Dinner / ££££ / 9/10

Alchemilla opened on Derby Road 6 years ago but it already feels like it has been part of the city for more than a decade. Lockdown has warped time (especially in hospitality) and we wanted to go back in summer after our first visit in autumn proved a little off. Not any fault of the restaurants but The Northerner hates mushrooms, he’ll eat almost everything but will not touch mushrooms and our visit in autumn proved to be quite funghi heavy. It wasn’t possible to dodge the things and not wanting to cause a fuss he ploughed through the majority of the meal like a trooper but I don’t think he saw the best of the restaurant.

On entering the restaurant we were greeted by Alex Bond (the owner and TV chef) from the open kitchen. I am not cool at all and mumbled back an over excited hello while The Northerner followed my lead, smiling ‘he’s off the telly’. I love seeing famous people, I wish I could be nonchalent about it but I’m not and Alex saying hello to us was a special start to our evening.

There is only the tasting menu during dinner service so we headed to the roof terrace as we were early (the baby got the memo and played ball at bedtime). The planted garden on the terrace is beautiful but there’s no hiding the fact you’re on Derby Road, with modern apartments photobombing the horizon.

Our only decision was whether we wanted the accompanying wines with each course (wine flight) or to order a bottle. After virtually no arm twisting we went for the accompanying wines. I think it was the reassurance that it was the same volume of wine as a bottle which I didn’t realise. The ‘snacks’ started coming out the kitchen starting with Beef Tartar, aged beef emulsion, radish. It was like an explosion of the best, most tender steak you’ve ever eaten. So beefy, and pickled radish contrasting against the rich meat meaning the 2 mouthfuls set a very high standard for what was to come.

The french toast arrived next and was like a cloud of soft, buttery cheese on top of crispy french toast. The hash brown was like a mini breakfast bite, I am running out of superlatives already but the soft layers of potato with the salty cured pork on top made my mouth water like a dog waiting for a treat. They were sublime. By this point we’d got through a bottle of water and realised the accompanying wine only came with the first ‘offical’ course which was a snack and bread serving away. One advantage of being older, and other peoples opinions mattering less is the ability to ask for what you want. So when the bread arrived I asked if we could start the wine flight early. I am not sure if they have received this request before as I was advised they would ‘ask’ and a minute later a lovely crisp white arrived. BINGO. We enjoyed it with the bread and asked for another with our first course. It was the nicest wine pairing we had the entire meal. The staff at Alchemilla handled the request beautifully as well. When you are paying this much for a meal customer requests should be accomodated as widely as possible. We had one more snack, a scallop soup which came in a ceramic pot and was as difficult to photograph as it was unmemorable so onto more of the ‘great’.

The first of the official courses was ‘The Roscoff Onion’ which was sweet and caramelised from roasting but had an earthy base from the gremolata and black garlic with the smoked eel adding welcome texture and saltiness. One thing a restaurant of this calibre should do is take an ingredient you may not order (in this case the eel) and make it sing. The scallops came next and they were so delicately cured the whole dish felt like a very mellow cerviche. There was no dominant flavour but we weren’t left disappointed as it was comforting and well balanced. When there are so many courses they can’t all be big brash flavours.

The next course featured The Northerners nemesis, mushrooms. As the waitress described the dish in front of us it was obvious they weren’t playing a small part, it was mushrooms, in mushrooms sauce, covered in more mushrooms…… I kept glancing at The Northerner nervously. The waitress picked up on this and asked ‘You don’t like mushrooms, do you?’ When faced with such a clear question there is really no point doing anything other than telling the truth, so he explained he had hoped they might not be so dominant but obviously it was fine and he’d just let me eat his. The waitress immediately moved the plate to my side of the table and told him she would be back with an alternate. The sommelier bought a new wine to go with The Northerners new course and minutes later he was eating a turnip dish which he loved and I had double mushrooms – everyone was a winner. The service shone through and overdelivered, cheers all round. At this point it is worth mentioning something very clever Alchemilla do to appear ‘laid back’ than more traditional Michelin restaurants. When I worked at a high end restaurant between ‘crumbing down’ (clearing any debris from the cloth), new cutlery every course, a wine flight and courtesy checks we worked out that with a tasting menu a table may be visited over 100 times which is overkill and intrusive. Alchemilla have a cutlery ‘stack’ on the table so new cutlery isn’t needed for every course and don’t use cloths so don’t need to crumb down. This means the service doesn’t become overbearing but the mushroom course was a reminder that the front of house are ON IT.

The trout dish was The Northerners favourite and was a complex and interesting experience. Tender squid sat on the plate looking like noodles, a tomato simply sliced was full of flavour and had probably been prepped for hours before arriving innocently looking like it had just been cut and the XO sauce kicked like a mule. The ‘main course’ of hogget seemed a little boring and pedestrian after the fish. I think the meat had only been cooked in a water bath or not had long enough on proper heat so the fat wasn’t rendered, it tasted like something was missing.

The pre pudding snack of tea cakes was 2 bites through dark chocolate to vibrant blackcurrant mousse and a crisp biscuit base. It wasn’t sweet but the bitterness of the chocolate and fruit was balanced expertly so the kick when you ate it mellowed by the time you swallowed. The Northerner was looking forward to the first pudding as he prefers fresher flavours (where as I want sweet, creamy 24/7) but I knew deep down this wasn’t for me. One mouthful confirmed what I have always known to be true – frozen yoghurt is the devils work. There’s always one dish on a tasting menu that isn’t going to be your cup of tea, unfortunately this was my second. I had hoped for a more effervescent, sherbert taste but it was more pot pourri on my palate.

The final pudding was Chocolate, miso, banana, lime but by this point (with my sisters words ringing in my ears about buying a phone ring light) the restaurant was too dark to get a decent photo. This is such a shame as the chocolate cremeux was rich, the miso fudge dense and salty and the banana perfectly sweet. Where The Northerner looked in disbelief as I finished the whole course his plate remained full apart from one mouthful. The exact opposite of the course before. It was by this point as well we vowed to choose a bottle of wine next time instead of the flight – neither of us being fans of dessert wines, they probably made a fantastic pairing but I missed the light whites from earlier in the meal.

In summary we had a very lovely time but I will reminisce fondly about the snacks over the official courses, but who doesn’t love a snacky snack?