544. Grace And Savour And Champagne.

 Who could resist the suggestion of a high summer evening at Grace and Savour where champagne is the centre piece paired with David Taylor’s fine cuisine? And what a summer’s evening - the sun perfectly warm but not overbearing, the sky blue, the breeze soothing, the setting gorgeous, the service charming.

Answer - certainly not I.

  This was a collaboration with Billecourt Salmon and included a serving of the company’s prestige cuvée, Elisabeth Salmon Rose vintage 2012 which was remarkable and retails for £179 though I very much enjoyed the non vintage Billecourt Salmon Demi-Sec which retails for £58.50 (in a gift box) and proved to be very quaffable when served with the dessert.

  After a sharply priced gin and tonic (£16) in the lovely, sunny sitting area, watching the arrival of the other diners, on to the dining area-proper for a nicely appointed table where I could enjoy the formal cabaret of David Taylor conducting his troops, front of house and kitchen, all smartly dressed, and the whole giving the impression of being a single organism, each part working in unison with the rest,  knowing precisely its role and carrying it out without falter.

  We started with a little bowl of Lavington lamb bone broth, precisely intensely flavoured, clear as a cloudless day and served with a delightful Parker House bread roll shaped like a mushroom and scintillating with the fresh summer flavour of sorrel vinegar. Did the sorrel mildly overwhelm the lamb? - possibly - but this was an enjoyable opening to the pleasure that lay ahead.

  Next came a little gem, modest in size but enormous in flavour - said to be a “celebration of carrot”,  it was far more exciting that its description sounds - a slice of white carrot under carrot tops with a gorgeous carrot and magnolia purée and buckwheat.

  Then the excitement continued to build with perfectly cooked, tender lobster with a sauce of roasted lobster shells and peach leaf - formidable - and a little salad of nasturtium and Isle of Wight tomatoes. There followed a delightful bread course - a slice of sourdough, like the previous Parker House loaf, baked on the estate, and served with a fine butter infused with the same grain from which the bread is made as well as a butter dip seasoned with fava bean miso and estate garden herbs.

  There followed an immaculately cooked piece of line-caught Cornish cod - as perfect a piece of cod as one might hope for - with a mussel and oyster cream sauce and pickled herb stems and caramelised onions. 

  Then, a very fine dish indeed - Lavinton lamb from Lincolnshire* meticulously cooked to the point of sublimity. Tender and sweet - the best lamb I have had this year beyond a doubt and I have had some great lamb so far in 2026. The lamb was served with a fine lamb sauce and the “first lettuce of the year”. Oh, the joy of early summer.

  Dessert was excellent and took the form of a slice of cream cheese with “last year’s blueberries” picked in the estate as well as blueberry icecream and brown butter. This was a thoroughly enjoyable dessert and the meal was rounded off with an unusual mignardise in the form of an icecream sandwich which was a blackcurrant parfait contained by two wafers.

  This has been an excellent evening and I ambled back to the manor so that my uber driver would have somewhere easily identifiable to pick me up from. The sun was just sinking towards the horizon and there was an orange light in the sky. I sat inside the reception area while awaiting my transport and reflected that this had been almost memorable early summer evening,

 * Lavinton lamb is raised by Sophie Arlott of Lavinton Farm in Lincolnshire. She crosses the Hebridean breed, an ancient breed dating back to when the Vikings brought sheep to these islands, with the Southdown - the former produces rich dark meat and the latter gives marbling and a sweetness to the meat.

2  July 2026.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.

543. 670 Grams.

 

It had been a while since I had last dined at Kray Tredwell’s impressive 670 Grams because, to be frank, I am not a lover of Digbeth and I find I have to summon up a special extra amount of energy to drag myself there. I was thinking that I really must get on and make a reservation at 670 Grams when out of the blue came an invitation from an acquaintance to join him there and of course I accepted immediately. A visit to 670 Grams was not to be missed.

  I arrived early and so took a walk around Alfred Works, a large and eclectic street food hall with multitudinous stalls and industrial pipes and ducts everywhere, opened not that long ago and belonging to a group which originated in Sheffield where I once worked and after retiring continued to visit from time to time. Its name is derived from that of Alfred Bird, the Custard King, the food hall being sited in the Custard Factory where once Bird’s workers produced the yellow powder and it is colourful, the music is cheery and the volume well judged, and those eating there - I hesitate to call them diners - are diverse in nationality but not in age, with all of them noshing on a wide range of fast food cuisines served, it seemed, in generous portions and all of it generally unappealing to a sensitive soul and a sensitive stomach but clearly all very agreeable to those there present, the total age of which barely added up to my own particular number of years. Still, there is room on this earth for all God’s creatures whether they like to dine fast or like to dine fine. Oh! To be young again. Or not, as the case may be.

  And so to the main event.

  We were seated in a lounge downstairs to drink aperitifs and consume canapés. The decor had been marvellously updated with Basquet-style art adding colour to the sparking white walls. It looked very clean and exciting and yet also relaxing. I had a lovely little cocktail which had the flavours of piña colada but not the look of it. The snacks were tasty - a cheese custard under sweet onion flavoured crunchy bits and a delicious soupçon of trout with chutney and coriander made even more interesting by the utensil it was served on. All very Kray Tredwell.

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  A 14 course tasting menu was underway. It was accurately judged to thrill the taste buds and fill the stomach without feeling excess. It really was very, very good. Not one morsel let down the meal, Every morsel was a true delight. There was ponzu jelly with wasabi and tuna, served in a lovely glass bowl with a golden spoon. What fun!

  Then Kray Tredwell’s Birmingham soup, originally sired by Matthew Boulton in 1796 to feed the masses and in the era of Modern British haute cuisine, rendered in fine dining style by Glynn Purnell as an unctious daube island in a fine beef broth and later still, by Brad Carter in his eponymous restaurant in Moseley. Tredwell’s Birmingham soup was poured over a mesmerisingly tasty piece of wagyu beef with “left over” herbs and a disgustingly joyous and sticky milk loaf served with an extravagantly presented butter, all of which which left me and my dining companion panting with pleasure as did the side plate of thin slices of hogget. A momentous dish. 

  Next came thin slices of scallop with Granny Smith apple and a pleasing buttermilk sauce and peas, to be followed by an acutely tasty chicken broth.

  There then came a pleasing agnolotto in a Thai green curry with a peanut satay to give a pleasing crunchy texture and much joy. Then Jersey Royals came on to the scene with crispy kombu. Lovely.

  The main, if there is such a beast in a multi-dish meal, was fabulous. The darling hogget, which was raised near Hereford, was a creature of the true flavour of sheep and the effect on my tastebuds was enhanced by the traditional and very sensible flavour of mint. This came with a spring cabbage parcel of hogget belly and the whole was a very fine dish, served as it was with a beignet-like bread, ideal for mopping up the accompanying sauce.

  Next came a lovely helping of jasmine rice ice cream with elderberry jelly and, as our tastebuds began to wind down, there was a seasonal presentation of strawberries and as a mignardise, a dinky little madeleine.

  A very fine meal. In the kitchen had been Kray Tredwell himself and his joint head chef Manuel Ribiero (joined April 2026 from Moor Hall  and previously Grace and Savour.  I returned two weeks later to enjoy myself again and once more dine from this magnificent menu when Sacha Townsend, the other joint head chef was in the kitchen (appointed April 2025) and can report that the presentation and substance of Tredwell’s food is consistent. It’s hard to understand why Michelin would not award 670 Grams a star based on these meals. The same is also true of Folium.

Photographs taken on my second visit to 670 Grams -

  I should note one problem. We were offered, at an additional price, a cheese course without being told the price and we not thinking to ask. The ‘cheese course’ turned out to be a small piece of fruit bread with a very appropriate combination of Baron Bigod and honey. It was delicious as this combination usually is - I make it at home and derive great pleasure from it. However the dish became less enjoyable when we discovered the price on the final bill - an astonishing £20. A delicious cheese course which left a bad taste in the mouth.

4 June 2026

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.