The Alchemist

The Quays, MediaCityUK

The definition of an alchemist is ‘a person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process’. Never has there been a more appropriate name for a restaurant and bar chain. The Alchemist is ‘a celebration of the unconventional, dark and controversial’.

There’s a Portuguese novel with the same name. It tells the story of a young shepherd boy who journeys to the Egyptian pyramids in order to discover a treasure which he’s had visions of in a recurring dream. Yes, it’s all very mystical. 

The restaurant and bar chain taps into this mystique with its theatrical cocktails and luxury interior. It was born in Spinningfields in Manchester City Centre back in December 2010. This ground-breaking, innovative new cocktail bar soon became the talk of the town and now, eight years later, there are 14 bars nationwide, including a second city centre sibling and another at MediaCity.

After a morning on the new Coronation Street tour during its inaugural weekend, we headed to this MediaCity venue for our lunch. This Salford Quays site is both a restaurant and a cocktail bar. Its bronzed interior complete with plush leather seats and black and gold glasses exude sophistication and grandeur.

As a non-drinker, the cocktail menu isn’t something I would normally be interested in. But given that The Alchemist are renowned for their experimental and elaborate alcoholic creations, I had to have a scan.

Alongside your standard Pornstar Martini and Daiquiri are some rather more intriguing names such as the ‘Bubblebath’, the ‘Lightbulb Moment’, the ‘Chase The Rainbow’ and the ‘Flavour Changing One’. They’re all given abbreviated symbols in the style of the elements in the Periodic Table - quirky and fun. They’re all categorised and there’s a whole section entitled ‘Theatre Served’, so you can prepare for a show when they’re delivered to your table. There’s even a selection of ‘Apprentice Cocktails’, all of which are alcohol-free; I always appreciate a bar which makes an effort with non-alcoholic cocktails, or ‘mocktails’ as their affectionately known as. The drinks are expensive, with the majority of the cocktails setting you back between £8 and £13.

My dining companion ordered the ‘Bubblebath’. Symbol: Bb; Price £8; Ingredients: tanqueray gin, Aperol, Chambord lemon, apple and fairy liquid. Along came the waiter with a miniature conical flask filled with orange liquid which, when poured into the cocktail glass, rose, foamed and steamed to the amazement of ourselves and all the people around us. With such genius creativity and originality, it’s easy to see why this cocktail house quickly became so popular.

Bubblebath Cocktail

The food is just as appealing. It’s a very reasonably priced menu with a selection of sandwiches, burgers, wraps, fajitas, main courses and light bites to choose from. It can often be the case that food served in a bar is bog standard, nothing better than okay, but that’s not the case at The Alchemist.

To start, I had Halloumi fingers: deep fried nuggets of halloumi served with a sweet mustard mayonnaise. It wasn’t the best halloumi starter I’ve ever had. The cheese was partially melted inside the fingers, so it had lost its distinctive and appealing squeaky texture. They bore similarity to mozzarella dippers, which are not quite the same. The sweet mustard mayonnaise was, however, delicious. 

Halloumi Fingers with Sweet Mustard Mayonnaise

For main course, I had the New Yorker Sandwich: thick slices of salt beef with cheese, sauerkraut, gherkins and mustard. It was a deliciously tasty doorstop of a sandwich served on toasted seeded bread. Sauerkraut is finely sliced, fermented cabbage which has a sour flavour and beautifully complimented the salt beef and pickled gherkins. It was served with skin-on fries, but I upgraded to the sweet potato alternative for an extra £1 – they were nice, but lacked crunch and seasoning. 

New Yorker Sandwich

Pushing myself ever closer to a food coma by ordering a dessert that was totally unnecessary, I tried the sticky toffee pudding. One of my favourite puds, I’ve sampled it in enough different places to know exactly how I like it. The Alchemist’s take on this ultimate British classic was exactly as it should be: moist, fluffy and drowned in toffee sauce, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over the top of it. Delicious.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

The halloumi fingers were £5.50, my main course was £11.50, including the sweet potato upgrade, and my sticky toffee pudding £6.00, making it a perfectly reasonable £23 for three courses. I certainly can’t complain about the quality or the quantity of the food and whilst the drinks may be expensive, as in life, you get what you pay for, and with each cocktail comes a very different and unique experience. The service was excellent, with minimal wait between courses and the staff were all friendly and welcoming.

The complimentary bottle of water on each table was a nice touch. Whether I’m with friends who are drinking or not, we always end up asking for some water to accompany our beverages – after all, eating and talking is very thirsty work – so it was nice to be presented with some without having to ask.

Dining and drinking at The Alchemist is a theatrical experience which needs to be tried.

Menus vary across the country and can be viewed online: https://thealchemist.uk.com/.