One of the most famous names in Liverpool dining, 60 Hope Street’s listed Georgian frontage is traditional to a T, but it conceals a sharp contemporary interior that makes this one of the smartest addresses in town.
The restaurant’s upbeat style is matched by food that is ambitious and thoroughly modern. Begin with drinks in the basement bistro/bar before heading back upstairs to the cool dining room for some creative modern British cooking from a short and snappy menu.
Start with the likes of braised pig’s cheek with celeriac and apple or fresh crab salad with crispy poached egg and mustard mayo ahead of fillet of beef with bone marrow hollandaise or turbot with king oyster mushroom and Jerusalem artichoke.
Deep-fried jam sandwich with Carnation milk ice cream is a typically quirky dessert, although the assortment of British and Irish cheeses with damson chutney is an enticing alternative.
Afternoon tea, meanwhile, comes not only with the expected finger sandwiches, scones, pastries and Champagne but also a dedicated cocktail list from which an Espresso Martini seems like the most sensible option, though there’s also a Marshmallow G&T if there aren’t already enough sweet things on your plate.
If you have a more savoury tooth, there’s an early evening three-course menu for £25 including a glass of wine plus weekly steak nights when rump steak and chips with a glass of red clocks in at £15.
The food is supported by a comprehensive list of tantalising wines from across the globe. Ten sparkling wines, from Prosecco by the glass all the way up to 2007 Louis Roederer Cristal via lesser-known marques such as Deutz and Guy Charlemagne, underscore the restaurant’s air of celebration. The main wine list, meanwhile, has all the familiar grapes, though the producers have been chosen with care and curiosity, while prices are far more reasonable than the cost of the food menu might lead you to expect.