530. Snow And Ice And A Purple Sky And Dinner At Asha’s.

 

  I was meeting an old friend who last year moved from Birmingham to Saffron Walden where, he had discovered, dining out establishments are not as he had been used to here in Birmingham. He has the tastes and physique of a true gourmand, and unlike myself, is a lover of game and more impressively, is always able to sink a piece of rare purple wood pigeon from which I shrink away, the ferric flavour of it, like that of that offensive vegetable rocket, too much for my poor tastebuds. 

  We had arranged to stay in The Grand Hotel for two nights and as recounted in the previous Blog dined at Folium on our first evening in town only to be assailed by an irksome snow storm which made our journey from the Jewellery Quarter back to Temple Row somewhat thrilling as our Uber, possibly the last running that evening, slithered on the slushy, slide mean streets.

  I awoke the next morning to a snow-covered panorama looking from my window in room 503, the city paralysed with no effort having been put in by the council overnight to make either the roads or pavements safe. We passed the day quietly and resolved to dine at Asha’s, close by and no further far away than one would wish given the horrific icy state of the pavements. We made it to Asha’s without tumbling to the floor on the compacted snow and ice and heaved a sigh of relief and uttered a silent prayer in thanks for our survival.

  Unusually but hardly surprisingly, Asha’s was as empty as you would probably ever expect to see it on a Friday evening, unless perhaps Christmas Day had fallen on a Friday - I think that we were at one of only three occupied tables. We started inevitably as old campaigners with poppadoms served with some moderately interesting pickles and then we moved on to our starters - my friend judged his Prawn 65 (“batter fried prawns tossed with curry leaves, ginger and onions” to be agreeable and I enjoyed my Fish Amritsari (“Crispy fried fish pakoras seasoned with mint and aromatic carom seeds”) - they were generously portioned, certainly crispy, the unspecified fish nicely cooked but in any real flavour rendering them somewhat dull.

  I chose the again generously portioned chicken dharma curry which had satisfactorily cooked chicken in a nice thick, moderately spicy sauce. This was fine and there was some subtlety in the spicing but there was nothing astounding about it, no sparks of excitement, no evidence that going out for a curry, even at a glitzy, expensive place as Asha’s is, has moved on in any way, since the 1980s when I would often sit in Nirmal’s on West Street while working in Sheffield, being firmly guided to a more expensive dish than I really wanted by that redoubtable woman, Nirmal, herself. We know that “going out for a curry” has indeed moved on as evidenced by Opheem, ten minutes walk from Asha’s, but the latter has not - it lives on its glitziness rather than the excitement of its often quite expensive dishes. My friend enjoyed his chicken jhalfrezi and the accompanying rice, fragrant and tender was very good as was the soft cushion of the  Peshwari naan which was tasty and toothsome.

  I would have liked some kulfi but my friend was too full for dessert and so we settled up our bill and once more waddled out penguin-like on the dangerous pavements in the direction of the Grand Hotel and with a high degree of caution eventually arrived there without fatality or injury.

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛.

January 2026.

  The next morning, I opened my bedroom curtains to the sight of a weirdly pink dawn - the shade of pink never seen by me before in the sky in all my seventy plus years. It emerged that the lights at the Birmingham City football ground had affected the clouds as a result of the snowfall but I certainly had never experienced anything like that before.

  I met my friend for breakfast in The Grand’s Isaac’s restaurant and enjoyed my Full English quite considerably. The ingredients were good quality and well cooked - the black pudding was not dry due to being overcooked though my scrambled egg may have benefitted from a few seconds less cooking and certainly did not need a clump of the omnipresent pea shoot garnish which by now really should have gone out of fashion. I like the spacious side room where guests can chose many different elements of the uncooked part of the breakfast. In all the breakfast was very satisfactory and eating it in the splendour of Isaac’s adds an extra element to it all.

  Lucy the Labrador enjoyed her stay at The Grand as did I. Of course Lucy never got to sit in Madeleine bar as I and my friend did where for lunch we both indulged ourselves in a good hot bowl of sweet French onion soup with large cheesy croutons floating on the surface. And in the evening, after dinner, we relaxed for a pre-bed drink -  a nerve-soothing Old fashioned for me.

    Finally, an interesting photograph, one of very many on display in Isaac’s, of the renovations underway, or about to be started perhaps, of The Grand’s magnificent staircase which led eventually to the hotel being reopened in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis and where I and my much loved Lucy II were among the first guests.

516. Folium In Autumn.

 

  Folium remains the most peaceful haven of culinary pleasure in Birmingham. It certainly seems that way whenever I dine there. Even on a grim, dark autumn day the restaurant is full of light as the large window lets in any brightness squeezing through the dense clouds lowering over St Paul’s Square, a few yards down the road. The welcome from Lucy Hanson is relaxed and friendly, the service she gives is spot on and Ben Tesh’s food which she serves is unimpeachable. I have no doubt that if Folium were situated in London then it would have ling been awarded a Michelin star.

  On this occasion there had been tweaks to the menu. 

 

As an amuse gueule, there was now a toothsome croustade with Winterbourne trout and brown butter, a play on potted shrimps. Then, so familiar and excitedly anticipated, the spectacularly delicious homemade sourdough, so tasty and excitingly crispy on the outside, with Folium’s equally delightful cultured butter.

  The first course proper a tartare of Cornish blue fin tuna - tasty in a relaxed sort of way and very happily textured - along with shiso from Westlands in Evesham. There followed line-caught sea bream, cooked just as I like it, and a red pepper espuma with brioche, useful for mopping up the remaining sauce.

  The next course was a Folium old friend - wagyu short rib - on this occasion the texture was exactly spot on for me - with marinated chicory which gave sweetness to the bitterness of the endive. I then had the additional cheeses course which included Lincolnshire Poacher and Northern Blue. The cheeses were served in an excellent state and accompanied by Ben Tesh’s own crackers and heaven-sent fruit loaf as well as a pleasing quince jelly.

  There was a new dessert - a frozen passion fruit and marshmallow tart - very good - and then a triumph of texture - “yesterday’s sourdough” with rye caramel and the crunch of cobnut.  Afterwards the two mignardises - an old friend - the perfect pleated barley Madeleine with Cotswold whisky cream and a sweet little sunflower macaron filled with cep fudge - yet again, I use the word ‘delightful. After a nice chat with Lucy over a glass of port I headed back home, crossing St Paul’s Square, then up Newhall street and through St Philip’s churchyard where the Christmas craft market was underway with a vehicle selling Asha’s dishes at a prominent point near the cathedral.

Rating:- 🌝🌝🌝.

7 November 2025.

  But no time to stop, on through the churchyard, down Temple Street to New Street station to find, as often happens, trains delayed or cancelled. Hospitality businesses are under threat in the city centre for many reasons but having a failed public transport system which should be bringing people in from the suburbs to patronise the fine city centre restaurants does not help at all. Hopeful commuters were standing ten deep waiting on the platform for the severely late trains to arrive. If the city’s hospitality trade is to thrive then good, fast, easy access to the city centre from the suburbs is needed. But the system fails almost on a daily basis. Birmingham needs good political leadership to put it back on its feet and sort out its problems and those in power at present seem to have no idea of how get the city up and running again.

493. Summer - Colmore Food Festival 2025.

 

   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.