Liverpool’s Food Market Love Affair with Rebecca Fry #Blog

Rebecca Fry
1st November 2018

It’s Tasty Thursday and we’re back with another feature about Liverpool. This week’s instalment is Rebecca  from EatLVPL; her feature is all about the development to Liverpool food markets and how it’s securing itself as a foodie destination.

Since it was rightfully proclaimed European Capital of Culture in 2008, Liverpool’s fortune has been on the up. Nowhere can this been seen more evidently than in its burgeoning food and drink scene which continues to go from strength to strength. Growing up, I could have counted on one hand places worth eating in the city (Burger King sadly included) but now, more than 10 years on, the city region alone has been awarded 12 solid entries in the 2018 Good Food Guide – and that’s without even having any Michelin stars in the midst.

One of the biggest shifts has been the noticeable move towards the street food trend. Now, I don’t actually mean street food in the proper sense of the word.  Eating food at the side of the road unsurprisingly doesn’t have quite the same appeal on the often rainy streets of Liverpool as it might in say, Phuket or Hanoi. I’m talking street food in the form of small plates, junk food, dirty fries and late-night food markets. The kind of food that looks good on your Instagram page and that you can eat with your hands; the bigger, the crazier, the greasier, the better.

I totally get it too. Food market dining means you have to make little to no effort in the wardrobe department (perfect if you’re as much of a messy eater as I am), and there’s no reservations so you can rock up with a big group whenever you fancy. Plus, if you’re unfortunate enough to have friends who are fussy eaters, then there’ll be something there to appeal to everyone.

Being able to mix and match different cuisines means that greedy (but indecisive) diners like myself get to curate the perfect dinner menu. Where else could you get Chinese dumplings for starters, a towering charcoal-burger for mains and a cotton-candy topped bowl of cookie dough for dessert? Food markets are a hungry grown-up’s playground.

Since the brains behind Independent Liverpool set up the Baltic Market last year in an unused part of the former Cain’s Brewery, they’ve not only converted a city full of Scousers to the joys of street food but re-energised the whole area. Perhaps most importantly of all, the opening of their market has provided an incubator for Scouse start-ups and small businesses to trial their concepts before committing their restaurants to solid bricks and mortar.

Take Hafla Hafla for example, one of the first ever vendors at the Baltic Market who sent the whole city into a cheese-induced frenzy with their halloumi fries and just last week opened the doors to their brand-new restaurant on the ever-eclectic Lark Lane.

They’re not alone either… there are other success stories like Little Furnace – experts in Napoli style wood-fired pizza who now have a shop on Smithdown Road alongside sweet-treat aficionados, The Midnight Delivery.

This year the city has seen two more huge market openings in the form of the tourist-friendly Dockside Dining Club and the slightly more up-market Grand Central Food Bazaar with rumours of the city’s fourth market underway on Duke Street. The other side of the Mersey hasn’t been left out either with Marine Street Social spreading street-food fever over in New Brighton.

Whilst there have been unsurprising grumbles about copy-catting, over-saturation and style over substance, I’m a firm believer that if Liverpool is going to secure itself as a foodie destination, we need to keep competition fierce. If that means eating at several different food markets then so be it. I, fork in hand, am looking forward to seeing who comes out on top.

Thanks Rebecca, for this fabulous piece – we’re definitely in need of a trip to Liverpool after reading your feature! If you like what you have seen and want to know more you can find Rebecca on her website, Instagram, and  Twitter .  We can’t wait to hear more from Rebecca in the future!

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