The Vittles Guide to Liverpool’s Chinatown
Where to eat in Europe’s oldest Chinatown (and the rest of Liverpool)
Welcome to the Vittles Chinatowns Project. In this guide, our local experts share their pick of the best places to eat in Liverpool’s historic Chinatown, as well as some more recent openings offering a range of regional cuisines.
You can read the rest of the project here:
Who is Chinatown for?, by Xiao Ma
The New Chinatowns, by Barclay Bram
Crying in Wing Yip, by various
The Vittles Guide to London’s Chinatowns, by various
The Vittles Guide to the UK’s Chinatowns (including individual guides to Birmingham, Manchester, Cambridge and Glasgow), by various
Liverpool is home to Europe’s oldest Chinese community. Its Chinatown, near the docks, served the Chinese seafarers (as well as those from the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore) who have passed through and settled in the city since the 1880s. With the arrival of postwar migrants from Hong Kong, Chinese food then expanded via takeaways, which popped up in the suburbs and on the Wirral. Chinese families took over chip shops, fusing English comfort food with Chinese flavours to create the city’s signature salt and pepper everything – chips, ribs and siu mai.
The installation of Chinatown’s enormous arch in 2000, a gift from Liverpool’s twin city, Shanghai, heralded a new era of international students from mainland China to the city. Mini-Chinatowns sprung up to supply these contemporary sojourners, including Myrtle Street’s row of grocery shops and cafes and a cluster of hot pot restaurants on London Road. However, Liverpool’s historical Chinatown on Nelson Street is quiet for most of the year, coming alive only during Lunar New Year celebrations. Recent efforts have tried to bring the area back to life, including the trial of a new street market. But maybe Liverpool’s Chinatown hints at the future of Chinatowns in the UK: a mix of old-school dim sum parlours, flourishing takeaways and new Malaysian and Vietnamese spots, unconfined to a single street. Emily Beswick
Contributors
EB – Emily Beswick. JN – Jonathan Nunn. BP – Beatrice Png. HLL – Hai Lin Leung. RCJ – Ruth Cheung Judge. IR – Isaac Rangaswami. SMN – Sufea Mohamad Noor.
eJoy Asian Supermarket Cantonese/Shanghai/Sichuan
On the edge of the university campus sits eJoy, part Asian supermarket, part food court, all-round lunch haven. E-Jia Dim Sum, with a chef from Guandong, serves Cantonese, Malaysian and Singapore favourites, including some of the city’s crispiest siu yuk. Ba Guai Soup Bun specialises in xiao long bao, but offers a wide range of mix-and-match handmade dumplings for £8. By midday, eJoy is packed with students, lecturers and builders and it’s possible to pay via Weibo and WeChat. eJoy speaks to the multi-layered nature of East Asian life in Liverpool, and trying a bit of everything makes for a fun lunchtime. RCJ (with thanks to Zi Ye for Mandarin translation)
1 Myrtle Parade, L7 7EL
No.1 Chongqing Fish and Original Chicken Sichuan/Chongqing
I first came across this idiosyncratic basement restaurant on the short walk between Liverpool’s two great cathedrals – one Protestant, one Catholic – seduced by the sign that promises No.1 Chongqing Fish and Original Chicken. Although the name refers to China’s great megacity, the menu is really all over the place, a kind of hodgepodge of whatever the owners like: excellent Guilin noodles, or a delicious version of huangmenji (yellow braised chicken), a Dongbei dish that has been mainstreamed across China. If it has a speciality, it may be the sour-spicy Chongqing fish hot pot for two or the maocai, a kind of solo hot pot, which comes with three meats and two veg of your choice in a spicy broth for under a tenner. JN
109 Mount Pleasant, L3 5TF