Beef tartare topped with cucumber at Nord in Liverpool.

Beef tartare at Nord

5 reasons Liverpool should be your next foodie weekender

17 Jul 2026

Journalist

Looking for ideas for your next food-focused trip? Liverpool’s burgeoning scene is well worth the journey

If you’re looking for a foodie break in a city with warm natural hospitality, trend-setting drinks and, most importantly, delicious food, look no further than Liverpool. Famous, of course, for its music, the city in England’s Northwest is starting to establish itself as a food destination too, with a host of fun restaurants that tap into the city’s unique energy, fronted by proud chefs looking to showcase the surrounding region’s superb produce.

Here are five reasons Liverpool should be your next foodie weekender.

The author experienced the best of Liverpool with the kind support of Liverpool BID Company, a not-for-profit limited company that works to promote and advocate for businesses in the city.

The coffee scene is off the charts

Liverpool is full of independent roasters and coffee shops, keeping the city caffeinated with high quality and ever more experimental brews. Espresso still rules here, but there’s a section of the coffee-buying public that is open to trying more complex products, with the popularity of filter, natural coffees and funkier sips on the rise.

One of the first speciality coffee shops was Bold Street Coffee, which now has four locations in the city, as well as more in Manchester, and is the only place in Liverpool doing espresso soft serve. It’s now been joined by the likes of Coffi, Small Town Boy, Ropes and Twines (which doubles as a wine bar and coffee shop) and many more, making Liverpool’s coffee scene one of the country’s most exciting. In fact, it’s harder to find a bad coffee than a good one – such are the options.

_{Photo: Coffi}

Cup of coffee on a table at Coffi in Liverpool.

Fine dining is a relaxed affair

Liverpool is not a tasting menu kind of place – indeed, à la carte reigns supreme here. Nor is it one for white tablecloths and stiff service. Head to any of the city’s ‘fine dining’ restaurants and you’ll find the same high quality, local ingredients and execution as anywhere else, but with minimum fuss.

At Nord, local chef Daniel Heffy brings experience and technique from the likes of three-Michelin-starred Frantzén in Stockholm to dishes such as quail skewer with pickled plum, apricot jam and chive emulsion, and an outrageously sticky Roscoff onion tarte tatine, but with a relaxed service and buoyant playlist. Eating at Dan McGeorge’s Vetch feels a little like being invited into someone’s home, while at Paul and Charlotte Durand’s Manifest, over in the Baltic Triangle, there’s a dish that’s always on the menu, albeit with seasonal toppings, that perfectly sums up the city’s approach and may be one of the best things you’ll eat all year – a Lindisfarne oyster (pictured) with a side of still warm, homemade salt and vinegar crisps.

Dressed oysters at Manifest in Liverpool.

Hospitality comes naturally

In certain bigger cities, hospitality in hospitality can feel conspicuous by its absence. As a diner, you can be made to feel as if you’re lucky to be served at all, to have been allowed into the hallowed space of the latest buzzy restaurant. In Liverpool, to be hospitable is in the blood. The city is famous for the warmth of its people, so it’s no surprise that that translates to front of house. And it feels natural; interactions aren’t scripted. In fact, you’ll probably be on first name terms with the person serving you within minutes and they’ll be more than happy to give you recommendations for other places to try – in Liverpool’s strong independent scene, businesses support each other. Eating and drinking here will remind you just how much the people make a restaurant or bar and how engaged service does ultimately make the food taste just that little bit better.

_{Left to right: chef Paul Durand and General Manager Tom Ford of Manifest}

It has some of the country’s best cocktail bars

In Bar Glue and Slowpour, Liverpool has two cocktail bars that rival the best in the country, sitting at number two and number 30 on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list, respectively. It’s no surprise that progressive drinks-making has taken off here: it’s a city that loves a night out, is famous for it, in fact, so cocktails fit into an already well-established culture, in ways that taking your time over a glass of wine and a few small plates has not really (yet). Bar Glue offers an 11-drink bespoke menu, as well as off-menu classics, while at Slowpour, nestled in the basement under Ropes and Twines on Bold Street, they structure both their alcoholic and non-alcoholic menus around individual ingredients – think fermented corn with citrus and lemon ice.

It’s great for foodie souvenirs

One thing you’ll want to do before you sadly depart Liverpool is pick up foodie souvenirs to give to your loved ones. Two local products in particular make great gifts, both of which are available at Ropes and Twines for ease: coffee from Two Words, a local independent roaster, and chocolate from Table, a sustainability- and traceability-minded brand from a Dutch-Argentinian couple that settled in Liverpool after Covid. The latter’s 72% dark chocolate from the Kilombero Valley in Tanzania is a fruity delight with notes of mango, passion fruit and vanilla. Grab yourself a bar before you take the short walk to nearby Liverpool Lime Street for your departing train and try not to scoff the lot on the journey (actually, maybe buy a few).