Alchemilla owner to open second Nottingham restaurant
The chef-patron of Nottingham Michelin-starred restaurant Alchemilla is to open a second site – servving fried chicken and soft-serve ice cream.
Alex Bond has taken a unit next to Alchemilla on Derby Road and will call the new venture Mollis. The new venue is slated to open in November, according to The Caterer.
He told the trade title: “It seemed like a good opportunity. Margins are tighter than ever in here [Alchemilla], food prices are going through the roof and there’s only so much we can charge for what we do, so sometimes we have to think like businessmen and diversify.
“We’re going to be doing something we love. I like hot dogs, but I don’t love them. I like ramen, but I don’t love it. I love fried chicken, that’s my guilty pleasure – although I hate that phrase, why would you feel guilty about that?
“What is not to love about fried chicken and ice-cream? Obviously, we’re going to do it in our style, with our mentality, using yeasts and ferments and pickles. All the chicken will be coated, brined, all interesting flavours and the same with the ice-creams. Dead simple, not over complicating anything, a small offering and pretty drinks-led.”
Mollis will be able to seat between 60-65 diners at a time. Bond told The Caterer that the new restaurant will serve fiver flavours of fried chicken with five varities of sauces, glazes, coatings and dredges – as well as sides. It will also offer up “shit hot” cocktails and “banging” music.
The interior will be decorated by graffiti artists. Bond added: “It’s going to look like a 1980s New York train yard. I’m goig to let them run riot and spray the fuck out of it.”
Alchemilla was first awarded a Michelin star in 2020 – just three years after it opened. Bond formerly worked in Restaurant Sat Bains.
