388. Mortimers.

 

  I have reported on my very enjoyable experiences at Mortimers three times before (see Blogs 321, 302 and 159) but not since June 2023 and it’s pleasing now to report that when I chose the six course lunchtime tasting during my present stay in Ludlow I was again very impressed with the excellent food served, the location and the spot on service.

  I need not go on in depth given all that I have written before about Mortimers but Chef Patron Wayne Smith continues to send some fine and excellent dishes from his kitchen although perhaps for those customers who like to visit from time to time some of the courses would benefit from changing a little more often. The lunchtime tasting menu was broadly unchanged from my last lunch there almost nine months ago. Having said that there is at least one dish which is so gorgeously memorable that it is never a chore to have to eat it time and time again.

  The amuses bouches - an excellent cheese tartlet, a delicious blini with crab mousse and a somewhat less tasty ham hock croquette were all as familiar as old friends, the bread and butter selection too was largely unchanged but nonetheless very pleasing and I enjoyed the previously described confit chicken terrine with charred corn, successfully crispy chicken skin,grilled leek and a bonbon of black pudding which was much tastier than that in my last visit.

    The goats cheese with beetroot, a sweet beetroot sorbet which contrasted pleasingly with the cheese, sorrel and  olive bread was served in a very generous portion. The olive bread was not as hard as on my last visit and there was no danger to the long term health of my remaining teeth on this occasion but the bread had little flavour though I could see that something with a bit of texture was needed for this dish.

  And then, to a very fine dish indeed - the extraordinarily tender and tasty Herefordshire beef, cooked and seasoned immaculately - so tender that a spoon would have cut through it. This was absolutely appropriately accompanied by an excellent mash (much better than on my last visit) and sweetly roasted onions and leeks and a fine beef sauce. This finds its place on my list of the 10 best dishes of the year. It is the Pride of Mortimers.

 

  The two desserts were the same as those served on my previous visit - this time, accurately cooked rhubarb with pistachio cake, vanilla cream and pistachio ice cream. This was a definite improvement on that which was served on my previous visit. The chocolate mille feuille was presented very prettily and was as enjoyable as the last time I ate it.

  Mortimers seems to me to be as underrated as Cheal’s now in Knowle. It serves generally excellent food with at least one real gem. These are two West Midlands restaurants which restaurant critics need to take very seriously.

Chef Wayne Smith

Rating:- 🌞🌞

389. The French Pantry.

 

 See previous Blogs 242 and 303.

  The French Pantry has been described adequately in the two previous blogs and there is little need to go over it all again except to say that I was determined to lunch there again during my most recent stay in Ludlow, lusting as I was for another bowl of the restaurant’s fine French onion soup with its spectacularly overstated and utterly gorgeous cheesy crouton which is so big you could float across the river Teme on it. Magnificently rustic and on this visit, I thought better than ever. A triumph of flavour but I suppose to be picky, the beautifully tender strips of onion which filled the bottom of the bowl might have been a little sweeter though others may not agree.

  More rustic delight followed as I chose my main from the choice of two specials - I declined the wickedly tempting pig cheek ragu and instead opted for a fabulous smoked haddock, leek and sea food gratin (which I suppose might equally be called a fish or fisherman’s pie) though being forced to choose between the two mains mildly endangered my mental health for the time until my gratin arrived when I realised that I had made the right decision and my anxiety was resolved. The dish was rustic, it was bold, it radiated flavour, it warmed, it cheered, it comforted and delighted and it was generous in portion size and honest in presentation. I concluded, as I ate it as voraciously as the pie’s heat would allow, that I really do like dining at The French Pantry.

  For dessert I opted for the lightest dish on offer - a refreshing and happy lime posset countered and enhanced by blueberries. This was a pleasant dish.

  I look forward to my next visit to The French Pantry.

Rating:- 🌞

386. Laghi’s With Stuart Deeley Now As Executive Chef.

 In February 2024, some changes took place at Laghi’s (see Blog ) with Leo Kattou making way for Smoke’s Stuart Deeley who took on the role of Executive Chef and a Smoke sous chef, Patrick Hukins, taking on the role of Head Chef. While Deeley remained in his role of Chef Director at Smoke he worked with Laghi’s to develop new dishes and a new approach. The changes at Laghi’s received some attention in the local and catering press particularly of course because of Deeley’s achievement of winning Masterchef The Professionals in 2019.

Here’s how The Caterer announced Deeley’s latest venture - 

And Birmingham Live featured a photograph of Deeley and Hukins (though the reporter did spell Hukins’ name incorrectly) -

  Needless to say, and bearing in mind I had been intending to revisit Laghi’s recently regardless of any new chef appointments there, I made reservations for lunch for just three days or so after the introduction of the new menus. Stuart Deeley was in the kitchen at this lunchtime and so what was served was certainly under his direct guidance.

 The menu certainly had the air of Deeley about with of thedishes reminiscent of when he was at The Wilderness while others featured his renderings of Italian dishes as we have come to expect and look forward to at Laghi’s. There were small plates but there were also larger ‘plates from the barbecue’ which brought Deeley’s other venture at Smoke to mind.

  My companion and I settled on sharing the polenta panisses with pecorino which were delicious and beautifully crispy exteriorly but served as a plate of three which is irritating when there are two diners. We also chose - and enjoyed - the accurately barbecued Queenies with a good Espelette pepper sauce which nicely partnered the scallops and also found the courgette and ricotta fritters to our liking.

    Small plates, it seems, are served as and when they come out. I do so dislike it when the table is flooded with plates not necessarily all compatible with each other and much of the food hastily chilling while the diner picks first at one dish then another, then another and then back again to the first. I like a semblance of order in my meal. Fortunately Deeley seemed to appreciate this too so that while we were having a veritable macedoine of dishes we were at least getting them in a logical order. I suspect Deeley is too good a chef to allow chaos on one of his diners’ tables. So next, quite rationally, came two half dishes of pasta for us to share - a very al dente and silky coated spaghetti carbonara with pieces of guanciale, an excellent Italian cured pork jowl ingredient and a frighteningly delicious ‘nduja campanelli - the ‘nduja giving the dish a pleasing but not excessive spiciness to it and the campanelli having a texture more pleasing to me than that of the spaghetti.

  Neither my companion nor I could resist the whole plaice with warm tartare sauce. I felt that the fish, very pleasingly sized and very nicely cooked, was a great pleasure and also good value. I think I have liked a greater hit of citrus and perhaps a plain butter sauce; the parsley sauce seemed to have some sweetness in it and I should have preferred quite the opposite.

  We had eaten well but not excessively and we felt quite able to indulge ourselves with dessert. My companion enjoyed Deeley’s tiramisu (‘tirami-Stu’) and I wallowed in the pleasure of a fine buttermilk pannacotta which was accompanied by the lively sweetness of a cold blood orange soup.

  Laghi’s has obviously changed. It felt more like ‘Deeley’s’. Regardless, I had very much enjoyed the large part of what had been served to me. I hope the Italian element remains dominant because the city needs one or two fine Italian-style dining establishments. The wine list has just one Italian wine on it. I hope they think about that. On my last visit under the old style I had a very pleasing Primitivo and had been looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with it. Laghi’s’ journey has definitely taken a new branch in the road.

Rating:- 🌞

385. Rabbit. Byzantium.

 

  I think Rabbit may well turn out to be the most important restaurant to have opened in Birmingham this year. I returned to it with impatient anticipation and was thrilled to be seated at the Rabbit counter again and be welcomed by Ash Heeger, the Head (and only) Chef, and Erin Valuenza-Heeger, Front of House (though both women are equally front of house geographically speaking).. 

  The menu is longer than one might expect and there is much on it that sorely tempts. It’s clear a genius wrote it. Given the nature of the facilities in Rabbit this chef has accurately pinpointed how they can best be used to deliver appropriate dishes which far excel what is on offer in most other dining establishments. There is much that is brilliant on that menu.

  I started with a clever bowl of Perello pickles and olives - far more than I could consume but it made for an ideal hors d’oeuvres. I opted for three small plates; firstly - an extraordinarily well-selected plate of bitter leaves soothed by a delicious blue cheese, candied walnut and and sherry dressing and served with shavings of tasty. old Winchester cheese. Simple on paper but delivered with finesse.

  Secondly, I chose halibut collar with pepper sauce. The fish was finely and accurately cooked and the accompanying sauce and greens were ideal companions for it.

  As my third dish I opted for a supremely wondrous dish of charred leeks with a brown butter Hollandaise with a note of utter magic added to it in the form of aged sherry and fried shallots. The leeks had been rendered majestically tender and ecstatically sweet - certainly the best plate of leeks I’ve ever had and possibly the best vegetable dish to ever come my way. These leeks were the stuff of legend. When I had eaten these leeks I knew that I had just eaten the opus of a maestro. Rabbit is where the action is going to be this year.

  Just the one dessert was on offer - forced rhubarb trifle (apparently from a recipe of Ash’s grandmother) - it had everything a trifle trifler could want  - the happy flavour of PX sherry, a fine custard cream and … sprinkles. I ate trying to keep down the volume of my accompanying moans of pleasure though a diner close by, also consuming the trifle, seemed to be uttering the same ecstatic noises as myself. Anyone passing by outside may have wondered if it was necessary to call the police.

  All too soon it was over. My second visit to Rabbit was over and I headed out back into the dampness of the February evening as it clung itself to Stirchley’s shabby main street. But inside I was bursting with pleasure - and trying to wrack my mind to think of another vegetable dish as great as the leeks and a sherry trifle as good as Ash’s grandmother’s recipe had resulted in.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.

  It’s some years since I visited Byzantium in Kings Heath. A friend who lives in the suburb asked me to join him there and I was curious to visit the restaurant to see how much the place had changed. I discovered that, as far as I could see, the answer is, “Not very much” though there is a new decor in line with the theme of ancient Byzantium. I always felt that the restaurant needed bright decor - it is quite dark inside the restaurant; it should be bright blue and sunshine yellow, the colours of the Mediterranean where the styles of the food the restaurant serves originate. The restaurant needs to be bright and fresh not medieval and shabby chic. Still, it’s the food that counts.

  To start we shared a delightful flatbread with tzatziki and hummus dips which were very pleasing. The rest of the meal took the form of small plates and we choose three dishes each. I opted for patatas alioli which were well cooked though the alioli could have been punchier, mkaouara - small Moroccan-style meatballs in a satisfactorily spicy tomato, chilli and green pepper sauce and, my favourite dish, nicely oven-baked early season asparagus with an inelegant blob of romesco sauce and melted Manchego. 

  I had started with a Margarita which had very few of the features which would have made the drink identifiable as a Margarita. 

  This place serves pleasant enough food at an acceptable price and as a local restaurant serves the Kings Heath hipster clientele which the suburb is home to and who seem pleased to visit it. It’s shabby chicness seems to fit perfectly the atmosphere of Kings Heath with its bike-riding, low traffic neighbourhood-loving, environmentally aware, hipster residents.

Rating:- 🌛

383. Back To Opheem - That’s The One With Two Michelin Stars.

 

   In the sure and certain knowledge that Aktar Islam’s Opheem would be awarded a second Michelin star in the 2024 awards ceremony - how could it not be? - I made a reservation some weeks ahead to return to the restaurant for the full 10 course tasting menu for lunch on just the third service after the announcement. I wanted to experience seeing the pleasure of people who had just reaped the award of sustained hard work, enormous stress and brilliant inventiveness. It was a joy to behold. It was also a joy to eat there again, though it had only been a couple of weeks or so since my last visit.

  The menu - I mean the paper menu itself - was a pleasure to look at, now decorated as it was with 2 stars and the inscription, “We are absolutely thrilled to have received our second Michelin star this week and so happy you can join us for our third service as a TWO MICHELIN STAR restaurant”. Well, I was pretty proud myself and delighted when Chef took the trouble to come to speak to me and thank me for my support over the years. All I could say was, “Here’s to the third”.

  The amuses gueles were as delicious and clever as ever. Oh! That lovely curried crab crumpet! Oh for the mango tuile with chutney and burnt lettuce. The apple macaron with beef tartare and duck liver and the Tabak Maas, the gorgeous tandoori barbecued mutton rib. Such stuff are dreams made on.

  Everything was just unimpeachable. Not a fault. The greatest concentration pleasure that can found on a single table. There was Gajar - heritage carrot with a pleasing lentil pakora and then the sublime Badami korma, a perfectly cooked Orkney scallop dish, Aloo tuk - a dish honed to perfection over years, and then the delight of Allepy, Cornish monkfish served with green bean compote with raw mango and coconut. So many pleasures.

  On, inevitably, to Pao, the delightfully presented milk loaf course with lamb keema and then to the estimable Saagwala, fine aged sirloin with braised cheek, spinach and barbecued greens.

   Finally to two exquisite desserts -Aam, Alphonso mango caressed with the perfect blend of lime, yuzu and passion fruit, sharp to balance the sweet, and then Cheree, a beautifully executed Valrhona chocolate dish in exact rhapsody with cherry sorbet and hazelnut. Then, to finish, back to the lounge for coffee and Opheem’s own unique mignardises.

Ah! Two star pleasure.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.