How Liverpool Set Me on an Aromatic Adventure to Its Diverse Exotic Restaurants

The first time I visited Liverpool, all I had in mind was the Beatles and professional soccer clubs. Apparently, the prospects of exploring the history of Britain's most iconic band and experiencing first-hand a game in Anfield were so potent that I earnestly hadn't imagined that Liverpool had anything else to offer.

I was wrong.

Liverpool made me fall in love with its assorted menus. Since it packages some of the finest restaurants in Britain and offers much diversity in cuisines, my love story is an effortless one, and even now I think I’m still in a blissful trance—suffice to say that Liverpool restaurants put me there.

How My Liverpool Restaurants Adventures all Began

I can’t say I was a foodie—well, not until that summer evening in July 2016 when I took a ferry ride along the Mersey towards the Beatles Story and nearly missed my stop at the Albert Dock probably because I was lost in melodious thoughts singing the famous song "Ferry Cross the Mersey", which was the appropriate song to sing, seeing as I was in fact on a ferry over the Mersey.

When I alighted from the boat, that song was still on my mind, but something else soon accompanied it—an aromatic whiff in the air. That was strange because the restaurant I imagined the delicious aroma was emanating from was still some stone throws away, on the gateway to the Albert Dock, and was no way in the direction I was supposed to be headed.

Thinking about how I quickly abandoned the road to the Beatles Story and its harmonious wonders, I now reckon that the whiff in the air must have been a figment of my imagination, that it was my mind reminding me that one of Liverpool’s fine dining restaurants, as I read on Hardens’ guide, was near. My mind was serenading me there.

Needless to say, I followed my nose—no, my heart. And I found it, the source of the whiff, nestling in Edward Pavilion and overlooking the Tate Gallery. When I ambled inside, the expansive golden ambiance and hanging lamps and lit candles and of course that tantalising aroma that welcomed me left me weak in the knee and fired up my taste buds.

Therefore, I found a table and warmed its seat, and thus began my eating spree. I wanted to taste everything probably because I had heard so much about Italian cuisine and this was my one chance to discover why it was so popular.

For just £24, I order a set menu, starting with the deliciously garlicky ‘gusto dough petals’, then moving over to the smoked duck salad and a glass of their moreish house wine, and finishing with Bombolini (homemade doughnuts, orange Chantilly, and chocolate sauce). I felt like I had tasted heaven so much that the following day, I returned and ordered a different but also appetising classic Italian menu recommended by an amiable server.

After those mouth-watering dishes at Gusto Restaurant and Bar, I couldn’t help the prospect of discovering other cuisines and restaurants in Liverpool. So I ventured further inland, past Strand Street and into Mayur, an Indian restaurant on Duke Street. The subsequent day, I entered Yuet Ben, a Chinese restaurant in Upper Duke Street. And before my vacation was done, I had managed to get a taste of twenty of the many Liverpool restaurants on Hardens’ guide.

In the end, all I can say is that the escapade was worth both my time and every penny I relinquished to experience it.

God, I love Thai food.

Harden's is the UK's most comprehensive independent restaurant guide.