542. Spring Dining (3). Return To Blacklock.

 

  I had so very much enjoyed my lunch at Blacklock (see Blog 536) that I just had to return the following week and hopefully to enjoy the atmosphere and once more to marvel at the excellence of the dishes. If anything the place was even livelier than before and absolutely full to the rafters with diners lunching on their toothsome chops and steaks.

  Instead of choosing a starter, I opted for the canapés which seemed a little overpriced at £2 each but then again everything is really now so expensive everywhere you go that it’s getting hard to judge what is a good price and what is a rip-off. The canapés were alright if a little underwhelming - I had one of each - ‘Blacklock potted meats and kimchi’, ‘egg and anchovy’ and ‘cheese and pickle’ - never have I eaten £6 worth of food so rapidly. 

  For my main, I chose pork loin chop again, price £8 - the previous week’s had been too delicious not to want to have a repeat performance - and also again the immaculate chips costing £5 and worth every penny. I was neither disappointed with the food nor bankrupted by the subsequent bill which is always a pleasure to savour as one leaves the restaurant, nicely replete. The dish had been served also with an excellent, fresh and tasty broccoli and walnut salad which I had not ordered and was not included in the bill. If one must eat broccoli then this is undoubted the best way to do so.

  For dessert, I had the unrivalled, somewhat deconstructed cheesecake with fruit compote and I derived as much pleasure from it as I had the previous week.

  A couple of weeks later I returned to Blacklock once more, this time on a Thursday lunchtime, and accompanied by a friend. As our mains, we both chose the steak and stout pie which had good pastry and generous meat content. I can not say that it surpassed the pork chop in any way but it was pleasant enough. Described on the menu as being, “swiftly served to be lunchbreak friendly”, the pie seemed to take an inordinately long time to materialise from the kitchen and one would have needed an extended lunchbreak to eat without rushing it. An interesting point about our visit to the restaurant on this occasion was that, compared with my previous visit, the restaurant was much less filled with punters though whether or not tgat was significant remains to be seen.

  Still, I like the chophouse but worry that classic fine dining in Birmingham is gradually fading away - its era ended, a fin de siècle, you might say. Everything is all rustic now and à la carte. Prices  and costs are very high and tasting menus are far less fashionable. The incompetent Labour government has not the ability - nor the inclination - to save the industry. The second half of 2026 may be a difficult time for the restaurant business, worse than anything that has yet come to pass.

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛.

536. Blacklock & The Fountain At Clent.

 

  Much hyped and opened fully only the day before I lunched there, despite some initial scepticism on my part, Blacklock, proved to be a totally enjoyable dining experience. At times I was alternately groaning and purring with the pleasure of it all. This is the third branch of this chain which strives to revive the era of the chophouse, the first being in London and the second in Manchester. I felt a little prematurely sniffy about it knowing it was a chain, albeit a rather short one.

  Situated in St Phillip’s Square next to Colmore Row and overlooked by the Grand Hotel, where my dog and I live to stay as often as we may, the spacious dining room is located in a building which was a Georgian vicarage in its first incarnation. Time moved on; at one time Brad Carter was planning to open his new restaurant there after he closed his original Moseley restaurant but the plans fell through and he eventually opened his new dining establishment in the Kings Cross area of London but in return Birmingham gained Blacklock from London and it really was a fair exchange.

 A considerable amount of time and money was spent on renovating the old vicarage and the result was an impressively sized, comfortable sort of space where the residents of Birmingham could relax over a dizzyingly modestly priced, delightfully rustic, brilliantly cooked and unimpeachably delicious meal. The service is friendly but efficient and the food is fabulous. This appears to be the beginning of a new era for dining out in Birmingham.

  I started off with an immaculately tasty crayfish cocktail - a generous helping of nicely textured crayfish with crispy lettuce (surely picked just a couple of minutes before!), creamy avocado lurking in the depths of the dish and surely the worlds most exciting Marie Rose sauce, thick and indulgent and provocatively spicy. Caramba! what a start! 

    But the main course was the real star, and how often that fails to be the case. A very satisfactorily sized pork chop arrived looked golden and tempting and for me it was just the right size. It was perfectly grilled, tender and moist, and the smoky flavour was as memorable as that of ant dish which I have eaten. I coupled it with triple cooked chips. The price seemed mildly deplorable - £5 for a small bucket of them - but as soon as I had tasted one  I realised that these were no ordinary chips - they were the greatest chips on earth - yes, really. The crisps were crunchy and the not overstated flavour caused by their being cooked in beef fat was celestial. This was, though rustic and unpretentious, a trip into the realm of culinary paradise and the chips were unsurpassable.

  And Blacklock had not finished even then. I chose the cheesecake with cherry compôte. It was as indulgent as a dessert could ever be. And it was served from a larger dish which was novel and mildly thrilling. The cheesy cream was gorgeous and the texture of the crunchy element was lovely and the cherry compôte was soothing and tasty.

  This was a very fine meal - one of the best I have had for a long time. In many ways it reminded me of Glynn Purnell’s new restaurant, Trillium, but more spacious and food sold at a fraction of the price and served hot. And this from a chain restaurant. Well, well, well!

Rating:- 🌞

21 April 2026.

 Four days later I enubered myself to Clent. It was a beautiful sunny day, more aestival than vernal, and the pretty, affluent village looked lovely as my Uber man drove through it en route to The Fountain Inn nestled in a quiet leafy road a good distance up one of Clent’s hills. It turned out to be an elongated, white-painted inn of some antiquity and I knew that the previous landlady, Jacqueline Macey, had raised its culinary reputation to a high level although it was never recognised by the restaurant guides. After her death in 2025, The Fountain was taken over by Mike Livesy who recognised its potential as a gastropub and rather smartly snaffled three young men to work there as chefs  - recognisable young fellers late of Simpsons (and for a short time, also of The Wilderness), and two of them Masterchef The Professionals contestants, - Evan Holliday who was appointed Head Chef, Jordan Johnson and Lewis Perks, a talented pastry chef.

  The inn’s interior is spacious, unfussy and comfortable. The service is quiet and unrushed and perhaps just a little too formal for the setting. But I quickly settled in and was given the printed menu and the blackboard specials which included beef Wellington after which I lusted but unfortunately it was only available for sharing by two. There did seem to be room for compromise but I felt I really did not want to cause problems especially as I was lunching quite late. So I ordered Prawn cocktail (for the second time that week), chicken and preordered my dessert.

  The prawn cocktail was excellent and the helping of prawns in it was remarkably generous though perhaps I should have liked at least one more salad element to make the dish more interesting. The lettuce was undoubtedly pleasingly fresh and crispy and theccroutons I suppose were an added textural element and the mildly spicy Marie Rose was delicious. This was an enjoyable dish though it had hard competition from the magnificent crayfish cocktail I had cooed over a few days earlier at Blacklock

  My main of roast chicken with confit thigh, ‘cabbage compôte’,  crispy hen of the woods and a remarkably delicious sauce supreme was excellent. The sauce was silky and full of flavour and the chicken was perfectly cooked, beautifully moist and tender. My only disappointment was the absence of any root vegetable prepared in whichever way the Chef preferred - I think it would have rounded the dish off.

  Then to the dessert - an excellent banana soufflé served with a delicious quenelle of banana and lime ice cream. The lime provided an excellent balance with the sweetness of the soufflé and all things considered, this was an enjoyable fine dessert to find in a country pub.

  Of course, the dishes in general and the soufflé in particular had the ring of Simpsons about them and there is a clear reason why that is the case - the former Simpsons young men who had been recruited to thrill the diners at The Fountain.

Rating:- 🌞

25 April 2025.