I recently paid Newcastle a visit, and this was my first trip to the city. While visiting, I decided to stop for lunch at the Botanist. The restaurant is one in a chain by the restaurant group 'New World Trading Co', and I visited their "Smuggler's Cove" branch in Liverpool a couple of years ago. As the name suggests, the Botanist is a plant-themed restaurant and contains photographs of plants and shelves of gardening equipment. The bar in the centre of the restaurant is covered with ivy and is overlooked by an impressive high glass dome which gives the appearance of a greenhouse or botanic garden.
The decor and ambience was amazing. I love the attention to details, and similar to the "Smuggler's Cove", the menus look well-done and include illustrations.
I visited alone, and I was seated in the main restaurant area near the entrance. The small room at the back looked welcoming and sunny.
I opted for the alcohol-free drinks. First up was the watermelon dew drink. This drink came with a large slice of watermelon. The ingredients included watermelon syrup, lime juice, and this was topped up with lemonade and a little bit of mint. It tasted refreshing.
Afterwards, I had the Homemade Lemonade. This was a tart lemonade, but they can make it sweeter. I like mine tart. It included lemonade topped up with elderflower juice and soda.
To start, I had the spicy sweetcorn soup. This tasted amazing and was the perfect level of spice. I didn't care much for the bread with it as it tasted a little too dry as if it had been sitting around for a little while.
For the main, I opted for the Malaysian chicken curry and rice. Sadly, this was a disappointment. The dish was more like a soup; it was not a sauce, and it contained whole cooked (and under-cooked vegetables) in the soup and small bits of brown chicken. It was not good at all and it had no flavour. I left most of this and told the waitress, but nothing was done. This was a great disappointment as I've had Malaysian chicken curry at other restaurants, and it's been perfect and not at all like watery flavourless 'soup'.
Because I was still hungry as I could not eat the nasty main dish above, I had a dessert. I ordered the lemon tart; this tasted fine but was not the best lemon tart I've ever had. It didn't have a lot of lemon zest, but it was more than welcome after the previous dish.
Despite the ambiance of the restaurant and the starter and drinks, I'd give this place a miss. I was not impressed with the main and lack of correction on the matter. Have you ever visited this restaurant?
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