Franco Manca: I went to Liverpool's newest pizza restaurant and the vegan options were insanely good

Earlier this year, it was revealed that renowned pizza chain, Franco Manca, would be taking over the former site of Rennie’s art gallery which sadly closed in 2022 after 42 years in business. Now the ‘sourdough pizza pioneers’ have opened up shop serving ‘fresh, handmade’ pizzas at 61-63 Bold Street.

With Liverpool already playing host to some incredible pizza restaurants, such as Rudy’s, American Pizza Slice and Crust, I headed to Bold Street to see if Franco Manca’s vegan pizza offerings lived up to the hype.

Straight away, my boyfriend and I were impressed with the look of the restaurant as you could really tell it used to house an art gallery. The industrial-style decor looked really cool and the large windows offered the perfect opportunity for people watching.

We were very pleased to be sat in a corner right near the window, and started off our meal with a Limencello Spritz and a pint of lager. I immediately noticed just how affordable the menu was, with cocktails priced at £6.50 - the cheapest I’ve seen in a while. The cocktail menu was really simple too, featuring classics such as a Negroni, Aperol Spritz and a couple of non-alcoholic options.

After scouring the food menu, we decided to share two starters - the smoked almonds and the garlic bread, which comes with a light tomato base. Both dishes arrived promptly and were absolutely delicious. I loved that they were clearly labelled as vegan too so there was no hassle ordering.

We both love the smoked almonds at The Quarter - one of our favourite Italian’s in Liverpool - and both agreed that Franco Manca’s offering was just as good.

For our mains, I opted for the organic tomato, garlic, basil and oregano pizza, and was pleased to discover I could add vegan cheese. I also added some olives, because olives are a n absolute must on any pizza.

My boyfriend chose ‘Franco’s favourite’ which features Amatriciana sauce (tomato, onion and cured pork cheek), mozzarella, crispy pancetta, pecorino romano D.O.P. cheese and basil, and he added olives too.

We both absolutely love a sourdough pizza and have pretty high standards but we were incredibly impressed with Franco Manca’s offerings. The dough and crust were perfect, the olives were divine and the tomato base with fantastic. For such reasonably priced pizzas, we were blown away.

The selection of sauces made the experience even better too. We chose the garlic dip and scotch bonnet dip (which are both vegan), as well as the ‘nduja one. I can’t speak for the latter but the other two were unbelievable.

To finish - despite being incredibly full - I had a delicious raspberry sorbet while my boyfriend chose the New York-style vanilla cheesecake. He had initially wanted the tiramisu but it was sadly out of stock. Luckily, our lovely server recommended the cheesecake and it turned out to be a hit.

Overall, I’d highly recommend Franco Manca’s new Bold Street restaurant as it is super affordable, the staff are great and the venue is ace. The food definitely lives up the hype and it’s ideal for vegans and meat-eaters alike.