307. Chapter. Tattu.

  Chapter, in a rather twee short section of a road in the even more tweely-named Edgbaston Village which seems to amount to being a short section of a road lined by upmarket houses where no traffic is allowed, is smart, modern and appealing. Chapter is the successor to Opus in Cornwall Street, located across the road from Purnell’s, the trade of which was ruined by prolonged roadworks carried out by the progressively incompetent Birmingham City Council immediately outside the building which housed the restaurant. The previous Head Chef, Ben Ternant and Anne Tonks, previous owner of Opus regrouped and shifted the site of their culinary activities to Edgbaston and opened Chapter which has been well received by diners from the surrounding area as well as The Good Food Guide but not the Michelin Guide.

  The clientele was interesting when I and two companions were lunching there. The location and the nature of the location clearly define who is eating here - smartly dressed Conservative (big C as opposed to little C) ladies-who-lunch, businessmen, upper echelon professionals - so different from trendy Stirchley where carefully scruffy socialist hipsters throng shabby chic cafes. Serious money was lunching out in Edgbaston Village.

  Anne Tonks was welcoming very brilliantly her arriving diners and embracing quite expertly the ladies-who-lunch who were clearly regular visitors to Chapter. It was all so much more civilised than a dip into the downmarket jumble in Stirchley. And so we embarked on our voyage through the new spring menu launched that day. I chose Wye Valley asparagus with poached egg and wild garlic Hollandaise. The menu asserted that spring, a Midlands spring, was here. The asparagus was well cooked and tasty, the egg spot on but the wild garlic in the Hollandaise was imperceptible. Still, a reasonable start and a promise that the seasons were moving along towards summer. One of my companions chose a duck salad as his starter and was pleased with what he was served.

    I was tremendously excited to be having Dover sole ‘on the bone’ with caviar, lemon butter and ‘fries’. The chips were as good as the fish was disastrous. The sole, which admittedly was nice and meaty, was severely overcooked to the point of stodginess. After a few mouthfuls I found it to be inedible and I parcelled it up to bring home for Lucy The Labrador who appreciated the gesture of being offered about £15 worth of expensive fish to be easily gobbled up in five seconds. My companions also ordered some unremarkable tenderstem broccoli at the remarkable price of £5.

  Things could only get better … but they did not. For dessert I chose what seemed to be a promising panna cotta with ‘local’ rhubarb and tiny shards of ginger snap. To be fair the ginger element was very tasty and the rhubarb was well-cooked though not great in flavour but the panna cotta was a disaster with less wobble than the Rotunda and a thick, stodgy texture more suited to a sponge pudding than a happy, light panna cotta. This was really not good enough given the price of the meal.

  Despite, the depressing nature of the meal, I imagine Chapter will flourish and that the Ladies-who-lunch there will continue to, er, lunch there. Sadly though, it seems unlikely that I shall be sitting at a table near them again, given the mediocrity of what was served at this particular lunchtime, particularly at the price we were asked to pay.

Rating:- 🌛

  A couple of evening’s earlier I had dinner at the remarkably glitzy Tattu in Barwick Street. I found that it remained as lively and colourful as ever and worth visiting just to catch the atmosphere of the place. I was seated in a nicely comfortable booth to the side of the downstairs dining room, which suited me perfectly, and I received excellent service from the very attentive front-of- house staff. After discussing my options of what to have from the crowded menu I opted for ‘small plates’.

  I chose robustly tasty black cod croquettes served with ginger and garlic aioli, what turned out to be remarkably ruby red steamed wagyu dumplings which were also very tasty and - rather more disappointing - ‘aromatic crispy duck pancakes’ served with a Szechuan sauce, cucumber and spring onions, as one might expect. The duck would have been nicely cooked if one had chosen a pan-fried dish European style but there was no crispiness about it and the flavours were hardly scintillating. I also had a rather heavy jasmine rice which I would not have missed had I not ordered it.

  

  In the end, not for the last time this week (see above), Lucy The Labrador found herself eating the remains of an expensive meal which did not seem worth the price asked for it. Still, it was an enjoyable evening and the food was generally good and the dog was happy, so what else can a man want in his life?

Rating:- 🌛🌛

176. The Charlton Arms; Opus To Start A New Chapter.

Ludford Bridge and Charlton Arms by Larry Turner

  And so, to Ludlow town itself and at a spot where Lancastrians and Yorkists (I don’t mean puddings and hot pots) slew each other in the early stages of the Wars of the Roses) on Ludford Bridge where there is also sited the Michelin plated Charlton Arms, whither I repaired for lunch. It’s owner, Cedric Bosi, originally came to Ludlow from Lyon to work with his brother, Claude, when the latter owned the Michelin-starred Hibiscus, where Glyn Purnell worked for a few months. Claude eventually relocated Hibiscus to London but Cedric had already discovered an interest in the customs and traditions of the English pub and had opened one, the Bell Inn in Yarpole in Herefordshire which won a Michelin Bib Gourmand. When Claude moved Hibiscus from Ludlow to London in 2010 Cedric moved with his brother and together they opened two pubs in the London area but Cedric and his wife Amy returned to Ludlow in the second half of 2015 and opened the Charlton Arms.

  It is an attractive setting, located at one end of Ludford Bridge with a view over the broad river Teme at a point where the drop down to the river is almost a ravine. The location certainly sets the pub up for a Bib Gourmand - which it was awarded in 2018. The decor is delightful - slightly eccentric - with light bursting in from windows on two sides. 

  The menu is classic English rustic with a twist. Cedric Bosi was doing us all a great favour when he developed the English pub as a fascination. The food is unashamedly pub food but fine pub food.

  I chose the ‘House apéritif’ , a pastis, which arrived looking like it might glow in the dark and potent with aniseed. To start I chose spiced spring lamb Scotch egg with soothing tzatziki. This was a generously portioned Scotch egg, a crunchy golden coat surrounding the bite of the spices mixed with the lamb. It was almost a tasty, filling meal in itself. 

  

 

 For the main course I chose, and was served, fine dressed crab with excellent, moderately thin chips and a ‘Lane cottage salad’ with ribbons of carrot, crunchy fennel (more aniseed but who’s complaining?) onions, peppery radishes and leaves and a perfectly matched dressing. Summer on a plate and indeed the sun had burst out across Ludlow after three days of indecisive clouds.

  I was as full as an old bloke can be before he begins to feel uncomfortable but I saw the peach cheesecake with coconut ice cream being delivered to another table and I had to give way to my base gluttony which was good as it was a very enjoyable dessert and light with very coconuty coconut icecream and very peachy peach cheesecake.

  A very enjoyable lunch. No wonder that Michelin has honoured the place. A revisit is on the cards.

  Meanwhile back in Birmingham, the previously Michelin-plated Opus may have died an unnatural death from a surfeit of lockdowns, unending street works and Birmingham City Council's poisonous Clean Air Zone but Ann Tonks and Irene Allan who founded, and subsequently closed, Opus in Cornwall street are preparing to start a new chapter in their restaurant careers by opening a new establishment, aptly to be called Chapter, in Edgbaston on the Calthorpe Estate. The Opus Head Chef, Ben Ternant, will join them by leading the kitchen staff at the new 65 seater restaurant which should open in early December 2021, a date coinciding with the opening of the Hagley Road extension of the Midlands Metro tramline putting the restaurant just about five minutes journey time from the city centre.

Irene Allan and Ann Tonks

Ben Ternant, Head Chef at Opus and Chapter

147. Opus Will Not Reopen.

 

  Birmingham’s first major restaurant casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic era is the Michelin-plated Opus, opened by Ann Tonks and David Colcombe in 2005 and situated across the road from, and almost opposite, Purnell’s in Cornwall Street. On 12 May 2021 its internet site announced that its management would not be reopening it on 17 May, the date chosen by the government for restaurants to be allowed once more to serve food indoors to diners, stating that it “is not viable to carry on trading ...”.

  Sadly, I had eaten there only once, driven into having the cheapest lunch deal and thus consequently, I suspect, an unremarkable lunch, by a parsimonious dining companion who likes to dine fine but at prices which hardly allow a chef to show off their true skills. I was struck by the remarkable spaciousness of the restaurant which must have be difficult to fill at times, even with a Michelin recommendation and though it was striving to find an image for itself - sustainable ingredients - after David Colcombe departed in 2015 and Ben Ternant took over as Executive chef having been Head chef, I can see that it probably relied more on a coterie of loyal old customers to keep it going (I may be wrong, of course) than anything else (and yes of course I accept everywhere needs their loyal customers to stick with them).

  The problem for Opus was that, though it was well thought of and respected, it never reached the heights of being the in-place to eat in the city and diners need that extra something to make them choose somewhere to eat. Still it is a loss to the city and reduces our number of Michelin-listed restaurants to 15 (5 stars and 10 plates).

  The Michelin 2021 review:-