Lunch at Aluna
If there's one thing they Birmingham does well, it's food. The city gets a pretty rubbish name for itself, with the city resembling the colour grey more than anything else, but areas of the city have truly been reinvigorated as social watering holes, the Mailbox being one of them. With the likes of Harvey Nichols, Michelin starred restaurants and cinemas with sofas and text messaging cocktail services, the Mailbox is a mirage of luxury, but so so so affordable.
We visited one of the canal side restaurants for lunch; Aluna. Now I take pride in knowing the "go to" restaurants in Birmingham, but somehow this gem had escaped me. The neo-classical eatery oozes in decadence, velvet and "artisan cutlery". It's the type of place that most likely has Virginia Woolf and Coco Chanel quotations etched into the mirrors on the walls. Oh wait, it does.
We went for their lunch special, with two courses just under ten pounds, which, for a place like this, seems almost too good to be true. If anyone knows me, they know I have an undying and somewhat unhealthy obsessions to calamari, so obviously I straight up ordered that. The lightly dusted squid was followed up with a chicken and chorizo wrap, served with potato wedges, slaw and salad. All on a triangular plate. Edgy.
Star of the show was undoubtedly Aluna's cocktail menu. The chandelier ridden eatery offers the typical and well known cocktails on one side, and experimental, slightly orgasmic ones of the other. We ordered the "Lava lamp", which contained dry ice and popping balls causing the effect of a lava lamp as the balls shot around the tall glass and smoke drifted out from the top. Obviously, there's always time for a cocktail and one is simply not enough. From banoffee flavoured cocktails, strawberry milkshake exploding cocktails and bubblegum daiquiris, it's safe to say that they were some of the best cocktails I've had in quite some while.
Aluna is a perfect romantic spot, social gathering hive and even perfect for meetings, as the two men in suits in the corner found. If you're in Birmingham and stuck for somewhere to go, Aluna is the place.
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1 comments
This place looks great - will have to check it out!
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