Alex Bond x The Botanist

18th – 22nd May

A few years ago, while cooking dinner for his family, Alex Bond had an epiphany. “I realised I wouldn’t serve the type of meat I was eating at home in a restaurant, so I just stopped. This was the beginning of my obsession with cooking vegetables and the extent to which we can elevate them when we give them some real thought.”

This shift to a more plant-based approached has characterised Alchemilla’s unstoppable rise since it opened in Nottingham in 2017. Awarded its first Michelin star last year, the “ambitious but unstuffy” restaurant was one of the guide’s picks of the year, singled out for Alex’s “perfect understanding of the way we want to eat now.”

Alex takes ingredients that might normally play a supporting role – or none at all – and turns them into things of rare beauty. Showcasing his love for local, hyper-seasonal and wild produce, often grown in his own back garden, the Yorkshireman’s ever-evolving tasting menus feature imaginative combinations like ‘Enoki, Duck Liver and Black Garlic’, ‘Pineapple Rib Tomato, Lovage and Buttermilk’ and ‘Mackerel, Chamomile and Green Strawberry’.

It’s this alchemist’s approach to unsung ingredients that makes the Sat Bains protégé one of the most progressive and exciting chefs in the country.