Restaurant review: Alston Bar & Beef at the Corn Exchange

The Corn Exchange enjoyed a flurry of openings when it relaunched as a restaurant complex in 2015. Home to brands such as Mowgli, Wahaca, Pho and Vapiano, the latest addition to the complex, dating back to 1897, is Alston Bar and Beef. Only the second restaurant and bar in the group, the original outlet is in Glasgow’s Central Station. Both specialise in gin (choose from over 60, including a number of house infusions, created on site), beef and seafood. We try the seared scallops with butternut squash puree, burnt ends of beef and green chilli emulsion (£12), cauliflower pakoras with turmeric yoghurt (£6), Indian-inspired bream with coconut rice and dhal and a 35-day, dry-aged Tweed Aberdeen Angus-Limousine cross t-bone (£39) from the Edinburgh region’s Tweed Valley. If I went again, I’d probably get the value D-Rump (£21) too. Your butcher’s favourite, it’s not a cut you see too often in these parts. Cocktails are solid and simple; the menu kicks off with favourites like Negroni and Espresso Martini, alongside house specials which could include the ‘Cathedral Bees Knees’ (£9) made with local gin and honey from Manchester Cathedral. The menu changes regularly; on our visit, dessert is giant brandy snaps and perfect parfait. Entry is via a door opposite the Cathedral rather than via the main building. There’s also a glitzy, metal-meets-velveteen basement bar that’s available for private hire. This cellar within a cellar seems a bit excessive thanks, perhaps, to a Fifty Shades ‘Red Room’ vibe and the fact that the main restaurant could easily seat 300. However, there’s a cool private dining room and chunks of the main room can discreetly be shuttered off with sliding doors. All in all, Alston comes as a delightful surprise under one of the city’s most iconic buildings. Expect good food and great drinks; hopefully, once word gets out, it’ll be packed with diners too.

Alston Bar & Beef, Cathedral Street, Manchester M4 3TR. Tel: 0161 804 5555. www.alstonmanchester.co.uk