10 best things to eat when relaxing in Liverpool, UK

The first item on today's list is as delightfully tricky as the mindset of a British detective. Black pudding is actually no pudding at all. It's a type of blood sausage made from pork or beef blood with fat or suet and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats. What sets the British black pudding apart from its counterparts in continental Europe is the addition of certain herbs such as pennyroyal. It's as solid, gritty, and substantial as everything classically British, a sign of the times when the countryside beloved by Tolkien was the backbone of civilization.

Clockworks is a good choice for some black pudding.

Liverpool has always been a busy city, with all its business, trade, and fast living. Well, fast enough by English standards. This means that quick and simple food has always been a preference for the people living lightly and to the point. In these kinds of conditions, chicken skewers could not have been more appropriate. There are many regional variations of this simplistic dish, some of them are more complex than others due to strong Asian influences, but the basics are always the same — small pieces of chicken and scallions grilled on a skewer. Sometimes this kind of dish is also called a chicken kebab.

Greek Taverna Bold Street is a safe bet for skewered chicken.

It's always interesting to see how smaller things remain extremely persistent where great societal and cultural changes take place. For example, many current and former Commonwealth nations, including England as part of the UK, have the same popular snack — sausage rolls. Liverpool, being a former transport and travel hub for the empire, is no exception. It has an abundance of places where you can easily get the sausage roll consisting of sheets of puff pastry. One special thing about them is that they are glazed with egg or milk.

The Curious Eatery is really a place to inquire about some good sausage rolls.

Chicken is something everything in the world tastes like if you believe the movies and the most popular basis for food in European countries aside from pork. To no one's surprise, grilled chicken is probably the most popular dish around the country and in Liverpool in particular. It's fast enough to make and to eat, and no intricate rare ingredients are required. That is unless you want to modify the taste and add herbs, spices, or sauce to the grill. Liverpool can offer some of the best grilled chicken in all of England.

Grilla will not let you down in this regard.

Liverpool, as the port city that it is, is no stranger to the mysteries of the big East, including the wonders of Arabic cuisine. One of the results of such cultural exposure is the popularity of asida. It's an Arabic dish comprising cooked wheat flour lump of dough, sometimes with added butter or honey. In countries like Yemen, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, and many others asida is a ceremonial dish for special occasions like celebrating the birth of a child. In Liverpool, it is an Arabic delight in restaurants.

Lunya is one of the places where you can find asida.

This one is obvious. Sailors and chefs experienced with fish and seafood have always been a natural part of the local population in Liverpool. The Commonwealth nations notably use a special word for shrimp, calling them "prawn". Of course, they eat it. And of course, king prawn is the most interesting type, found in restaurants as a delicacy and staple food of the region, both as a side dish and as an ingredient. For dishes like tempura, the prawns are shelled and deveined prior to cooking.

Cargo is a good authentic place for prawns.

The next item on our list is a little sombre when you think about its history. Crumble became popular in Britain during World War II when food and ingredients were in very short supply, and pies could hardly be made. Crumble offers a pie-like mixture of stewed fruit, butter, cinnamon, flour, sugar, meat, vegetables, sauces of different kinds, cheeses, etc. It's nothing special, the main purpose of the dish is to make you feel satiated, but a good modern chef can make all the difference and turn wartime stew into a tasty combination.

The Monro serves this fantastic meal.

Nearing the end of the list, we should go for something less sordidly serious to a softer, more casual kind of food. Suppli is a French-Italian dish consisting of a ball of rice, generally risotto, with tomato sauce. It's eaten with the fingers and broken into pieces, creating a sort of wire of mozzarella between different parts. It's quick and nutritious, a perfect fit for the lively and ever-businesslike Liverpool. Most commonly, suppli can be found at authentic pizzerias and are served with drinks.

Bem Brasil is a good spot to try some suppli.

Something more regular and globally popular would fit right in at the moment. In case someone hasn't tried it, hot chocolate is a heated drink consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener. It's warm, tasty, and energizing. Or calming and relaxing if you care to get the right amount. Liverpool restaurants take hot chocolate seriously and prepare it with all the carefulness and variety the ancient drink deserves.

Rough Hand Made offers great hot chocolate.

The final item on today's list is as quintessentially British as anything anywhere can be. "Fish and chips" is a meme that survived the explosion of the Internet and will forever be associated with the country and the people. On a more serious note, the popularity of the dish and the association with the nation was established during the times of food regulation during the world wars. Fish and chips were one of the few foods in the UK not subject to rationing back then. As a token of appreciation and, maybe, not willing to break the habit, the British people kept eating them.

Go to restaurants like Docklands Fish and Chips if you want to feel like an English person.

Liverpool is a serious and ever-awake city. One can easily see how legends of culture and sports were born here, and how the land can bear the marks of greatness. Enjoy the local food as you are exploring the facets of Liverpool's ambience.