The Alchemist has officially reopened its doors to show off its £550k refurbishment and its revamped menu.
The bar’s flagship site in Spinningfields has been part of Manchester’s bar scene since 2010, and is back open for business this week after its extensive makeover.
Guests are now greeted by a cosmic-inspired bar and restaurant space packed with dark black and grey walls, navy tiling, twinkling white lights and touches of brass.
The theatrical potions-inspired cocktails that The Alchemist became famed for remain in situ – expect plenty of bubbling, smoking concoctions with more than a few hidden tricks in the glass… colour-changing cocktail, anyone?
In fact, many of the drinks are so fanciful that they actually come with a safety warning (do not eat or handle the dry ice, please).
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The food offering has been overhauled in a way that will delight plant-based diners, collaborating with Meatless Farm to create a menu that’s 44% vegan and 58% gluten free.
Dishes include plant-based, chicken-style bites in either a tangy Korean gochujang sauce, or salt and pepper, with a disarmingly convincing texture.
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There’s also tofu ‘prawn’ toast, plant-based duck bao with miso mayo, and Meatless Farm beef-style burgers on the sustainability-focused menu.
Diners will find a strong Asian-fusion slant to the food here, including cheese and kimchi toasties, katsu curries, gyoza and curried fish.
The Alchemist is bringing its theatrical spin on hospitality to food now too, with mini sizzling yakitori grills delivered to tables loaded with barbecue chicken and sides.
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The Alchemist has undergone a cosmic-inspired refurbishment. Credit: The Manc Group
The Asian inspiration carries through to desserts, in a crispy sweet bao stuffed with berries and miso caramel, and a yakitori caramelised pineapple.
Culinary director Seamus O’Donnell said: “We’ve really tuned into our guests and team members’ feedback and have worked our food offering to bring it even further in line with the sustainable efforts of the brand.
“We understand that many people have dietary requirements and are choosing a more Flexitarian lifestyle. Our menu is now sitting at 58% vegetarian and 44% plant based.
“Of course, theatre hasn’t been compromised with locally sourced seasonal fish from the coast of Scotland used in our electric-pink trout and the addition of our Yakitori grills, enhancing the magic at the table.
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“We try to keep a sense of play at the forefront of our menus so doing that sustainably has been a great challenge and we’re proud to see it pay off.”
Featured image: The Manc Group
City Centre
One of Manchester’s newest arts venues to host brand-new comedy festival this summer
Emily Sergeant
A brand-new comedy festival is set to take over one of the city centre’s newest arts venues this summer.
That’s right… some of the UK’s best comedy names are coming to Manchester.
That’s because renowned production company, A Lovely Time, has put together an absolutely jam-packed lineup of television names, internet sensations, and hotly-tipped newcomers, for a weekend full of comedy shows in the heart of the city centre at the exciting new arts venue Fairfield Social Club – which is tucked away down at the Green Quarter.
The exciting new festival, which is called A Lovely Weekend, will kick off on Friday 7 June with a gala show hosted by the company’s very-own Amy Gledhill, who comedy fans may recognise from appearances on BBC‘s Would I Lie To You, and more.
Then, across the rest of the three-day long weekend lineup, you can expect to catch comedy sets and work-in-progress performances from the likes of Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees Phil Ellis (Icklewick FM on BBC Radio 4), and Olga Koch (Live at The Apollo on BBC One), Paddy Young, who recently won the BBC New Comedy Award, Chris Cantrill (Avoidance on BBC One), and Blackpool’s-finest Tom Lawrinson.
Internet sensations such as Stevie Martin and Abi Clarke are also on the lineup, as well as hotly-tipped Edinburgh debutante, Hannah Platt, and Geordie sketch supergroup, Metroland.
You can even catch something a little bit different from Poppy Hillstead too, who’s set to transfer her popular podcast to the stage.
One of Manchester’s newest arts venues is set to host a brand-new comedy festival this summer / Credit: @see_hef (via A Lovely Time on Instagram)
Split across two venues over three days, A Lovely Weekend is all looking set to be the largest undertaking from comedy production super-duo, A Lovely Time, which was created by promoter John Stansfield and comedian Chris Cantrill, and, as mentioned, it will take over the newly-opened Fairfield Social Club – a venue which has already hosted brilliant shows from the likes of Josie Long, Three Bean Salad, Ashley Gavin, and Nick Helm since opening back in March.
“We’re so excited to be bringing A Lovely Weekend to Manchester,” commented founder, John Stansfield.
“The city is long overdue a proper comedy festival, and across the three days at Fairfield Social Club, we’ve programmed some of our absolute favourites to ensure a lovely time for all.”
Tickets to A Lovely Weekend have just gone on sale yesterday (Wednesday 1 November), and are already selling fast – with both day and full weekend passes available from £20, and individual show tickets up for grabs from £6 each too.
Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away FREE drinks tomorrow
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s newest Instagrammable coffee shops is giving away free drinks tomorrow ahead of the bank holiday weekend.
With another long weekend right around the corner, and much of Greater Manchester and the UK fortunately looking set to bask in the springtime heat, popular coffee chain, Blank Street – which is one of Manchester city centre’s newest residents, with two sites in Piccadilly Gardens, and on the corner of King Street and Cross Street – has decided it wants to help the country “beat the 3pm slump”.
Ahead of the upcoming bank holiday weekend, the chain is inviting Mancs to “meet for matcha” tomorrow afternoon (Friday 3 May).
The exciting freebie offer is all said to be “inspired by data” that shows that almost half of office workers aren’t taking a break from their desks during the day, even despite research showing that this can boost productivity.
Hundreds of iced matcha lattes will be served up at Blank Street‘s Manchester branch on the corner of King Street and Cross Street between 3pm and 4pm tomorrow.
Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away free drinks tomorrow / Credit: Blank Street
For anyone “ice cold pick-me-up ahead of the long weekend”, but keen not to tip their employers off, the coffee shop chain has created an online tool to allow workers to discreetly add a matcha moment to their diary.
The brand-new online tool will apparently help to “distract calendar snoopers” by creating a cleverly-named meeting and adding it automatically to Outlook, Google, or Apple calendars – with potential meeting titles that include plenty of corporate jargon to “provide the perfect alibi”.
So, all matcha fans need to do tomorrow afternoon is show the Blank Street team at their chosen branch a meeting in their calendar, and in return, they’ll receive a free small iced matcha latte of their choice from the chain’s delicious spring menu.
Blank Street’s popular matcha offering includes the Classic Matcha, the viral Blueberry Matcha, the silky-smooth White Chocolate Matcha, and the brand-new sumptuous Golden Matcha, so there’s something to “inspire every matcha lover to take a little time out”.
As matcha allows a slow release of caffeine, Blank Street says it’s the “perfect drink” to keep energy levels up throughout the afternoon when you’re stuck at your desk on a Friday.