OUT IN BRUM

The Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham Royal Ballet

Posted on October 16, 2013 by outinbrum

I don’t know my Bolshoi from my Kirov, my plié from my fouetté, my frappé from my iced coffee, but I know what I like, and I like Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty. We visit the theatre a fair amount for plays, musicals, random comedy acts, once to the opera, and lots of amateur stuff, but I’d never fancied the ballet. Our friend Simon, a dancer come PR man, is slowly working his way around the people of Birmingham ensuring that everyone visits his beloved ballet, and last week was our turn. I took some convincing, Simon has been working on me for twelve months.

Birmingham Royal Ballet, or BRB, is one of the UK’s three largest ballet companies along with The Royal and The English National. Founded in 1947 it has changed name and moved location, residing now in Thorp Street near the gaybourhood and Chinese quarter, and is the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre. I didn’t realise until I started looking them up how respected a company they are, with frequent national tours and international tours of their productions.

And so on one Wednesday evening I found myself waiting apprehensively for the sumptuous red velvet curtains of the Hippodrome to open and the show to begin.

I didn’t think I recalled the story at all, but memories of being read this fairytale by my Nan did come flooding back as the curtain rose on a royal court full of courtiers and distinguished guests celebrating the Christening of Princess Aurora. Events sour as an uninvited guest, the wicked fairy Carabosse, enters regally mounted on a grand palanquin. Carabosse curses Aurora so that when she has come of age she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The King and Queen seek the help of the Lilac Fairy, who ameliorates the curse so that instead of dying, the princess, and the entire court, will sleep for 100 years. When the court sleeps beautiful vines overgrow the palace turning it to a forest, through which a handsome prince walks. Enchanted by the Lilac Fairy he seeks out Aurora who awakes at his kiss and so the palace and its court awakes from its slumber, and celebrates their marriage.

The set is large and impressive, and the costumes are beautiful. Particularly impressive costumes were Carabosse who is a vision of perfect skinned evil with black plumage, and the Lilac Fairy in a shimmering lilac lace number. The audience loved the furry cats, red riding hood and her pursuant wolf – the contrite for these characters is that they are the entertainment at the wedding of Aurora and the Prince, and they offer comedy relief from the technical tour de force of the final act (lots of pas de deux – couples dancing together, then each one solo, then together again – showing off for the audience to enjoy their perfect moves).

I fear if I try to talk technically about the dancing I shall fall flat on my face. All I can say is it’s impressive. The girls are beautiful, elegant, like dolls, and just as flexible. The energy and concentration that is involved is immense, at one stage Aurora is spinning a slow pirouette en pointe (on the tips of the toe) for what seems like ten minutes, by the end of it, I was relieved she put her leg down! Poor girl, she must’ve been knackered, I was getting in to a sweat just watching her. She reminded me of the ever rotating dancer in a jewellery box. The men were just as flexible, although at one point I thought there were slightly less synchronous than they should have been, but they were strapping and handsome, and watching their discreet one handed support of spinning ballerinas was like watching a magic trick. There were points where I was convinced that one leg was going to trip up one of another eleven as dancers were in rows of ten where interlocking calves were moving like pistons. No such disaster occurred though, thank goodness.

BRB’s The Sleeping Beauty is now moving to Sadler’s Wells Theatre, then Sunderland Empire, then Theatre Royal Plymouth. If you’re unable to catch one of those there are other shows coming up in Birmingham including the very popular, and apparently great first ballet, The Nutcracker.

I honestly went to my first ballet expecting to dislike it, and not looking forward to explaining my dislike to Simon, however I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be back again. Thanks Simon for convincing me.

Beautiful photos by Bill Cooper reproduced with kind permission of Birmingham Royal Ballet.

http://www.brb.org.uk/

Posted in Area: Arcadian, Area: Hurst Street / The Gay Village / South Side, Venue type: Theatre | Tagged Ballet Review, Birmingham Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Sleeping Beauty, Birmingham Theatre, BRB, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, OutInBrum, Where To Go In Birmingham | Leave a comment

Vegging Out at Bistro 147

Posted on October 6, 2013 by outinbrum

With a Peperami strapped to my calf in case of emergencies we went for dinner at the new vegetarian restaurant, Bistro 1847, in The Great Western Arcade. The arcade is having a growth spurt at the moment with a number of outlets from The Mailbox moving there temporarily while The Mailbox gets its roof on. If you haven’t been, you should give it a go for some shopping – posh shoes, boutique clothes for men and women, glorious bread from The Bread Collection, antipasti and cheese from Anderson & Hill, and wine in our favourite Birmingham venue, Loki Wine Tasting House.

The bistro is bijou, around 30 covers only, with simple furniture and decoration. I like their choice of cutlery and glassware, something that many venues seem to get wrong. Some of our party weren’t sure about the glass beakers for wine, but I liked them. It has only been open for a week, so there were a couple of completely forgiveable cock ups, apologised for profusely by very pleasant waiting staff who were mortified when they ran out of white wine (delivery due of course, and in the meantime we just popped next door to get some from Loki). The wine list is small with bottles from £15 to £20 a bottle, there’s also a range of beers on offer. The wines and beers are vegan friendly.

We had well-made cocktails, an English Garden and a Toffee Apple, and some of the snack “bites” to nibble while we were looking at the menu – I loved the pineapple soaked in gin and served with a creamy and pungent blue cheese. It’s a fixed price menu at the moment, with two courses for £16 or three courses for £20 – that will change so get in early for a bargain.

For starters I had the pickled cauliflower with kohlrobi, carrot, blackberry, and “cashew ricotta” – a recipe (containing no ricotta!) Chef Alex Claridge picked up in Los Angeles. The dish was vegan and gluten free. It was pretty, and unusually savoury, maybe a tad too savoury for me although the blackberries did lift it somewhat. The mushroom and liquorice pate (vegan, and gluten free option available) was rich and bursting with mushroom, I really enjoyed it. The star of the starters though was the vintage cheddar brulee with apple and Hazelnut – served with a crispy top, and toast to dip in it. We didn’t realise until we got there that Alex was now working with the guys from Bistro 1847, who have another two venues already open, and more on the cards. Alex used to run The Warehouse Cafe – a vegetarian restaurant in Digbeth which we loved. Vegetarian food can often be bland and boring, but the food produced for us was anything but. The very attractive dishes would not look out of place in fine dining establishments.

I had the crispy hen’s egg for my main, a runny hen’s egg coated in breadcrumbs and fried. It was served on crispy leek and onion with smoked potato, delivered under a wood smoke filled closh – a bit of table theatre. We also tried the “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside” – veggie fish and chips. The “fish” was haloumi which had been soaked in mead and then battered with a balti batter, and was surprisingly fish-like! Many of the dishes, including the fish and chips have vegan and gluten free options. In that dish the haloumi can be swapped out for tofu. My favourite dessert was the hedgerow mess (rosemary meringue, cream, chambord, and blackberries) which was a lovely flavour combination.

I look forward to going back in a couple of months when they’ve had a chance to settle down, but our first experience of it was very good other than the opening week hiccups. For those of you who are a bit sceptical about vegetarian and vegan food – do give this a go. This isn’t the stuffed mushrooms and oily aubergines of culinary nightmares, it’s serious attractive cooking with fantastic flavours.

Delicious. We will be back.

http://bistro1847.com/birmingham.html

Chef Alex was kind enough to pose for a portrait in the moodily coloured restaurant…

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Cherry Reds – from Breakfast to Nightcap

Posted on September 23, 2013 by outinbrum

Many years ago John Bright Street, just behind New St Station, was a Broad Street like area with bars and clubs for drunken revelry by the masses. It fell out of use and in came the homeless people, a cannabis factory, and generally intimidating characters. In the last twelve months though there has been somewhat of a clean up – Brew Dog has arrived with some fanfare, a sheesha lounge has opened (I’m yet to cast judgment on that), and now a Kings Heath stalwart has set up shop. Cherry Reds is an independent cafe bar, open from breakfast to nightcap, serving posh pop, nearly a hundred different beers, and simple food including vegetarian/vegan offerings. Its customer base have more than their fair share of topiary inspired facial hair and 50s vintage dresses (not on the same people, you understand).

Although I think it’s fair to say its on the alternative side of the tracks, it has potential to attract most audiences – it really covers a lot of bases. We ate dinner there on Friday evening when we stumbled upon some friends who were also eating, then more friends joined for drinks, then even more drinks, then we were back next morning for breakfast… They also do take away sandwiches for the lunchtime office crowd.

The drinks offering is very large. There are a dozen draught ales, beers, and cider including Otter Cask Ale (£3.50 a pint), Schneider Weisse wheat beer (£4.40 a pint), and Liefman’s mixed fruit beer (£4.60 a pint), and around 80 different bottles to choose from. There is a short cocktail list (at around £5) and around 25 different wines (from about £11.50 a bottle).

For dinner on the Friday we tried the fish & chips (£8), and the vegetarian stuffed butternut squash (£7). We enjoyed both dishes (although the squash could have had a bit more chilli for my liking). It’s quite a small venue so if you’re going here to dine at a peak time then expect intimate. It’s more like a collection of rooms huddled together for warmth than a coherently laid out restaurant and bar. That definitely adds to the charm though, it isn’t a negative point! I particularly liked the map room and anticipate some drawn out evenings in there with a bottle and good company.

After a 2am finish back home with the Puro Hair party animals (and let me tell you Sarah’s TV remote control throwing arm is not to be messed with), a restorative breakfast was in order. We went back and tried the hearty full English (£6) and the American pancakes with bacon (£5). I loved the pancakes which were suitably large, fluffy, and doused with maple syrup. The fry up was also good – not at all greasy and good flavours from the bacon and sausage. They’re well known for their veggie breakfast in Kings Heath and it looked good when we saw it.

Fingers cross that it gets even better when it gets through this first opening week. Well done to Jen and her team for converting that derelict space in to such a welcoming one, and good luck!

Posted in Area: Central Shopping, Cuisine: English, Venue type: Bar, Venue type: Cafe, Venue type: Pub, Venue type: Restaurant | Tagged Birmingham Restaurant, birmingham restaurant review, birmingham review, cherry reds, cherry reds birmingham, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, OutInBrum, restaurant review, Where To Go In Birmingham | 4 Comments

Logs, Lace, and Vodka: an evening at The Karczma

Posted on September 1, 2013 by outinbrum

About twelve months ago his holiness Jay Rayner reviewed a little known Polish restaurant in Birmingham – The Karczma. It was a surprise because not only had he made the effort to travel outside of the M25, which is unusual for many food writers, but also because he loved it. Raved about it in fact, and we’ve been meaning to go ever since. Last week we had our chance to go for a family dinner.

The restaurant forms part of the Polish Centre in the East Side of the city. A brutal 1950s box of a building which suggests, other than the post-modern large crucifix adorning the wall, that unspeakable medical procedures could easily be taking place inside. Usually I’d drive through these streets with the doors locked doing 40mph, it’s all a bit down at heel. If it weren’t for Jay’s glittering review I suspect even those sturdy Brummy foodies that have endured such horrors as Soya Cafe in the name of gourmand investigation may not have crossed its threshold.

Step inside though and you’re greeted with a pastiche of a Polish crofter’s cottage: straw clad ceilings, log furniture, lace trimmed curtains and table doilies. When we were seated the cheeriest waiter ever introduced himself in comically broken English, and asked us whether we’d like some bread and lard. How could we refuse! Mmmm. Lard. It was actually pork dripping, I’m still undecided about the experience – it was sort of greasy, salty, porky, but not unpleasant.

The menu is lengthy with starters around £7 and mains around £12. Our waiter was very helpful in giving us tips on menu options, telling us his top three for each course. Go hungry, the portions are enormous. The starter dish of Pierogi is enough to feed two, with three Cornish pasty sized dumplings filled with cabbage, meat, and mushrooms. They were tasty. I had a dish of grilled smoked sheep’s cheese with cranberry sauce. For me it was overly smoked, and the cranberry sauce wasn’t strong or sweet enough to counter the ashy notes. The clear beetroot soup had great earthy flavour, and came with a crispy mushroom croquette – I think this was the outstanding dish of the meal.

I’m convinced that the descriptions on the menu of some of the dishes are purposefully incorrect for comedy value. One of the mains we had was “melt in the mouth beef served on crispy edges” – it was actually a beef stew served in a folded potato rosti. The beef was nice but I thought the rosti was a bit tastless. I had the slow cooked ham hock for my main which was unctuous and the plain waxy boiled potatoes side worked well with it. We also tried the chicken kiev which was succulent but without much garlic flavour. We plumped for Tyskie Polish lager with our dinner rather than wines, and then to end a flavoured vodka.

I’m not sure it’s worth the hype that Jay Rayner’s review created – I simply didn’t find the food as astonishing as he did – this isn’t fine dining, it’s hearty Polish home-cooking. However, we did enjoy our evening and it’s certainly a place to try with your family to tuck in to huge portions and to have a fun filled evening.

Posted in Area: Digbeth, Area: East Side, Cuisine: Polish, Price: Average, Venue type: Restaurant | Tagged Birmingham Restaurant, birmingham restaurant review, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, restaurant review, Where To Go In Birmingham | 2 Comments

Birmingham Set to Welcome 4th Urban Coffee Co Outlet

Posted on August 29, 2013 by outinbrum

Urban Coffee Company to open “coolest coffee shop in the world” at Beneficial Building

Plans to open Birmingham’s biggest coffee outlet in the heart of the city centre have today been unveiled.

Located in the Beneficial Building opposite Paradise Forum, Urban Coffee Company is to open its fourth emporium at the site, forming part of a £16 million hotel development. The building is being transformed by Gethar Ventures, led by well-known former Wragge & Co lawyer Anthony McCourt.

The 161 sqm ground floor space, with seating available upstairs, will enable Urban Coffee Co to dramatically expand their food proposition with specific breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, with full bar service also available. The 16 sqm kitchen will also be used to offer room service to the proposed hotel above.

Customers will be greeted by a 62.5 sqm mezzanine area which will allow them to see into the kitchen through a steel mesh decorated with flowers and artwork. Raw materials such as concrete and painted brick will be used for work surfaces, whilst a graffiti art feature wall can lead to hours of gazing.

A ‘green’ wall filled with plants and flowers adorns the wall at the foot of the staircase. Upstairs, a 50 sqm conference room is available to hire, with an entrance to the hotel also located on the upper level.

Anthony McCourt, director at Gethar Ventures, said: “Urban Coffee Co was the obvious choice for us. Often hotels use the usual coffee shop chains, but we wanted an independent option to give guests something a little different. It’s one of Birmingham’s most vibrant brands with an unrivalled coffee offering.

“We have been impressed by their entrepreneurial skills from the get-go. They introduced the first of the ‘third wave’ of coffee emporiums here in Birmingham and pioneered the flat white coffee in the city.

Simon Jenner, owner and founder of Urban Coffee Co, said: “The recent explosion in the independent coffee scene has been fantastic and it gives the consumer so much choice within the sector. As a result, we’ve had to stay right at top of our game and work hard to stay ahead.

“This new site is testament to this and is especially exciting as we have a bigger budget than ever before for the kit out – we’ll certainly be going for a much quirkier look than in any of our other emporiums.

“Offering a wider range of food and other beverages, as well as maintaining the high standards of our coffee, is essential for the development of the Urban Coffee Co brand. There is nothing like us in the city so we are hoping that we can be the ones to ignite a real coffee culture in Birmingham.”

Speaking about the emporium’s design, Neil Rose, board director of architects Broadway Malyan, said: “The aspiration for this development is to create the coolest coffee shop in the world for Urban Coffee Co. The raw materials and the ‘green’ wall are different to any other coffee house and give an almost al fresco feel, whilst the upstairs area offers a much more relaxing setting.”

Posted in Area: Central Shopping, Areas in Birmingham | Leave a comment

Lasan Restaurant

Posted on August 14, 2013 by outinbrum

The West Midlands has long been a hotspot for good Indian cuisine and Birmingham City Centre boasts several fantastic Indian restaurants, and a couple of awful ones too. For a night on the tiles, you couldn’t start anywhere better than Pushkas for something modern, spicy and delicate with a spot-on Vesper Martini. After a few beers, you could nip to Celebrity Indian for something more pedestrian but equally as satisfying. For a celebration meal though, you need somewhere special and Lasan Restaurant, just off St. Paul’s Square in the Jewellery Quarter, is just the ticket.

We visited Lasan Restaurant to try their Sunday Banquet, at £19.95 a head. It’s a new concept for the restaurant who are more used to serving an a la carte offering, at around £10 a starter and £18 a main – the summer banquet is definitely a way of checking out the venue on a budget. The idea is that the three course set menu, which changes every week, is served family style in the centre of the table so everyone can dig in. It’s certainly a convivial way of dining and we saw several groups tucking in to pots, dishes and baskets while chatting merrily away about all and sundry.

We were met on entry by friendly staff and seated in the bar to have a drink while we awaited our table for which we were unfashionably early. I can personally advise you not to try to the non-alcoholic Cobra lager. It tastes nothing like Cobra. Or lager for that matter. Dreadful stuff. (As an aside, should you need a non-alcoholic lager for a BYO BBQ, then I suggest Becks Blue is the best of a bad bunch). Good intentions pushed aside, we quickly moved on to “proper” Cobra as we were seated.

The dining room is plush: wooden tables and comfortable leather tub chairs, and quality cutlery. Despite the modern polished concrete flooring, there’s an inviting warmth to the place. There are nods at India to remind us of the cuisine’s origin but they’re certainly not over the top, however the weird modern Indian music that was playing drove me to distraction.

Decorated with petals our starter arrived as a very pretty selection of tasty morsels. I particularly enjoyed the achari salmon, and sweet corn pakora, although I remain unsure about the banana bhaji – I’d rather mine split with ice cream I think. I really enjoyed the fresh pea shoot salad and the tracklements that the starter was served with, particularly the mint and corriander chutney.

The mains were served in small saucepans to help ourselves from, there was also a basket of bread, and a slate of Dakshini Fish Fry. The fish was red with Dakshini paste and had a good spicy kick. I had two portions it was so nice. I also ate two portions of the Gobi Shimla Mirch (cauliflower and pepper curry). The bread and rice was perfectly cooked, and the other dishes of dal, chicken korma, and veal rara gosht were equally lovely.

Needless to say, after my double helpings I was as full as an egg. It didn’t stop me from having dessert though – a mango kesari, a set semolina dish, served with a cold saffron custard. I thought it could do with a bit more mango flavour but the saffron custard had a richness that complimented the delicate flavour of the kesari.

Like many of Birmingham’s better restaurants, the chef here has had his moment of fame on national television and is a Gordon Ramsay’s F-Word Best Local Restaurant winner – you can see the trophy in the bar. From what we’ve seen, this trophy and the many others he’s earned, is well deserved. Fantastic Indian food, in a lovely restaurant with friendly staff. What’s not to like?

The Sunday Banquet set menu is running until the end of September, so get in quick, and make sure you book because this place gets busy.

http://www.lasan.co.uk

Posted in Area: Jewellery Quarter, Cuisine: Indian, Price: Get your dad to pay - above average, Venue type: Restaurant | Tagged Birmingham Restaurant, birmingham restaurant review, birmingham review, indian restaurant birmingham, indian restaurant jewelery quarter, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, OutInBrum, restaurant review, Where To Go In Birmingham | 1 Comment

The Plough Harborne

Posted on August 10, 2013 by outinbrum

With local pubs going under at a rate of 26 a week, those pulling the pints have to be astute enough to recognise how their business is going to work in today’s world. The Plough Harborne’s winning approach is offering an all day every day service of reasonably priced well cooked food, served up by friendly Hollister-model waiters and waitresses, with a side of premium lagers or carafes of Pinot Grigio.

The Plough offers a number of deals to entice the large student and young professional population in the vicinity. On Monday there’s buy one get one free on pizzas, and Tuesday is BOGOF on burgers. For the yummy-mummies there’s the brunch menu until 12.30 then afternoon tea 2 till 5. There’s small plates and sandwiches for lunch, and as well as the pizzas and burgers there’s fish & chips, chilli and other pub favourites for dinner.

We popped in for a quick pizza on a Monday night. I don’t do queuing but luckily we’d booked a table, it was super busy and the wait on tables was considerable – don’t expect to turn up here and be able to get a table on spec, you’ll almost certainly have to wait whatever the night. It was a young crowd for BOGOF pizza night, and there was a loud hubbub and a friendly atmosphere. It’s not somewhere I’d go on a date, but definitely a place to go with friends to have a noisy fun dinner. There’s a nice outside courtyard to sit in to boot.

I had the crayfish, capers, tuna, anchovies, and black olive pizza – they really should name them because reeling off the ingredients as you order is tiresome. The balance of cheese, tomato, and topping was good, and the base thin and crispy. I love anchovies and capers and there was plenty on there. We also had a white pizza, that’s with a white sauce instead of tomato, with pancetta, onion, and parmesan, and they let us add on cajun chicken. I like that even on such a busy night they were willing to swap around toppings – they’re definitely a customer centric venue. On the BOGOF deal we paid under £20 for two pizzas, some red cabbage slaw, fries, and two premium pints (Amstel and San Miguel), usually it would’ve come to around £30 – still fairly cheap!

We can’t really comment on the other food but several of our friends (who understand how pinickity we are) have told us that it’s always good.

Good idea, well executed, keep up the food work guys.

http://theploughharborne.co.uk/

Posted in Area: Harborne, Cuisine: English, Cuisine: Modern Mixed, Price: Average, Price: Cheap as Chips - Inexpensive, Venue type: Bar, Venue type: Cafe, Venue type: Pub, Venue type: Restaurant | Tagged Birmingham Restaurant, birmingham restaurant review, birmingham review, Harborne Restaurant, Harborne Review, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, OutInBrum, restaurant review, Where To Go In Birmingham | Leave a comment

Digbeth Dining Club – Artisan Brummy Street Food

Posted on August 3, 2013 by outinbrum

Jabberwocky Gourmet Toasties

Digbeth isn’t known as an area of the city where one frequents for gourmet grub, but many of our twitter followers have raved about the Digbeth Dining Club, a weekly street food event at The Spot*light centre just next door to The Custard Factory. On a Friday evening from 5.30 some superb producers turn up with their wares to serve from gazebos and vans to those in the foodie know. The line up changes each week and you can check out the website (http://www.digbethdiningclub.co.uk) to see what’s on offer. They’ve actually been going for a year already, in fact Friday was their 1st birthday party. So well done to the organisers for getting it off the ground and so very popular in just twelve months.

The Meat Shack “Sassy Red” Burger

A particular favourite of seemingly everyone who goes are the burgers from The Meat Shack, whose tagline is “dripping filthy goodness”. I tried one and was not disappointed. The burgers are cooked to order and watching chef Paul Collis produce them is like watching an artist at work: squeeze, grill, salt, pepper, mustard, slaw, bun, steam – each one gets the attention of an oil painting, and you can taste the care that’s gone in to them. I had the “Sassy Red” which comes with a bacon relish – wowser. A burger wouldn’t have been complete without a beer and the Spot*light is on hand with a full bar including Amstel and Tiger.

We tried some Thai food from Budda Belly including some vegetable spring rolls (properly crispy like they should be), fishcakes (super-fishy with that odd but not unpleasant Thai fishcake texture), and a pork curry. The chef from Budda Belly was a Masterchef contestant in 2012. We also tried a toastie from Jaberwocky Gourmet Toasties.

I was a bit worried that Platinum Pancakes wasn’t getting busy but then realised that they were being eaten as a dessert so were busy once people had eaten a main from one of the other vendors. All of the dishes are around £5 to £6 so it’s quite an affordable meal out, and is really good value given the quality of the food. There is live music some weeks, and there are table inside and out so the weather won’t kill it. It is a bit tricky to find, so my directions are, walk up High Street Deritend, pass the Custard Factory on your left, and turn an immediate left up Heath Mill Lane just before the Old Crown Pub. About 50 yeards down the road on your right are some big blue gates, and you’ll see all of the stalls beyond them.

Posted in Area: Digbeth, Cuisine: Modern Mixed, Price: Cheap as Chips - Inexpensive, Venue type: Bar, Venue type: Cafe, Venue type: Cocktail Bar, Venue type: Entertainment, Venue type: Restaurant | Tagged Birmingham Custard Factory, Birmingham Restaurant, birmingham restaurant review, birmingham review, Birmingham Street Food, Birmingham Streetfood, Digbeth Street Food, Digbeth Streetfood, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, restaurant review, Where To Go In Birmingham | 3 Comments

Lasan Indian Summer Banquet

Posted on July 26, 2013 by outinbrum

As our regular readers will know, we are suckers for a good Sunday lunch, and Chef Aktar Islam and his team at award winning Lasan Restaurant are launching their twist on the weekly family feast.

Born and bred in Birmingham, Aktar has built a fantastic reputation for Lasan and himself, even winning both BBC2’s Great British Menu in 2011 and Channel 4’s Gordon Ramsey’s F Word Best Local Restaurant in 2009.

Now with the launch of the Indian Summer Banquet you can enjoy all the finery that Lasan can offer, but on a budget. Enjoy 3 courses of Indian treats consisting of a variety of mouth-watering classics. In true Indian banquet style, it’s all about sharing great food whilst catching up with friends and family around the table. Your selection of dishes for each course is served family-style, in the centre of the table for everyone to get stuck in.

The Indian Summer Banquet runs every Sunday from 28th July to 29th September and is available 1pm to 9pm for £19.98 per person, though you do need to book in advance on 0121 212 3664 or click here to reserve your table.

** TWITTER COMPETITION TIME ** COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

You could win an Indian Banquet meal for 2 at Lasan. Simply make sure you are following both us @outinbrum and also @lasangroup and retweet our competition message which includes the hashtag #LasanOIB. Competition closes at 5pm Friday 2nd August when a winner will be selected at random and notified. If you’re in our phone address book then I’m afraid you’re not going to win.

Posted in Article | Tagged Birmingham Indian, Birmingham Lasan, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, Where To Go In Birmingham | Leave a comment

Birmingham Beer Bash July 26th & 27th

Posted on July 21, 2013 by outinbrum

Birmingham Beer Bash is a brand new festival celebrating great beer and the craft of the brewer, on 26th and 27th July 2013. Taking place at the Bond Company, a former canalside warehouse on Fazeley Street in Digbeth, the event will showcase some of the best beers that local, national and international brewing has to offer. Over 100 cask and keg beers will be available across three bars, with the added opportunity to meet the brewers behind the beers, take part in tutored tastings, and learn all about the brewing process in relaxed surroundings. Among the wide range of beers sourced for the event, there will be special releases, new launches, local exclusives and rare imports. Catering during the event will be courtesy of a number of local streetfood providers, demonstrating the best the area has to offer, and complemented by exciting beer and food matching dinners by two of Birmingham’s culinary stars.

A truly independent event, the Birmingham Beer Bash concept was created by local beer bloggers and enthusiasts, who met via Twitter with the shared goal of bringing the most progressive elements of UK and international brewing to the Midlands, and to awaken a burgeoning beer scene in Birmingham. Organisers are proud that proceeds from the event will be put to good use locally, supporting the excellent work of Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

The event runs for four sessions (Afternoon and Evening on both Friday and Saturday) and up to 2000 people are expected to attend in total. Tickets (£6 for the Friday afternoon session or £8 for the other sessions) are available from the website.

http://www.birminghambeerbash.co.uk

Posted in Special Event | Tagged Birmingham Beer Bash, Birmingham Beer Festival, Out In Birmingham, out in brum, OutInBrum, Where To Go In Birmingham | Leave a comment