WE rather like a horticultural theme in a bar. Maybe not to the extreme of Froheimar in Iceland, which serves you tomato-led dishes in the greenhouse where they were grown (below).
ToM was thinking more of Evelyn’s wall of houseplants or fellow NQ fixture, Allotment, where there’s a chance of tripping over a watering can.
The green-fingered goddess of them all, though, is The Botanist chain, which opens its latest outlet in Didsbury on Monday April 3. Craftily recreated in the former JD Wetherspoon pub, The Milson Rhodes as the cluttered garden shed of your dreams, it has Hispi and Solita as foodie neighbours.
It’s the 12th Botanist in the New World Trading Company portfolio, which also includes The Oast House in the city centre, where general manager Danny Leach was previously.
The format remains the same, featuring those irresistibly silly, ‘hanging kebabs’, where you can choose chicken, pork, lamb, jerk chicken or halloumi with appropriate flavouring to be skewered vertically for your pleasure. Rotisserie and barbecue are a big thing here.
As well as a selection of global beers and ales, the extensive drinks menu, using 45 botanicals, sees a whole host of fresh fruit, herbs and spirits, merged and muddled to create a range of long and short cocktails.
The venue also promises live music, from energetic evening gigs to lazy Sunday afternoon sessions.
The Botanist, 10 School Lane, Didsbury, M20 6RD. 07484 510775.
