For a change I chose to lead my regular dining companion not to one of Birmingham’s fine dining or cutting edge restaurants but into the deepest Jewellery Quarter to Great Hampton Street where the historic The Church Inn dozed in the summer afternoon heat. In the history of Birmingham gastronomy this is a particularly interesting establishment to visit.
The hoary public house was taken over by Carl Finn in May 2013 who set up the Soul Food Project there in which the inn acted as a location for pop up events including Burns Night, Mardi Gras Night and French Resistance Night which included diners having to wear Second World War era costumes and having to duck under their tables every time an air raid siren was sounded. On one occasion a New Orleans-style funeral was staged which involved a procession through the streets of the Jewellery Quarter accompanied by the playing of a brass band. The Executive Chef there during this time, between May and December 2014, was Niki Astley who would go on to open his own restaurant, Two Cats, in 2015 in the building off Warstone Lane which is now home to The Wilderness. Finn eventually moved on and The Church is now a city centre pub which serves rustic meals in a location with as much character as you could wish for.
When we arrived there, there was a sleepiness about the place. The day was hot, the sun was bright and the skies were blue and the pub was almost empty but people kept arriving and disappearing through a door and I later deduced that they were probably all heading for a rooftop sun terrace to quaff the afternoon away. I thought I had made a reservation for the dining room but I was told that it was closed and giving that we appeared to be the only diners that seems hardly surprising. So we sat in the bar, lapsed into the quietness of it all, admired the character of the place and were amused by the menus on the tables which were housed in folders with covers with crosses on them - slightly sacrilegious I think - and ordered our pub food.
To start, we both chose the country terrine - described as being made up of chicken, black pudding and poached apple all wrapped up in prosciutto. This was really quite tasty and the accompanying red cabbage was something of a pleasure too.
Then I had chicken schnitzel which was clearly overcooked, the coating burnt in parts and the chicken itself dry textured. The accompanying Jersey Royal was very nicely cooked however but the large pile of leaves was dull and looking as though it was largely, if not entirely, made up of one of my bête noires, rocket, went untouched. My dining companion’s fish which had a nice light batter was also overcooked but his chips looked enormously successful; his main was completed by crushed peas and tartare sauce.
I had hoped that the rhubarb dessert would lift my gastronomic spirits but it was not available so I had some unremarkable ice cream while my companion polished off the bottle of wine we had shared.
A place to visit for a drink in an interesting setting with a side dish of gastronomic history to it; the rustic food was passable but very little better than that. Pity.
Rating:-🌛
No comments:
Post a Comment