437. The End Of Purnell’s.

 At 1000AM on Monday 14 October 2024 Glynn Purnell announced via social media that his restaurant, Purnell’s, in Cornwall Street had served its last diners at close of service on Saturday 12 October and that the restaurant was now permanently closed.

  He was interviewed an hour later on the BBC West Midlands station by Kathryn Stanczyszyn and repeated that which he had stated in the social media and identified a number of reasons for his decision to end the 17 years of fine dining he had been serving up to the citizens of Birmingham and from further afield in Cornwall street. 

  We know well Purnell’s story before opening Jessica’s in Edgbaston with owners Diane and Keith Stevenson and this had included a period of work as Chef de Partie at Andreas Antona’s Simpsons and for Claude Bosi at Hibiscus in Ludlow. Jessica’s was opened in 2004 and, with Purnell in the kitchen, it was awarded a Michelin star in 2005, joining Simpsons as one of only two Birmingham restaurants to have been awarded the accolade up until then. Jessica’s closed in 2007 after Purnell decided to open his own restaurant which he did in May 2007, quite reasonably naming it after himself, and Purnell’s was awarded a Michelin star in the 2009 edition of the Michelin Guide (announced in 2008). Purnell’s retained the star until its closure.

  Purnell became a local and national culinary celebrity with numerous appearances on television and in the press and opened, and sometimes closed, other restaurants as he was eventually to do with his flagship fine dining restaurant itself as the gastronomic climate changed, costs rose, and the fall off of diners able to, or prepared to, pay significant prices for tasting menus and their ilk.

  Purnell’s is survived by its younger siblings, Plates By Purnell’s in Edmund Street and the upmarket public house/restaurant The Mount in Henley in Arden.

  A look at Blog 413 (28 June 2024) may provide the reader with at least one reason why Purnell’s finally had to close. It was still very good but it was tired, the menu had lost its thrill, its humour and wit, its flair and imagination, its sense of excitement, its oomph. Restaurants rely on their old, faithful customers coming back time and time again and while they like to see familiar old favourites on the menu, they also want novelty and for me the menu was too repetitive drawing on old glories. I’m not convinced that Glynn Purnell had not lost his interest in it all to some extent. When something’s tired and elderly, it’s time to let it rest with its memories of the glory days of fine, exciting, witty experiences and so to move on.

 And in response to the news I made a reservation to visit Plates by Purnell’s the very next day. Somehow it seemed the decent thing to do.

   I had dined just a month ago at Plates with a regular dining companion and we were very impressed. Our chosen dishes were pleading and represented good value. My only real problem with the restaurant was the general lack of space there which makes it feel just a little unwelcoming though that is certainly not a comment that one could make about the excellent front of house staff there.

  We indeed had little to complain about on this occasion - we enjoyed the platter of embutidos (cured meats) which admittedly was more a matter of curation than of culinary skill; we enjoyed some inoffensive albondigas, some cheese and basil  croquetas, some fine-looking patatas bravas (which to be fair were more patatas than bravas) and some nicely seasoned gambas al ajillo. I chose the pistachio dessert - a pistachio foam with honey and tuiles - though it only served to emphasise how unrewarding are the restaurant’s desserts. Generally we enjoyed ourselves and I felt that I shoukd like to return sooner rather than later.

  Which brings us to my solo visit to Plates one month after my previous dining experience there. In many ways I wish I had not decided to dine there. I repeated my previous order of albondigas and requested chicken thigh with romesco sauce (it was not available), ‘chip  de trufa’ - potato with truffle mayonnaise (I was informed it was a single chip which sounded a little insubstantial for £5 to say the least so I opted for good old patatas bravas, croquetas de queso y albahaca and, in the absence of the chicken, calamares with alioli. First the good news - the croquetas were good - nice and crispy though not bursting with flavour, the patatas bravas were indisputably lacklustre, the albondigas were much as one would expect them to be but the crispy squid was awful - true the coating was pleasingly crispy but the squid inside was vile, decidedly miscooked in a way which truly gave it an unchewable rubber band texture. Oh dear! This was not the standard one expects from a Michelin recommended restaurant. *What is going on at these Purnell restaurants?

   The squid was the single most unpleasant piece of food I have put in my mouth in a restaurant since a trip to China in, if I remember rightly, 1993 when I wrestled with a ghastly, grey piece of sea cucumber which had been served as a delicacy. The stuff that nightmares are made on. I pointed out the extreme chewiness of the squid to the waiter and no charge was quite rightly made for the dish and there the matter should end except that one is bound to wonder how the Michelin grade kitchen could let such a horror escape from it.

  The squid had rather knocked me back and I did not feel I could risk a dessert. Glynn Purnell needs to get a grip on this. Hopefully it’s a one off.

Rating - 🌛🌛.

  More bad news. The friend .with whom I dined on the first of my reported visit to Plates usually joins me for a ‘3 and half ounces of pleasure’ at The Alchemist prior to our sauntering off to some worthy dining establishment for our regular lunch. He was not with me on my second visit but having 45 minutes to pass prior to my reservation time it seemed like a very good idea to pop into the Alchemist and renew my acquaintance with that very soothing cocktail. Alas! I was informed that 3 and half oz was no longer being made. An instant state of crestfallenness set in. But it was suggested I substitute the Pleasure with a June Bug, the ingredients of which included gin and banana and coconut. This was good - who can resist gin with some of the ingredients of a Planter’s punch? But the embracing rum of the Pleasure would have been a nice soother on a grim, cool English mid-autumn afternoon. Perhaps June is the best month for glugging a June Bug unless you’re in Jamaica where, I guess, the weather makes any time fine. 

  We like to close with good news. A near neighbour location of Plates, the now closed Urban Coffee where Ben Tesh staged pop ups in 2016 prior to opening Folium has posters in the windows which indicate that Tiger Bites Pig will be moving in - just what the restaurant needs -a lot more space.

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

116. Some Journey, Some Book.

  

  Not so much a coffee table book as more a banqueting table book (I suppose quite fittingly) the tome which houses Glynn Purnell’s latest voyage into writing is bigger in physical size and heavier than any 18th century family Bible would ever have aspired to be and in and out of its slipcase it’s also rather beautiful. I do like gorgeous books as much as I like gorgeous food and when I have one I often carry it around with me for days after I have obtained it but alas I can not do so with Glynn Purnell’s book unless I am prepared to run the constant risk of seriously rupturing myself.

  This book is a great pleasure to possess. I have it on my heaving bookshelf next to my much loved 1966 copy of the English translation of Michel Joyant’s book of Toulouse-Lautrec’s The Art Of Cuisine and the signed copy of the more modestly sized but memorable Salt Is Essential (and other things I have learned from 50 years at the stove) by West Midland’s gastronomy pioneer Shaun Hill.

  There’s every reason to say when you first catch sight of A Purnell’s Journey There And Back Again the words “Self” and “Indulgent” but when just grazing on the first few pages of this autobiography-recipe book-photography book hybrid any such curmudgeonliness melts away as he recounts his childhood days in Chelmsley Wood which summon up thoughts of the old Hovis advert and decent, devoted family life of the hard-working, striving working class Brummie family, devoted to each other, of times gone by. It’s all about Birmingham, the struggle to achieve, food (of course) and family. 

  With forwards by Sat Bains, Andreas Antona and Claude Bosi, chefs with instantly recognisable names make appearances in the pages of the book as Purnell charts his career with anecdotes that illuminate the kitchen to the reader as much as any ‘Chef’s Table’ will for the diners at it. 

There are some wonderful touches. I like the lining of the case that contains the book itself - it is the pattern of the wallpaper in Purnell’s. A nice little touch.

Great stuff indeed!

13. 2018 Michelin - Turner's Loses Its Star.

  This year's entrants in the Michelin Guide were announced at a live event on Monday 2 October 2017 held at The Brewery in east London.

  Last year's event was held at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in Savoy Place in London and was streamed live and looked like a very uncomfortable affair (see Blog 4).

  The Michelin Guide Great Britain And Ireland 2018 will be published on Thursday 5 October.

  This year's event confirmed that it's really all about London and its elitist classes who dine there. A sushi bar off Regent Street which seats just 9 diners and where a meal costs £300 became the fifth U.K. Restaurant to be awarded 3 stars. Meanwhile Claude Bosi, previously of Ludlow, saw his restaurant Bibendum in South Kensington achieve 2 stars making it the 9th restaurant in London to be so rewarded. Six more London restaurants were awarded single stars meaning that there are now 70 Michelin starred restaurants in London. No London restaurant lost a star except that one restaurant in the city closed.

  Yes, it really is all about London. We one eye yokels (to paraphrase Giles Coren - see Blog 6) who live in the provinces, clearly can't recognise a great meal when we see one or smell one or taste one. What a load of rubbish. And yet we still think that Michelin is the be all and end all of judging food quality.

  Birmingham chef, Richard Turner, last year decided that he'd had enough and purposefully gave up ridiculously expensive tasting menus and flim flammery in the full expectation of losing his Michelin star for his restaurant Turner's At 69 and the result is that has indeed lost his Michelin star this year. I don't suppose it'll bother his regular customers that much.

  Otherwise the situation in Birmingham remains unchanged - Purnell's, Simpson's, Carter's of Moseley and Adam's all retain their single stars but no new restaurant has been awarded a star nor have any of those established on the list received an additional reward. Slightly further afield, Peel's at Hampton Manor and The Cross at Kenilworth both retain their single stars and in Cheltenham Le Champignon Sauvage retains its 2 stars.

  So no real advance in the Michelin stakes for Birmingham and the West Midlands but what can we expect from a publication so centred on London and the south-east?

  But spare a passing thought for Manchester which likes to fantasise that it is Britain's "Second City" (which it isn't of course) - the 2018 Guide has not brought it any stars and so the city has not had a Michelin-starred restaurant for 40 years! Doubtless the Conservatives attending their party conference in Manchester this year will be looking forward to 2018 when it will again be held in Birmingham, Britain's real second city and gastronomic second city as well.

So, well done again Birmingham, given the uphill struggle in the face of Michelin inspectors who think that civilisation begins and ends in London, there's much to be excited about still when it comes to food in the city.

12. Ludlow Food Festival 2017 - Part 2.

  Friday at the Ludlow Food Festival was pretty quiet and I wondered if the festival was falling out of favour with the food lovers of Britain. However, the following day, Saturday, saw huge crowds of people in the castle grounds and tramping around the town on the Sausage and Ale Trails. Plenty of dogs, with a strong emphasis on labradors, and country types whose costume appears to have remained unchanged for the past few years - body warmers, weillington boots and flat caps with a new emphasis, among the younger men at least, of nattily trimmed facial hair. There was a grand mixture of English and Welsh accents - smart, well-heeled upper middle class location non-specific, Shropshire and Herefordshire rural, true Brummie, identifiable Black Country and those originating more distantly.

  Throughout the festival, there were some excellent and highly enjoyable talks - cooking demonstrations - to sit in on. My favourites were given by Birmingham's very own Brad Carter of Carter's Of Moseley and the immortal Shaun Hill, once the chef patron of Ludlow's original first Michelin star winning The Merchant House.

  Brad Carter's talk centred on some of the Japanese-style dishes he is currently featuring in Moseley and he came over as a modest and very likeable chef despite his rather terrifying beard, who has achieved so much with great distinction though the award of the Michelin star came as a great surprise to him. 

  Current menus were offered to the audience and certainly made me feel that I wanted to set off for Moseley in this coming week to give his Foraged mushroom dashi and sea spaghetti dish which he featured in his demonstration a try. It certainly looks and sounds marvellous.

  But the highlight had to be Shaun Hill's talk which incidentally featured a cooking demonstration but was made up of anecdotes which covered his work over the decades and his encounters with food fashion that cometh and goeth like the wind. The subject of his earliest job at The Gay Hussar was dealt with by reminiscences of how the restaurant was visited by Harold Wilson and other members of his government though conversely the kitchens were staffed by as right wing a crew of workers as could be imagined. He talked about his career which took him through the eras of Nouvelle cuisine and Molecular gastronomy and other fads and how now we had arrived in the era of Forraged food which no doubt will have its day like a poor player strutting and fretting its hour upon the stage and then being lost forever.

  What an enjoyable speaker he is to listen to. Prior to his talk a figure went up to the stage and shook his hand and exchanged words with him and then sat just in front of me. Was that Claude Bosi who opened Hibiscus in Ludlow in 2000, won 2 Michelin stars for it and played a part in training Glynn Purnell before moving to London in 2006? (see Blog 7).

  I was pleased to buy a signed copy of Shaun Hill's new book "Salt Is Essential" and I am finding it to be very difficult to put down. The book is strongly recommended as a good read.

  After Shaun Hill's talk Lucy and I headed off back to Fishmore Hall Hotel so that I could have an excellent Sunday lunch in Forelles restaurant prepared by chef Andrew Birch. Andrew was serving an excellent starter of a generously proportioned scallop with little bonbons of ham and apple sticks and other tasty little elements. I had roast pork main course the cooking of which was absolutely spot on served with just the right amount of sauce, interestingly and deliciously flavoured broccoli and a side dish of exquisite Savoy cabbage with bacon. A little more apple sauce would have been nice but it was a thoroughly enjoyable dish. Finally there was a delicious dessert of cherry sorbet with crunchy chocolate on a perfect pannacota. This had been an excellent weekend and, as Lucy and I departed from the hotel to return home to Birmingham, I reserved us our room at Fishmore Hall for our visit to the 2018 Ludlow Food Festival.

9. Purnell's At Ten ... Plus Pigeon.

  On Friday 7 July 2017 a highly important anniversary for food lovers in Birmingham was celebrated. On that very day, 10 years before, Glynn Purnell had opened the doors of his ground-breaking new restaurant to the public and dining out in Birmingham and the West Midlands would never be the same again.

  In his book, "Cracking Yolks and Pig Tales" Glynn recalled how his first experience of cooking was preparing food for his younger siblings when his mother and father were out working and his earliest signature dish being baked beans on toast with some onion and a teaspoon of curry powder added to the beans. The dish would be finished with a covering of cheese. Glynn recalls that he thought he was a genius as did his brother and sister who were the beneficiaries of Glynn's early culinary inventiveness. Those of us who love to dine at his restaurant now know that these early presentiments of genius were completely correct.

  Glynn describes how at the age of 14 he began washing up and preparing salads for a hotel lounge and when he left school he began to work in the hotel kitchen under Peter Wintle and Roger Kendrick. He moved on to work in the hotel restaurant, The Terrace under the Head Chef, Tony Morris, and with Mark Hill, the sous-chef. 

  The next step in his career was to work at Simpson's when it was in Kenilworth and he worked under the chef-patron and father of modern West Midlands cuisine, Andreas Antona. There he worked under Luke Tipping and Andy Walters.

  He worked for a period under Claude Bosi at Hibiscus in Ludlow (see Blog 7). During his time at Hibiscus the restaurant increased its single Michelin star to two.

  Leaving Hibiscus he became Head Chef at Keith and Diane Stevenson's newly opened Jessica's in Edgbaston. A Michelin star and the AA Restaurant of the Year title followed soon after.

  After four years at Jessica's Glynn decided that he wished to open his own restaurant and found an old Victorian warehouse in Cornwall Street and, on a very tight budget, opened Purnell's with his wife, Kerry, on 7/7/07 at 7PM. Jessica's closed to business. Purnell's was awarded a Michelin star in 2009 and continues to hold this distinction. The restaurant's first manager was Jean Benoit Burloux and he was succeeded by Sonal Clare in 2014.

  To celebrate the restaurant's tenth anniversary he held a free lottery so that 15 winners and their guests could pass the 10th anniversary evening being indulged with a champagne reception and a 10 course meal. Sadly my entry, one of over a thousand, was not drawn from the hat but you can't always have what you want in life. I have just received a leaflet (illustrated above and below) which is a rather nice souvenir in itself with the rather witty photograph of Chef outside his restaurant and a nonchalant pigeon wandering by oblivious to the presence of one of Birmingham's great celebrities. If it knew what Glynn can do to pigeons it probably wouldn't have got so close.

  Here's to Purnell's' next 10 years and its second Michelin star!

  The leaflet that announced the Grand celebration dinner for the lucky winners:-

  Cracking Yolks & Pig Tales, Glynn Purnell's first book, published 2014 by Kyle Books:-

  Rib Ticklers & Choux-ins, Glynn Purnell's second book, published 2016 by Kyle Books:-

  Both signed copies, of course:-

Happy Diners saying "Here's to another 10 years, Glynn"