532. Vieni.

  Vieni had only just opened when I lunched there. It is a fresh-looking comfortable space, cheerful and spirit-lifting with the service being  enthusiasastc and friendly. The restaurant had come about as a result of another partnership of two accomplished young women - chef Angelina Adamo and front of house manager, Charlotte Carter. The style of food is Sicilian and is generously portioned and rustic and the name of the restaurant in Italian means ‘Come here’ which seems fair enough.

  To tickle up my tastebuds I ordered what turned out to be a disappointingly small portioned plate of  salami and pecorino. True, the salami was delicious but a little more of it would have been very pleasing. Then on to the starter of wild garlic mozzarella arancini. This was very good, nicely sized, the coating enjoyably crispy and the contents tasty, all enhanced by a robust sauce. 

  I gasped when presented with my remarkable main - I had chosen Sicilian fennel sausage served in a bowl with stew of butter beans, soffrito and cavalo nero and a side dish of Jersey royals which were unnecessarily roasted. The great coil of sausage was far too much for one old bloke and suffice it to say that Lucy The Labrador was happy to receive a doggy bag of some of it on my return home. It was a great pleasure to eat and that went for the both of us.

  The individual zabaglione was excellent and rounded off an enjoyable meal. There’s so much going on in the Jewellery Quarter foodwise that one feels one ought to move there but the dog would disagree as someone thought it was a good idea to have no green space in the area apart from the churchyard of St Paul’s and the cemeteries but then again it was originally built as a place where people worked for a living rather than sitting around doing nothing of any particular use except of course those restaurateurs who work hard and produce something of great worth - the Jewellery Quarter dining scene.

• 

• Angelina Adamo

Charlotte Carter

 

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛

13 February 2026.

284. Laghi’s Edgbaston.

 

  The city’s tram line has been extended to what is tweely named Edgbaston Village though the area is enormously urbanised and has no resemblance whatsoever to a village and may otherwise be more accurately named Five Ways which is the huge traffic island leading to Ladywood, the large Georgian and Victorian homes of the upmarket part of Edgbaston and the Hagley Road which takes one past The Plough and Harrow, which was once the best dining establishment in the city especially when Andreas Antona was Head Chef there, and out to Quinton.

  Situated just off the Five Ways island is the well thought of Italian-style restaurant, Laghi’s, opened in 2017 by Luca Laghi, a doctor specialising in the care of elderly people at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital  and of Italian heritage himself. On 16 July 2022, Leo Kattou left his job as Head Chef at Simpsons after working there for 13 years and working his way through the ranks and at the end of October 2022 he became Head Chef at Laghi’s. The restaurant manager is Charlotte Carter.

  I arrived late for my lunch after staying a little longer than I should have done on a visit to the remarkable Coffin Works museum which is situated a stone’s throw away from Aktar Islam’s Opheem but I nevertheless received a pleasing welcome from Charlotte. Lunch service was winding down but the remaining diners looked comfortable and satisfied and I quickly settled down in the smart modern, stylishly decorated surroundings.

  From the sensibly sized menu I chose two ‘small plates’ after discussing my options with Charlotte - barbecued red prawns with salsa verde and truffle arancini with aged parmesan. I also opted for a half helping of the mezze maniche carbonara from the list of pasta dishes.

 

  All the dishes were excellent - from the splendidly large, tasty crustacea happily accompanied by the delicious salsa verde to the nicely crispy coated, richly truffled pair of arancini with the thrill of the aged parmesanto the gorgeous carbonara, the pasta accurately cooked as you would expect, the sensationally crunchy pancetta and the silky, glamorous, unctuous carbonara itself - a very memorable dish.

  This was an immaculately satisfying meal which I rounded off perfectly, I felt, with a modestly sized affogato. 

  Rating:- 🌞 

  I was not able to complete my pasta dish at Laghi’s because I had breakfasted again at Wayland’s Yard where, on that occasion, I had been regaled with a fine stack of nicely textured pancakes with good, crispy salty bacon made into a petit dejeuner symphony by maple syrup which I drizzled over it all.

  To complete a trio of breakfasts I also turned up there the following day with my dog, who by then loved heading for there, and again spoiled myself with a sausage and bacon bap which was delicious. The raison d’être of Waylands Yard was originally to serve fine coffeee, which it does very satisfactorily, but the breakfast and brunch food also available is thoroughly enjoyable and generously portioned.

Rating-  🌛🌛🌛🌛