Best local vegan and vegetarian restaurants
While cutting out meat or animal products can have both health and environmental benefits, it is also a good excuse to try something new.
So, whether it’s vegetarian cuisine or a plant-based menu you’re after, here is our guide to some of the best veggie and vegan friendly restaurants, all of which are just a short walk from one of our stations.
Eating vegan has never been easier!
Bakchich
Bakchich started out on the Christmas Markets of Liverpool and now ‘brings a little piece of Lebanon’ to the city’s Bold Street.
The restaurant serves Lebanese street food and there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.
It prides itself on offering affordable cuisine, with a mission to celebrate the healthy, fresh food eaten in Beirut.
Specialities include shaksouka, Lebanese moussaka and vegetable couscous, as well as hot and cold mezzes, platters and wraps.
Diners can also pop into its original Liverpool branch for a vegetarian or vegan Lebanese breakfast (served until 12pm every day).
Visit www.bakchich.co.uk
Nearest station: Liverpool Central
Down the Hatch
Liverpool’s Down The Hatch may be a completely vegan restaurant, but it prides itself on offering overflowing plates of good food everyone can enjoy.
Hidden away in a basement on Duke Street, it serves everything from ‘beef’ burgers and fries to crispy wings made from mushrooms.
Almost everything is homemade at this family-owned business.
And it offers late food too (open until 2am on Fridays on Saturdays), making it the perfect place to ease a hangover.
There are daily meal deals, not to mention two for £14 on cocktails all day, every day.
More at www.downthehatchliv.co.uk.
Nearest station: Liverpool Central
The Alchemist
The Alchemist in Liverpool has launched a new, sustainably focused food menu that is more than half vegetarian.
The cocktail bar and restaurant chain, which has a site on Brunswick Street, has freshened up its menu to make it 58% meat-free and 44% plant-based.
It follows a collaboration with Meatless Farm - producers of vegan and plant-based meats.
Options include crispy bao buns with shredded plant-based duck, a plant burger and salt and pepper bites.
Guests can offset their carbon footprint by opting to plant a tree in a developing country for 99p on their bill.
More at thealchemist.uk.com
Nearest station: James Street / Moorfields
Mowgli
Fast-growing restaurant chain Mowgli is all about how Indians eat at home and on their streets.
There’s a focus on healthy Indian street market dishes, which are often vegan, flavoursome and come out as and when they are ready.
Favourites include vegetarian and vegan tiffin boxes, yoghurt chat bombs and Fenugreek Kissed Fries – a million miles away from the curry stereotype.
The Indian street food brand was first launched by barrister Nisha Katona in Liverpool’s Bold Street in 2014.
Mowgli now has a string of sites across the UK including a second Liverpool venue on Water Street.
Visit www.mowglistreetfood.com .
Nearest station:Liverpool Central for Bold Street; James Street / Moorfields for Water Street.
Duke Street Market
As one of Liverpool's food and drink markets, Duke Street Market offers visitors a varied selection of dishes.
There is vegetarian and vegan food from a variety of the six independent kitchens including sweet potato katsu curry, tofu and mushroom bibimbap and tofu ramen from Asian-inspired Ginger.
Family-run Italian Cucina Di Vincenzo serves up vegetarian friendly pizza and pastas.
And there’s plenty on offer from the newest kitchen Big Lola's (think nachos topped with pickled jalapenos and salsa, and veggie chilli burrito).
Go to www.dukestreetmarket.com.
Nearest station: Liverpool Central
Shrub
Shrub, as its name implies, is a plant-based eatery in the heart of Chester.
Located on the city’s iconic Rows, the restaurant aims to deliver a quality vegan menu and cocktails in a modern setting.
While you won’t find any animal products here, the team don’t make a song and dance about it. Instead, Shrub aims to show that you don’t need meat on your plate.
Since the end of 2021, the business has been carbon positive and is focused on reducing its impact – from closed loop dishes to zero waste drinks.
Visit shrubchester.co.uk
Nearest station: Chester
Maray
Maray always excels at imaginative veggie dishes, so it’s no surprise that it has a great vegan small plates menu.
Disco Cauliflower is on there, as well as favourites like falafel with hummus and newer dishes including spiced lentil and rice with Ormskirk kale.
With three restaurants across Liverpool, Maray serves food inspired by the flavours of the Middle East.
Diners can enjoy the vegan lunch deal – one mezze and two plates for £16.50, Monday to Friday from 12 to 4pm (excludes bank holidays).
Sites include the Royal Albert Dock and Bold Street.
Visit maray.co.uk
Nearest station: James Street / Liverpool Central
Get there with Merseyrail
All these destinations are just a short walk from one of our stations, plan your journey using our journey planner here.
You can find your cheapest ticket here.
