authentic street food market stall in Bangkok to immerse you in a proper Thai experience, on both culture and cuisine fronts. 

Inspired by Paris’s Le Marais quarter, Tom, Dom and James opened the doors to the first Maray, on bustling Bold Street, in 2014, serving food full of the flavours of the Middle East but with their own flourishes. It was enough to impress Jay Rayner and now three Marays thrive.