The Botanist: Possibly the friendliest place in Chester

As soon as the Tommy's Chester Girls heard about a quirky new bar on St. Werburgh Street , we wasted no time checking out their website and Social Media. 10 minutes later we had booked a table for food and planned Pre-Cocktails on their sun terrace. You could call us fickle but were suckers for a themed venue and knew this would be right up our street.

We arrived at The Botanist quite excitable, the sun was shining and for the last 24 hours we had been studying the drinks list and knew exactly what we were going to start with; a Watering can. Yes that's right a watering can. For those of you who don't know The Botanist is completely themed around plants, herbs and all things green fingered as A Botanist is someone who specializes in the study of plants. Although this theme would have been very fresh and unique had it just been down to decor, it was superbly played through from the hanging bicycle over the bar down to the obviously well researched knowledge of the bar staff.

The watering can we choose was the "Raspberry and Sage", its based on four people sharing,  we each ended up with 3 drinks from it and I think this was well worth the price and the wait for it to be made. For those of you who visit The Botanist (and I urge you all to go) you will find that the drinks take a little longer to make as they are extremely passionate about making sure each drink sold looks and tastes perfect. I found it personally really refreshing and honest that they test the drinks with a straw before passing them over the bar and will add a little bit extra of the ingredients to make sure its just right. I truly could not fault the customer service of the eye candy... I mean staff behind the bar.

We took a seat upstairs on the sun terrace and naturally took a million selfies and group photos with the watering can. We possibly looked over excited but the detail that The Botanist puts into every aspect of their drinks is incredible. Our cocktail glasses were actually mugs shaped as a flower pot with a caterpillar as the handle. Each "flower pot" came filled with ice and herbs in a small wooden crate complete with grass (plastic but sssh). I think by this point we were all completely sold on the place.

Once we had finished our drinks we asked to be seated and were directed to large picnic style table inside over looking the bar. Ellen and Emily ordered the Chicken Hanging Kebabs which came with chips and myself and Jessica ordered the Burgers. Let me just take a second to talk about the chips... I'm not a huge chip eater but I have been dreaming of these chips ever since, they were literally the best chips I have ever eaten. The only way I can describe them would be salt and pepper fries, we all agreed that we would go back their for the chips alone. Needless to say the food was incredible and although we did not have room for dessert we most certainly had room for more cocktails. We did try the "Peach and Rosemary" watering can which was equally as delicious as the first, although we did not seem to get as many drinks from this one, it may have been down to the fact we didn't spend half an hour taking photos of it first haha.

Post food we decided to take a seat down by the bar to enjoy some more cocktails off the menu. Any Mojito fans will love the "Raspberry Mojito", it was deliciously sharp as well as minty smooth. A run down of the other cocktails we sampled between us are the "Strawberry and Cucumber Breeze", "Blueberry and Apple Cooler" and their signature cocktail "The Botanist". We found that a lot of the cocktails were so fresh they did not taste alcoholic but "The Botanist" was definitely the strongest cocktail we tried and three out of the four of us loved it. We also loved the Strawberry and Peach Melba Bellini's.

The Botanist holds such a fantastic atmosphere and slowly transforms from "few drinks down the allotment" to "Garden Party" before you know it. We were so lost in conversation and laughs that we hadn't realized the lights go down and the eclectic cheesy (but not too cheesy) music turn right up. I can honestly say, the girls also agree, it was the best most relaxed night out I have had in such a long time. It is not often you can find somewhere you feel relaxed enough to stay from food to multiple drinks. We contemplated going elsewhere but we just knew it would not be the same and although we left their by 8:45pm we felt we had made the most of the evening.

If you are looking for a relaxed, comfortable, friendly and refreshingly unique Bar/ Restaurant experience, I urge you to try The Botanist and you will not be disappointed. Keep your eye out for  "#emptyyourwateringcans" while your there and don't forget to #TOMMYSrecommends

Lots Of Love

Carys x