Winter 2019 Menu At The Botanist, Alderley Edge

When meeting friends for drinks, one of the places I find is a people pleaser, is The Botanist. They have a great beer menu and an equally impressive cocktail menu, meaning that it ticks most boxes and all my friends are happy that they can choose a suitable drink. For some reason, it has never been as high on my list for food, in fact I think I have only eaten at The Botanist once when it first opened. It was okay, I wasn’t overly impressed so when I was invited in to try their new winter menu, I was interested to see how it fared.

The lighting at The Botanist in Alderley Edge is dark and really warm, which is really atmospheric when dining but not so good when trying to shoot images, so I apologise for the weird lighting on some of my images!

We kicked off our evening with some none alcoholic drinks and some pork scratchings, whilst we tried to decide what to order from the menu. The none alcoholic drinks are really simple, but really delicious. The Botanist literally mark on their cocktail menu which drinks can be made with no alcohol, so they look exactly the same as the ones with alcohol. The Botanist mark their none alcoholic drinks with a cute little leaf cocktail stick so it isn’t glaringly obvious that your drink is any different to your friends. I adore this idea so much. There are lots of reasons for not drinking when out with friends and there is still a bit of stigma around this. By having the same drink and it looking the same, that stigma is almost removed because no one knows but you. The other good thing is that they are still really tasty! Good quality juices and garnishes really do make all the difference.

A new addition to The Botanist menu are the deli boards so we chose 4 different items, which are then served with wedges of garlic and herb bread. The camembert has a crunchy coating which houses the molten cheese, perfect for smothering on the garlic bread. The chicken pate was seriously good, very rich and ‘melt in the mouth’, that screams to be scooped out with a finger when you have proclaimed that you are full.

My favourite item was the crispy pork bites. They are crispy, yet coated in a sweet and sticky sauce with a touch of spice. I could have eaten 4 bowls of them. The aubergine caviar was a little bland for my taste, but when seasoned with the salt and chilli shaker we had left over from the pork scratchings, it really lifted the flavour to something much creamier and light.

For mains we both chose hanging skewers, surf and turf with skinny fries for me and halloumi with chunky chips for Charlie. The steak chunks were soft and the prawns plump. A word of warning from me is that those chunky red vegetable looking strips in between are NOT red pepper like I thought, they are whole red chillis and they are seriously spicy at that. I popped one whole into my mouth expecting it to be pepper and spent a fair bit of time stopping my eyes from streaming and my mouth burning! The skinny fries were good though and much better than the chunky chips. We found them a big dry and almost ‘just done’ so a bit too floury and hard. They needed a little bit longer in the fryer and they would have been perfectly fine.

For dessert, we were spoilt for choice so went for the pudding planter. Complete with a theatrical entrance of dry ice, there is a portion of apple and cherry fool, nutella doughnuts, an ice cream sandwich and a salted caramel Biscoff muffin. Charlie favoured the ice cream sandwich, which is mint choc chip ice cream sandwiched between slices of waffle. I personally had a soft spot for the giant muffin in a plant pot topped with Biscoff ‘soil’. Drizzled with sticky salted caramel sauce, it was moreish and I was still eating it far longer than I should have done.

As if a new food menu isn’t enough, The Botanist have also launched a new cocktail menu so a few of the alcoholic ones were definitely on the cards.

I cheated slightly as The Botanist is not a new drink to the menu, but it is one that everyone on Twitter said I needed to try. They were right! Bacardi Carta Blanca rum, Ketel One vodka, St Germain, red amaranth, jasmine syrup, fresh mint and lime is topped with lemonade to create a floral yet fresh tasting drink that went down far too quickly. A new addition to the menu is the Pineapple Mezcalita with Amores Verde mezcal, El Jimador tequila, Licor 43, vanilla syrup, pineapple and lime juice. It has that gorgeous smokiness that you would expect from a drink containing mezcal with a balance sweet sour taste that means I’ll be coming back for this alone, if nothing else!

This cheeky chappy is a Tiki Thyme and 25p from every cocktail ordered goes directly to the Tim Bacon Foundation. The drink is also lovely with a blend of Sailor Jerry spiced rum, Gosling’s Black Seal rum, pink grapefruit liqueur, banana syrup, ginger, pineapple and lime juice. Rum is my first love and this is a lovely blend of 2 rums without being too sweet, thanks to the ginger and lime.

Saving the most unique until last, the Miracle Bulb, served in a gorgeous double bottle to be poured out separately into the same glass. Empress 1908 gin, yuzu sake, apple liqueur, jasmine syrup, apple juice and lemonade pours a colour changing lilac colour that has a real floral flavour with a bitterness from the sake that is unmistakeable. It is a real winner in terms of how it is served and is not all style over substance, with the drink tasting as good as it looks.

As usual, the cocktail menu is cracking and absolutely something I will continue to visit The Botanist for. I really enjoyed the food menu this time around so I hope to try more and steer clear of the chillis this time!

THE DEETS

The Botanist, 15 London Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, SK9 7JT.
You can currently get 1/3 off your food bill by booking at the following link.

I was invited to dine as a guest of The Botanist and was not asked to pay.