The Botanist, Manchester *

When the chap and I headed up to Manchester at the start of the month we dined in style on our first night at The Botanist in Deansgate.

The Botanist had been recommended by a blogger buddy that lives nearby so we thought why not?! I think everywhere we ate and drunk over the weekend was recommended to me over Twitter and we had some of the best food and service we’ve received this year!

We began the evening with some starters; both rather healthy ones which isn’t like us! Mike had the Tiger Prawn and Avocado Salad as we’re going through a bit of an avodcado phase having tried it for the first time a few months back. I went with the Potted Salmon with Brown Bread which was served in a tiny ceramic plant pot; super cute. We both totally demolished these, so that’s a very good sign!

For mains we both ate ‘Off the BBQ’ as we do tend to do. I chose the Hanging Chicken Kebab topped with sweet chilli, ginger and garlic butter and served with properly seasoned chips. The butter drips down the kebab and into the chips… total dream. I was swinging towards the Chicken and Chorizo Pie but changed my mind last minute having seen the kebab option on a table not far from ours!

Mike chose the Rump Steak cooked Medium/Rare; and was pretty much licking the plate clean! He has this with chips and a side of broccoli with toasted almonds and crispy onions which I did eat a fair amount of. It seems broccoli can be super delicious without too much effort.

We weren’t going to have dessert as we were pretty damn stuffed but our amazing waiter, Sonny, suggest the Rocky Road Kebab with strawberry, hazelnut brownie, marshmallow, biscuit sauce and chocolate crumb so we kinda gave in and had one. I’m so glad we did as it was light, great for sharing and full of fun flavours.

We had a lovely evening, and we can’t tell you how good our service was from Sonny. If you visit, ask for him, he was a total babe! We shall be returning for sure next time we’re in town as the food was top notch too.