318. Purnell’s Bistro Coventry.

  Purnell’s Bistro seems to have been long in the making. It must be a couple of years ago that an announcement was made that Glynn Purnell was to open a restaurant in Coventry’s historic Charterhouse, situated rather awkwardly not that far from the city centre but approachable along busy roads and virtually impossible by foot. Still, a lovely setting especially on a bright, sunny spring afternoon.

  Purnell is almost everywhere - Cornwall Street, Edmund Street, Henley in Arden and now Coventry - almost a chain but since each of his four restaurants are different, then not a chain at all. The Coventry branch of the Purnell culinary empire, Purnell’s Bistro, has opened in the past couple of weeks or so but has rapidly settled in - full of customers, bustling, good service and really excellent food. It’s a cross between The Mount, the old Purnell’s Bistro aka The Asquith in Newhall Street and Purnell’s Plates - mostly small plates, and splashes of Iberia and the Mediterranean.

  Three dishes arrived together - crispy, delicious, golden cheese and leek croquettes, spicy chorizo with an honey and cider sauce and, my favourite, finally chopped grilled baby leeks with broccoli in a comforting but tongue-tingling romesco sauce. Finally had the special of very nicely priced 4oz rump steak, cooked exactly to my taste, seasoned perfectly and complemented by a very tasty chimichurri and very worthy of praise. This was a very successful meal. At times I found myself wolfing it down, so pleasurable was it. 

  I managed dessert which was rather limited in choice - just two dishes on offer, similar to Purnell’s Plates (not enough choice to be honest) - and I was pleased with the chocolate and hazelnut tart which I had chosen - the pastry was excellent though the whole was eventually rather dry and it would have benefitted from being served with some ice cream or sorbet

  By the look of things, Glynn Purnell has set up a really enticing dining establishment in Coventry. The master seems to have struck again. But he needs to improve the restaurant’s approach to desserts.

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛.

 

55. Something Good Comes Out Of Manchester, Purnell To Be Sent To Coventry.

  Gastronomically, it’s fair to say that little of any worth has emerged from the Michelin star desert of Manchester in recent years. Notable chefs have opened restaurants there in the hope of turning the place’s reputation around and all have failed. But at last something delightful has come to Birmingham from Manchester - Tattu - the restaurant opened on 1 February 2019 in the bowels of the Grand Hotel, soon to be reopened (hopefully), well actually in the hotel’s old boiler room, serving contemporary Chinese food in grand style as one would expect given the location (by which I mean The Grand not the boiler room).

  I lunched there in March and was almost paralysed by the wonderful atmosphere, the splendid decor and the gorgeous-looking food which tasted even better than it looked. My lunching companion and I chose to eat from the £52 menu for two people or more which is served as 4 courses or, as the restaurant prefers it, 4 ‘waves’. Everything was delightful and generously portioned ensuring that ‘you weren’t hungry an hour after the meal’ as the old adage about Chinese food used to go.

  Tattu’s first restaurant was opened by Adam and Drew Jones, two brothers, in 2015 with a second branch opening its doors in Leeds in 2017. It was stated that the restaurant serves ‘contemporary Chinese cuisine that fuses traditional flavours with modern cooking techniques and playful presentation’. I like it a lot. The food there is a great pleasure and it is worth going just to see how the interior has been designed. The best new restaurant in Birmingham so far this year.

 I do enjoy the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen but especially when Birmingham’s own Glynn Purnell is hosting it as he did very successfully last weekend. Few hosts have such a wonderful sense of humour coupled with a pleasant vague mischievousness which makes the programme easy and happy viewing. In the recent show Purnell ventured into the realm of Mexican cuisine on which he emphasised more than once that he was not an expert but the viewer, tormented permanently by the ability to see the food but never to taste it, could see that the dish had Purnell’s own ever-inventive twist to it which increased the pain of being unable to reach out and put the food into one’s mouth.

 Meanwhile the Good Food Guide has reported that Glynn Purnell is planning to open his third restaurant in 2021 but in Coventry when it will be the UK City Of Culture. The plans sound exciting -  with the restaurant to be sited in the converted coach house of a restored 14th century monastery. I can’t wait to get on the train to Coventry to dine there or perhaps, given the location, I should plan to travel by coach and horse which I feel is appropriate since my maternal great-grandfather was a coachman, his own father having arrived in Birmingham in the 1850’s after farming in south Warwickshire prior to that.