LIVERPOOL, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Relaxed, always consistent, and with the best Sunday lunch in Liverpool” – that’s the most upbeat report this year on The Pool’s outpost of Gary Usher’s Elite Bistros chain, which aims to perfect a selection of straightforward bistro dishes from an à la carte menu offering two courses for £48 per person and three for £55 per person. It also took flak this year, though, for some “flavourless” offerings (“such a shame as we have thoroughly enjoyed previous trips”). Hopefully a blip?

2024 Review: Native Liverpudlian Andrew Sheridan upped sticks from Brum to relocate ‘8’ to a Victorian building in the city centre (next to the original Cavern Club) in April 2023. Seating is at one of two counters for, appropriately, eight diners; the lighting is low; much of the décor is black or slate-grey; and the level of ambition in the cooking is high, with the aim of delivering ‘an immersive sensory experience’. The eight courses (for £110 per head) are of very diverse inspiration and there’s also a wine pairing option (for £80 per head).

“A well-thought-out range of well priced, sometimes interestingly different dishes” has made this lively venue a worthy follow-up to Paddy Byrne’s ‘Everyman Bistro’ (from which he moved here in 2015) and is likewise “ideal for pre-concert or theatre dinner”. As of Autumn 2024, it’s ‘temporarily closed’ with the website suggesting a relaunch after a refurb – given this uncertainty regarding its future direction, we’ve left it un-rated for the time being.

“Fabulous food with unusual flavour combinations, lovely staff and great service” make this neighbourhood bistro from Chris Edwards & Owain Williams “well worth the trip to the student quarter of Liverpool”. “Seasonality is the key here” – but “don’t come here for a romantic dinner-for-two: it’s buzzing!”. Top Tip – “the amazing early-bird dinner menu”.

“Very lucky to have this fabulous restaurant in our neighbourhood” says a very local supporter of this well-regarded, small venue in Wavertree. A visiting Londoner agrees, finding “very well-executed and very reasonably-priced Modern European fare in a cosy neighbourhood setting”. Last word goes to the local: “It’s first class – I’ve been many times and never had a bad meal”.

“Mark Birchall’s achievement of 3 Michelin stars in seven short years in the north, speaks volumes” for the inspirational values he’s brought to revamping his Grade II 13th-century manor house a short drive north of Liverpool. “Not just a meal, it’s an experience” and one that is “superb from beginning to end” – enhanced by “the beautiful location, and the additional touches such as the vegetable garden and the cheese room”. The occasion starts in the lounge for a drink and a snack and then proceeds to the contemporary dining room – a glazed add-on with exposed rafters. “Service from an expert front of house team is spot on: very professional, very knowledgeable, and very approachable and friendly”: “not at all pretentious despite its awards”. Dinner is tasting menu style from £265 per person, or there is a cheaper four-course menu also available at lunch which is £145 per person. Practically all reports acknowledge the food as “faultless in every way” – “nothing to say about Mark’s food that’s not already been said: it is all simply pitch perfect” – “the flavours and ideas are staggering”. This said, even fans feel “it’s just a shame their prices have gone up so much in recognition of the three stars…” – “the cost is now so high, that a visit can now only be a rare treat”.

“Casual by name and feel, but the food quality is really fine dining” – the more casual option for eating at Mark Birchall’s triumphant manor house operation operates in a contemporary structure, with brick walls and pitched timber-frame roof and “its setting is beautiful as you come around the lake to the barn”. “Good value for a Michelin-starred restaurant”, it carries its ambitions quite lightly with food that’s straightforwardly high quality – “top notch ingredients are seasoned to perfection”. Top Tip – “the set lunch an absolute bargain for food and service of this level/calibre”.

“Quite what Aughton has done to earn all these good restaurants, and even more Michelin stars, is beyond fathoming” and although Tim & Mag Allen’s award-winning four-year-old venue is “obviously somewhat in the shadow of its illustrious neighbour Moor Hall, Solo remains an excellent (and much more affordable!) alternative”. “Tim Allen genuinely seems to enjoy both cooking and engaging with his customers and he brings a sense of calm when other staff members seem to be rushed off their feet (although still attentive and enjoying themselves). The food (concept, presentation and delivery) is outstanding and offers excellent value. Every course is exquisite from amuse bouche to petits fours demonstrating his skill for combining unusual and unheard of ingredients (finger lime and meat radish anyone?) to create perfect and complementary flavours and textures”. And in July 2025, the restaurant closed to herald ‘an exciting new chapter’ to reopen in November 2025. The upgrade PR promises ‘a more modern, crisp, fresh new look’, ‘a new Chefs’ Table’; a redefined food offering ‘providing more flexibility through shorter and expanded menu options’; ‘a more casual, and shorter, tasting menu style experience’. (But we’ve left its current high grades in place on the basis that most likely things will only get better).

2024 Review: “A fantastic find!” – “neatly tucked away” down a smart city alleyway, this understated wine bar/bistro “feels like a secret discovery” that is “perfect for a cozy sojourn”.

2024 Review: This “lively place” on the mezzanine of the city centre’s Duke Street food market serves “nicely presented dishes”, and benefits from the involvement of Merseyside food heroes Paul Askew (of The Art School) and Harry Marquart (Bone & Block). Aiming to provide an ‘intimate Scouse brasserie’, it launched in late 2021.