5 Best Restaurants in Liverpool, Manchester, Liverpool, and the Peak District

This stylish restaurant, charcuterie, and Campari bar—a lively take on the workingmen's canteens of backstreet Venice, known as bacaros—offers highly creative small plates. Options include croquettes, fried mixed fish, and pizzette (mini-pizzas).

Those who like good food at great prices head to Bakchich, a Lebanese and Moroccan street-food joint featuring a large communal table with smaller tables dotted around it for convivial or more intimate dining. On offer are delicious hot and cold meze, meshawi charcoal grills (chicken, lamb, and seafood), wraps, salads, and a small but tasty kids' menu. The nonalcoholic drink list includes fresh lemonade and smoothies.

An 18th-century warehouse on the edge of the Liverpool One shopping district houses this impressive Catalan fusion restaurant and deli, where you can feast on classic and creative tapas dishes. An extensive breakfast menu makes this a great place to start your day, while the children's menu tempts those with junior foodies. There's a second venue, Lunyalita, overlooking the Albert Dock, with a sun terrace.

Indian street food and home-cooking are the draws at this fun and colorful spot that has lights upcycled from old birdcages and a bar created from former railway sleepers. Many of the vibrant dishes, such as the hugely popular yogurt chat bombs (crispy, filled bread puffs), are served in tiffin boxes (traditional Indian lunch containers) to charming effect. There are also great vegan, gluten-free, and kids’ menus. There's a second Liverpool branch at Water Street and branches in Manchester and around the country; founder Nisha Katona has now been awarded an MBE both for her services to the food industry and to charity (her Mowgli Trust donates more than £300,000 to local and world causes every year).

Part of the same crowd-funded group as Manchester’s Hispi Bistro and KALA Bistro, this hip spot serves up seriously good modern global cuisine from an open kitchen in a once derelict building in the Ropewalks district. As at its sister restaurants, it takes the use of excellent local products to the next level through pairings of unusual vegetables including heritage tomatoes and hispi cabbage. Breakfast is great, and Sunday lunch can be as traditional or as inventive as you like.