Aigburth Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Liverpool’s first vegan chippy – a plant-based Chinese venture on Lark Lane – opened in November 2019 serving noodles, rice dishes, spring rolls, etc, alongside more traditional dishes like battered sausages and chip butties. For grab-and-go it’s going down a storm in The Pool!

“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”.

“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”.

“A really lovely dining experience in every way” bags fulsome praise from all of the many who comment on Paul Askew’s fine destination restaurant, housed in a “beautiful building” (which was originally a ‘Home for Destitute Children’ built in 1888), set in the “culturally stimulating area of Liverpool” next to ‘The Phil’. “From tasting menus to prix-fixe menus there are beautiful dishes for everyone to try” and the “stylish and very tasty cuisine” sets an example of “understated excellence without appearing to strive too hard to bag Michelin stars”.

“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.

Puglia-born chef Maurizio Pellegrini and his Scottish-Italian partner Rosaria Crolla launched this local fixture in 2009 and, all these years later, it’s “still very popular because of the quality of the seafood” (“excellent” oysters and seafood platters, “plus more basic dishes such as seafood risotto and pasta”). There are now two siblings: the Italian Club, and the Italian Club Bakery, both within an easy walk of this venue.

The place where it all began for Nisha Katona, who gave up her 20-year career as a barrister to launch this rapidly rising Indian street food chain, currently powering towards thirty-odd outposts. The hit formula is “very pretty” decor (fairy lights, ropes and vines adorn this former bank), as well as “reasonably priced and well-flavoured” home-style cooking. Top Menu Tip – “chat bombs are a must!”

“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?

“Everyone enjoys the unusual menu, including the meat-eaters” at this “canteen-style” outfit in this city centre from the Leeds-based group, which combines Indian vegetarian street food with English craft ales – including some from their own brewery in Manchester. “Service is efficient, with food coming out as it’s ready” – “it’s a good place to share different plates”, and a party of 6-8 can sample pretty well the whole menu for £125.

A “central Liverpool favourite” for the last 15 years, delivering “the best of Catalan and Spanish food” by way of a “brilliant range of tapas, with lots of changing options for meat, fish and veggie”. “The friendly staff and owners feel genuinely devoted to Spanish food and wines” – founders Peter & Elaine Kinsella have transferred ownership of the business to its staff – and there’s an on-site deli so you can take favourite products home.

“Set over two floors, both overlooking the stunning Albert Dock” – this “cheap ’n’ cheerful” yet stylish younger sibling of Peter & Elaine Kinsella’s Lunya “serves modern tapas at lunch and a selection of traditional Spanish dishes and Spanish-influenced British classics and tapas, throughout the rest of the day with changing specials, and sandwiches at lunch, too”.

2022 Review: In the Albert Dock, this collaboration between Belzan and Breddos Tacos occupies the atmospheric vaulted brick premises that characterise these Grade I listed dockland buildings, and comes with a large outside terrace. It’s hot right now as a place to get boozed up in party mood, but the Latino dishes are worth exploring (and The Guardian's Grace Dent raved in a June 2021 review).

2022 Review: ‘General Post Office’ now means ‘Global Provisions Outlet’ at this repurposed edifice in the Metquarter – Liverpool's biggest food hall, with 11,000 square feet in which to graze, which opened in summer 2021 and aims to champion independent vendors by offering support and incubation. High-profile initial sign-ups included Nama from Sheffield's JORO – an izakaya-style offering.

“Affordable fine dining” – say fans – makes these Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf venues (from Nico Simeone’s Glasgow-based national chain) “good for date nights” and “real value-for-money”. “The tasting menu changes regularly, so it’s a different experience every time” – the formula being “no mystery: you get to taste small samples of delicious food all related to a specific, changing theme”. (“We’ve been twice this year – more themes have caught our eye without the window of opportunity to try them. It’s not filling, but a really enjoyable eat”). There is, though, an alternative jaundiced view, which is that they offer “style over substance – you’ll leave still feeling hungry and the venue is noisy, like being in a canteen”.