The Botanist Autumn Menu

Autumn is well and truly here in Manchester, the wind, cold and rain all bring a new season, and with this are new restaurant menus!! Thankfully, I have had the opportunity to try the new autumn menu at the Botanist, which was just launched a couple of weeks ago, so let me tell you a bit more about their new menu.

The Botanist started with an idea to create a secret garden of food and drink. You can see this reflected in the decoration, walls full of flowers, trees and elements that make you feel like you are in a proper indoor garden. But not only this, the food menu gives you an idea of what you would have in a garden meal with your friends, nibbles, dishes from the grill, and botanical cocktails.

We started the meal with a Deli Board, this is the perfect way to taste and share different dishes. You can choose four items, and they will be served with a wedge of garlic and herbal bread on the side, also you can add more items for just £3.25. Our board included Houmous, Polenta coated Camembert, Smoked Haddock fish cakes and Buttermilk chicken. From all of them, my favourite was the Camembert cheese, it came with a cranberry sauce on top, and it was very crispy outside and melted inside, the sensation was a mix of buttery flavour with sweets notes.

For mains, Rebeca and I opted for the same option, the famous hanging kebabs, but with different flavours. My friend chose the vegan option, the Tofurky sausage kebab, that is served with a maple barbecue sauce, and I went for the surf and turf kebab, of course, we shared our kebabs, but for me, it was the first time trying Tofurky. The taste is similar to turkey meat, however, I find the texture different to normal sausage, but it matches well with the barbecue sauce that adds some sweet and spice to the dish. The surf and turf kebab is different than the previous one, for those who do not know, this kebab includes steak and prawns served with a garlic butter sauce. For me, the steak was a bit overcooked and dry, it needed more sauce, and as you can see in the pictures below, the peppers were burnt for my taste. There were parts that were great, the prawns were delicious, and I found it easy to enjoy as it wasn´t spicy like the Tofurky kebab.

Both kebabs were served with salt and pepper chips, we all know that those chips are full of flavour, and I am surprised I haven´t found them before in the restaurants. They are one of the popular dishes from any Chinese takeaway and I would choose them in any restaurant before the normal fries.

Between dishes, we tried some of the cocktails, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and here the Botanist always does something well, some of the cocktails from the menu you have the option of having them with alcohol and without alcohol. We tasted the Botanist cocktail without alcohol and it tastes as good as any other alcoholic cocktail. I think that a great cocktail is about how it looks, tastes and how it makes you feel, now how hungover you get lol.

Did someone say room for dessert? Yes! If you have read some of my food posts previously, you already know that I have a sweet tooth, and I could not leave this place without tasting one of my favourite English dessert, sticky toffee pudding! The sticky toffee pudding comes warm with a jug of rich toffee sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The sponge was soft and moist, the flavour was rich and the sauce complimented it in such a great way, the ice cream nearly melted as I was taking the pictures, which is a good sign that the dessert come warm and I love it!

Now it is your turn to go and visit any of the Botanist locations and let me know what are your thoughts. You can book your table here with 1/3 off your total food bill!