145. Deeley Goes To Hampton Manor.

   Local former Masterchef The Professionals champion, Stuart Deeley, whose ambitions to open his own restaurant have been severely hampered by the pandemic and associated ‘lockdowns’ is now reported to be taking up work as Development chef - someone, as you might guess, whose role is to assist Head chef Darren Meacham at Peel’s at Hampton Manor in the preparation of the restaurant in Solihull which is often viewed as, though geographically incorrectly, being Birmingham’s sixth Michelin starred restaurant. Deeley had announced a few months ago that he identified a building in Edgbaston as the location of his own new restaurant but presumably that plan has been ended, or perhaps just delayed, by the third lockdown which will effectively come to an end on 17 May when the government will allow hospitality businesses to reopen and restaurants to serve groups of up to six diners indoors.

  An event titled ‘Stu’s stopover’ is planned in which diners will be served a special meal which includes the dishes that helped him to win the 2019 Masterchef The Professionals final. Deeley trained at Simpsons and then was Head chef at The Wilderness until his Masterchef victory and has since been involved with Simpsons’ Antona At Home home delivery food programme during part of the ‘lockdown’ period.

  The usually hopeless Birmingham City Council has set up some stalls selling food and drink in Victoria Square so that, preferably on a fine day, of which there have been very few in the past 3 weeks or so, Brummies and visitors can sit out at the tables, nicely socially distanced, provided under the gaze of Queen Victoria’s statue and have a taste of what’s on offer. Pleasingly, when I was passing the other day, I discovered that the Michelin Plated south Asian restaurant, Asha’s, had occupied one of the stalls and I sat in the transient sun (earlier there had been transient snow), enjoying the general emptiness of the city centre and feasting on some deliciously and perfectly prepared kebabs accompanied by a spicy, creamy sauce and some cheeky hot slices of red onion. What a very joyous pleasure it was.