73. Starting Off 2020 At Folium, Legna Closes.

  For the first gastronomic self-indulgence of 2020,  a regular lunch companion and myself set off for Caroline Street in the Jewellery Quarter, stopping off at Ginger’s Bar in Purnell’s Bistro in Newhall  Street for a couple of wonderful cocktails (I’m rather hooked on Penicillin at present), to have lunch at Ben Tesh’s sublime Folium. It’s a while since I’d last been able to go there much to my regret and it was with excited anticipation that my friend and I stepped into the calmly decorated restaurant which sadly was rather quieter than I should have liked to have seen it - the excellence of Ben Tesh’s food should really ensure that the place is packed with diners for every service

  Two very happy hours of feeding followed. Many of Tesh’s dishes are exquisite with beautiful if sometimes rather understated presentations at times. A set lunch was all that was on offer but there was no need for regret as every dish was very fine, frequently delicious and a pleasure to have set down before oneself.

  The menu offered ‘Tart of Cornish crab and frozen duck liver’ - the first of the many delightful dishes to be brought to our table (I do like the service at Folium), the inevitable sourdough bread - but a fine example of this little pleasure, a perfectly delicious Tartare of mackerel with little balls of marinated cucumber and wasabi (a dish that proved once and for all that cucumber does have another role other than to put in one’s glass of Hendrick’s or Pimm’s no 1), a happy but delicate chunk of cod with cured pork fat and preserved white asparagus with which we indulged ourselves on paluga caviar though afterwards we thought that perhaps we needn’t have, a fabulous short rib of wagyu beef cooked over Binchotan with flowingly smooth Inca gold potato and black garlic, perfection in the memorable form of ‘sheep yoghurt sorbet, frozen spruce and lemon thyme’ with a conclusion to the meal in the form of ‘Madagascar chocolate, frozen burnt cream and cobnut crumb’.

  Folium is undoubtedly one of Birmingham’s finest restaurants whether or not it has a star. Ben Tesh’s cooking can not be praised enough. Perhaps he’s a little quiet in projecting his restaurant and other more outward-going chefs are getting more attention than they deserve in comparison with him but those who have dined at Folium must know that the restaurant really does offer exceptionally fine dining in the city of an increasing number of fine restaurants.

  Unlike many others, I was not surprised by the result of the general election in December. Similarly I was not surprised, though others were, to read that Aktar Islam has closed down his Italian-style restaurant, Legna. Why was I not surprised? Birmingham has too many expensive restaurants and to keep going in the face of such competition means you have to be really very good and based on my one visit there (recounted in Blog 50, 1 March 2019) Legna was not as good as it needed to be (though we might note that it was awarded a Michelin plate in the 2020 Michelin Guide and listed in Harden’s Guide 2020 but interestingly was not mentioned in The Good Food Guide 2020).
  Aktar Islam blamed costs associated with the building in which Legna was situated as the reason for its closure and said that he would concentrate on two new restaurants that he plans to open soon including the Argentinian- style Pulperia due to open in two to three weeks time in Brindley Place.

Legna’s scruffy ‘Bolognese’