72. Craft Dining Rooms.

   And so, a quick mention of my pleasurable visits to Craft Dining Rooms in the International Convention Centre.

 My first trip to Craft Dining Rooms was in mid-November 2019 for an early dinner and I derived such pleasure from the whole meal that I have returned twice since then - for lunch and for Sunday lunch. Such joys! Since my first visit Andrew Sheridan has moved in as chef (see Blog 71) but before his time I found the food to be delicious and excellent. The only real fault with the restaurant was the chilly atmosphere (literally not metaphorically) and I do hope the heating problems will be soon sorted out.

  The meal which captured my attention and ensured I was to become a devotee of Craft Dining Rooms was made up of a starter of Roast diver-caught scallop with bacon, apple and baby gem (a delight), ‘Arthur Wellesley 18615 Beef Wellington’ with caramelised onion, creamed Duke potato and Wiltshire truffle which I thought was a magnificent dish (I read a review by a food critic in a Wolverhampton newspaper who had obviously been in a grumpy mood the evening he’d dined at the CDR because he found no pleasure whatsoever in this splendid Wellington - a lesson to us all to take the opinions of professional critics with a pinch of salt) and then a highly original carrot cake trifle which was enjoyable but not the best dessert I have had (I’m not a dessert person and to really thrill me a pudding really has to come up with something extraordinary) but still very edible.

  A couple of weeks later I had lunch at CDR with a regular lunching companion. Again the food was enjoyable though we learned that English red wines still have some way to go.

  This restaurant is high on my list of places to dine in Birmingham and I look forward to experiencing Andrew Sheridan’s fayre as he settles in. These are exciting time for Birmingham food lovers.

Some further pretty gems:-