285. Black And Green. Back to Barnt Green.

 

  Michelin has recently added Andrew Sheridan’s Black And Green to its list of recommended restaurants which did not surprise me after my experience there earlier in the year, soon after the north Worcestershire restaurant had opened. I had made a reservation to visit there a few days before the announcement of Michelin’s recommendation so the new added status of the restaurant, which I had previously enjoyed very much, added spice to the anticipation of my second visit.

  It was clear that the restaurant really is now functioning at a very high level. Andrew Sheridan told me that he himself works at Black and Green on week nights and is in his city centre restaurant, 8, on Fridays and Saturdays. He also mentioned that he is planning to open another restaurant, with, I think rooms, in Herefordshire during 2023 - an exciting prospect.

  Meanwhile the six course menu served on the evening of my visit to B & G  was very impressive and the dishes were generally thoroughly enjoyable. Appetisers were made up of olives, a fine plump oyster and a generous helping of tasty bread with cultured butter. The first course was marvellous - scallop with a bountiful amount of caviar and  a buttermilk emulsion. then, equally enjoyable, sea trout with plump little mussels. Immaculately cooked, delicious wagyu with ceps and robustly flavoured truffle shards was the centre piece of the meal and there was a happy dessert which apple, yoghurt and white chocolate. 

  This restaurant is so very good. Is it possible that it may soon be a new star in the firmament when Michelin makes its 2023 awards? It just might be.

Rating:- 🌞🌞.

121. Veil Of Tiers.

Tier 3 - Hell by Giotto di Bondone 1267-1337, Scrovegni Chapel Padua.

   Late in the morning of Thursday 26 November the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced the plans  Boris Johnson’s government had made for when England would exit the 4 week long COVID-19 ‘lockdown’. There were to be 3 Tiers as before but in the newly renamed Very High Tier 3 restaurants and hotels and public houses were to remain shut apart from the provision of takeaway meals. The precise locations of the unfortunate Tier 3 areas were to have been revealed on a government website but so great was the number of people trying to discover in which tier their own area had been placed that the site soon crashed. But the truth was soon revealed - Birmingham, Staffordshire, West Midlands and Warwickshire were all allocated a place in the Hell of Tier 3 while Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Shropshire were consigned to the Purgatory of Tier 2. Indeed of the whole of England only Cornwall, Scilly Islands and Isle Of Wight had found their way into the Heaven of Tier 1.

  This announcement was a great disappointment and cause for concern for the future of the hospitality industry in the West Midlands.  Notable Birmingham restaurants broke the news to their customers with various messages on line and The Birmingham Post headlined the threat to the industry in anticipation of the city’s allocation to Tier 3.

  Only 5 days prior to the government’s announcement, Sam Morgan, patron of Craft and 8, had been publicising that the restaurant had been putting into place more of its ‘dining pods’ which had proved to be very popular during the preceding weeks and helped to ensure heavily booked reservation lists for the restaurant.

 

So in the words of Haircut One Hundred (I have no idea why they suddenly came to mind):-

  And is that the boiling lake of Tier 3 Hell where the lost souls of restauranteurs end up? I hope not.

111. Return To Craft, 8 Draws Near.

  The steamy hot weather had left the city centre deserted and public transport largely empty. So, not too worrying a journey into the city centre apart in my bemasked state from the risk of momentarily broiling in my own juices.

  I found Craft changed. For a start it now seems to be Craft rather than Craft Dining Rooms. Well that makes sense. The pods outside in an HG Wellsian sort of way seemed to have proliferated and the bar was now located outside. I had booked an outdoor table but was told I had been allocated one indoors which was gloriously air-conditioned and the social distancing space was generous. On this day the air conditioning was as important as the food. Well almost. Well, that is probably true, actually. So I was both happy and relieved to have had my reservation countermanded.

  On line menus and wine lists. Technology comes to the rescue. I was asked if I wanted a card menu and I did as it’s nice to have a souvenir. On the back there’s a nice little map of Great Britain showing the places of origin of some of the restaurant’s wines and ingredients. At this point I realised I had not had my temperature taken (which the restaurant had previously been making a big thing of) though the great heat of the day would have undoubtedly rendered me pyrexial anyway and no-one had offered me or pointed me in the direction of hand sanitiser. 

  The pleasure of a double Cotswolds Gin and tonic and in came the starter. Each course very reasonably offered four choices, I opted for the very tasty and fine-looking salt beef with refined pickles and mustard and accompanied by a small brioche loaf. The brioche was mildly burned though edible but really should not have been sent out of the kitchen in that state.

  The bread was a relatively minor issue when the main course arrived. Pork in many guises. Here Chef had come into his own. There was so much that was right about the dish. With its circular motif it was vaguely psychedelic and had lots of browns and yellows that those of us who lived through the 1970s would be so familiar with. And how wonderful not to just be served pork cheek or pork belly. Here there were both plus a lovely little bit of pork rump. The cheek was among the most tasty I’ve had before and the belly was magnificent with its slim little slice of crackling adhering to it. I enjoyed  the perfectly cooked five spice carrot, the mash of ideal texture and the magnificent piece of gorgeously flavoured pineapple which had been marinated in something ambrosian I think. At the hub was an egg which went well with the rest. Top marks. A repeat visit soon was now assured.

  So often the main course of a meal can be the low point but this was the undoubted star of this meal.

  The dessert was summed up on the menu as Rice pudding with Hay ice cream. Mercifully the flavour of hay was barely noticeable and the rice pudding was perfectly textured. The milk tuiles gave a subtle flavour to it all. Light and apt, just my sort of pudding.

  The indoor restaurant has halved its size since I last visited Craft rather as our prime minister would like us all to do. It was a little disorientating but made the restaurant more intimate as the restaurant had been far too big and hard to keep warm in winter. So where had the rest of it gone?

  I asked about the publicity I had read recently for Chef Andrew Sheridan’s new restaurant, 8, and wondered where it was going to be situated. The answer was in front of my nose. It was going to be in the missing half of Craft and would open on 8 October. The menu will be an 8 course tasting menu and will be themed around the number 8. Each dish pays ”homage to the number and Sheridan’s culinary journey” with the concept summing up his whole career in eight courses”. This sounds all a little too self-referential and self-absorbed but I’m ready to give it a go although getting a reservation might be difficult as the 16 cover venue will at first be limited to eight covers because of the need for adequate social distancing. Sheridan does produce the most delicious dishes so 8, I’m sure, is going to be rather special.

Addendum - Thanks to the Chancellor of The Exchequor for my very decently sized Eat Out to Help Out discount. It really is a very sunny day.