494. Summer - Sunday Lunch At Isaac’s

 

   When the Grand Hotel reopened in May 2021 after years of abandonment, near-demolition and ultimately entire refurbishment, the management opted not to open a fine dining restaurant within its walls - there were enough fine dining restaurants - it was said - within easy walk of the hotel but instead to open something with more popular appeal - NewYork-type grand diner which served burgers, hot dogs and at first, at least, dishes such as lobster Newburg. This restaurant they named Isaac’s after Isaac Horton, who founded the Grand. It was stylish but the food was not as good as the price charged might have suggested it should be. 

  A new Executive Chef, Andrei, was appointed in August 2024 and the approach to the menu has slightly altered and the serving of a Sunday lunch is now being offered for the first time. My new dog and I were staying at The Grand on Sunday night and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to avail myself of the roast beef on offer. The price is not cheap and not far off that of The Oyster Club’s superb Chateaubriand and so it seemed reasonable to expect food approaching that standard

New Executive Chef appointed August 2024.

  I dined, accompanied by New Lucy the Labrador, quite late in service and while Isaac’s was as smart as ever, there were very few diners still in the restaurant.

  I was greeted and served pleasantly and professionally and after ordering a well made cocktail I chose a starter of pea, mint and courgette soup from the longish menu. It would have been nice to have a cold soup on a hot summer’s day and pea and mint may have leant themselves very nicely to such a dish but this was a warm soup and actually quite good with the mint bringing a lively freshness to it. There were chunks of feta in it which were far too salty to be pleasurable until they had completely melted but the lemon oil lifted the overall dish. The dish came with an edible crusty mini-baguette which was not unwelcome though it was served with two packs of butter spread which, when I opened them, I discovered to have completely melted served as they were up against the hot soup dish and rendered completely liquid which caused me to splash the fluid on my clothes which was not good.

  For my main, I chose the roast sirloin served with a Yorkshire pudding filled with slow cooked braised beef, tenderstem broccoli, carrot, roast potatoes and red wine gravy. The beef was well done to which I did not object though I imagine there would have been some who would have preferred it to be rarer. It was certainly nicely tender and generously portioned and by itself was quite enjoyable. I had bought the stuffed Yorkshire pudding a couple of days before at the Isaac’s stand at the Colmore District Food Fair in Victoria Square and while appreciating how well cooked was the beef I had found that it rendered the pudding soggy and while that might have been reasonably satisfactory as street food I would have preferred to enjoy my Sunday Yorkshire pudding in the raw so to speak and to enjoy the texture of it. The accompanying vegetables were all, in contrast to the beef, somewhat undercooked and this main course failed to rise above the standard of a fairly run of the mill pub lunch.

  I felt rather enthusiastic about trying the cherry opera cake as my dessert. It was rather nice - the sponge was light and moist and cherry flavour came through nicely. The griottine cherries helped to make the cake look pretty and added a different texture. The cake was accompanied by a very tasty cherry sorbet and some ubiquitous crumb.

  This had been an edible meal which would have been more acceptable at half the price though as it happened that’s precisely what I paid as I had been given a 50% discount voucher for Sunday lunch at the Isaac’s stall at the Colmore Food Festival. I might have felt more resentful if I had paid full price.

  I fear The Grand has not yet found the standard of food hospitality one might expect when staying there. But Lucy enjoyed being able to join me in the bar to watch me eat (she is presently strictly on her own puppy food though I did melt and slip her a little bit of beef) and sitting there in Isaac’s from time to time is a pleasure in itself.

Rating:- 🌛🌛.

6 July 2025.

495. Summer - Albatross Death Cult - Beret, Kimono, Sans Culottes.

 

  Alex Claridge is a master of of Birmingham’s hospitality sector - not for nothing that former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street chose him to be his adviser on the nighttime hospitality sector. And Alex knows just how to reel in the punters both old and knew, especially old regulars (old in both senses of the word). A feature of his business are tempting special events and some of these take the form of tastings of new dishes and the opportunity to give feedback on the dishes before or if they go on the new menus.

   This was one of those evenings. The premature and long summer drew on, there were blue skies and bright, warm sunshine with a hint of mild humidity and the feeling that the summer was going together hotter and more intolerable over the coming days. But inside Albatross Death Cult all was cool, calm and comfortable and familiar old faces were gathering to dine there with some less recognisable or never seen before. The atmosphere was the epitome of relaxed good cheer and Alex Claridge was leading the kitchen with Oliver Grieve in support and Claridge’s partner Rachael Whittle heading up the front of counter alongside sommelier Camilla Bonnannini who has far too many’n’s in her surname but who does a wonderful job with the wines and sakes she has selected.

    ‘Oyster’, the eternal old favourite and signature, reported many times before came first and then there was a fine crispy tartlet, fresh and summery, of tartare of sea bass with sorrel and peas - fresh as any breeze which might blow on these hot summer days and pleasingly soothing.

  Next, gorgeously crispy potato terrine topped by potently fishy taramasalata and smoked eel and unobtrusive seaweed. Next, an excellent dish of well flavoured mackerel made exquisite by tiny thin slices of sweetly pickled radish and ajo blanco, the flavour of almond delightfully discernible. My only complaint would be that I should have liked my ajo blanco to be more chilled than it was but it was an excellent dish.

  Next came a small sake cup of punchy prawn head and tomato consommé and then a finely cooked cod in an utterly delicious consommé with a garnish of  tiny shavings of summer truffle.

  Monkfish was next to be served. For me, though apparently not for any of the other diners, it seemed slightly undercooked - I should have liked a little more body to the fish’s texture but I liked the vividly green accompanying jalapeño Hollandaise which had an exciting spicy bite to it. The final fish course was Chalkstream trout for which, to be candid, I’m growing a little tired of but this was very nicely prepared and sat on the plate shaped like the white chocolate ‘hot lips’ petit fours that Claridge had served at The Wilderness in times past. The langoustine bisque served with it was pleasingly tasty.

  There was a thoroughly enjoyable new dessert on offer - a finely cooked tart made up of excellent crispy pastry with a filling of muscovado and katsuobishi (tuna flakes) which had an exciting well-judged sweetness and umami from the katsuobishi. Paired with deliciously and vibrantly-flavoured lime sorbet which cut through the flavour of the tart this made for a very toothsome dessert indeed.

  Finally, I derived great pleasure from the petit four, a very well made macaron with a mild hit odf nori. It had a lovely consistency and the outer part was nicely crispy with the outer part being gorgeously gooey.

  There was nothing left but to pay the bill and to say farewell to staff and one’s dining companions, some more eccentric than others - a red beret placed accurately on the precise spot on the head coupled with a kimono and san culottes certainly makes a statement and the wearer had to be the best-dressed diner in the Jewellery Quarter that evening.

492. Events, Dear Boy, Events. 2025. Part 2. July To December.

 

See also Blogs 400, 416 and 452..

2 July - Hogarth’s Hotel in Dorridge where previously Rob Palmer had been planning to reopen his Toff’s restaurant from May 2024 to 26 March 2025,appoints Tom Wells who had previously worked at Harborne Kitchen for six years as Executive Chef from November 2019 having also worked as Head Chef at Turner’s in Harborne from February 2007 to May 2009.

Tom Wells

Rob Palmer

4 - 5 July - The annual Colmore Food Festival is held in Victoria Square under hot sunshine on the opening day. A large number of Colmore District hospitality businesses participate including Adam’s/The Oyster Club, Purnell’s Plates, Asha’s, Tiger Bites Pig, Dishoom, Mayan, Isaac’s and Orielle. The Oyster club serves up an excellent dish called ‘Tempura Fish and Chips’ which is a perfectly cooked deep fried kebab of five large prawns, minty pea purée and string chips. Visitors to the Festival are given a free ‘Colmore Cook Book’.

Oyster Club’s Tempura ‘Fish and chips’.

11 July - Alex Claridge reveals some of his new dishes for The Wilderness in an event called Bâtard where former Masterchef The Professionals competitors, Evan Holliday and Jordan Johnson, who had previously worked at Simpsons make their first appearance in The Wilderness’ kitchen, thus joining Simpsons’ former pastry chef, Lewis Perks at The Wilderness. It is also revealed that Marius Gedminas has left his role as Head Chef at The Wilderness and is presently doing some travelling. The new Head Chef is Turkish-born Ediz Engin who was already employed at The Wilderness.

Evan Holliday at The Wilderness.

Evan Holliday, Jordan Johnson and Sonal Clare.

Jordan Johnson

Ediz Engin and Evan Holliday

14 July - Alex Claridge showcases the premiere of a 4 minute-long film about him and his passions at the Mockingbird Cinema in the Custard Factory in Digbeth. In a discussion afterwards he reveals that he intends to stand as a candidate in the next West Midlands Mayoral election.

15 July - Tony Parkin leaves his role as Head Chef at Opheem after less than three months in the post. He :is appointed as development chef with the Open Group (Andrew Sheridan, Sam and Emma Morgan). 

27 July - The Good Food Guide adds the Madresfield Butchers and Grill in Great Malvern to its list of recommended restaurants rating it as ‘Good’.

2 September - Sonal Clare officially announces that he has left his job at The Wilderness to become Midlands Account Manager for Möet Chandon.

12 September - The three day-long 2025 Ludlow Food Festival gets underway.

23 October - Michelin announces that the 2026 Michelin Guide reveal ceremony will be held at the Convention Centre in Dublin on Monday 9 February 2026.

24 November - The Good Food Guide adds Liam Dillon’s The Boat in Lichfield to its list of recommended restaurants. The question is, “why did it take so long?”.

26 November - Michelin adds Stuart Deeley’s The Warwick at Mallory Court in Leamington to the Guide. It is the only West Midlands restaurant to be included among a total of 24 additions for November. However, it is worth noting that Brad Carter’s new restaurant in Kings Cross, Island, has also been included in the guide.

10 December - Glynn Purnell opens his new city centre restaurant, Trillium, at Snowhill in collaboration with Phil Innes, proprietor of Loki Wines. The new Head Chef is Rob Palmer, previously Head Chef at Peel’s Restaurant at Hampton Manor and of his own Toffs in Solihull.

17 December - Michelin includes four new West Midlands restaurants in the Michelin Guide - Journey in Cheltenham (Gloucestershire, Head Chef), Moda in House of George W Davies Hotel in Broadway (Worcestershire, Head Chef James Wilson), Post in Newnham (Gloucestershire, Head Chef Fred Page) and Bastardo’s Trattoria in Shipston on Stour ((Warwickshire).