555. Summer At Blacklock.

  It has been three months since I last visited Blacklock in St Philip’s Square and I was visiting the city centre it seemed like a good time to return and see if the restaurant had now settled into being a good and pleasing place to enjoy assault and tasty dinner. 

  Many of the tables were not taken, it being a Friday lunchtime and that nearest me was taken by four noisy men which was not a pleasure. The restaurant is spacious and the tables are not closely spaced which is pleasing but the high ceiling allows noise to reverberate and expand to fill the space available.

  I started with a dish which had previously given me a lot of pleasure - the crayfish cocktail served with two slices of excellent toasted sourdough. The cocktail got off to a good start - the little crayfish were nicely textured and the Marie Rose was paprika hot on the mid tongue and back of the palate which was very exciting. I was advised that the best way to eat the dish was to tip it out on to the plate wbich sounded all rather inelegant to me (and so I chose not to do so) but may it have been wise to obey instructions given that the crayfish inhabited the top of the dish in which they were served and beneath lay a surfeit of avocado, to which God had given minimal flavour when he created it, and the chef realising that fact had oversalted the dull and wretched fruit. 

  I moved on to another previous favourite - the pork loin chop, beef fat chips and ‘summer slaw’. The chop was very good, pink but well cooked and decently tender and tasty. The ‘summer slaw’ had some flavour but was not really very interesting and was hard to bother with but the chips cooked in beef fat proved to be the highlight of the course - crispy and tasty.

   The dessert choice is very limited and I therefore once more had the white chocolate deconstructed cheese cake which was generously portioned and very pleasurable in both flavour and, even more so, in texture.

  It’s a large and lively and quite noisy restaurant. Diners seem to be there to eat rather than to dine and so Blacklock achieves its goal in feeding them and making them happy. It’s not a place one can keep returning to because the menu is unchanging and you can only have so much of a good thing before boredom sets in.

7 August 2026

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛

554. No 44 The Brasserie At The Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon.

 

  It was the second evening of my stay in Stratford-upon-Avon and I decided to dine at the 2 rosette AA Restaurant Guide-rated, No 44 The Brasserie at the Waterfront located in the Arden Hotel which is situated opposite the RSC’s Swan Theatre. The Arden is a smart hotel and the lovely white table cloth dining room is bright and spacious though some of the tables therein are situated rather close to each other. But it’s all very cheerful and lifting and the front of house staff are helpful and attentive but not overly so.

  I chose to start with salade niçoise. The precise ingredients to use in it have long been an issue of controversy with French chefs competing to criticise versions of the dish served in England especially when it comes to using baby potatoes in the salad, an act  which is anathema and a crime to many French cusieniers. The Guardian published an article by Felicity Cloake as long ago as August 2012 when she outlined the principal ingredients, eschewing potatoes and preferring broad bean pods to French beans, both recommendations which I feel are quite wrong. Ms Cloake listed boiled eggs, of course, broad bean pods or French beans, cucumber, spring onions, red pepper, black olives, basil, capers and anchovies in her recipe which the Guardian claimed was “the perfect salad niçoise” (see appendix).

  Putting all that aside, the No 44 The Brasserie served a very enjoyable, even delicious version of the dish in which precisely cooked baby potatoes gave some body to it all, the little gem leaves were gorgeously crispy, the Brunoise of cucumber and red onions was precisely diced, the half boiled egg was accurately timed and the French beans precisely the correct bite to them - precisely, I say. So many preciselies in one sentence.

  For my main, I moved on to pan-seared stone bass with sweetcorn chowder, sea herbs, and sweet, sweet mussels and preserved lemon gel. The fish, meaty and tasty, was cooked perfectly and the skin as crispy as any fish skin I have ever been served - so many restaurants fail to achieve such perfection. The sweet corn was a wonderful accompaniment in the almost glowing and delicious chowder and the mussels were the sweetest and most tender I have had served to me in many a harvest moon. The samphire was tender and the preserved lemon gel gave a nice contrast of citrus to accompany it all. This was a very good and satisfying dish as well as being a very pretty one.

  For dessert I chose a vanilla panna cotta with a fine wobble though the flavour of the vanilla was, shall we say?, a little understated. The sliced compressed strawberries were also not as fully flavoured as I should have wished but the gorgeous strawberry consommé dispelled all gloom though the sorrel leaves were wholly decorative and contributed nothing to the flavour of the dish rather disappointingly - a lemon hit might have been just what it all needed.or even perhaps a quick burst of pepper.

  Putting aside the sorrel leaves, I ask myself, where  does No 44 obtain its excellent, high quality ingredients?

  I concluded my meal thinking that No 44 The Brasserie well deserves the 2 rosettes which the AA Restaurant Guide has awarded it as well as its inclusion in the Michelin Guide. Three rosettes would not necessarily be over generous.

4 August 2026.

Rating:- 🌞.

  As the evening advanced, my fellow diners gradually wandered out and I was left almost alone, comfortably sipping my coffee, resisting a temptation to order a liquor, and staring out of the window taking in the view of the Swan Theatre wherein Branagh was at that very moment probably delivering the lines of Lopakhin in a broad Ulster accent.

Appendix 1 - The menus of No 44 The Brasserie that evening -

Appendix 2 - ‘The perfect salade niçoise’ by Felicity Cloake as published in The Guardian, 1 August 2012, 14 years ago.

552. AA Guide 2026

   After my consultation of the opinions of Gemini artificial intelligence, it seemed that my previous neglect of the AA Restaurant Guide had been misplaced and Gemini had gone so far as to hint that the Automobile Association publication was the restaurant guide for me. So I bought one. I like having printed copies of guides - they feel as though they are for ever - they are there on the bookshelf not somewhere as transient-feeling as the internet. We all know deep down, don’t we?, that one day everything on that internet is just going to vanish - perhaps as an accident or by the actions of a bad actor or, well, for some reason, yet to be imagined. And when it’s all gone the books will still be there on the bookshelves, comforting, beckoning to you to pick one of them up and read it.

And so, let’s look at the 2026 printed guide and see which of the Birmingham and West Midlands region restaurants featured in it -

Gloucestershire 

 Almondsbury

The Curious Kitchen at Aztec Hotel and spa  ✳️✳️

  Bibury

 The Brasserie, Swan Hotel ✳️

   Buckland

 Buckland Manor ✳️✳️✳️

   Cheltenham

 Bao + BBQ ✳️

 Bhoomi Kitchen ✳️✳️

 Cowley Manor Restaurant ✳️✳️ 

 The Curry Corner Est 1977 ✳️✳️

  The Greenaway Hotel & Spa ✳️✳️✳️

   Hotel du Vin Cheltenham ✳️

   Le Champignon Sauvage ✳️✳️✳️

   Lumière ✳️✳️✳️✳️

   Prithvi ✳️✳️✳️

   Purslane ✳️✳️

   The Restaurant Ellenborough Park Hotel ✳️✳️

     Chipping Camden

    Three ways House Hotel Restaurant ✳️

     Cirencester

    THE PIG-in the Cotswolds ✳️

      Clearwell

    Tudor Farmhouse Hotel & Restaurant ✳️✳️

      Coleford

    Simply Wild Restaurant ✳️✳️

    Verderers ✳️✳️

       Gloucester

     Hatherley Manor Hotel & Spa ✳️

        Leclade on Thames

      New Wave Brasserie and Spa ✳️

        Lower Slaughter 

       The Slaughters Country Inn ✳️✳️ 

        The Slaughters Manor House ✳️✳️✳️

           Michinhampton

        The Ragged Cot Inn ✳️

           Moreton-in-Marsh

         Manor House Hotel ✳️✳️

            Nailsworth

          Wilder ✳️✳️✳️

            Nether Westcote

           The Feathered Nest Inn ✳️✳️✳️

             Painswick

            The Falcon ✳️

             The Painswick ✳️✳️

               Selsey

              The Bell Inn ✳️✳️

                Stow-on-the-Wold

               The Kings Head Inn ✳️

                 Nether Westcote

                The Feathered Nest Inn ✳️✳️✳️✳️

                  Stow-on-the-Wold

                 Number Four at Stow ✳️✳️

                  Old Stocks Inn ✳️✳️

                     Stroud

                   The Bear of Rodburgh ✳️

                    The Burleigh Restaurant at Burleigh Court ✳️✳️

                       Tetbury 

                     The Brasserie at Calcot ✳️✳️

                      The Close Hotel ✳️✳️

                         Thornbury 

                       Ronnie’s of Thornbury ✳️✳️

                       Thornbury Castle Hotel ✳️✳️✳️

                         Upper Slaughter 

                         Lords of the Manor ✳️✳️✳️✳️

                           Westbury-on-Severn

                         The Barn at Severn and Wye Restaurant ✳️✳️

                            Winchcombe

                          The Lion Inn ✳️

43 restaurants in the county (88 rosettes)

Herefordshire 

                             Aymestrey 

                          The Riverside at Aymestrey ✳️✳️

                             Hereford 

                           The New Inn ✳️✳️

                              Ledbury

                            Feathers ✳️

                              Ross-on-Wye

                             Conservatory Restaurant, Kings Head Hotel ✳️

                               Symonds Yat (East)

                             Saracens Head Inn ✳️

5 restaurants in the county (7 rosettes)

Shropshire 

                               Bridgenorth

                             The Acton at Morville ✳️✳️

                                Hodnet

                              The Bear Inn ✳️✳️

                                 Ludlow

                               The Charlton Arms ✳️✳️

                               The Cliffs at Dinham ✳️✳️

                               The Feathers ✳️

                                Fishmore Hall ✳️✳️ (clearly not inspected since the change of ownership 2 years ago)

                                 Market Drayton 

                               Goldstone Hall ✳️✳️

                                  Munslow 

                                Crown Country Inn ✳️✳️

                                   Norton

                                 The Hundred House ✳️

                                    Oswestry

                                 Pen-y-Dyffren Country Hotel ✳️✳️

                                     Shifnal

                                  The Granary Restaurant ✳️

                                      Shrewsbury 

                                   House of the Rising Sun ✳️

                                   Lion & Pheasant Hotel ✳️✳️

                                   The Royalist Restaurant Prince Rupert Hotel ✳️✳️

                                   The Saloon Hawkstone Hall ✳️

                                       Telford

                                    The Ugly Duckling ✳️                  

16 restaurants in the county (26 rosettes).

Staffordshire 

                                        Cheddleton 

                                     The Flintlock at Cheddleton ✳️✳️✳️

                                         Consall

                                      The Plumicorn ✳️✳️

                                          Ellastone

                                       The Duncombe Arms ✳️✳️

                                           Hoar Cross

                                        The Ballroom at Hoar Cross Hall ✳️

                                            Leek

                                         Three Horseshoes Country Inn and Spa ✳️

                                            Lichfield 

                                          The Boat ✳️✳️✳️

                                          The Larder ✳️✳️

                                          Upstairs by Tom Shepherd ✳️✳️✳️

                                             Stafford

                                           The MoatHouse ✳️✳️

                                              Stoke-on-Trent

                                            Lunar ✳️✳️                   

10 restaurants in the county (21 rosettes)

Warwickshire 

                                               Alderminster

                                            Ettington Park Hotel ✳️✳️

                                               Armscote 

                                             The Fuzzy Duck ✳️✳️

                                                Henley-in-Arden

                                              The Mount by Glynn Purnell ✳️✳️

                                                 Ilmington

                                               The Howard Arms ✳️

                                                 Kenilworth

                                                The Cross at Kenilworth ✳️✳️✳️

                                                   Long Compton

                                                 The Red Lion ✳️

                                                    Lower Brailes

                                                 The Kitchen at Feldon Valley ✳️✳️

                                                     Royal Leamington Spa

                                                  Oscar’s French Steakhouse & Bistro ✳️

                                                  The Warwick at Mallory Park ✳️✳️✳️

                                                     Shipston-on-Stour

                                                   The Bower House ✳️✳️

                                                    The Royal Oak Whatcote ✳️✳️

                                                       Stratford -upon-Avon

                                                     Hotel du Vin,Stratford-upon-Avon ✳️

                                                     No 44 Brasserie on the Waterside ✳️✳️

                                                     The Woodsman, Hotel Indigo ✳️✳️

                                                        Wishaw

                                                      The Belfry ✳️✳️

15 restaurants in the county (28 rosettes).

                                                     

West Midlands county

                                                          Birmingham

                                                        670 Grams ✳️✳️

                                                        Adam’s ✳️✳️✳️

                                                        Chez Mail Brasserie & Bar ✳️

                                                        Hotel du Vin & Bistro ✳️

                                                        Land ✳️✳️

                                                        Opheem ✳️✳️✳️

                                                        The Oyster Club by Adam Stokes ✳️✳️

                                                        The Restaurant Folium ✳️✳️✳️    

                                                         Simpsons ✳️✳️✳️

                                                         The Wilderness ✳️✳️✳️

                                                            elsewhere in West Midlands county

                                                            Meriden

                                                          The Barn at Berryfields ✳️✳️

                                                             Royal Sutton Coldfield

                                                           The Bridge at New Hall Hotel & Spa ✳️✳️

                                                              Solihull (Hampton in Arden) 

                                                            Grace and Savour ✳️✳️✳️✳️   

                                                               Wolverhampton

                                                             Bilash ✳️✳️

14 restaurants in the county (34 rosettes). Cheltenham (population 122,00) has 2 more rosettes (25 distributed around 11 restaurants than Birmingham (population 1.2 million), 23 distributed to 10 restaurants). The heavily populated West Midlands county (population 3,4 million) has 54 fewer rosettes than Gloucestershire (88, spread around 43 restaurants, population 670,000).

                                                                 Worcestershire 

                                                               Abberley

                                                             Badgers ✳️✳️

                                                             The Manor Arms ✳️✳️

                                                                Broadway

                                                              The Back Garden (Dormy House Hotel) ✳️✳️✳️

                                                               Foxhill Manor ✳️✳️

                                                               Grill by James Martin (Lygon Arms Hotel) ✳️

                                                                Hook by Martin Burge (Fish Hotel) ✳️✳️

                                                                MO (Dormy House Hotel) ✳️✳️✳️✳️

                                                                Tattersalls Brasserie ✳️✳️     

                                                                    Callow End

                                                                 The Refectory at Stanbrook Abbey Hotel ✳️✳️

                                                                     Chaddesley Corbett

                                                                  Brockencote Hall Country House Hotel ✳️✳️✳️

                                                                     Malvern

                                                                   The Cottage in the Wood ✳️✳️✳️

                                                                   The Inn at Welland ✳️✳️

                                                                   L’Amuse Bouche Restaurant (Cotford Hotel) ✳️✳️

                                                                      Ombersley

                                                                   The King’s Arms ✳️

                                                                    The Venture In Restaurant ✳️✳️

15 restaurants in the county (33 rosettes). How lovely to see that the AA Guide knows that Broadway is in Worcestershire unlike the Michelin Guide which perpetually places it in Gloucestershire 

Therefore, in all, 118 West Midlands restaurants were featured in the 2026 edition of the guide (a total of 237 rosettes) when it was first printed and since then some are gone because of closures and a few have appeared. The year is already well half passed and summer’s lease hath too short a date but I will report future developments with this guide in the future as I have with other important guides.

   

553. Hotel du Vin, Stratford-upon-Avon. Cherry Beer And The Cherry Orchard.

  It really was one of those glorious English summer days when the dog and I arrived on our return to the Hotel du Vin in Stratford-upon-Avon. The hotel was dressed for the season and the sun with the lovely front garden - the champagne terrace - nicely kitted out for lounging residents to sit outside the gorgeous,  Georgian building watching the world go by and sipping their drink of choice undisturbed by everything beyond the garden wall. Lucy (III) the Labrador and I wasted no time in our own version of lounging and then moved on to the courtyard in the centre of the hotel and, finding a shady nook, settled down to a light lunch.

  I coupled a bottle of cherry-flavoured Belgian beer - well, I had come to Stratford to see The Cherry Orchard starring Kenneth Branagh and some Americans - which was remarkably moreish and surprisingly expensive with a pissaladière topped with sweet, tender onions - the sort you’d find in the hotel’s signature French onion soup - and olives and salty little anchovies. The pastry was externally crisp but with a soft and peasantry chewy interior and for under £5, it was an excellent dish to be savoured and enjoyed again for lunch the next day which is just what I did.

  The time soon came around for a pre-theatre dinner at the hotel.it also happened to be happy hour and I indulged myself in drinking two kir royales normally £14 each for £8 each. The day was going along happily and dinner did not spoil it.

  I started with a very pleasing crab and Gruyère quiche served with a chicory, parsley and caper salad. This was very good. The crab was sweet and the quiche luxurious and nicely balanced by the crisp chicory leaves which were not viciously bitter as they often are. A very good dish.

  I then had côte de porc cordon bleu which was very generously portioned, crispily coated, nicely cooked - not dry and overcooked at all - and pleasingly tasty. The ham and Gruyere blanket between the pork and the breadcrumbs was satisfactory and the cheese nicely melted. A small blob of celeriac remoulade had littkle flavour and contributed nothing to the dish. Apple would have been better. There should always be apple around somewhere if pork is the centrepiece. By that maxim, I stand. But this was an enjoyable, nicely executed main course and the pork was respected by the chef.

  The dessert was very good - a lemon tart, fresh and just the right hit of citrus, not too vigorous nor aggressive. The pastry was lovely and crisp and the raspberry sorbet was a good contrast though the flavour of raspberry did not come through very strongly.

  The next day, history repeated itself and I once more delighted myself with another splendidly rustic  pissaladière topped with anchovies, olives and sweet caramelised onions washed down by the cherry beer and of course I later took advantage of happy hour to avail myself of another kir Royale at a bargain price. Such pleasure!

  After the dinner of my first evening at the Hotel du Vin, I made my way to the Swan Theatre to see the starry-casted The Cherry Orchard. Alongside Kenneth Branagh there appeared two American stars, living the dream I suppose of appearing at Stratford, and other British notables including Guy Henry, a very good actor. The production seemed to consist of a stream of actors shouting at each other and an intolerably huge diversity of accents - posh English, common English, American, Northern Irish, something Mediterranean, I think, making it difficult to follow just what was going on. It just didn’t feel right and it certainly did not feel Russian. But ultimately it was poignant as Firs (played by Michael Elwyn) dies faithful to the end but left behind and forgotten. An end of era tale, generally well acted, and an unsettling feel of to it of England in 2026.

3 - 4 August 2026

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛

550. What’s The Point Of Restaurant Guides?

   I asked Gemini - at a time when I hadn’t got anything better to do - about the subject of how useful each of the main restaurant guides are to the ordinary but discerning diner who was reasonably prepared to eat novel dishes and experience new cuisines. I know AI is often wrong - it makes things up and its research is not as thorough as it might be and I’m pretty sure it rather grovellingly tries to give you the answer it thinks you want to receive. Still it does its best. Anyway we had a pleasant interchange where it did indeed largely express views which were in line with my own. Firstly, is the Michelin Guide any use? Its reply -

    We then moved on to the Good Food Guide which under its present editor uses flowery descriptions and reviews not sparing in the number of words used and is largely aimed at middling middle class hipsters and students giving it the impression of it trying hard to dumb down good food. It has surrendered to trendiness and coolness and this is much to be regretted. 

  Then there is Hardens which is like a Sunday family roast lunch in comparison with the Michelin Guide which is dining at the Ritz. As such it is to be commended. It is a vox pop but mostly the pop is informed, experienced, knowledgeable and discerning. There are certainly some restaurants included in it which would not make the cut in any other guide. I remember sitting in one of the (Harden-listed) bistros on Stratford’s Sheep Street and talking to a couple in early middle age who adored eating there and dined there whenever they were in the town. I smiled supportively, and hopefully not too patronisingly, as they praised their technically unambitious and quite pricey main course, inwardly grimacing as I tried to find even a glimmer of pleasure from the seriously overcooked fish I had been served. Still, I like Hardens, a Guide For The Common Man.

    Gemini deemed that the AA Guide was the guide for me. And I think it might be right.

 The AA Guide sets out the landmark events its own evolution but in terms of it being a restaurant guide the important dates are -

1967 - Introduction of the AA restaurant inspection scheme

1992 - The AA rosette scheme is revised as a 5 tier rating system.

   To explore which Birmingham and West Midlands restaurants had been featured in vintage editions o tge AA Guide I obtained the 1990 edition and perused its pages in search of well thought of Birmingham and other West Midlands restaurants which the Guide deemed worthy of inclusion. It really was not terribly useful. It took far more interest in the hotels it was reporting on with passing reference to eating arrangements in most of them. I really would have been better served by a 1992 edition when the 5 rosette system was introduced. I ordered a copy from É Bay but discovered that I had mistakenly ordered a copy of the 1992 Egon Ronay Guide which was a good thing as I hadn’t paid any attention to that particular important publication up until now (see below).

  Apart from hotel dining the guide mentioned only two restaurants and indicated their grading while the quality of those located in hotels was not indicated apart from commenting on price and nature of the menu. The two mentioned were Sloan’s and The Lombard Room in Kings Norton - 

xxx “Sloan’s, 27-29 Chad Square … Unusually located in a small square of shops to the west of the city centre, this chic, split level restaurant offers an imaginative menu of dishes in the light French style, making good use of fresh seasonal produce, and complementing its cuisine with a fine wine list and friendly professional service”

xxx “The Lombard Room, 180 Lifford Lane …. About ten minutes drive south of the city centre and convenient for the M42 is the famous Patrick Collection motor museum, within the beautiful grounds is the complex that contains the Lombard Toom, the elegant conservatory which holds the lounge and bar - all furnishings and décor are of very good quality. A short, imaginative à la carte menu offers a selection of tempting dishes. The quality of the food is complemented by professional attentive service and a magnificent of wines.”

  I am won over - for the present at least - by the idea that the AA Guide is the guide of choice for diners rather than chefs. I look forward to the next edition. I shall deal with the Egon Ronay Guide and the story of its editor in a future edition of BFAOBP.

Egon Ronay