‘fun’ place to enjoy great steak and gin
MANCHESTER’S new steakhouse and gin bar Alston Bar & Beef opens this week – complete with a hidden speakeasy deep beneath the Corn Exchange.
The venue will serve more than 60 gins including its own cold compound blends made from botanicals foraged around Manchester.
They will be served alongside Tweed Valley beef inside the sprawling 160cover restaurant, which occupies the basement of the Grade II-listed building.
The subterranean space has been brightened up with a marble bar and table tops and white and black honeycomb-tiled floors.
A mural of bees, flowers and dripping honey, by Manchester-based street artist Tankpetrol, dominates one wall above a long green banquette in the restaurant.
Sliding glass partitions roll back to reveal a separate 60-cover dining space opposite, and a smaller private dining room seating 12 people next to an open kitchen.
The menu revolves around steak, with eight different cuts to choose from, starting with a 250g rump steak for £22, up to a 600g chateaubriand for two to share for £65, with sides and sauces included in the price.
Other dishes include octopus and chorizo with roast bone marrow jus, fried potato and herbs (£7); piquillo peppers stuffed with a walnut pesto risotto (£6); Ayrshire pork chop with curried onion puree, roast aubergine, smoked paprika, spiced chickpeas, spinach, lemon and garlic (£16) and crab linguine in a bisque sauce with fennel, coriander and lime (£14).
General manager Riki Bennett said: “The quality of the steak is evident and the price reflects that but if you don’t want to spend a fortune you don’t have to.
“We want it to be a really fun place, we don’t want it to be too stuffy or too formal.”
Through a velvet curtain, a staircase leads down to a hidden bar, named 1837 after the year the original Corn Exchange that stood on the site was built.
Gins from around the world will be served both here and in the restaurant’s main bar, along with a seasonally-changing selection of up to 10 cold compound gins made in-house.
Many of the botanicals used to infuse the spirit have been foraged in and around Manchester.
“We joined the team out foraging earlier this month with nature expert David Winnard, from Discover the Wild, in Crescent Meadow, Salford, where they gathered the rowan berries, haw and rosehips used in their British hedgerow gin.”
More challenging concoctions include a wild horseradish infusion, and the bar team have even been playing around with a bacon gin.
“We are breaking the ageold myth that only red wine should be served with steak or that gin is just an afterdinner drink,” said Riki.
“From our menu, there are obvious pairings such as the rainbow pepper and wild horseradish gin infusions which lend themselves well to the rich flavour of our steaks.
“Stripping it right back, a simple serve with any of our gins offers a crisp, refreshing drink that cleanses and resets the palate for each bite of steak.”
The cocktails also make use of local ingredients such as honey from Manchester Cathedral’s rooftop beehives, which is used in the Cathedral Bee’s Knees.
Alston Bar & Beef will open on Friday.