When it comes to dates, you really can’t ever go wrong with an amazing meal at an award-winning restaurant… you know you’re guaranteed a good night out, with excellent company, delicious food, attentive table service – the perfect recipe for spoiling yourselves.
But where to go? We’re very lucky these days to have so many incredible restaurants at our disposal and, now that lockdown restrictions have been lifted, we can all pop our gladrags on once again and take our taste buds for a tickle. The hardest part will be deciding where to go first!
To help you make up your mind, we thought we’d count down some of the very best romantic restaurants to be found in the north-west, which we consider to be particularly date-worthy. We’d love to hear if you’ve been to any of them and what you thought, so make sure you get in touch to let us know what the experience was like. Bon appetit!
Where The Light Gets In
Stockport
Where The Light Gets In can be found in an old coffee warehouse in Stockport, with room for only 30 guests – which means it’s absolutely perfect for an intimate and romantic supper out with your other half.
The restaurant itself is an open plan design, featuring both dining room and kitchen, so you can see the process of food preparation, which makes for an altogether more immersive dining experience.
The team moves around the space, regaling diners with tales of the farm and those they work with, so you’ll come away almost feeling as if you’re part of the family yourself.
There is no choice when it comes to the menu, but it is always changing in line with the seasons, weather patterns and sea conditions – so you could go time and time again, and your experience will be different each time.
They’re currently offering an accessibly priced £65 menu to help kickstart the hospitality industry following the pandemic… so now’s the time to book a table!
Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor
Chester
For something truly special, make your way to the Chester Grosvenor, where you’ll find the award-winning Simon Radley restaurant, named after the renowned executive chef. It’s held a Michelin star since 1990 and also has four AA Rosettes to its name, so you know you’ll only ever have a wonderful time if you pick this for your next big date.
The eight course tasting menu costs from £79 per person for a weekday table, with the price increasing to £89 from August this year so, again, now’s the time to think about heading off to Chester for a fancy meal out.
Also make sure that you pop into the Arkle Bar and Lounge before you go for a cocktail or two, as you’ll find more than 40 gins available to try, each one paired with a tonic and garnish matched to the profile of the gin. There are also interesting malts, vintage ports and all sorts of liqueurs to try. It will be difficult not to over-indulge!
Roski
Liverpool
This restaurant gets all sorts of rave reviews, so it’s definitely one to include on your must-visit list sooner rather than later. The kitchen is run by Anton Piotrowski, who won MasterChef: The Professionals – so you can expect amazingly creative dishes, delicious drinks and exemplary table service… a seriously enviable date night!
So what’s on the menu? You can expect seasonal dishes such as tagliatelle with black truffle, wild garlic and herb crusted quail’s eggs, Cornish day boat lobster, lamb fat roast potatoes, mushroom tart, banana ketchup, chicken skin sandwiches… the list goes on and on. You certainly won’t be leaving with an empty stomach.
The Cartford Inn
Preston
You’ll find the delightful Cartford Inn nestled in the heart of the stunning Lancashire countryside. It was originally a 17th century coaching inn and has now gone on to enjoy fame as an award-winning pub, restaurants and boutique hotel… so you can have a romantic weekend away very easily indeed.
The menu is an expression of local Lancashire food culture, showcasing only the very best of the region’s produce. Expect to find a seasonal menu here, with meat coming from nearby farms, locally shot game and seafood from Fleetwood docks.
The spring garden menu features dishes such as pickled Morecambe Bay cockles and samphire, French onion soup, wild garlic and asparagus arancini, braised oxtail and beef skirt suet pudding, and lots, lots more.
If you fancy a stayover, you can either go full luxury with an executive bedroom or perhaps think outside the box a little and book a stay in one of the two cabins that can be found at the end of the property, with their own landscaped grounds and a stunning view of the river.
Are you looking for love? Get in touch with professional dating agency Select Personal Introductions for help and advice.