311. Gulp. Taste The JQ.

One of the fun things about Kaye Winwood’s Gulp is finding it. And when you’ve found it, there’s the thrill of the steep Victorian stairs up to the dining room itself (I love it, I can live out any Sherpa Tensing fantasies I might have had though as I’m not very happy when I’m more than six inches off the ground those fantasies have always been rather limited. But the ascent is a thrill, no doubt about it.

Then there’s the warm greeting from Kaye and a quick conversation with someone who is really interested in her work. Then there’s the gaze around the dining room - intimate and fascinating, with its deeply rich wallpaper on the theme of fruit and the gorgeous quirkily shaped glass lightshade and the art hanging in the walls contributing its own appropriate part to the overall atmosphere. There’s the table laid and bearing the first hints of what may becoming along. And then there’s the guests who have been attracted by Kaye’s promise of an experience that is clearly going to be something’different’ and who really are a very eclectic bunch.

There are now many rare and wonderful gastronomic experiences available in Birmingham - remember, The Good Food Guide pronounced it to be the most exciting food city in Britain just last autumn - but Kaye Winwood’s Gulp, food built around art - not the chef as artist with which we are perfectly familiar, but the artist as restaurateur, may presently be the most extraordinary of them all. But remember - art is the dominant element - she is an artist who expresses herself through her concepts of food and diners will be intrigued to find out how her mind works exploring these artistic concepts.

And so for my latest excursion into an artist’s expression of art through the medium of food - Taste The JQ - an exploration of the textures and flavours, and even the visual aspects, of a walk around the Jewellery Quarter. The menu was a map starting off in Spencer Street at the home of Gulp and then sauntering on to Key Hill cemetery, past the Warstone and on to St Paul’s Square where the pigeons are under pressure from the gulls (a relevant point in the context of this meal) and so back to Gulp.

And so our gastronomic perambulation began. We started off at Gulp itself where the pink logo served as inspiration for a delightful savoury meringue of beetroot and goats cheese - classic ingredient combinations but totally delightful. Light as a whisper - and there it was gone - and we set off for Key Hill where the cemetery was the inspiration for the next course (how often can you say that?). There was a combined plate of Headstone - a cracker with labneh and luscious sweet red peppers - and Gravestone - rye bread with a butter bean spread and pickled red onion and the taste of sumac with tasty cemetery soil scattered around, made from olives and bread, with pea shoots giving us the greenery of the cemetery served with a side-plate of Moss (that grows on the stones - a beignet-like sphere, courgette in origin, boosted by the flourish of nori.

Then to the sweet elements of the tea which are arrived at by proceeding to the War stone. Firstly a quite miraculous brownie made from chocolate and mushrooms though one was hardly aware of the mushroom element (one or two participants felt they could get the hint of them); no matter, though not being a fan of the brownie, I thoroughly enjoyed this specimen. There was also a Warscone, prepared from sesame and white chocolate, to be dressed with a delightful rose petal jam. The sesame was too strong a flavour for me and there was also more sweetness than I enjoy but my fellow tea-takers enjoyed the mock scone.

After moving on to St Paul’s Square, we were assailed by the seagulls there who seem to be rivals to the local pigeons by a pleasing Lemon droppings, basically a lemon drizzle cake with lots of drizzle which looked suspiciously, as was intended, like the products of egestion of the St Paul’s seagulls - a witty little jest - though I think I should have liked the flavour of the lemon to be more pronounced. The dish was nicely adorned by an edible paper feather.

We moved on, the tour almost over. And we arrived at the Jewellery shops and factories that give the area its name. Having previously been served hibiscus and mint tea, a cup of black tea with a spray of rose perfume was poured out and Bullion, a mixed spice and sultana cake, zinging with cinnamon, and with a cross on it to note the recent Easter holiday, was served to conjure up a gold ingot. This was a lovely cake. Then, finally, a ring box containing an exciting gem was presented to each guest. Inside was a jewel, 28 Carat, a pleasing raspberry jelly.