After a bad experience at 20 Stories across the way, I decided to call at The Alchemist in…read moreSpinningfields to try out their new menu. After a bad experience at the New York Street branch earlier on in the year, where the restauraunt promised (and lied) about getting back to me, I didn't have really high hopes for this branch and while it was better than NYS (That wouldn't be hard), it wasn't fantastic by all means.
The current systems in place for Coronavirus have gone far too far, this includes removing the gluten-free menu which can only be accessed by a QR code. The funniest thing was that their own wifi had blocked their website, meaning it comes up with an error message when I tried to view their menu. This meant it was impossible to see what was and wasn't gluten-free. I used my initiative and connected onto my VPN, which then allowed me to see the menu. The mobile signal here is pretty sucky especially towards the dining area, which meant I couldn't use my standard data.
I decided to order the gluten-free Honey and Sriacha Chicken Burger, it came with Bombay potatoes which I find to be a strange combination. I would have prefered any other type of potato to replace the fries, which do contain gluten and the Bombay potatoes just don't seem to go with anything else on the menu including another option which was grilled seabass with you've guessed it Bombay potatoes.
My burger was okay, while it was a good chunk of chicken and I did like the flavours, everything else just wasn't. The bun was doughy and came apart easily, the slaw on the burger was so hard I had to scrape it off, and the Bombay potatoes just tasted strange and I didn't end up eating them. In the end, I just ended up taking the chicken off the burger and eating that. I really wish they did a simple grilled chicken meal as the chicken was good, but it was ruined by everything else.
I would say the service was a little poor, it was difficult to get a table at first, but I admit I did not reserve a table as they prefer so I'm willing to let that slide a little.
2* - The chicken was good but everything else wasn't, the menu isn't too accomodating for gluten-free especially considering they have no physical gluten-free menus right now and only regular menus and it's like a puzzle just to find it online while inside the restauraunt. Perhaps if they change the gluten-free sides and work on the points I have mentioned I would return, but until then it's unlikely. 2*