Summer Heat. The Colmore Food Festival (Friday 4 July and Saturday 5 July) was once more up and running and baking in the bright, burning sunshine and it was all looking rather good with a large number of stalls all serving food and drink with the attending crowd was clearly ‘up for it’. I turned up on both days with my new Labrador pup (I had not realised that the day was going to get so hot so quickly but I kept her cool, don’t worry) late morning and the numbers of people in town seemed unprecedented - not only was the Food Festival taking place but there were thousands from home and abroad there to attend the farewell concert of the veteran Birmingham music, Black Sabbath.
There was no time to lose. It would clearly be too hot to hang around for too long in the heat and so, on the first morning, I did a quick turn around the stalls and decided to sample the wonderful Fish and Chips’ from the Adam’s and Oyster Club stand. This was the best street food I could ever remember eating. There were four supremely well-cooked giant prawns in the lightest of tempura and served with a nicely minted pea purée and string chips. It was delicious. The prawns had a perfect texture and contentment settled on me.
The dog and I did another turn around the stalls and I eventually alighted at the Isaac’s stall and opted for a whole Yorkshire pudding stuffed with braised beef and garnished with chives. This was not as delicious as I was expecting- the meat was very well cooked and approaching a pleasing unctiousness but the Yorkshire pudding was too dampened by the soft meat. Probably it wasn’t the right dish to choose on such a hot day and that may have cooled my ardour for it.
It was clearly by then too hot to expect Lucy to tolerate any more of it so we headed back home and returned at much the same time to find the crowds even bigger and keen to sample the fare. Firstly, to the Asha’s stand where I enjoyed very much a gorgeously lamb kebab with soothing mint sauce and a lovely fresh salad of various leaves. A very fine dish.
Afterwards to the Pasture stand. This is a well thought of steak restaurant at the end of Colmore Row. I had not yet got around to dining there but clearly I must. I chose the ‘Pastureburger’ which as burgers go was very good and that coming from someone who is not top of the list of burger lovers. This was nicely cooked, the meat succulent and well seasoned. There was a good slice of cheese and it was a burger I would happily eat again and especially when seated in a comfortable, smart, spacious restaurant as Pasture appears to be.
It was again becoming too hot to expect the dog to hang around in the full glare of the sun raining down on Victoria Square but I did want to see a couple of food demonstrations so we walked the short distance to Chamberlain Square and Lucy seemed happy enough in this location. A mobile kitchen served as a demonstration stand and Glynn Purnell was already speaking demonstrating in his usual and easy style the preparation of pan-fried stone bass on an ajo blanco topped with buttered grapes, butter beans and rocket and then moving on to a dish of crispy aubergine in a spiced tempura batter with a honey-truffle soy dressing. Lucy and I sat on the steps to listen and found ourselves next to a mildly grumpy, very tiny chihuahua in the company of a woman who introduced us to both the dog and to herself, she being Glynn Purnell’s partner and we had a nice chat about the upcoming opening of Purnell’s new restaurant at Snow Hill as well as having the chance to sample the excellent tempura dish. I also managed to eat most of my Pastureburger though it was eventually seized by my lusting canine and she got her first taste of that particular form of beef. She too seemed to be be impressed.
Purnell was followed by Matt Powell, the Group Director of Hotel du Vin hotels including Birmingham’s branch of the upmarket chain, and he gave an excellent demonstration of how to prepare a Mont Blanc soufflé with a Parmesan sauce and Rich Juragel.
Back in Victoria Square, Lucy and I paused to listen to a wonderful three man trombone band, Keep Off the Grass, and I visited the Alchemist stand and self-indulgently ordered myself a second Red Zombie. By then there were hundreds of people in Victoria Square and Birminghamseemed to be having its very best day in quite a long time.
The remaining demonstrations were:-
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that visitors to the Festival were handed a free ‘Colmore Cookbook’ which was very nicely produced and certainly on my part, received with gratitude as a splendid souvenir of a memorable event. The book included recipes from chefs at La Bellezza in Chamberlain Square (giant raviolo carbonara), Dishoom in Chamberlain Square (‘The Kejriwal’ - cheese and egg, spiced up, on toast), Hotel du VIn in Church Street (Côte de porc - pork chop, creamed cabbage and red wine jus), Orelle Colmore Row (Strawberry gazpacho and Cucumber and Granny Smith apple granita with basil), recently opened Regina’s in Newhall Street where Purnell’s Bistro and The Asquith were once located (Saltimbocca monkfish roulade) and Tiger Bites Pig in Church Street (Beef shin with chilli and black vinegar). The cover is depicted at the head of this Blog.
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