Offering botanical cocktails and delicious seasonal food, The Botanist is a super cool, really instagrammable bar in the trendy Leopold Square in the city centre of Sheffield. It’s a chain with around 20 locations around the UK, and I tried dinner at the West Bridgford branch a couple of years ago (read my review here).
I loved it then, so I was excited to try the Sheffield branch with my bestie for Sunday lunch. Read on to find out what I thought to The Botanist in Sheffield.
The Sheffield branch of The Botanist is huge, with a bar downstairs and the restaurant upstairs. It’s beautifully decorated inside with distressed pastel-painted wood, butterflies, and floral patterns everywhere.
We were given the best table in the restaurant – a summer house booth in the middle of the room.
While we were having lunch, an acoustic guitarist and singer were playing, which really added to the lovely atmosphere of the restaurant. It was the right volume and not intrusive – the perfect accompaniment to our lunch.
Cocktails
The Botanist is famous for its dramatic cocktails, and we (of course) sampled a couple of different ones. Our waitress recommended the raspberry Disaronno sour, which is Disaronno, raspberry liqueur, raspberry puree, and lemon juice, served in a plant pot.
When it was brought to our table, the waitress poured the liquid into the plant pot, and the dry ice effect was spectacular. It tasted delicious too – sour but fresh and was super drinkable. I could have had more than just a couple!
We also tried a couple of other cocktails, including the Botanist pornstar, which was a pornstar martini – one of my faves! The only issue was that there were too many cocktails to try and not enough time.
The food
With cocktails so amazing, you might think that food would be an afterthought here, but that was definitely not the case. The food was excellent!
I went for calamari to start with and was expecting the standard rings, but these were smaller pieces of squid in a delicious salt and pepper breadcrumb that was really light and tasty. My bestie opted for chicken wings to start, and it was a huge portion.
As it was Sunday, I went for one of the Sunday lunch options – pork belly. I was really torn between lamb, beef, and pork as they do all three, plus chicken and vegetarian options.
The dinner was delicious – the meat was super tender, it was served with a giant Yorkshire pudding, and the vegetables were perfect. I loved the roasted carrots, which tasted super sweet.
The service
The staff at The Botanist were fantastic – they couldn’t do enough for you and were really attentive.
We really enjoyed our lunch at The Botanist in Sheffield, and I think it’s the perfect venue for cocktails with the girls, date night, or Sunday lunch with the fam. I can’t wait to go back!
Find out more about The Botanist and where your nearest bar is.
[I was invited to review The Botanist in Sheffield and given a complimentary meal, however, all opinions are my own]
