370. New Years Day.

 

  With New Zealand celebrating the arrival of 2024 as I write this on New Year’s Eve, I have an excuse to title this piece New Years Day rather than New Years Eve - a looking ahead rather than a looking back. Though there are indeed rather a lot of pleasures to look back on.

  Among the best were - 

The first lunch out of the year at the charming Le Petit Bois, the first dinner at The Wilderness new menu for the new year, lunch at the sublime and soothing Folium, Kray Tredwell pairing with Ben Taylor at Le Petit Bois, the first lunch of the year at Purnell’s which can still deliver the goods, Sonal’s House Party at Atelier, Salt in very fine form, lunch at Cheal’s in its new home in Knowle, lunch at the newly opened Purnell’s Plates, enjoying a fine Chateaubriand Sunday lunch at the Oyster Club, the first trip of the year to Ludlow taking in Forelles, Mortimers and the French Pantry, discovering GULP and experiencing a lifetime of regret at missing its Italian Futurists dinner but being restored by participating in its Pasqua dinner, dinner at Grace & Savour under the direction of Nikita Pathakji (Masterchef The Professionals winner), the annual Shakespeare birthday lunch in Stratford (though more for whom one can spot there rather than the indifferent food, Adam’s 10th anniversary dinner, Marius Gedminas’ superb sushi sessions at Atelier (later known as Counter), the return of Richard Turner in a collaboration at Le Petit Bois, off to Stoke for Niall Keating’s luxurious chef’s table dinners at Lunar (never eat a Mr Whippy ice cream unless it is piled high with good quality caviar, first very pleasing meal at Glynn Purnell’s new bistro in Coventry, dining at 670 Grams where Kray Tredwell proved he hasn’t lost his touch, my second visit of the year to Ludlow with no disappoitments in Mortimers or Forelles, my birthday dinner at Purnell’s, Andy low n’ slow collaboration with Kray Tredwell at 670 Grams , Return visits to Adam’s and The Wilderness, my last ever lunch at Carter’s of Moseley before his departure to Westland’s and decision not to return to Moseley, a great lunch at Harborne Kitchen, a touch of hedonism with The Wilderness crowd in the Rotunda in their pop-up wine-tasting Wines with a view, the first of the three Simpsons collaborations to mark the restaurant’s thirtieth anniversary (the first being with Stuart Deeley of Smoke), a (surely 2 Michelin star-deserving) lunch at Opheem, the first of three summer/autumn stays in Stratford giving the opportunity to dine at Salt and visit the lovely Bower House in Shipston on Stour, the Simpsons/Meat Shack burger collaboration, the delights of the Ludlow Food Festival, Chateaubriand with a view at Orelle, good pub lunches at the Black Bear in Moreton in Marsh, getting the opportunity to  observe Richard Turner at the pass at Opheem, the remarkable collaborative dinner at Simpsons with Tom Shepherd of Upstairs, GULP’s ‘Dogs’ Dinner’, dinner at the Council House in the company of Basil and Sybil Faulty and Manuel, enjoyable collaborations at Simpsons and The Wilderness with wine makers and whisky distillers, dinner at the interesting concept of Six by Nico, possibly the biggest gastronomic event of the year in Birmingham - the opening of Alex Claridge’s A_D_C (I dined there twice in ten days), The Wilderness Christmas Party (with all the trimmings) and then to Ludlow for Christmas where two fine dinners were served in Forelles and Christmas lunch was extravagant and pleasurable.

Well, that wasn’t too bad was it?

But looking forward, as I originally intended to do,  I have spent New Year’s Eve busily tapping away on the keyboard of my I-Pad making reservations. If any restaurant in the city is heading for two Michelin stars in this city, then Opheem is the one I most expect to do so. Hence I have made reservations for January and 9 February (four days after the Michelin Awards ceremony) - if the staff of this remarkable restaurant are in a celebratory mood I want to be there to see it.

  I have a reservation too for Carter’s at 18 as it reopens in its new location though rather worryingly the date is the same as that on which the Michelin reveal ceremony takes place and so one wonders if the Carters will be opening that evening.

  I have also made a reservation to dine at Le Petit Bois in February where Andy Low n’ Slow will be carrying out a pop-up while the Taylors are away. 

  Regrets - I have a few - I still have not managed to eat any food prepared by Dan Lee and I never got to eat at Carter’s at Westlands (getting there by public transport was just too time-consuming and tiresome). I also regret never having visited Penson’s near Tenbury Wells and now it’s closed I never shall. Nevertheless, 2023 was a year to look back on with pleasure and 2024 is a year full of fresh promise for dining out in Birmingham and the West Midlands.