St Helens Restaurant Guide

“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).

“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”.

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!

“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.

“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”.

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!”

“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.

“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?

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.

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.

“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”.

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).