Barnt Green, an extremely affluent village just over the border from south west Birmingham at the northeast tip of Worcestershire has a remarkably modest high street when one disembarks from the train from Birmingham (or in my case, from Longbridge, just 4 minutes away by locomotive). It’s remarkably unassuming and has two or three coffee shops and mostly independent businesses with the exception of a Tesco Local across the road from the local church. It isn’t hard to find Andrew Sheridan’s Michelin-listed Black and Green as the visiting diner turns out of the station approach and it looks back at you from across the building - a narrow front sandwiched between a charity shop and a private house.
I was there for Saturday lunch as were just four other people on what was a very pleasant and temperate early summers day. I discovered that Ben Taylor, former Chef Patron of Le Petit Bois in Moseley, had just started work there as its Head Chef having passed what sounded like a very memorable year driving around a large amount of Europe with his partner enjoying themselves at leisure as well as visiting places of gastronomic importance and gaining knowledge there. I asked him about a future version of Le Petit Bois and he was noncommittal but it was by no means not on the cards.
The menu of Black and Green, in its simplest form, was shown on the wall to my left very much in the way that the word of God appeared on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast but with a rather more pleasing message spelt out by the letters. “JERSEY ROYAL TROUT LAMB STRAWBERRY TREACLE” it shone out
The meal started off with amuses bouches - a delicious, powerfully flavoured mushroom parfait with port jelly and a pleasingly robustly flavoured Cotswold Cruncher cheese mousse on a delightfully crispy cracker with truffle.
Then sourdough, crusty and crunchy on the outside and freshly soft and tasty on the inside, with a gorgeous, lavishly garnished Cornish cruncher flavoured butter.
The first course was nicely cooked Jersey Royal potato in a verdant pea velouté and this proved to be very toothsome.
Then there came trout with whey split with cucumber and coastal herbs oil. I thought perhaps there had been too much whey covering the fish with its delicate texture but the trout was certainly full of flavour.
The main was Staffordshire lamb loin and belly - the belly more tasty than the loin I thought, exquisitely tender but there was a lot of unrendered fat - it appeared to have been cooked sous vide and then finished off when Chef took a blow torch to it. It was accompanied by tenderstem broccoli and a pleasing hint of mint which a nice plate of lamb always deserves to be accompanied by.
The intermediate course highlighted sweet seasonal Cheddar Valley strawberries on a strawberry panna cotta and with basil and black garlic and this led into the dessert proper.
This ‘treacle tart’, seemed to be somewhat misnamed, it having rather more the texture of a sponge made, it seemed, from bread with treacle and with it was an excellent yogurt ice cream, the acidity of which nicely balanced the sweetness of the rest of the dish.
At the end a surprise little cheese course of a good sized piece of strongly flavoured English Brie on a fruit bread and honey aptly piped across the top of it all.
I enjoyed my Saturday lunch at Black and Green and my chat with Ben Taylor and ambled across the road back to Barnt Green station for my train home.
30 May 2026
Rating:- 🌞.
