There’s no doubting that Alex Claridge is bold with his approach to what he serves to his diners. Fortunately most of them know what to expect. Or do they? Once more Claridge has sent out his e mails summoning those with a stiff spine and probably needing a stiff drink for his 2025 ‘Rough cut’ sessions where he tries out new dishes on those prepared to pay to be Guinea pigs and have the opportunity to make an honest comment or two on what they have eaten.
The 2025 Rough Cut certainly seemed to be going boldly where no Birmingham fine dining chef had gone before - his message of summoning the faithful stated, “Alex and the band are playing with bolder and brighter for the coming months” and listed ingredients including sea urchin, smoked beef heart and lamb neck with grilled sea vegetables. All this when I feel I’ve reached a less bold stage in my life and memories of the particularly unpleasant sea urchin dish I was once served while on a tour of China and the whole beef hearts piled on a charger served to us for school lunch just the once back in 1967. Well, I thought, we’ll see.
The menu served on the evening was similar to but not identical to the mooted menu featured in Claridge’s e mail. I was pleased with the changes as I have been served so many beef (and other) tartares in recent times that I have grown rather tired of the dish no matter what twist is put on it. On the other hand I was disappointed not to see the Basque cheesecake lined up on the final menu.
I started off with a white port and tonic which Sonal Clare has put on the drinks menu after he recently had a trip to Portugal where it is, of course, all the rage. This pleasing, refreshing, light aperitif, which I have been ordering at various venues for the past twelve months or so, will hopefully replace the very vulgar negroni which has long dominated the preprandial drinks choice of those who think they are at the cutting edge but have long been washed away in the tide of good taste.
The first course was excellent - a beautifully textured red prawn ceviche with a slice of tangy jalapeño, the hit of sorrel and the looming threat of wasabi, all tempered with milk curd. A dish with plenty of punch to it but finely judged. Then, very nicely flavoured barbecued mackerel with the well matched, mild ancho chilli used in Mexican cooking to bring a sweet and smoky flavour, and sweetly citrus blood orange, perhaps a little too sweet but weirdly enjoyable, and countered to some extent with mildly bitter endive. Very clever and ambitious.
Next, deliciously sweet and perfectly flavoured confit leeks with Iberico in a creamy sauce. Little chunks of sea urchin were present but only discernible by its firm texture rather than its flavour. I think the dish would have been just as enjoyable without the sea urchin and another of God’s creatures would not have been sacrificed but I get the attempt to push diners a little further than their usual limits and bring some thrill to the dish.
Then, a very fine dish of delightfully barbecued monkfish which had an excellent texture - meaty and full of body but not excessively chewy and the barbecuing had given it a truly delicious flavour. It was served on the bone as a dish for two alongside plates of impressively plump, tasty mussels enhanced by a tangy pepper sauce.
Then, finally some meat. This was pork jowl with a nice crispy skin though it was somewhat softened by the mustard sauce which really had no heat to it. It was a small cube of pork and though immensely tasty it proved to be a rather insubstantial dish. I should have liked pork loin - something with more substance than jowl - especially as a main course. There was some delightful apple sauce accompanying the pork and this was probably the best element of the course. The two or three shards of cabbage added little to the dish and only served to underline how insubstantial the whole dish seemed.
In place of the hoped for Basque cheesecake, there was a delightful strawberry-based dish, sweet and full of the flavour of strawberries. One of the elements of the dish was oolong tea but the flavour did not come through to me.
We must remember that this was a meal aimed at trying out new dishes on the public who were invited to give their honest impressions of them. If something did not work then it was not a failure of the chef but a chance to learn about why it did not work and to put it right. Full marks for Alex Claridge and Marius Gedminas who, it seems, will be leaving The Wilderness soon and who will indeed very greatly missed by the admirers of his fine and inventive cooking. This modern world doesn’t stand still but change rarely seems to improve matters..
Rating:- 🌞🌞.
24 April 2025.
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