IT’S been a long time coming, but two years after the first rumours Alston Bar & Beef is finally set to open in one of the remaining Corn Exchange units (No6). The formula will mirror the Glasgow original, situated under Glasgow Central Station – 35 day dry-aged Tweed steaks and a 100-strong gin list.
ToM doesn’t particularly fancy washing down its rib-eye with a Plymouth Sloe and Fever-Tree but likes the commitment to quality beef. Their website proclaims: "The beef for Alston is selected from the top one per cent of the Scottish suckler herd and our butcher achieves this because their criteria is so refined. Alston uses “clean beef” which means steers or heifers that have not yet calved.
“They must come from sustainable small batch farms that grass feed their animals and are audited by Quality Meat Scotland. None of our beef comes from a dairy herd, which are not bred for their eating quality yet can still be labelled as UK Prime beef, so our customers can enjoy the top 1 percentile of Scotch beef.”
Dishes at their Glasgow base include braised beef cheek (£16), the Alston burger (£16), and a selection of steak cuts from rump (250g for £20) to fillet (227g for £32). Diners can expect a similar menu when the Manchester branch opens later this year.
The gin list does look pretty terrific too and we note they’ve been trialling a ToM fave – Isle of Harris Gin, featuring as a key botanical hand harvested Hebridean sugar kelp.
