Recently, we headed down to revolution on Deansgate locks to sample their menu and scope the venue out as a potential working lunch spot. Revs already dominates the locks as a typical dress ‘n’ heels night out hotspot, but given the situation of the venue as an urbanised-chic city hub, we had a hunch that we were missing a very obvious trick by overlooking its menu possibilities.
We started with some cocktails, our thoughts are as follows;
Mojito
When it comes to cocktails, the classics are classic for a reason. They tend to be liquor based, with strong flavours added, so that sipping is necessary. Note: If you can gulp a cocktail, it’s not good. This mojito, however, ticked all of the boxes – the mint and lime intermingled to create the perfect backdrop for the white rum lead, with the soda blurring the lines so as not to overwhelm the senses. If you struggle with drier tastes, ask your waiter to sub in lemonade for the soda.
Pornstar
Call us basic if you will, but if they can’t get a pornstar martini right, I don’t want to drink there. Luckily, Revolution on Deansgate Locks has the hot ticket. The perfect balance of passionfruit and pineapple to take the sting away – and you could actually taste the alcohol, which was a refreshing change.
(Top tip, pornstar martinis are a massive craze which many establishments have exploited. Before purchasing, always check the menu to ensure that you’re not paying £7.50 for vanilla vodka and passion fruit juice.)
Sunrise Sour
For our last cocktail, we opted for something that none of us had tried before. This tantalising mixture of amaretto, sour mix, kettle one vodka and grenadine was a poignant take on this 20s classic. Plus, a cocktail is only as good as its garnishes, and this was garnished with a petrified orange, so that says all that needs to be said really.
Next, for food. We opted for three very different dishes, in the names of research and indecisiveness in equal parts.
Steak Frites
Some establishments make the detrimental mistake of believing that steak frites does not belong to the high calibre dish family as sirloin and ribeye, and thus sear each steak to the same taste. However, after noting my preference for steak cooked medium rare, my server delivered a dish that was treated with the respect that it deserves, with thick and creamy peppercorn sauce that any cut would be incomplete without.
Chicken Caesar Salad
The chicken Ceaser salad is the pornstar martini of the salads…everyone likes it, but there’s not usually much sustenance to it. However, this substantially sized dish came with chargrilled chicken and the kind of bacon that you’d Instagram on a Sunday morning.
Sri Lankan Chicken Curry
In order to diversify our palette, we opted to try the Sri Lankan chicken curry with sticky jasmine rice. A dish with both a thorough enough combination of delicate flavours and a pleasing enough colour palette to be wholly satisfying in both aesthetics and taste, the creamy coconut taste and texture only lead the way for the plethora of subtle tastes to follow.
All in all…who knew that revs on Deansgate locks had it in them?
