183. Autumn Tidbits; Michelin Ignores The Midlands Again.

 

  Lucy The Labrador and I passed another 3 days in Birmingham city centre feeling rather comfortable and pleased with ourselves at The Grand Hotel where Lucy is something of an icon. Autumn had suddenly arrived with a vengeance, no more Indian summer but 36 hours of remorseless rain resulting in wet humans and soggy dogs. This was a midweek stay. The hotel was now busy with charmless businessmen, their time devoted to the making of money. I have long held that there are many in England who have a lot of money but are still as common as the Beckhams and Blairs. It appeared many of that ilk were staying at The Grand during our visit.

  Breakfast provided me with a shock. A buffet system has been introduced and while the products remain high quality one’s timing needs to be immaculate to ensure that the food is even mildly warm. The worst sight of the morning was an almost empty tray of dried out scrambled egg remnants, badly in need of replacing, but a rather vacant young man put in charge of it all did not seem to appreciate that such a need existed. He was more willing than able, it seemed. Matters, however, were soon put right when a senior person arranged for me to have freshly prepared plate of scrambled egg delivered to my table though even then things would have been better still if chef had recognised how much the addition of some salt enhances the flavour of scrambled egg.

  All around me, busy looking businessmen were playing with their mobile phones whilst shovelling great lumps of food, gannet-like, into their busy businessmen mouths. One charming individual, not far from me, thought it was a good idea to carry out a COVID-19 lateral flow test at the breakfast table. It was one of those occasions when one thinks, “Well now I’ve seen everything”. A charming member of the front of house staff picked up on my repugnance at this business-beast’s behaviour and asked if I would like her to speak to him but really this was not the fault of the hotel nor its staff and one hardly wishes to find them being put in an awkward position because of the disgusting behaviour of one of the guests. 

  I surveyed my fellow breakfasters around the room, mostly ‘busy businessmen’, all with a sense of self-entitlement bigger than Yorkshire, hardly any of them capable of eating food in a civilised manner but reduced to stone age shovellings of colossally-sized boulders of food into their gaping maws. England has very little to thank America for - and here’s another example - our restaurants serve unnecessarily huge amounts of food, à l’Americaine, and the English have learned to wolf down these vast piles of barely cut-up food using their forks like garden spades with no sense of just how disgusting they look. And now, why not blow your nose loudly over breakfast and then shove a stick up it for good measure to try to bring a crop of coronavirus into the outside world?

  The previous evening I had had a much pleasanter experience in the Madeleine Bar. Those who know (The Tatler) have ruled that while one may now use the word ‘toilet’ without being considered to be common (it has taken many decades to reach this point), the drinking of negronis is common. So obviously choosing a negroni was out (possibly one may still ask for a Boulevardier without committing a social indiscretion worthy of Posh Spice). Regardless, I opted for a Margarita and very good it was too (confirmed by a second glass of said pleasurable liquid) and suppered firstly on The Grand’s rather fine prawn cocktail and afterwards on the wondrous (and huge - too much for me but then I’m neither an American nor a busy businessman) The Grand’s charcuterie and cheese platter which was probably intended to be for sharing and would have been had dogs been allowed in the bar (Lucy would not be averse to a tidbit of robust flavoured venison salami). I rounded off supper with an impeccable Brandy Alexander which was flawlessly luxurious and simply the right drink at that time of night.

  After breakfast, Lucy and I set off for a walk around town and passed a sight worth mentioning when thinking about the city’s gastronomic history. Towards the furthermost end of Corporation Street, next door to the spectacular Victoria Law Courts Building, one comes across the Pitman Building which housed the Pitman Vegetarian Restaurant (see Blog 180) from the late 1880s to the 1930s and was famously visited by Mahatma Gandhi during his tour of England in 1931.There is a plaque fixed to the building which dates back to 1998 marking the Centenary of the opening in the building of the first ‘Health Food Store’

  

  Across the road from the Pitman Building is a building which once housed the Court Restaurant, presumably the place to which those who had business in the Law Courts would repair for lunch to prepare for the afternoon session. A building of its age, grandly decorated and barely noticed, surrounded as it is by other fine Victorian constructions, part of Birmingham’s gastronomic history. An photograph dating to 1961 found on the internet shows the Court Restaurant being used a first storey south Asian restaurant called The Light Of Asia located above a pharmacy and under a ‘Hair and scalp clinic’.

  It was the last Wednesday of the month which meant that the Michelin Guide was to release at midday the names of the latest restaurants to be added to the Guide. Given previous form it was not surprising to discover that absolutely no Midlands restaurants were included on this present list of nine; unsurprisingly two are located in Dublin which is the place that Michelin inspectors seem to be most in love with at present and there are also two in London inevitably, one in Belfast (33% of the list therefore located on the island of Ireland improbably), one in Scotland (genteel Edinburgh), two Up North (York and Manchester) and two Down South (Sussex and Reading).

  Not for the first time I am driven to wonder if Michelin inspectors ever pull off one of the northbound motorways to drop in on a Midlands county. Well occasionally but only, it seems, to visit places they have visited before. There is just one recent Michelin inspector Tweet from The Midlands to report - from Salt in Stratford upon Avon on 19 September. Perhaps they called in there on the way to Birmingham Airport to catch a flight to Dublin.

182. Docket No. 33.

 

 

 And so to the furthest north westerly edge of the West Midlands. Two miles from a foreign country (Wales) and two miles from the strange and barbaric place known as The North (well Cheshire actually which really ought to be in The Midlands but was annexed by posh people in Manchester who could not actually bear to live in the real North). Anyway this is where West Midlands restaurants end and where Salford-based BBC luvvies begin to dominate culture, be it gastronomic or otherwise, and which apparently is in need of jolly well being uplevelled. Which nobody can deny.

  But on this side of the very edge of our Mercian civilisation stands the town which the dog and I are visiting - Whitchurch. This is a very, very, some would say profoundly, quiet town. In the daytime you can stand still, listen to the noise around you and hear nothing, absolutely nothing. Silence. It’s my cup of tea for that reason alone. It’s picturesque and famously is home to the restaurant, Docket No 33,  belonging to chef patron Stuart Collins who was the Central region champion chef in the most recent Great British Menu (see Blogs 136-38). And that is why Lucy The Labrador and I are here in the furthest reaches of our region close to strange lands.

  Front of house is so important to the enjoyment of a meal and few lead a team better than Frances Collins, chef’s wife, business partner and restaurant manager, who exudes the sense of welcome mixed with meticulous competence. The Michelin-plated restaurant is decorated meticulously too with completely apt contemporary art coupled with relaxed comfort. And the taster menu comes up trumps at a very user-friendly price and an equally sensibly-priced wine flight. This is good and my fussy dining companion and I are in a thoroughly good mood.

  I am not at all disappointed to find the chick pea chip, which I have grown to love on my visits to Purnell’s, on the menu (see Blog 50). It is accompanied by a tasty smoked garlic dip and served at the same time as an exquisite golden beetroot tartlet, the pastry as finely crispy as you could wish, all made very pretty with red veined sorrel leaves. The chips, alas, are not as firm in their texture as Purnell’s’ are and fail to thrill me. Purnell’s chickpea chips are smaller and it may be that the chickpea contents are more compressed to give a firmer texture. The bread is not our favourite though my dining companion likes the poppy seeds in it and Appleby’s whey butter does not really float our boat either. Perhaps the option of a little accompanying salt would be the solution.

  Next mackerel. Oh dear, I’m always moaning about mackerel and it’s ubiquity. But this is a great mackerel dish. This fish lacks the aggressive flavour with which I often feel assaulted when mackerel shows its face. It’s beautifully delicate mackerel with a perfectly crisp skin and the accompanying gooseberry in particular adds to the pleasure of it all. Then a course noteworthy for the texture of the King Oyster mushroom complemented  by little blobs of truffled goats curd with other ingredients. Some meticulous work here but, being rather curmudgeonly I’m afraid, a course made up of a slice of mushroom  seems a little inconsequential despite the cleverness of it. Then to the focal point. A fine piece of blushingly pink Mangalitsa pork cooked sous vide but beautifully finished off served with a delightful little faggot on a butternut squash purée and hispi cabbage. The failure of some meals is that the main course is often not the highlight and sometimes the biggest disappointment. This was certainly not the case with this excellent dish.

  The dessert too was very pleasing. It came on a stick which seems to be the case in quite a lot of restaurants at present. It was also a chocolate dessert as is so often now the case nationwide. Myself, lacking in sophistication, bitter chocolate desserts even when coupled with elements to bring some sweetness and to cut the richness, just do not bring me to a happy place. But this pleasurable chocolate lolly was tasty and painless for me, the dark chocolate being cut through with the sweetness of toffee flavour. That’s the way to do it. But that was only half the pleasure as the lolly sat on the lid of a dish which when removed revealed such a dish of delights as to bring a “wow” to one’s lips. 

  Stuart Collins had delivered the goods. My fussy companion and my curmudgeonly self both agreed we had had an excellent evening of fine, delightful food - you can not be gushing about everything, after all. We both felt that a trip to the furthest borders of civilisation had been well worthwhile and the price for such an excellent meal had represented exceptionally good value. Is Shropshire still the culinary epicentre county of the West Midlands? Quite possibly.

 I should have also liked to visit Whitchurch’s other Michelin-plated restaurant, Wild Shropshire, but as Whitchurch is closed for most of the week (Sunday to Wednesday) it was only possible to go to Docket No 33 on this particular visit to this sleepy town. Docket No 33 is fully booked until April 2022. Stuart Collins came out to speak to his diners as service drew to a close. I annoyed myself in that I forgot to ask him why the restaurant is called Docket No 33. That’s a question that will just have to wait until next time.

181. Three Days.

  I passed the weekend staying in town at The Grand Hotel and took the opportunity to relive some restaurants where I had recently enjoyed some very happy dining experiences. 

  Firstly dinner at The Oyster Club. Naturally rather more expensive than the excellent lunch deal by which I experienced the restaurant’s excellent fish and chips (see Blog 173) but worth every penny. To start I had the wondrous fish charcuterie platter with delightful thin slices of elderberry cured sea trout and supremely delicious monkfish accompanied by excellent pickles and a witty little fish-shaped helping of crème fraiche. An irreproachable first course.

  

Then on to a magnificent whole roasted Dover sole on the bone. A stupendous dish beautifully cooked and enhanced by being served with little slices of razor clams, pickled grapes and verjus sauce. This was a right royal sole and right royally was he appreciated. For dessert a very enjoyable powerfully flavoured dish of strawberry and lemon verbena panacotta with honeycomb and caramelised white chocolate to give texture though I have to say there are times I do not always want to be crunching and nibbling but just enjoying soft creaminess without exercising my jaws.

  I was sorry to hear that the restaurant manager is about to leave to go to live in France just as I was getting to appreciate her undoubted skills. 

 

  

For Saturday evening dinner I walked the short distance from The Grand to Chamberlain Square for another visit to Dishoom (see Blog ). I was pleased that I had made a table reservation as there was a sizeable queue waiting to be admitted. The place was buzzing, the staff as always were scurrying back and forth delivering an impeccable and attentive service to the colony of gannets seated at the tables. What an atmosphere. This must be the nearest thing to India in the city centre. What a disaster for the Hollywood actor, Tom Cruise, who was recently in the city while filming a movie, that the people responsible for entertaining him during his stay, took him along to Asha’s (see Blog 171) rather than to Dishoom - just sitting in the hubbub of the place is a memorable experience. Of course he famously ordered a second helping of chicken tikka masala at Asha’s. I personally would have ordered a half-helping of the spicy chicken biryani I chose on this occasion not because it was not enjoyable but because of the very generous size of the portion. I ate it with a helping of roomali roti, the thin bread I had eaten on my previous visit which just suited me. In the end I could indeed only eat half the portion and the rest was boxed up for me and I enjoyed it at home a couple of days later. It would not be true to say that this was a great dish but it was a pleasing bit of warming, tasty, filling nosh that we should all enjoy when we’re exhausted by eats which are so exquisitely presented that they take several minutes to plate up.

 

 Another food experience that I had not yet indulged myself in was the incredibly low priced Sunday lunch at Pulperia. I now corrected this foolish omission. I started with a gorgeous plate of smoky, tangy chorizo matched with heritage tomatoes which were quite tasty given the general poor quality of this year’s tomatoes and the refreshing zing of chimichurri.

  Then the roast arrived, sweet rose-pink slices of roast beef with many trimmings including an estimable, perfectly crispy Yorkshire pudding and numerous trimmings which each made their own contribution to enhance the pleasure - creamy shreds of cabbage with bacon, an admirably cheesy cauliflower, more well roasted potatoes than I could manage and unctions roasted carrot, some of the slices almost gooey with honey. A seriously fine Sunday lunch. For these delights just £25 for the two courses and a full stomach. I had nothing more than ice cream as a dessert but this gave the restaurant’s excellent sommelier the chance to let me try the still off-menu South American dessert wine which was a happy experience. This young lady knows her subject and has an impressive career ahead of her.

  So that was it. Three excellent Birmingham food experiences in as many days.

  Which brought me round to thinking of a list of the ten must do food experiences in Birmingham at this present time and so, in no particular order:-

1. Exciting, cutting edge Indian cuisine at Opheem.

2. Have a special occasion dinner at Purnell’s for yourself and a group of friends and family.

3. Soak up the exhilarating atmosphere over Friday night dinner at Dishoom.

4. Indulge yourself in Sunday lunch at Pulperia.

5. Experience the sheer glamour of afternoon tea in the Madeleine bar at The Grand Hotel.

6. Venture into Digbeth to dine at 670 Grams to experience just what Birmingham’s most exciting Michelin Young Chef of the Year is serving up.

7. Dinner - or lunch - at classy, precise, polished and very fine Adam’s.

8. Go wild and be utterly thrilled by dinner at The Wilderness which has fine tuned itself to near perfection since the pandemic began.

9. Off to the international Conference Centre for dinner at Craft Dining Rooms. No need to sit in a pod unless you really must and About Eight might be more than you really need, personally I opt for sitting in the dining room and hoping that the beef Wellington is on the menu.

10. Fish and Chips for lunch at The Oyster Club (or Dover sole for dinner).

 And here’s a possibility:- 

Not yet experienced (but reservation made), take a little journey to Hampton Manor and Smoke, Stuart Deeley’s new gaff.

  Meanwhile it’s interesting to observe which West Midlands restaurants the Michelin Guide has been mentioning in its Twitter account recently. Birmingham and the West Midlands are not featured too often in comparison with dining establishments in London, the Home Counties, the North and its present obsession, Ireland, and quite what an appearance on Michelin’s Twitter account means I couldn’t say but it may mean that the featured restaurant’s present Michelin status is being considered (and all the Twitter appearances are positive ones). So just for the record here they are:-

29 August The Wilderness.

18 August Harborne Kitchen

13 August Purnell’s

7 August Tailor’s of Warwick

3 August Wild Shropshire Whitchurch

14 July 670 Grams

 

  

  I look forward to seeing what’s happening in the Michelin Guide in these coming weeks to find out which other West Midlands restaurants are felt to be worth a tweet.

  

179. Ludlow Food Festival 2021 part 2.

  The market square outside Ludlow Castle had long, dense queues waiting to be admitted to the castle at the opening of the Saturday second day of the Ludlow Food Festival. Signs at the ticket collection vehicle announced that tickets for the Sausage Trail - this year renamed The Battle of the Bangers as it was to be located at a single site, outside Ludlow Brewery - for those unhappy Festival attendees who had not prebooked their attendance were all sold out. Lucy The Labrador however was not to have the highlight of her year snatched away from her as I had long acquired a pair of tickets for us both.

  I listened to a couple of talks during the day. The first was by Mark Harris of the Pheasant Inn in the small Shropshire village of Neenton who gave a fascinating insight into the way his restaurant worked with its local community. Afterwards, probably this year’s star, the 2021 Central region champion of the BBC’s Great British Menu, Stuart Collins of Docket 33 in Whitchurch. A star he may have been but a shy and modest one it seemed. Included in his demonstration was preparation of the choucroute which had had a prominent role in his winning GBM menu and during the demonstration he spoke a little about the filming of the programme. He revealed that the programme was filmed in real time with no retakes. The participating chefs are all accommodated in different hotels around Stratford upon Avon where the programme is filmed so that when they all meet up on the first day of the competition they really do not know who they are going to be up against. Chefs are approached to participate by the BBC and they are often given very short notice of the invitation. Stuart Collins revealed that he had not yet received an invitation to participate in the 2022 series but he would almost certainly accept if such an invitation was made.

  I should have liked to attend more of the cooking demonstrations but time was short and I had to head off to Ludlow Brewery to ensure that Lucy the Labrador and I arrived in time to get our share of sausages in the ‘Battle of the Bangers’ . We both voted for DH Griffiths’ fine banger which was a traditional English-style with a mild pepperiness, a little tastier than the sausage put forward for judging by DW Wall and Son but when all the votes were counted up the winner was Carters of Ludlow with a really rather spicy Mediterranean-style sausage.

Stuart Collins

  The highlight of the Saturday night of the 2021 Ludlow Food Festival was the Firefood banquet held for about 80 people in the banqueting hall of the inner. The castle may be a ruin but it was possible to travel back in time in one’s mind to feel what dining must have been like in medieval Ludlow. This was a wonderful event with delicious accompanying food. As the daylight faded away the atmosphere of the place combined with the light from the magnificent fire was little short of thrilling.

   An opening nibble in the form of a really hard crostini, which seemed like a potential risk to aging teeth was followed by a fabulous platter of Shropshire cheeses and  local charcuterie with figs. Sometimes simple is best and this was astounding accompanied as it was by scintillating fresh crusty bread. Then something rather spectacularly delicious - barbecued peaches with barbecued chicory, its bitter taste rendered sweet in the cooking - utterly memorable and one to try at home. Next an enormous helping of beautifully cooked chicken and chorizo paella and finally an intriguing burnt Basque cheesecake, it’s subtle soothing flavour a perfect foil to the spicy paella and a great way to end a highly memorable evening of very fine food.

  The Sunday sessions were less satisfactory. I walked into town to listen to what promised to be a great talk and demonstration titled ‘From Filth to Fine Dining’ by Thom Bateman of the Flintlock restaurant in Cheddleton, north Staffordshire, but the talk did not take place and was replaced by a brash American introducing an Irishman with a broad brogue and a line in foul language who combined to say obtusely nasty comments about the English who were paying their fees and inviting them to their festivals. I could only take a couple of minutes of the rubbish and left to go to the outer bailey stage where more by luck than design, I caught a hilarious cooking demonstration by Howard Middleton, made famous apparently by being a contestant on Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off which I usually find intolerable though I acknowledge that if it brought this short, camp, middle aged, side-splittingly funny, wholly incompetent Mancunian to public notice then it did after all serve up some human good. His hapless demonstration of how to produce a sponge cake with wafers on two sides was so hilariously full of errors accompanied by his  most delightfully funny comments that he reminded me of a joyous combination of Tommy Cooper, Larry Grayson, Frankie Howard and Les Dawson tinkling the ivories. A mesmerisingly enjoyable forty five minutes. And that was the end of the show. 

  Here’s to 9 to 11 September 2022.