About
Lunya
Lunya wants to be a place where anyone who loves good food and drink feels as though they belong. They want people to feel as comfortable when they are eating or drinking here as they would do at home. Like all great restaurants in Spain, they want to be a place where you can come dressed up or casual, however, you want. Whether you are a binman, politician, pensioner, mums with babies, stockbroker, everyone belongs and people come here because they are all about the food and drink and a great social environment.
Lunya source the finest artisan Catalan and Spanish ingredients and the highest quality local fresh ingredients to produce the most authentic deli around and the finest restaurant in Manchester and Liverpool. In addition, they provide
Lunya source the very best of everything they can – not a cliché, but a guiding force to everything they do, and they mean it. They really do have the very best of everything food and drink wise from Spain – sourcing fish, meat and vegetables from source, or as close to the source as possible, using local butchers, fishmongers and farmers who are either the best in the UK, or close to it.
Peter and Elaine Kinsella are the owners of Lunya.
We have created something partly to give us the very best environment we can work and spend our time where Peter can prepare food, talk about food, see it, smell it (occasionally eat some of it), Elaine can spread her natural charm and loveliness, but most of all share our passion for food and drink with anyone who cares to drop by. We have spent my life winging it; for years many people thought I knew everything there was to know about community services for disabled people (I didn’t), but managed to make a living working with governments, services and families through my own consultancy, Paradigm – this gave Peter his first introduction to Spain when he did a piece of work in Barcelona. Lunya is very much a partnership. Now we are past our difficult early years during the recession, Elaine has been able to leave her Psychologists job (although she still does some work through her company Ronda Psychology) and work full time at Lunya (everywhere, except the kitchen!) and develop the business further.
Now we are the very proud owners of Lunya and Lunyalita- learning every day. A suppressed chef all his life, a love of food all their lives (that’s how they fell in love!) and a desire and promise before we got too old that we would abandon everything we were reasonably good at and really loved to do to try our hand at something which is our absolute passion and hopefully see out our working days doing. We sold everything (properly everything), practised at food festivals (5 food festivals) and in March 2010 opened Lunya, a 180 cover restaurant and the UK’s largest Spanish deli. Madness on many levels, but 5 years in, we’re still here and doing alright. We’ve won lots of local and regional awards; most people on TripAdvisor say nice things about us, and we now have tens of thousands of repeat customers who treat Lunya like their second home and Elaine and Peter as their lifelong friend (but often, with our own advancing years, we can never remember their names – some friends!).
In October 2015, we opened the second Lunya in Manchester, in the fabulous 19th Century Barton Arcade in Deansgate – a real Catalonian Deli, Restaurant & Bar for Manchester.
In October 2017, we moved premises in Liverpool, just two doors down. We are now on the corner of College Lane & Hanover Street – directly opposite Radio Merseyside. Our new site is all on the ground floor and completely accessible.
And in July 2018, Lunyalita opens in Albert Dock, Liverpool, a smaller more irreverent version of Lunya. Read more here
Each month we host a wonderful Gourmet food and wine night featuring the very best of Catalan and Spanish cooking and wine brought together in a one off uniquely paired menu. Just check out our events page for full details. Our restaurant can be booked in whole or just a part of it for corporate events, weddings, christenings and other occasions. Contact us for more details.
We are right in the heart of Liverpool city centre in Liverpool One, and in Barton Arcade, Deansgate, Manchester, and Lunyalita is in the glorious Albert Dock in Liverpool. Come and pay us a visit!
