Leaf is a beloved Liverpool institution and was one long before Bold Street cleaned up its act,…read moreMowgli moved in, and it became the hipster restaurant mecca it is today. I knew it initially as the upstairs was a venue for Liverpool Sound City, back when it took place primarily in the Ropewalks area. I've eaten there, I've taken tea there, I've had drinks there with my friends. The staff are great and the patrons often even more so: if Liverpudlians hear a non-Scouse accent here, anticipate their desire to start a conversation and help a visitor out. Choose a place to sit, order at the bar and tell the staff where you're sitting, and wait for your order to appear, delivered by someone with an adorable Scouse accent. The food portions tend to be pretty big: you're in the North, lads and lasses.
The more you talk to English people of a certain age, and even a wider swath of ages the further north you go, the more you come to realize just how important the ritual of tea drinking is to them. The illuminated sign "Where there's tea, there's hope" in the shop isn't a joke. When you're at the bar, you'll see the coffee machine, sure, but you'll also see the many canisters of tea on offer. Tea here comes in individual see-through pots, showing Leaf's modern edge on a long-standing English/British tradition. You simply must order tea here because you're totally missing out if you don't. It's called Leaf for a reason! There is a small alcove 'shop' adjacent to the bar where you can pick up tea bags, diffusers, and the like.
It gets very busy at lunch and brunch times; pack patience. There's a weird quirk about the front door: you need to push it because it opens inward, which seems odd because it's a really big glass door and oftentimes shop doors in England open outward. Also, you need to serve yourself water from the dispenser at the bar, something I always seem to forget until a staff member taking my order sets me right.
A Manchester outpost of Leaf now exists, but I can't imagine it would ever compare favorably to the original location. I miss the pescetarian full breakfast and while they've now got small plate options, this is the kind of place I'd always order one big dish for either lunch or dinner. You'll be glad you did.
