353. Atelier.

 

  

  In 2016 I decided that and pronounced that Alex Claridge is a genius. Last year’s Good Food Guide judgement that The Wilderness is among the top ten most exciting places to eat in Britain was fully in line with my long held view whether or not the Michelin inspectors judge that the restaurant deserves one of their overrated stars. Since 2019, his Head Chef at The Wilderness has been the very amiable and modest Marius Gedminas. Since his arrival there, through plague and whatever else Fate has thrown at the hospitality industry, the food served at The Wilderness has been original, obsessionally beautifully executed and presented, and, in the words of The Good Food Guide, “exceptional”. The Wilderness is clearly a creatitional collaborative triumph but we can not doubt that Gedminas’ role has been pivotal.in recent years.

  Claridge’s brilliance of course extended to employing the immortal Sonal Clare, previously of Purnell’s as we know, to lead on wines at The Wilderness and previous Blogs have reported on some of the occasions staged by Clare to entertain the palates of the oenophilic good burgers of Birmingham and surrounding counties. 

  And now the latest flash of brilliance involving Atelier and making permanent, I think at least for the weekend, a combination of food prepared by Marius Gedminas and the pleasures that Sonal Clare can serve up which originate from a bottle. My knowledge of Japanese food is limited and I can not approach judging how Gedminas’s delicious sashimi and sushi dishes compare with the sort of food being served up in the trendy and heart attack-inducingly expensive Japanese restaurants in London (one has recently set a new record for the most expensive meal served in a British restaurant at a rather shocking, and distasteful £750) but for me every bite was an enormous pleasure and coupled with Sonal Clare’s choice of wines, the new Atelier represents a very exciting new dining opportunity here in Birmingham. Floreat Atelier.

  Delights included mackerel, lobster and wagyu and at the end of it a new species of the recently discovered genus of Wilderness chocolate frogs.

352. Loxleys, Stratford upon Avon.

 

  The string of bistros along Sheep Street which links Stratford’s town shops to the riverside location of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre are enormously popular and come evening time are bursting at the seams with happy diners. They generally have fairly long preprinted menus which give the impression that choice of dishes does not change very often and interestingly feature very little fish. In recent Blogs I have described visits to Lamb’s of Sheep Street and The Opposition and found them both to have their good points but some weaknesses and so, on my latest visit to Stratford with Lucy the Labrador to mark the closure of The Shakespeare Hotel where we have stayed happily many times, it seemed reasonable to visit their neighbour, Loxleys..

  The restaurant has the wood beamed, comfortably lit, Tudor atmosphere of the other Sheep Street bistros and, like the others, seems to have been able to recruit some very pleasant and capable young people to work front of house. Service is smooth and relaxed and perfectly pitched. I sat at a table not far from the bar and the phone was constantly ringing with hopeful diners hoping to make a reservation only to find that Loxleys was fully reserved that evening. You had to feel that those that managed the restaurant must be doing something right.

  For my starter I chose nicely seared scallops with chunks of confit pork belly, cooked very well to make them enjoyably crispy and served with spiced butternut squash purée, which was a little too medicinal in flavour, and crunchy candied hazelnuts which gave texture and a pleasing bursts of sweetness. This was a pleasurable start to the meal.

  For the main course I chose beautifully roasted lamb in sumac butter, very tender with the meat having a fine flavour served with a goats cheese croquette and sweet strips of well cooked red pepper alongside successfully crispy lamb belly and redcurrant sauce. Each element in the dish had been very well cooked but the combination, which I guess is an eastern Mediterranean one and well recognised, was not for me. The goats cheese intruded too much on the subtlety of the fine lamb. A pity for, as I say, this was piece of fine cooking on the part of the chef. I just longed for an acidic element that was going to balance the lamb rather than smother it 

  For dessert, nothing more complicated than an affogato with amaretto - dessert and after dinner coffee in one - what’s not to like?

  Some good cooking and pleasing service at Loxleys. Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛.

349. Gulp - Dogs Dinner.

 

  Gulp is about experiences with a touch of hearty home cooking thrown in. This was to be a very special ‘experience’ - Sunday lunch with Lucy The Labrador in Gulp’s dining room up the narrow, steep stairs in an old factory in the deepest Jewellery Quarter. How exciting and even more so when we discovered that the steps were too steep for Lucy, quite aged, to get up. A fellow diner however came to the rescue and carried her up and carried her down after the meal was over. She took it in her stride, serenity glowed from her face as she was borne up and down in ladylike style. Another diner said she was like Dame Judy Dench. Lucy would be quite pleased about that, I think, if she knew who Dame Judy Dench was.

  After a welcome from Kaye Winwood, the mastermind behind Gulp, and Matt O’Callaghan, the chef (see Blog 308) we settled in the lovely dining room, possibly the most atmospheric in the city, with the other dogs, including three beagles, all excitedly socialising while Dame Judy calmly took her place under the table and the humans chatted and waited for the food. Dogs rightly were served first - a cool broth - while their humans received a delicious clear warm broth in a glass. First rate.

  Next came ‘Bone’ - the dogs were brought a tempting chunk of chicken while the humans received an excellent chicken liver pâté on 2 slices of bone-shaped toast. What fun!

  And then the highlight for man and beast alike. Our main courses were served in cans highly suggestive of tinned dog food. Lucy consumed her’s in the wink of an eye which was wise as the rest of the canine guests were wolfing down their own meal and then rapidly setting about mopping anything else that was lying about. For the humans, a miraculously delicious chicken casserole with, oh joy, peas and carrots and sauté potatoes. My only reservation about the meal was that I wouldn’t have minded, like Oliver, some more. 

  The dogs and the humans both had jelly and ice cream to finish. The strawberry jelly and the strawberry ice cream were delicious (there was also chocolate ice cream) and neither I nor Lucy can comment on the dog’s dessert as one of the beagles moved in on Lucy’s dish before she could make a move on it and scoffed it all up. With the dignity of Dame Judy, Lucy ignored the bad behaviour of that particular bounder. Dogs, eh?

Rating:- 🌞.

351. Tom Shepherd At Simpsons.

 

  Simpsons, the doyen of Birmingham restaurants, is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, as we have noted before. To commemorate this anniversary, Luke Tipping - Chef Director - has been staging some eclectic collaborations - firstly with Stuart Deeley of Smoke and then with Paul Colis of the burger restaurant, Meat Shack (both collaborations were reported on in previous Blogs). The third and final of these collaborations was staged on the evening of 3 October 2023 at Simpsons with Tom Shepherd, acclaimed chef of Tom Shepherd at Upstairs in Lichfield. This took the form of a fine seven course dinner.

  The thoughtfully already autographed menu included some excellent dishes and to local gourmands it was not difficult to decipher the culinary clues as to which chef was responsible for which dish. A thrilling amuse bouche was clearly the work of Tom Shepherd - a delicious savoury custard of smoked eel was flavoured not only by the eel but sweetened by the corn and given texture by both. Very Tom Shepherd. On to Luke Tipping’s first course - finely cured cubes of salmon with dill oil, oyster leaf and frozen horseradish. Very Luke Tipping.

  Not hard, too, to spot that the third course - one of the plummiest, meatiest scallops I’ve ever the pleasure to become acquainted with, textured with peanut and playfully paired with satay - was the work of Shepherd. Then to Tipping’s remarkable foie gras with a slice of banana, all sitting on spied honey bread. A gem of a dish. The foie gras-banana combination is not unknown and seems to be an American thing and I rather like it.

  Shepherd had had the honour of regaling his guests with the main course. This was accurately cooked, tender-as-butter venison with king oyster, plump blackberries and celeriac purée - the mellow mists and fruitfulness of autumn surrounded the highly seasonal plate. A hit! A palpable hit!

  The correctly timed cheese course brought Baron Bigod to the table sublimely paired with fermented plum and truffled honey all on malted waffle and Tom Shepherd rounded off with a grand dessert - a delightful Valrhona Araguani chocolate mousse base with pecan ice cream and happy sweetness from Pedro Ximenez. 

  These are grand collaborations that we have been enjoying at Simpsons. We do not need a special anniversary to ensure we go to future such events.

Rating:- 🌞🌞