A Liverpool city centre restaurant owner says the venue has been “put on a national scale” much faster than expected.
Manifest on Watkinson Street in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle has received a number of accolades since opening in March 2022. The restaurant comes from the owners of The Little Shoe, the family run brasserie and micro bakery which had branches on Bold Street and in St George’s Hall.
The restaurant and wine bar’s name, plus the menu, is inspired by the Baltic Triangle’s historic shipping trade. Owner and chef, Paul Durand, has created a “modern British menu with wine firmly in mind”. It features “high quality, seasonal goods” from local producers and a wine list from “small scale and sustainable” manufacturers.
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Since opening in March, the restaurant has gone from strength to strength, having been awarded two AA rosettes and added to the prestigious Michelin Guide after inspectors revealed some of their favourite new additions in July. Owner Paul said the acknowledgements have “put us on a national scale we never expected that quickly”.
Just this week, Paul made the shortlist for the Staff Canteen Awards ‘Ones to Watch’, which gives the public a chance to vote for the next “hospitality superstars”. You can vote here .
Manifest is “uniquely scouse”, according to Paul, who was born and raised in Anfield. He opened Manifest with his partner Charlotte Jones after running The Little Shoe for a number of years, and having to close due to the coronavirus pandemic gave him the “time to step back and reflect”.
Paul decided to “try to create the type of place we’d like to go to on our days off”, with the change to get back to “real hospitality”, which he felt had been lost during the pandemic when social distancing was encouraged and bars and restaurants made changes such as using QR codes and apps to allow for visitors to order.
Instead, Manifest is all about “bringing back old school hospitality”, where visitors are welcomed at the door and able to speak to staff properly.
Originally, Paul and Charlotte had been set on a different venue for Manifest, but due to a setback with Liverpool city council, they were forced to “start from scratch” and look for somewhere else. Luckily, the stumbled upon a unit on Watkinson Street in the Baltic Triangle and knew it was the right place.
Paul said: “The Baltic is all young professionals who are creative, they’re the type of people who will pop in after work for a drink and something to eat. We feel at home in the Baltic, we loved it straight away”.
To come up with the name Manifest, Paul said it was all about brainstorming and ultimately he gained inspiration from Liverpool’s strong ties to docks and ships. Taking inspiration from the name of a list of cargo - a manifest - and his and Charlotte finally ‘manifesting’ the type of restaurant they wanted to open, the name was chosen.
Paul says that Manifest is all about celebrating Liverpool. He said: “I’m proud of being from here, why would you not want to further your hometown’s reputation? I’ve travelled a lot to places like France and people there are so proud of their culture and we don’t have that as much in the UK and I don’t see why not.
“We should be proud to celebrate what we grow and create in the UK and in the North West. Unless someone’s beating the drum, no one’s gonna know”.
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