If you’re looking for something informal and affordable with a relaxed contemporary feel, this mid-city café-cum-teashop and bar offers all-day eating at competitive prices.
Casually strewn with chesterfields, old-fashioned standard lamps and other retro furnishings, it’s just the job if you fancy soaking up the sociable, canteen-style vibe while enjoying the company of friends or family. The Moto of ‘where there’s tea there’s hope’ comes from the original ethos that the owners, a group of friends, wanted to instil in their site. As one of the first places to bring loose leaf tea to Liverpool, their ethos and idea was obviously popular, as Leaf now has two other sibling sites in the city serving up similar menus and good times.
Food wise you could find yourself tucking into hearty brunch sandwiches of pork and leek sausages with caramelised onion, fresh Greek mezze sharing platters or bigger helpings of rich braised ox cheek with olive, wild mushroom and rosemary ragù. The food is decently cooked and wholesome, with back-up from a great selection of cakes to go with more than 30 different teas. If something stronger is required, there’s also a decent list of beers, wines and cocktails.
If you happen in outside of ‘tea and cake time’ then there’s a regularly changing rota of events, from ‘First Listen Mondays' (where they play a new favourite album from start to finish from 7pm) to life drawing classes. In line with this extra curricular offering there’s an additional bar, restaurant and live music venue upstairs.
Leaf in Liverpool also hire out their cafe, which is great if you’re looking for a laidback space for a party or get-together. The first floor is available daily from 7pm on a private basis, a place lots of people use for things like book launches, city centre weddings or small-scale gigs.