On 27 June 2026, it was announced rather suddenly, and even shockingly, that The Oyster Club was to close permanently on Saturday 11 July. I have previously written that it served the best Sunday lunch in the city (absolutely true) with its Chateaubriand, cooked superbly, and multiple trimmings also all cooked irreproachably and its relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. The Chateaubriand lunch cost £32 which was remarkably good value and all in all the news came as a blow upon a bruise as I have enjoyed a good number of Oyster Club Sunday lunches and have hardly, if ever, experienced disappointment - infact, quite the opposite, I have usually been quite elated after the beautifully cooked and sourced Sunday repasts there. And so, I thought I would take the opportunity, while the restaurant was still open, to dine on one more Chateaubriand lunch - the restaurant’s final Sunday service - and savour once more the deliciousness of it all.
I need not write about the experience in detail again - I have done so several times. But consider this - that’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight, losing my favourite Sunday lunch restaurant (apologies to REM) - no more of this stunningly cooked Chateaubriand with crispy roast potatoes, perfectly cooked carrot, cavalo nero, a good crispy Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower in a cheese sauce and a beef sauce. It’s another case of “such stuff are dreams made on”. Feast your eyes on the photographs, dream of that wonderful beef and mourn for The Oyster Club (and for Harborne Kitchem, Simpsons, Purnell’s and their ilk, murderously strangled by a malign Labour government led by the incompetent and inconsequential Starmer and his overpromoted chancellor, Reeves, in just two years of determined action to slaughter the hospitality industry) and mourn for the creators of these fine Birmingham restaurants and those who worked there and those of us who liked to dine there. We shall not see their like again.
The food brought me great pleasure and I rounded off the meal with the Oyster Club’s always excellent vanilla panna cotta with candied fruit, a perfect light dish to close a generously portioned meal.
I closed with the Bakewell tart mocktail. Lovely.
A grand meal tinged with sadness and and a fear of what may yet come as Starmer skulks back to the shadows and another smirking nonentity prepares to enter stage left.
5 July 2026.
Rating:- 🌞
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