Taking set menus up a gear, tasting menus usually feature four or more courses - smaller portions designed to give diners a greater breadth of dishes to try, where chefs of great acclaim show off their skills. Restaurants that have tasting menus quite often serve only that menu, or a few variations of it; putting their heart and souls into a list of seasonally driven or themed plates that offer the very best their kitchen can cook up.
But where to try the best
tasting menus in Liverpool? From Michelin Guide restaurants to the top places for fine dining and affordable
options too, take your pick from this list.
Liverpool's Best Tasting Menus
8 By Andrew Sheridan
Having migrated from Birmingham to its current location on Cook Street, 8 By Andrew Sheridan is now home to some of the best tasting menus in Liverpool city centre. With three AA rosettes and a feature in the Michelin Guide, Liverpool-born chef-owner and North West Chef of The Year in 2011, Andrew Sheridan, has already catapulted his restaurant to great acclaim.
The £110 eight-course tasting menu (plus £95 for wine pairings) is the only option here, with an extra cheese course also available for a £10 supplement. The experience feels immersive, thanks to two eight-seater counters in the Victorian building each boasting their own chef; a chef who cooks right in front of guests while talking through the dishes, which combine British and international influences for a fresh feel. Expect everything from teriyaki Iberian pork with wasabi and Roscoff onion to Orkney scallop served alongside Vadouvan cauliflower, apple and whey - although there's even Creedy Carver duck in truffle jus for further luxury ingredients.
Eight is the magic number for Andrew Sheridan's courses and restaurant name.
The Art School
Found nestled inside the lantern room of the Victorian 1888 ‘Home for Destitute Children’ building in Liverpool's Georgian Quarter, The Art School is the flagship restaurant of none other than Paul Askew. After spending many of his younger years living in the Wirral, the venue's chef patron is dedicated to bettering the gastronomic scene in the North West and Liverpool, as well as having appeared on the likes of the Great British Menu and Saturday Kitchen.
The venue's continual place in the coveted Michelin Guide is a testament to Askew and his six-course tasting menus (extra courses available for supplement), which come in at £125 per person (additional £75 for a paired wine flight) - available as standard, pescatarian and vegetarian. Dishes lean on Great British grub, alongside local, seasonal ingredients, spanning dishes like loin of wild Cheshire venison served with morel farcie, cavolo nero and game jus, or pan-seared Loch Fyne king scallop with Jerusalem artichoke, apple and raisin dressing, and Café de Paris butter.
The Art School Liverpool tasting menu is Michelin-worthy.
Vetch
Another chef who's scouse through and through, Daniel
McGeorge is co-owner of Vetch and winner of
the Great British Menu in 2021. Back in his hometown after
deciding to pursue his own restaurant, leaving behind a
fruitful period working at Rothay Manor in the Lake District,
he's joined forces with front of house expert Georgia Goodman
for this venture. A newer addition to this list and a new entry in
the Michelin Guide to boot, Dan McGeorge's vision is already
going from strength to strength at its Hope Street
location.
Alongside a lunch and early bird set offering, you'll find two choices of tasting menu: 10 courses for £85 (£45 drink pairings) or 12 courses for £105 (£65 drinks pairings), plus an additional £5 cheese course if you fancy. A fine dining experience with a broad range of flavours, including those from Britain, Japan, China, Denmark and Korea, a meal here could see you tucking into cauliflower chawanmushi (Japanese savoury egg custard) with parmesan and truffle, monkfish in an XO dashi with leek, and a caramel, pumpkin and lime-flavoured pudding.
Presentation is pretty at Vetch too.
Panoramic 34
Panoramic 34 is one of the UK's highest restaurants, perched on the (surprise, surprise) 34th floor of the West Tower - 300 feet above sea level. With 360-degree views of the river, Royal Liver Building and more, there's no denying that the setting for this modern European restaurant is nothing short of stunning. But how about their tasting menu?
£154 with wine or £99 without, the eight courses at Panoramic 34 could include salt-aged fillet of beef with ox cheek, alibut in a Champagne sauce and served with baby leek, razor clams, and seaweed chutney. The independent restaurant is family-run and dedicated to using local suppliers such as Woolton Village's Liverpool Cheese Company and fourth-generation family business, Wards Fish.
You'll get drawn here by the views, but it's the food that will keep you coming back again and again.
The Academy Restaurant
Only open to the public Tuesday to Friday at lunchtimes and on Thursday evenings for a special tasting menu, The Academy Restaurant at The City of Liverpool College is the most affordable option. Setting you back £37 for six courses, plus extra petite fours and coffee to end, plates here span from confit of Guinea fowl with a caramelised onion filo tartlet to roast Welsh beef fillet served alongside truffade potato, seasonal vegetables and port-wine jus.
Presenting a tasting menu at a fraction of high street restaurant prices, these promising students are being nurtured by award-winning chefs and mentors, so expect great dishes made using local, seasonal ingredients.
The Academy Restaurant still has the feel of a true dining experience.
For more inspiration? Here are the best Liverpool restaurants.
