Although my wife had gone with a friend to Prequel & Co. Apothecary, I didn’t get to try it with her until last week. Like a number of the speakeasy-themed places, you go through a back door in what seems like a shop to get to the darkened bar itself. Even more silly, you exit through another door into the back alley.
The cocktail menu is in a book and most of the offerings include many ingredients, resulting in multiple layers of flavours. The bar staff also put on a good show, shaking drinks dramatically and aerating some mixtures over a span of several feet from one vessel to another.
For our first round, we tried Notes of the Alchemist [right] - spiced rum, Amaretto, Islay whisky, ginger, orange blossom, rose, sherry, thyme, coriander seed, orange bitter - visually simple, but complex notes of spices, herbs, and floral. We also had Ember Woods [left] - Cynar, cachaça, coconut, pomegranate, ginger, gunpowder bitters, fresh lemon, tonic, fresh mint, cranberry leather - smooth, fruity, and balanced.
For our second round we had Bianco Brise de Pandan - palo santo-infused tequila, Grand Marnier, lemongrass bitter, pandan, lime leaf agave, aji limón, fresh lime, pineapple, ancho and guajillo sale - lots of vanilla, fruit, and not too sweet.
Equally satisfying was the Kyoto Forêt - Japanese whisky, in-house sweet vermouth, Montenegro, balsam fir, caraway, fennel, oregano, rosemary
The food is all small plates and butter dominated.
Truffle lobster roll featured a decent amount of lobster, lots of brown butter, a brioche roll, fresh fennel, dill, fresh truffle, with lovely chips beside.
Steak tartare came on more of that buttery, toasted brioche, with tarragon crème fraiche, sous vide egg yolk, fried capers, fresh basil, and cornichons - good, if unremarkable.
The fried chicken normally comes drenched in an herbes de Provence beurre blanc, so we asked for this on the side; it made for lovely dipping. The frying was very good, with crispy edges and moist meat. There were also fried basil leaves and some lemon.
The one refuge from butterfat on the menu is the beet salad, with orange vinaigrette, feta, frisée, sunchoke chips, and smoked mascarpone - simple and lovely.
