One St Peter's Square, Manchester
The Anthologist is a new
restaurant by Drake & Morgan, the London group who recently brought a touch
of the capital to Spinningfields when they opened The Refinery.
Situated in the middle of St
Peter’s Square, opposite the central library, The Anthologist is a rustic,
botanical themed restaurant and cocktail bar and is the perfect place for
stylish all-day dining.
It delivers sumptuous
cocktails and a fusion menu, taking inspiration from all corners of the globe
and ‘pairing health with indulgence’. The Drake and Morgan group also pride
themselves on providing a wealth of vegan and vegetarian options.
The impressive cocktail menu
promises to take you on a journey through botanical mixology. All the beverages
have been hand-crafted by Fabrizio Cioffi, alias The Gardner, who mixes
together ingredients from the gardens around the world to create his fusion
creations. They’re all rather creatively named and split up into four families.
‘The Essence of the Garden’
features all your classic cocktails which you’d find in any good mixing house;
‘The Enchanted Garden’ sees the owners add their own little twists to some old
favourites, whilst ‘The Experimental Garden’ are brand new creations.
What really caught my eye was
the ‘Absolute Proofs’: super-skinny cocktails with no alcohol, some of which
contain less than 50 calories. I had the Apple Pie: a refreshing, long drink
made with cloudy apple, black pepper, maple syrup and ginger. My friend chose
the Ginger Mimosa: a mixture of orange juice and ginger ale with rosemary and
fresh ginger. I couldn’t have drunk this one; it was too savoury and slightly
heavy on the spicy ginger.
Food-wise, we dined off the
brunch menu. Be careful of this, for it’s a little complicated. They have both
a brunch menu and an all-day menu available during the day, but as I made a
lunchtime booking online (selecting lunch as the dining option), we were only
offered the brunch menu. With hindsight, I realised we should have asked for
the alternative menu. Still, there were plenty of tasty options.
To start, I had the Chorizo
Scotch Egg: a warm and meaty egg with a yolk on the right side of runny, served
with smoky chipotle mayonnaise and a heap of leaves. Erm, sorry, bistro salad. It
was absolutely delicious. I’ve never had a warm scotch egg before, and never
again will I want to experience a dry, rubbery version from a supermarket.
My friend’s avocado hummus,
served with toasted gluten-free flatbread, dukkah (an Egyptian spice made from
nuts, sesame seeds, cumin and coriander) and pomegranate was a very generous portion
for a starter, not to mention extremely healthy.
My main course was the D&M
Burger, which, as I write this, I now know stands for Drake & Morgan, but
at the time I was scratching my head pondering exactly where the name from. It
was a beef burger with smoked bacon and Applewood cheese served in a
deliciously earthy-looking beetroot brioche bun. It was a nice enough burger,
not the best one I’ve ever had, but the meat itself was huge and very well
cooked. The beetroot brioche was interesting, if a little claggy. The chips
were nothing special either and certainly needed some seasoning.
I’ll hold my hands up and
admit this was entirely my fault. I should have requested the other menu, which
has a wider selection of main courses and hot sandwiches on it.
Unusually for me, the king of
the cakes, I wasn’t inspired by the selection of desserts. It didn’t take me
long to decide that I was going for the chocolate brownie.
As brownies go, this was first
class. It was light and fluffy with a crunchy top. Refreshingly, it was milk
chocolate-based, rather than dark, which meant it wasn’t overly rich and heavy.
It was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a pot of molten chocolate
sauce, which naturally had to be poured over the entire thing for a true
chocolate feast.
I hereby conclude that, from
now on, every chocolate brownie should be served with a pot of molten
chocolate.
Overall, I was really
impressed with The Anthologist. It’s a welcome addition to one of my favourite
areas of the City Centre. With so many attractions nearby – The Palace Theatre,
The Opera House, The Ritz and Manchester Central are all within walking
distance – it shouldn’t be long before it’s doing a roaring trade. The soft
launch period, during which time they were offering discounts on all food
bills, has now come to an end, so I predict that an official launch will follow
soon.
Catering for breakfast, lunch,
a quick catch up or a delicious three course meal, The Anthologist brings the
outdoors indoors with its quirky garden themed decor.
There’s a sun terrace in St
Peter’s Square, where there are blankets draped over the chairs, meaning you
can continue to sup your cocktails long after the sun goes down without
becoming chilly.
They even do afternoon tea.
Something tells me I’ll be back here quite soon.
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