The Botanist

It’s sad to see this place getting hate for its weeknight bar service — as I found it to be a fab spot for bottomless bubbles at a friend’s birthday brunch on a Saturday (is that enough B’s yet?!).
It’s £45 for three courses and unlimited prosecco for 2 hours in swish surroundings which seemed pretty decent, and proved so by the generous portion sizes which I’d expected to be much smaller for the price.
I went for the eggs florentine to start which still had a lovely oozy yolk, followed by a pot of the biggest mussels I’d ever seen for main course — they were amazing, tender and well-​cooked, with not a single closed shell in there. The sticky toffee pudding was a very happy ending, with plenty of toffee sauce ensuring the sponge was nicely moist.
The bubbles top-​ups (a crucial variable for any boozy brunch) were a little slow to start with, but soon picked up (as did the volume levels and giggles!). It was more than made up for at the end when our lovely server acknowledged that they hadn’t started pouring right from our booking time (our fault — there was some faff handing babies over to daddies so they could leave mum to enjoy her bday boozing!) so he carried on pouring for another half hour for us. What a star.

I went to The Botanist with Unilocal as part of their blog school program. As well as inspiring talks we were treated to The Botanists Bottomless Brunch menu which you can have as a two or three course meal and then add unlimited Prosecco, Mimosas, Bloody Mary’s and house wine for an extra £15 per person which lasts 2 hours. Naturally we went for the three courses and toasted our lovely speakers with the first glasses of Prosecco.
As a starter I went for the eggs benedict but with a twist, this one came topped with soft shell crab and jalapeño hollandaise sauce this was really good and very moreish. The jalepeno wasn’t too overpowering at all and the lobster made a nice change from my usual salmon.
Making sure that there would be room for pudding I opted for the rather healthy option of a chicken, bacon and avocado caesar salad with the dressing on the side. This is quite possibly one of the tastiest salads I have ever had — I actually struggled to finish it.
Then it was time for dessert a dark chocolate delice with ice cream. This was so rich that I literally couldn’t finish it after indulging in so much delicious food and never ending bubbles. I was quite tipsy by this point and they practically had to throw me out of the venue (joking, I wasn’t THAT bad)

Would not recommend this place at all. Overpriced drinks, pretentious pigs in suits and rude bouncers! Fair enough, I was asked to show my ID before going inside to get a drink, the second time was an inconvenience but when I was sat down, chatting to a friend with a drink already in my hand it’s just plain offensive to ask for my ID… And then when I show him my passport he wants to check my bank card too!
Don’t bother. There’s plenty of other good places around Liverpool Street, Old Street and Shoreditch!

Of all the places you should go, this is the last one.
Walk around dodgy backstreets alone with an expensive watch instead of coming here.
They literally ignore you if you’re not wearing a suit. It’s actually impressive.
I’ve been openly ignored several times, looked in the face then they serve someone else.
I can unequivocally say that this is the least friendly, most up itself bar I have ever been to.
This is all genuinely true. Which is the worst thing.

I visited with some work colleagues a couple of weeks ago. Started with a couple of oysters from a colleague’s platter, which were delicious — chilled and briny and creamy (I can almost still taste them now). A few of us also tried gull’s eggs, the hen’s egg’s skinnier and hotter friend. They had an unfamiliar texture and stronger flavour than hen’s eggs, but for 7.50 a pop I can’t say I’ll be repeating the experience.
I had high expectations for my duck confit burger, but unfortunately this was only okay. The duck was dry, compounded by the dryness of the burger bun. I’ve had a better duck confit burger at the little stall at Broadway Market (can’t remember exactly what it’s called but the bun is very buttery and the duck juicy). The fries, however, were impressive — crisp and thin and just salty enough.