With Christmas around the corner MPW on Level 25 of The Cube is gearing up with a new festive menu. We were invited along to give our opinion on it (see our reciprocity promise).
Zooming up 25 floors in the elevator to go for dinner does make the place feel exclusive. The décor is luxe and the lighting tasteful, making you want to sit down and have a special glass of wine or whiskey. I’ve said in previous reviews though that the low ceilings seem to amplify every conversation and it isn’t a place for a quiet drink, but instead a place for a loud celebration. The bar is often thronging and it can be difficult to get a drink. When you do fight through you’ll find 
the cocktails very well made and a good selection of beers and wines. All at the upper end of the price scale, especially considering you may well end up swigging it next to some lairy rugger-buggers who are the worse for ware and whose behaviour is being studiously ignored by the staff. I’m hoping the charming new general manager John will do something to reduce the crude ebullience of some of its more squiffy patrons.
The Champagne bar is considerably more sedate and has 270 degree views across the city;
awe-inspiring candle flickers of buildings in the winter darkness. The private dining room has similar views to the Champagne bar, as it’s a mirror image on the opposite side. It’s a lovely room, seating a maximum of 22, which along with the rest of the restaurant is being redecorated in the new year by the city’s well-known interior stylist, McQueen.
Although it’s badged as a steakhouse the menu is fairly varied. We were there though to try their festive party menu. For starters I had a pretty dish of smoked salmon terrine, dressed 
with cucumber strips, and with punchy dill and horseradish flavours. We also had the potted duck, served with crisp sourdough toast and a mild piccallili. Although the duck was tasty it lacked the “potted” unctuousness I’d expect.
For mains, I had one of my top winter favourites – beef bourguignon. I really enjoyed the dish but was disappointed by the lack of meat, just two small cubes of beef in a sea of shallots and mushrooms (you can see from the photo that I’m not overstating the lack of protein). The mash was buttery and hearty. Our other main was roast turkey with all the trimmings, enjoyable but perhaps the turkey was a touch on the dry side.
For dessert, obviously it was Christmas pudding which had good flavour but lacked 
presentation, and then a lovely cheese board.
A three course festive party Christmas Dinner menu will set you back £40. We had a lovely Gavi di Gavi at £30 to go with it.
Details of their Christmas offering and other menus are available on their website here:
OUT IN BRUM 