Boiled, baked, chipped, fried, mashed, sautéed – everyone loves a good spud. On April 26th you could book in for a special 4 course potato dinner at Opus Restaurant in Colmore Business District.
The Carrolls of Northumberland, specialist producers of heritage potato varieties, will be there and this video shows a little of what they know about the most celebrated of carbohydrates.
Further information and booking information is available on the Opus Restaurant website here.
Just last week another venue, The Pickled Piglet, quietly opened its doors to the Brummy public for the first time. Much to our horror we hadn’t known it was opening, but some of our foody friends (thanks Mr. & Mrs. Pope) told us that we must give it a go. We popped along for a drink on Wednesday night then back for a boozy dinner with friends on Saturday.
Chef Mark and his pâtissière wife Chrissy have opened the restaurant, bar, and coffee shop
on Gas Street, a side road off Broad Street just a couple of minutes walk from the food centric Brindley Place and Oozells Square. It’s a place to eat and drink with a group of friends, or to go to for a work meeting over a coffee and a sharing board (meat, cheese, fish, prawn and sausage, all around £11). Sitting upstairs on a late
Spring evening there was a fantastic view out towards the canal basin and the Hyatt hotel, and it was a comfortable place to sit and while away an hour or so with a bottle and a chat.
Mark and Chrissy have both been in the business for over a decade with experience in large banqueting set ups and smallergastro pubs like the one they’ve just left to set up The Pickled Piglet.
The menu is split between tapas style small plates (around £5), and larger offerings (around £11). The wine list is very reasonable with a good selection by the glass and the bottle (most around £15 to £20).
When we returned on Saturday evening we sat downstairs and decided that we’d go for the small plates. Chef had just taken fresh focaccia out of the oven which was delicious. We ordered lots of small plates including: paprika spiced sausage; saffron and honey pork belly; crispy shredded pork and cucumber; spiced lamb and olive meatballs (nicely spiced but maybe a bit light on olive); hot smoked salmon; crab with celeriac and apple pancakes; battered fish pieces; Scallops; crispy potatoes; tempura veg; and more breads. I think that’s almost all the dishes on the small plate menu! My favourites were the pork belly and the hot smoked salmon. And the potatoes with a smoky mayonnaise dressing. And the crispy tempura veg. You get the picture, I liked it all. We also had a large sharer plate of desserts. Yum.
If you’re not a fan of tapas then there are main dishes on the menu too. They include fish 
pie, spinach and blue cheese cannelloni, hot smoked salmon, steak and chips and others.
The staff, including the charming Chef Mark, were friendly and really keen to explain the
food and the concept. We ended up drinking there for quite a while after we’d finished dinner and getting quite tipsy, hic! That was helped by the comfy seating – none of those bare wood things that make your back ache as soon as you’ve had the starters.
It has a strong chance of becoming very popular very quickly, let’s just hope they will still be able to find a table for some of their first fans.
Regular followers will already know that Anderson’s bar & Grill, located just off the
bottom of St Paul’s Square on Mary Ann Street is one of our favourite venues in Brum. The sumptuous feel of the low brick vaulted ceilings and the ever warm welcome that await you downstairs behind the inconspicuous entrance always delight us.
We think it’s the best steak house in Birmingham – a view that our friends and many staff at other venues have agreed with. Up until now they have not ventured into the ever increasing competition that is building for Sunday Roast lunch.
Therefore, when we found out that was changing we had to try it out. They’re running only one sitting per month and apparently are booking up very quickly. We tried it in March for their first attempt.
Greeted by the ever welcoming Simon we decided to have a quick drink in the bar area before lunch. There is a good choice of beers on draught to choose from as well as the normal large and varied wine list on offer. A bargain to be aware of for Sunday lunch dining, is the addition of either half or full carafes of house wine. We tried both the red & white and they were both ok. Not the best wines you’ve ever had but at a very reasonable price for a litre carafe they were certainly more than just quaffable and good for an unfussy roast lunch.
The Sunday menu is a traditional roast (£12.95). We tried the soup to start which was as amazing as usual, full of flavour and, if anything, a little too big as a starter especially when accompanied with warm breads and roasted garlic bulbs. We also tried the deep fried Camembert with a blueberry sauce – an unusual flavour combination that we thought worked well.
When it comes to the roast itself, there was the choice of beef, pork or lamb as well as at least one choice of both fish & vegetarian dishes. Being in Anderson’s we obviously went for the beef and the lamb. The dishes are all served with very generous sharing bowls of vegetables. We had a selection of carrots, cauliflower and broccoli both in cheese sauce, parsnips, many more I’ve forgotten as well as the essential roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.
But now to my gripe. If you’ve read many of our other reviews, you’ll know that we have a personal hatred for having our food served up on roofing products, chopping boards, bits of old driftwood and just about anything apart from a good old fashioned plate.
The meat, roast spuds and Yorkshires come out on a wooden board for you to share from. Whilst this is fine when you’re having a nice meal for two and both having the same meat, we had a issue with three of us sharing a board that contained both beef & lamb. In the low lighting it was not obvious which slice was what and my father-in-law for one, as a lamb hater, would of refused to eat beef contaminated by lamb. This serving method also failed when a large party seated behind us was all beef apart from two people at opposite ends of the table who had lamb. Queue the comedy routine as these two passed the board back and forth.
Maybe I’ll start a petition to bring back serving food to me on crockery. Actually at least we had plates to eat off, it’s just served family style on the board, better than cutting fish and chips on a roof slate which I had at a restaurant that shall remain nameless. I mean, roof slate, really!
Regardless of the tableware, the beef and lamb were predictably super. Succulent and tasty, served with delicious roast spuds to boot. The gravy was of particular, meaty, note.
I suspect that the desserts will be as amazing as they normally are, but we were well beaten after just the two courses.
At the time of writing, the dates for Sunday lunches for 2013 are: 3rd March, 7th April, 5th May, 2nd June, 7th July, 4th August, 1st September, 6th October, 3rd November & 1st December.
You can check out our previous review of Anderson’s Bar & Grill here.
Anderson’s Bar & Grill 0121 200 2515 http://www.andersonsbarandgrill.co.uk
Birmingham is soon to become home to its newest Michelin starred chef with the arrival of Adam’s restaurant on Friday 12th April, bolstering the city’s reputation as a world-class dining destination.
Adam Stokes, who earned a Michelin Star and 4AA Rosettes in 2011, will be the latest culinary star to join the city’s growing list of coveted chefs flying the flag for Birmingham on the international stage. The eponymously named fine dining restaurant – a 24-seat venue located on Bennett’s Hill – will serve an innovative menu of modern British food with dishes such as pig’s trotter, bacon jam and smoked eel set to entice foodies.
Launching to the public on the 12th April, diners can enjoy two tasting menus that will give a flavour of Stokes’ signature style. Adam’s will run for an initial two years with a move to a larger property in the city centre planned for the future, where food lovers will be able to dine while watching chefs prepare dishes.
Adam Stokes, who will run the pop-up style restaurant alongside joint patron wife Natasha, said:
“Adam’s is both a new challenge and adventure for us, one we are excited about making in Birmingham – a city widely recognised for its culinary excellence. It made sense to open our first solo venture here – the city has a rich culinary history, an internationally renowned fine dining scene and a rapidly growing gastronomic market.
“There is a real appetite in Birmingham for good, authentic cooking and new foodie experiences. I look forward to working with the city’s top chefs to help raise Birmingham’s foodie profile further, making it known as the home of gastronomy in the UK.”
With more Michelin starred restaurants than any other English city outside of the capital and nearly 60% of visitors coming to Birmingham for its acclaimed food and drink scene, the city has been transformed from unknown to ultimate dining destination over the past decade. Adam’s restaurant is a welcome addition to the city’s thriving Colmore Business District, which will see approximately 20 new permanent jobs created.
The arrival of Stokes is set to hot up competition in the city alongside award-winning chefs such as Glynn Purnell, Andreas Antona, Luke Tipping, Richard Turner and Adam Bennett, who led Team UK to win forth place at the prestigious Bocuse d’Or competition in January.
Open for five days a week, the restaurant will serve two tasting menus of varying length showcasing Adam’s style. A shorter three course menu will also be available to whet the appetites of lunchtime diners. The ‘Tasting 5’ and ‘Tasting 9’ menus priced at £45 and £75 are complemented by a focused wine list. The couple aim to create a relaxed fine dining service with friendly knowledgeable staff.
An example of the Tasting 9 Menupigs trotter, bacon jam, smoked eel
An example of the Tasting 9 Menu:
Contact details:
Address 21a Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, B2 5QP
Tel 01216433745
Email info@adamsrestaurant.co.uk
Web http://www.adamsrestaurant.co.uk
Twitter @RestaurantAdams
@AdamStokesChef
At the start of March I attended Whisky Birmingham 2013, the first in what local Brummy and organiser, Amy Seton, would like to see become a fixture in the Midlands ever growing list of epicurean festivals.
The Bond in Digbeth hosted the day which started at noon. It’s a lovely venue in the arts quarter of the city but I wonder whether next year they’ll try and expand, it was 
packed for most of the afternoon. As a complete non-Whisky drinker I was anxious that I’d feel out of place and I half assumed that it would be full of older hairy gentlemen that would scorn my lack of knowledge on the subject. Not so, it was primarily men, but there were all age ranges there, and everyone was keen to get me trying their products to convert me. I think it’s a good day out to take your dad to, which is what I did, he is a proper whisky drinker so I thought he could be a bit more critical about the event than me.
For those who’ve not attended a whisky tasting before here’s the lo-down on how it works. Pay your money for entry which includes a bottle of water; pay deposit for your tasting glass; get your “dream dram” token; get tasting. Basically you trawl around the stalls in the room, trying the different whiskies which are poured by 
very enthusiastic sales people from the various distillers / distributors / specialists who will tell you all you need to know about what you’re drinking. I was surprised that the measures of booze were quite large, so by the end of the day I knew I’d had a drink! There are spittoons provided, but to be honest I don’t think I saw anyone use them. I probably tried about 20 of the 100ish on offer. Some of the extra-special expensive whisky’s are “dream drams” and you can try only one of those by exchanging your “dream dram” token for it.
The first ones I tried were by Welsh whisky company Penderyn. We then moved on to a small batch Indian single malt called “Paul John” which I think is a peculiar name for an Indian anything but hey ho, we liked it anyway. We had a really interesting chat with the guy from Buffalo Trace bourbon whisky who also showed us the company’s other offerings like their Benchmark 4 yrs – who knew they weren’t a one-trick buffalo? We tried some whisky cocktails created by Julian from The Victoria, who were also running the after hours speakeasy for the event. So far I’ve only mentioned the weirder whiskies on offer, but there were plenty of Scotish and Irish whiskies on offer too including Writers Tears and old favourites such as Glenrothes, Highland Park, and Macallan.
Birmingham is home to a couple of well established whisky shops including the Great 
Western Arcade’s “The Whisky Shop” and Digbeth’s “Hard To Find Whisky”. And of course if you’re a die hard whisky fan then you should try out The Birmingham Whisky Club for monthly whisky tastings and events.
Both my whisky drinking dad and me as a non-whisky drinker really enjoyed the event. Give it a go next year, we’ll give you a reminder when it’s coming up on outinbrum.com.
After working out at The Cube on a dreary Saturday morning, I thought there was no better way to refuel than take a short walk along the canal to Brindley Place and pop in to one of Birmingham’s newest offerings – Café Opus. Brought to you by the folks at Opus Restaurant (see our review here) this little sister venue is a very different offering providing breakfasts, lunches, and light meals in its Ikon Gallery setting on Oozells Square.
Last week we stopped by for a coffee and sat outside under its heaters and blankets to
enjoy an early Spring sunny morning on the funky furniture. Today though we sat inside watching the world go by through the French windows.
Opus has a ton of experience of making diners happy and that experience has translated
well here: many of the tables have wedges underneath them to stop even the slightest wobble; short-stemmed flowers decorate the modern tables; and chairs are comfortably padded. It is the kind of place where you could sit for an hour or so with a Sunday paper over brunch or coffee and cake. It already seems popular with the yummy mummies and dishy daddies, two lots wheeled in 4-wheel-drive prams that looked more expensive than my car while we were there.
There’s a focus on quality with the food, it may be lower end in terms of price, but the
suppliers are the experienced boys, Anderson’s & Hill from The Great Western Arcade, and other locals. Not to mention all of the food is prepared on-site or at Opus Restaurant just down the road. The home-made cakes looked particularly lovely, we’ll surely be back to try them another time, but today was for brekkie.
We ordered the full English, and the Eggs Benedict. My full English (£7.50) was ample, with delicious smoked bacon, succulent sausages, and perfectly cooked scrambled egg. The Eggs Benedict (£6.50) were some of the most perfectly cooked poached eggs we’ve had. Other items on the menu include 2 eggs any style with toast (£4), heavier dishes including slow cooked ox cheeks with red cabbage and spiced apple (£7), and if you want something picky then you can get cheese, vegetarian, and fish sharer 
platters (around £8) – perfect with a glass of wine on a summer’s evening I reckon.
Undoubtedly a super spot for hangover curing late brunch with the papers.
Town&Country Inns have been around the Birmingham entertainment scene for at least a couple of decades, and as well as the successful Aprés and Mechu venues, they’ve just added another jewel to their Summer Row crown – Fleet Street Kitchen. Upstairs it’s a country-luxe farm to table restaurant and bar, and downstairs a plush over-25s club. This week we’ve sampled both.
Upstairs at Fleet Street Kitchen
We were greeted at the door by the elegant Louboutin-clad Emma who showed us to our marble-topped table and handed us over to a Spanish waiter who took a drinks order. Nice to see another venue give a good option of wines by the glass, I went for a delicious Orvieto Classico (£6) with my starter of scallops and chorizo. The scallops were sweet and juicy and the oil from the chorizo dressed it well – I really enjoyed it. Our other starter of calamari was disappointing as it was overcooked, but we’ll put that down to opening week teething trouble. Other dishes on the starter menu, all around the £7 mark, included baby back ribs, Caesar salad, chicken liver parfait, and potted duck.
The restaurant’s pièce de résistance is a barbecoa, that’s a Northern Spanish indoor charcoal barbecue grill. Open to the restaurant, the grill is a spectacle, even the coals are glass fronted so the fire within becomes burnished decoration while chef busies himself with sizzling goodies. Consequently there’s a lot of grilling going on – think 25 day aged Hereford Beef, Veal Loin, Pork Loin, Lamb Cutlets, Whole Sea Bass, Gilt Head Bream, Wagyu Beef Burgers…
I opted for the Monkfish and Prawn Skewer (£13.95). Despite an initial mix up that was
profusely apologised for (I was given a Chicken and Chorizo Skewer by mistake) my main was lovely. It was served on a board, which regular readers know I don’t particularly enjoy, but the plentiful fish and prawns were really well cooked with just a hint of smoky barbecoa flavour. I liked that the lemon wedge it came with had been de-pipped for me, it’s the little things that make the difference between good and great! We also had the 35 day aged Dexter fillet on the bone (£21.95). It was tasty, again with a slight smoked tang that the coffee chipotle sauce really set off with a kick. We had sides of handcut chips (£3) and green beans (£3). A few glasses of Montepulciano complemented the beef perfectly.
There’s another quirk here with the steaks as well as the barbecoa. If you want a steak 
cooked above medium then you’re given a skillet on a burner to finish it off yourself. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I’m completely with the chef in that to cook most steaks beyond rare is a travesty (maybe hanger and some other cuts being an exception), on the other hand I know a lot of people really can’t cope with even a hint of rose colour – do they really want to finish cooking their food while everyone else gets on with the eating? There were a couple of tables there seemingly enjoying the table theatre of ruining 35 day aged Dexter by cooking it to shoe leather, but I suppose that’s rather their prerogative and I shouldn’t judge them , the Philistines.
We finished dinner with a generous cheeseboard (select three of five cheeses), and spotted dick. The cheese came with bread, Carr’s water biscuits, and a slice of something jellied and pickled that was delicious. Not sure what it was but I want more of it next time I’m there. I wasn’t keen on the stodgy spotted dick (although I accept it’s supposed to be stodgy), instead you can have Eton Mess, or a Chocolate Pot – that’s my kind of desert. They did manage to do the spotted dick with cream instead of custard, nice to know they’re amenable to random requests. All desserts are at £5.95.
There’s a nice ambience in the restaurant, the lighting, music, comfortable seating, and no 
fuss service engender an atmosphere to chat in, to lose yourselves in a steak laced conversation. There were a couple of cock ups, but it was a soft-launch night, so they have to be expected I guess. I thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly because the staff and management team did a good job of making us feel welcome. Particularly the lovely Kate, and fabulous Fiona.
Downstairs at Fleet Street Kitchen
Behind the oversized Alice-in-Wonderland door in the basement you’ll find Downstairs at Fleet Street Kitchen. Open till 2am Friday and Saturday this stylish hideaway will offer cocktails (try the superb Smoking Monkey or Porn Star Martini), booth service (minimum spend applies), and will be available for private hire in part or in whole. Those sitting in the booths and on tables with oversized chairs were being entertained by The House Jammerz who were performing their high energy mix of 80’s to noughties house and dance.
I was perturbed at one point to spot a pair of eyes peering at me through a high narrow window, before I realised it was looking in to the ladies toilets above the sinks! Whether this is design flourish or a construction error, I guess we’ll never know. It was entertaining to see the odd brow get plucked and cheeks rouged though.
The plan for Downstairs is to run regular Friday night live events, maybe comedy as well 
as music, and on other nights to have a DJ. It felt grown-up and cool and the involvement of ex Ronnie Scotts manager Iain Ross-Mackenzie (aka “Gonzo”) is sure to keep people rolling up. We asked Gonzo about dress code because this end of town is notoriously picky, and gladly his response was that it’s meant to be a cool relaxed place, so no need for suits and shoes. That said, it is unmistakably somewhere for the chic so I wouldn’t rock up in a hoody and gym shoes and expect to get let in!
We’ll gladly go back to eat in the restaurant, and when we want that kind of night with the right group of friends we’d go back to Downstairs too. It’s early days but I’ve no doubt the business eagles at Town&Country will have this place fully fledged within a couple of weeks.
Another destination venue to add to the ever growing list on the Birmingham scene.
Friday sees the launch of Summer Row’s latest venue, Fleet Street Kitchen. They’ll be lighting their Barbacoa Grill for diners, mixing cocktails, and the House Jammerz will be playing Downstairs at FSK’s inaugural Friday Night Live.
The House Jammerz have established themselves as one of the UK’s must have acts, taking Club, House and Dance classics to a whole new exciting level. Attention to detail, unrivalled live production and quality musicianship combine to deliver a show that never disappoints. Featuring a host of top vocalists, either individually or in combination, the House Jammerz experience is not to be missed.
Friday Night Live will run fortnightly in the hideaway bar “Downstairs at Fleet Street Kitchen” and will invite a host of the UK’s top lounge acts to its stage. If you don’t have a table booked in the restaurant but want a chance to see House Jammerz on 1st March call 0121 236 0100 for ticket info. Downstairs will be open Friday and Saturday nights until 2am.
FSK is sure to be one of Brum’s hot tickets over the next few months so read our review (coming soon) and decide whether you need to book a table ASAP!
On Saturday 2nd March The Birmingham Whisky Club will host the first Whisky Birmingham festival which will bring together major distilleries and brand owners such as Pernod Ricard and Morrison Bowmore. Festival-goers will have the opportunity to sample around one hundred whiskies from some of the whisky world’s most celebrated distillers, brand owners and bottlers during this special event. The festival will be held in the heart of Birmingham at The Bond in Digbeth.
Festival organiser and founder of the The Birmingham Whisky Club, Amy Seton, commented: “We are incredibly excited to be bringing the first ever large-scale whisky festival to Birmingham. The Birmingham Whisky Club was set up in 2011 and has gone from strength to strength – it’s clear that city residents love their whisky, which is why we thought it was the right time to stage something bigger. We’re hoping the festival will appeal not only to the seasoned whisky drinker, but to complete novices who would like to learn more about this historic drink”.
Amy is a big fan of Birmingham’s blossoming food and drink scene and the festival will be an opportunity for some of the independents to showcase themselves alongside an extensive and sometimes unusual choice of whiskies. Kings Heath’s Capeling & Co. cheesemonger will host a whisky and cheese pairing session with The Whisky Shop (from The Great Western Arcade). Cigar retailers Hollingsworth (also from The Great Western Arcade) and Hunters & Frankau will team up for a cigar and whisky tasting. Birmingham’s Soul Food Project will cater the event with their signature Deep South cuisine. Finally guests will be invited to select their ‘dream dram’ at the end of the day and enjoy some final drinks in the after-hours speakeasy, hosted by Glenfiddich and local whisky bar The Victoria.
Tickets for Whisky Birmingham are on sale now and cost £25 for entry into the main festival. They can be purchased at http://www.whiskybirmingham.co.uk, which also contains the full festival line-up and schedule. For the chance to win tickets to the festival you can visit their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheBirminghamWhiskyClub.
[Note some material has been sourced from press release.]
A hideaway from the bustle of Brindley Place and Broad Street, Oozells Square already boasts restaurants Piccolinos, Cielo, and Thai Edge. However the award for most beautiful building on the square has to go to the neo-gothic Oozells Street School building which houses renowned contemporary art venue The Ikon Gallery. The gallery occupies the prime position on the sunny side of the square, and on the 26th February its café and terrace will become the little sister venue to Opus Restaurant in the Colmore Business District.
There’s been a real push on the café scene in Birmingham over the last twelve months and Opus director Ann Tonks said: “Cafés and coffee shops are a growing part of the sector during this recession, so we are expanding into an area which is particularly strong. The concept for this ‘little sister’ venue is that it will have the same focus on quality British produce and good value as we do at Opus, but in a less formal setting”.
It won’t be somewhere just to pop in to for a coffee-to-go as Ann goes on: “The concept will offer relaxed all-day dining, which means it’s as suited to young mums bringing their kids for lunch as it is to workers looking to share a bottle of wine to unwind after a hard day in the office on our new revamped terrace.
“At the weekend, it will offer the chance to have a lazy brunch with the papers with lashings of fresh coffee or perhaps even a Virgin Mary or two”.
So that the terrace can be enjoyed in as much of the year as possible they’ll have umbrellas (the largest in Birmingham, they boast), heaters, and if you’re still chilly you can borrow thermal blankets.
Café Opus at Ikon promises unfussy British classics such as boiled egg and soldiers (£2.50) or creamy forest mushrooms and tarragon on toast (£3.50), served at any time of day or evening. More substantial meals will include slow-cooked ox cheeks with creamy polenta (£7.50) or a salad of black beluga lentils with Rosary goats cheese, pine nuts and lemon oil (£5.50).
The Opus directors Ann Tonks, Irene Allan and David Colcombe, originally founded Bank in Brindley Place but left in 2005 to set up Opus. We’ve heard from a source close to the new venture that if it’s a success it may not be the only Café Opus to open this year – so the team obviously still have high ambitions!
The Ikon Gallery features artists from around the world with a regular programme of exhibitions and events – definitely opportunities for tying in a cultural trip here with a spot of brunch!
A refurbishment is currently underway in the café, with the design created by Suzanne Barnes Design Partnership, who also created Opus Restaurant’s distinctive look. I’m looking forward to the Sunday morning eggs and soldiers already!
See pictures hereunder for the design concept they’re going for, supplied by Suzanne Barnes Design Partnership:
[Note some material has been sourced from press release.]
OUT IN BRUM 