Liverpool, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2019 Review: The original Delifonseca (re-named to avoid confusion with its spin-off), now with vintage cocktail bar, wins praise for its “really good food and interesting choices” from a daily-changing blackboard menu. Change may be afoot, however, with the owner eyeing a vast, Kickstarter-funded expansion of its dockside spin-off (home to a famed market hall), with plans to eventually operate from one base.

“Gary Usher just gets it right” – with his “high-standard” bistro cuisine at prices most reporters find reasonable (and despite the name, this is not a seafood specialist). “Cooking and service remained a delight” through the Covid restrictions, so “Wreckfish managed to recreate the special-meal-out feeling”. The worst criticism? – “I still don’t understand the undressed romaine lettuce leaves that accompanied the tender and sweet pork chop”!.

“Literally nothing could have been done better” – the tenor of reports on BBC MasterChef: The Professionals winner Anton Piotowski's upmarket but “relaxed” mid century-style dining room. The “very innovative” tasting menu (“an edible beetle has been known to appear”) “blew away” most reporters and represents “very good value for money” compared to London prices.

2021 Review: “Consistently good food at a competitive price” plus a “useful central location and a great choice of gins” means this modern brasserie from Merseyside’s Red & Blue Restaurants group is “worth a visit”.

2019 Review: For a “really good breakfast” or “fab afternoon tea”, this boutique hotel dining room does still win recommendations. Feedback is much more limited nowadays, though, compared with the heady days of its opening in 2003, when it was the hottest ticket in town.

The Barrie brothers cut their teeth at Anglesey's Marram Grass (as of November 2021, not in operation) but are nowadays focused on this relatively recent venture, on the Albert Dock site they opened in the turbulent days of September 2020. Lerpwl is the Welsh name for Liverpool, and the offer aims for ‘social fine-dining’. Feedback (on which we’ve based our initial rating) is so far relatively limited, but says results from its ten-course tasting menu showcasing Welsh produce (for £90 per person) are as outstanding as at its predecessor.

“Real attention to detail in every aspect, with friendly, informed service and terrific food” has proved a winning formula for this little four-year-old in a row of shops, which has become “a restaurant that pulls off the rare trick of being both a destination and a local favourite”.

“A gem in South Liverpool”, handy for those all-important Penny Lane selfies, where brothers Matt & Adam Locke oversee an “exceptional seasonal menu” of British grub, including a “reasonable-value set lunch”; there's “always a first-class welcome” too.

“If you are fortunate enough to get a table in this gem of a restaurant you will not be disappointed.” Chef-patron Marc Wilkinson puts his life and soul into this tiny “intimate” venue in a conservation village on the Wirral, which has just a dozen or so covers, and “a music playlist curated by the owner”. There is a cheaper lunch, but the main deal is a six-course signature menu for £115 per head, which delivers “exceptional flavours”. (In September 2021, the restaurant’s Instagram account said the builders are in till March, so change may be afoot, but what that may be seems to be under wraps at present.)

“The friendly, cheerful and very knowledgeable staff make you feel at home instantly” at Gary Usher’s Wirral bistro (his first crowdfunded follow-up to Sticky Walnut in Chester) “and the food! novel, inventive, well prepared and VERY tasty”.