65. A Pulpería For Birmingham Courtesy Of Aktar Islam.

Pulpería 1820 by Pancho Fierro (1809-79).

  The Birmingham Post reported in its 19 September 2019 edition that celebrity chef, Aktar Islam, currently riding high with his excellent Opheem restaurant (featured in The Good Food Guide) but not so firmly mounted with his Legna restaurant (understandably not featured in The Good Food Guide), is to open another restaurant in Birmingham, this time in Brindleyplace, in which the emphasis will be on Argentine steakhouse-style food.

  The restaurant is due to open in November 2019 and, as well as specialising in steaks, will sell fish, grilled chicken and vegetarian options though I always wonder about why anyone would want to visit a steakhouse and then not order steak. It’s rather like watching Peaky Blinders and switching off every time someone swears an obscenity or commits an act of violence.

  The Post quotes Islam as saying that, “I’ve spent a lot of time in Argentina and have been fortunate enough to have some truly wonderful experiences in the country which I want to share with diners in Birmingham”.

  The restaurant will be named Pulperia. Pulperías, so Wikipedia tells me, were the names given to company stores and dining facilities in parts of South America most notably in the sodium nitrate extraction industries in northern Chile between 1850 and 1930. Wikipedia tells us that the pulperías were establishments which “combined the services of the general stores and the Wild West barroom of the United States in the nineteenth century”. One hopes that Iqbal’s restaurant will neither resemble a general stores nor carry the risks of Jesse James or Wyatt Earp stepping into the establishment whilst one is cutting away at one’s steak. Presumably not as Iqbal describes to The Post that the restaurant will feature a “plush dining room”.

  That all sounds very exciting and I look forward to discovering for myself whether or not Iqbal has come up with another Opheem or another Legna. The other question I have in my mind is whether 

the restaurant will be named Pulperia or Pulpería.

40. Opheem.

  It's only fitting that Birmingham should have a great south Asian restaurant and Opheem fits the bill. For Aktar Islam, there is life after Lasan and for Birmingham diners his afterlife is a paradise of delicious food.

  The new restaurant is smart, modern and chic - as far away from one's idea of what a 'curry house' should look like as one could imagine. It is spacious and eye-catching and reeks 21st centuryness which is no bad thing. The staff are rising to the task - professional, helpful, polite, knowledgable and friendly without being overbearing.

  But, as always, in the end it's about the food. Michelin has already awarded the restaurant a plate, and rightly so, and my dining companion and I both relished an eminently pleasing lunch today. The experience had everything that one should wish to say one had enjoyed 'Fine Dining' and there was not a course which did not cause us to praise chef's offerings.

  For a start there were 3 spicy amuses bouches (illustrated above) and then some lovely sourdough bread with a delicious lamb pâté. And so to the starter. My dining companion thought his stupendous scallop to be thoroughly enjoyable and I had kukkut from The Punjab which was a perfectly spicy Goosnargh chicken with grains and pumpkin which did not add to the flavour but gave a bit of bite to the dish.

  My companion derived great pleasure from his dish served from the Traditional menu - Karahai, chicken tossed with whole coriander seeds, chilli and bell pepper and I opted to have my main course from the special menu choosing, enjoying fish as I do, Allepy, a beautifully cooked piece of halibut, mildly spiced, served with a delightful Kerala coconut milk, spinach, kohlrabi, squid in an immaculately crispy coating and raw mango. An extremely enjoyable dish. And, as the menu reminds us, a winning course on The Great British Menu.

  I lusted after one of the delicious-sounding desserts but my companion was too full to venture on to the third course so I politely declined to eat when he could not but I shall not miss the opportunity to try one next time I visit - and there will be 'a next time' and hopefully in the near future.

  Aktar Islam has added to Birmingham's great culinary reputation by opening Opheem.