Slowly, life seems to be edging back to some sort of normal, and I found myself meeting friends for dinner for the first time in months. We booked the Alchemist on the basis it’s a nice spacious restaurant, and I was pleased with the choice: the staff were helpful, the venue was clean and not too crowded, and the food and drinks delightful. We shared a bunch of dishes (heavy on the chips and halloumi, I admit) and even tried some cocktails, since the Alchemist is famous for inventive drinks: a smoky Old Fashioned came in a test tube / jar while we I had a chocolate orange thing that I had to break open to drink. Fancier than I would usually go for – but since this was my first night out in months, felt worth celebrating…