Petit Café Lark Lane

You'd walk past this unassuming spot twice if you didn't know what you were looking for, but that's exactly the point. Tucked into Lark Lane's parade of independents, this place does the rare thing of nailing both ends of the spectrum – serving excellent flat whites to laptop warriors by day, then morphing into a properly intimate cocktail spot after dark. The transformation is seamless but complete. Weekend brunch gives way to carefully crafted drinks and a soundtrack that actually makes you want to stay past one round. It's the kind of place where Aigburth locals bring dates they're trying to impress, and where you'll find yourself three cocktails deep on a Thursday wondering how that happened.