70. Disappointment In The Wilderness At Star Result.

   Kray Treadwell, the young Brummie who latterly worked in Michael O’Hare’s Leeds restaurant The Man Behind The Curtain and made a notable impact in the 2019 Great British Menu BBC television programme, did some pop-up cooking at The Craft Dining Rooms in the International Convention Centre (ICC) in the city centre on 13 September 2019 and was due to repeat his appearance there on the coming Friday, 11 October 2019 but has now pulled out from the commitment. He made a similar no-show when he was due to cook with Alex Claridge at Nocturnal Animals in mid-July 2019. Both appearances were advertised to the public so we will all hope that an expected appearance in November will actually take place.

 Clearly feeling the need to express his feelings publically at having missed out on a Michelin star at last night’s awards ceremony Alex Claridge, Chef patron of The Wilderness, has sent out an e mail to his customers mentioning his and his staff’s profound disappointment and thanking his staff for their continued support and pledging to keep turning out fine food for his customers.

  The reasons for the award or non-award of a Michelin star are as mysterious as the Schleswig-Holstein question or the solution to the Brexit conundrum. Likely as much there is no solution. Stars mean a lot to a chef and quite rightly too and Claridge would probably be more likely to be awarded a star if his restaurant were in London, the Lake District or Dublin - places where the London-centric (plus a nice trip out-preference) inspectors want to be (not poor old Birmingham). But he can draw reassurance that at least he’s not in the Michelin-star deserts of Manchester or Liverpool. Let’s just hope that he keeps beavering away here in Birmingham and that his efforts are eventually recognised and rewarded by a passing Michelin inspector breaking his journey on the road from London to the Lake District.

69. Birmingham’s New Star.

  The Michelin Star awards ceremony held this evening (Monday 7 October) was, as usual, a mixture of long drawn-out tedium and toe curlingly cringeworthy moments. Really the organisers should get someone to introduce the whole shabang who actually knows how to ask questions of men who are obviously generally socially inept (except when in the company of fellow chefs especially if the chefs are men). In fact cutting out the questioning altogether would be a step that everyone would welcome. But the show had everything - a weeping Japanese chef, an Irishman well in his cups who wrestled Raymond Blanc to the floor in his state of half-drunken euphoria, a heavy sprinkling of swear words, numerous words of gratitude to various chefs’ mothers, a young and highly successful chef who pronounced that both he and his wife had been ‘going mental’ and a remarkable 

demonstration that the Michelin inspectors were all cashing in on their Irish second passports by sprinkling stars across that island.

  But from our point of view all that mattered was that Aktar Islam’s sublime Opheem has been awarded a Michelin star, the first Asian restaurant outside London to be so honoured. And deservedly so. Birmingham is back to 5 stars and Aktar has bolstered the city’s gastronomic reputation. In his on stage interview Aktar could not help but attribute his success to using his mother’s recipes. I for one would have been quite happy to see Mrs Islam on the stage along with him receiving her share of the Award!

  There were no other stars for Birmingham chefs and, though some thought it might happen, Adam’s did not increase its star score. In all there were 23 new one starred restaurants, 1 new 2 star restaurant which did not previously have a star at all, 2 new stars made up from 1 star and 1 new 3 star. Stars were sprinkled liberally over Ireland which makes me think that the inspectors are looking for a bolthole in the event of Brexit actually taking place.

  Meanwhile there is also good news for the West Midlands with the award of a Michelin star to chef Lee Westcott at Pensoms in Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire. My paternal grandmother was born there before coming to Birmingham in 1911 to work at the Bell Inn (long since closed and demolished) in Northfield and so the pleasant little town of Tenbury has a special place in my heart and the news is particularly pleasing to me. 

  Finally it’s worth mentioning that Manchester, which hilariously has not had a single Michelin-starred restaurant despite the city’s ‘second city’ pretensions for forty years, finally finds itself with a starred restaurant in the form of Mana. If it can get another four it’ll be starting to look a little more like a ‘second city’.

68. New Bib Gourmand In West Midlands.

  Michelin announced the names of the Bib Gourmand award winners a couple of days ahead of the 2020 awards ceremony to take place in west London.
  The West Midlands gained one and lost one while there were a total of 22 new Bib Gourmands handed out nationally which were more than cancelled out by 33 deletions bringing the total in the Guide to 132.
  Made By Bob in Cirencester was deleted from the list but pleasingly The Duncombe Arms in Ellastone in Staffordshire received the award for the first time. The Inn at Welland in Great Malvern/Welland (Worcestershire) and The Charlton Arms in Ludlow (Shropshire) both retain their Bibs.
  The publication of the Michelin Star winners for 2020 is awaited with the usual degree of  anticipation.