Manchester Day 2

After a late night out (at the movies cos we're old and boring), we had a much needed ly-in before venturing out for a late brekkie/brunch the morning after. JD had read on the web that one of the best places for brunch in Manchester was The Alchemist which is where we headed since it was not so far from our hotel. We arrived shortly after midday to find that weekend breakfasts stop at midday, a little early in our opinions since this place was being lauded for brunch. We even asked on the sly if we could order some brekkie but sadly, they couldn't do it for us. A shame really cos the rest of the menu was not particularly tempting...

I ended up plumping for a ham and cheese toastie with fries and chose a "Virgin Pornstar" (think mocktail) which was supposedly pineapple juice, passion fruit, vanilla syrup and lemon juice. Juice sounds like a liquid to me (and most other folk) but the drink that appeared before me was solid....from all the ice they sloshed around with it and not exactly the exotic breakfast fruit juice concoction I had in my mind....oh wellos......the decor of the place is nice and I can imagine it being packed after office hours but skip the food.......oh, and only go brunch at the weekends between 10am and midday???!!

Tapatizers - witty, no? :)

 Dazzled by the decor but sadly, not the food

The rest of the day weather wise was fairly miserable so it wasn't long before we found ourselves in search of a warm, dry spot for a cup of coffee and cake. We were in the vicinity of North Tea Power which was a recommendation in my guidebook so in we went. The cafe has a similar feel to the independent coffee shops that we see popping up like 'shrooms everywhere in the big smoke. The guidebook had banged on about the great cakes but on our visit, the selection was looking pretty poorly. JD had a chocolate filled (stale) croissant and I went for a florentine in addition to some tea and coffee. Nice place but too many peeps working on laptops skulking around. At first, I thought it was maybe cos they were using the cafe's wifi but some weren't - how to solve this conundrum if I had my own place? Mmmm.....