537. Sunday Lunch At Samo.

 

  Chef Elliot Brown opened his restaurant Samo in March 2026 in the Great Western Arcade. The location had previously been home to Land before it moved a short distance along the arcade and prior to Land’s occupation of the site it had been home to Bistro 1847 where once in his salad days Alex Claridge had served vegetarian dishes. Brown has a distinguished curriculum vitae, having trained at the Hotel du Vin and then at Simpsons when Leo Kattou, now at the Bower House in Shipston on Stour, was Head Chef there. Subsequently Brown worked at Aktar Islam’s short-lived Legna and then at Tierra Tacos and Trentina both in the Jewellery Quarter and then he had gained experience with Italian-style food at Tropea in Harborne. Brown is assisted in the kitchen by Greg Shephard, his sous chef.

  Brown’s intended style for his own restaurant was a wise choice - ‘modern bistro’ - with an emphasis on the seasonality of ingredients. My first visit to the new restaurant was for the first Sunday lunch to be served there and it proved to be a very pleasing experience. It really was very good. I was the first diner to arrive for the particular sitting and I received a pleasing welcome and then sat back to enjoy an anis aperitif while the other diners trickled in. The middle class on a Sunday don’t like to hurry themselves.

  As starter I chose an impressive-looking and tasty prawn cocktail surmounted by two king prawns looking accusingly with their dead eyes from the rim of the dish. There was a very generous portion of little shrimps and the Marie Rose was well made.

  But of course I was there for the roast beef and out it came - tender, pink and blushing. There came with it a fine crusty Yorkshire pudding and a banquet of vegetables - very edible beef dripping roast potatoes and slices of roast turnip, gorgeously - yes, gorgeously, that’s the very word, buttery mashed swede with creamed leeks and cabbage and, as an extra, cauliflower in cheese sauce. More vegetables than I could manage but I made a good attempt and there really wasn’t very much left on my plate by the time I surrendered it to be taken to the dish washer, be it machine or human.

    I was kidnapped by the lovely creamy rice pudding with compôte when I read the dessert menu and my choice was fully vindicated by the intense enjoyment it gave. Modern bistro had rendered classic, fine English Sunday lunch. And I had been seated at a window table and what a relaxing time I had watching the Sunday afternoon shoppers pass by. Brilliant!

Elliot Brown & Greg Shephard

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛

29 March 2026.

500. Return To The Land With Kray Tredwell.

 

  An unlikely collaboration I thought, Kray Tredwell (670 Grams) with Tony Cridland (Land) at Land’s premises in the splendid Great Western Arcade. Intrigued, I was compelled to make a reservation.

  I had visited Land a couple of times before and eaten its food at a collaboration at Simpsons. I still needed to be convinced that vegetarian/vegan was really a satisfactory option for dining out. I had long been convinced that vegetarian food was only interesting if it was spiced up - meat stands on its own two feet, vegetables need the support of the heat of spice. Clearly, however,  those who have chosen the vegetarian style of life find it to be an acceptable option

  In between courses I was able to have a conversation with the couple at the table next to me, one vegetarian, the other strictly vegan, a marriage surviving happily it seemed despite its divided preferences, on where they liked to eat out and what they ate at home (everything now seems to have a vegan facsimile so it appears that preparing meals at home is no problem at all for the vegan/vegetarian household of the twenty first century). The couple had recently dined at Simpsons and found the vegan menu they ate from there to have been excellent. This was their first visit to Land and they were keen to see how the food served there compared with that coming out of Luke Tipping’s kitchen. As was I.

Kray Tredwell at centre, Tony Cridland at right of pictured.

 I started with a pleasing elderflower cocktail and then feeling happy and summery indulged in a glass of Nyetimber rosé. The menu was printed on a tiny scrap of doubtlessly recycled paper and the first two dishes mentioned were amuses gueules which both proved to be immensely enjoyable though one was superior to the other and I correctly identified it as being a product of Kray Tredwell’s creativity and ingenuity and skill.

  Tredwell's amuse bouche rook the form of a crispy charcoal pastry with little popping caviar-like spheres and a pea mousse - this was an exceptional nibble - while Cridland’s potato croquette also with the hit of lemon and similar to an amuse bouche I have been served at Simpsonswas also very enjoyable.

  The first savoury course I again correctly identified as a Land dish (Tredwell’s dishes are generally more refined in appearance while those from Land have a fair degree of rusticity about them) and it was a relatively small piece of barbecued lettuce which had little merit made infinitely more agreeable by a tasty splodge of mildly spicy hot satay with plenty of crunchy peanut texture. I remain to be convinced that the act of smoking a piece of vegetable elevates it to such a degree that it can be considered to be worthy of being served as a ‘course’.

  It was not hard to identify that the next course - a firmly textured piece of tasty celeriac with a gorgeously tasty espuma with a spicy kick to it and served with a toothsome steamed bun and butter - was another Kray Tredwell dish - it was more elegant and more interesting.

  Next, another elegant-looking dish but this time from the Land stable - a thick slice of tomato with a risotto, nicely textured by tapioca and what I would have called a gazpacho, nicely punchily flavoured by tomato and wild garlic. This was delicious though the texture of the tomato itself seemed a little spongy and not entirely to my liking.

 Land provided the pre-dessert. It was pleasant but not palate-cleansing enough to fulfil the duties of a predessert. The dish was centred on pandan which was accompanied by the always pleasing flavour of coconut; all very southeast Asian.

  Again there was more elegance in the presentation of the chocolate dessert and it was, not surprisingly, another product of the 670 Grams kitchen. The dish brought with it the classic combination of the chocolate and cherries, all very Black Forest though sitting on a crisp tuile rather than sponge and with them also almond. A delightful and happily light dessert with the flavour of chocolate that was neither too aggressive nor brutal.

  This meal confirmed my prejudices. Vegetarian, unless prepared by a chef at least one step above ‘merely inventive’, in Kray Tredwell we have such a chef, continues to leave me unfulfilled and unmoved. A lump of scorched lettuce does little for me and it’s clear that my hypothesis that to be successful vegetarian food requires heat and spice is quite correct. My vegetarian dining table neighbours enjoyed their meal although they were a little hesitant to fully endorse it but generally Kray Tredwell’s dishes seemed to have been the more successful ones for them. 

486. Simpsons x Land.

 

  I have dined at Land, where the Chef Patron is Adrian Luck who opened it in the Great Western Arcade in 2019. a couple of times (see Blog 180) and came away on both occasions satisfied enough but with the feeling that something was missing. I wasn’t totally convinced that an all vegetarian meal, especially when it is made up of five or six courses, is the full job.

  Simpsons offers an alternative vegetarian menu which, in the past, has been recognised as one of the best in the country. So the question clearly was, “Will input from Simpsons to Land’s offering convince me that I should be visiting a vegetarian restaurant more often?” And an evening of a Simpsons x Land collaboration might just answer that question. 

  And by the end of the evening I had my answer.

  The evening started with 2 amuses gueules - one was a rather fine pea purée tartlet clearly straight out of Luke Tipping’s kitchen and the second some tasty, spicy, crispy tempura ‘herbs’ with some tempura attached to them, their flavour derived presumably from the furikake condiment and sesame used in their preparation, They looked scruffy and had the appearance of the chef casting around for something to provide as an opening snack at a mildly exotic barbecue.

  After the reassuring and memorable bread and butter that Simpsons provides to its diners on to the starters. Tipping’s contributation was a quite fabulous plate of what on the menu were described as Evesham tomatoes although they were described as Isle Of Wight tomatoes by the waiter. They were accompanied by a herb salad and were full of delightful sweetness. Then Land’s starter which might better have been its main course - a very toothsome and authentic-tasting massaman curry containing salt baked pineapple, peanuts giving it a satay element and nicely cooked jasmine rice.  This was quite delicious and as enjoyable an example of this curry as one might find in an authentic Thai restaurant. The absence of meat mattered not at all and everything was looking grand.

   Sitting by the long window it was easy to look out on to Simpsons’ pleasing garden, refreshed after some much needed rain, and feel that all was well with the world. Simpsons’ contribution to the main course pairing was its familiar, highly enjoyable heritage beetroot dish with its various presentations of the vegetable nicely complemented with a hit of wasabi. It looked as elegant as any beetroot dish might ever look. 

 It has to be said that Land’s main course also looked elegant and promising. The promise was not realised. This was a slab of grilled cauliflower sans the deep cauliflower flavour which for me makes it an exciting item to eat. The cauliflower provided only texture and nothing more though its presentation had been worked on to jazz it up. There was verjuice caviar, the flavour of which was lost in the wild garlic sauce with dashi which itself had little impact on my tastebuds. I felt that you can do all the molecular gastronomy and emulsions you want but a slab of cauliflower is just a slab of cauliflower and it is unlikely to ever be a star in the firmament.

  Simpsons provided a delicious and exciting dessert - two nice mango ravioli tickled by Espelette pepper and a hit of kaffir lime chantilly cream. This was very enjoyable in contrast to the final dessert which was an unremarkable cube of almond cake, a satisfactory sponge with no discernible flavour of almond served with strawberry ice cream and a white chocolate crumb. Regrettably it seemed that this second dessert barely rose above what a competent domestic cook could achieve.

  Luke Tipping has got a grip on producing very fine, delicious vegetarian dishes as part of his repertoire served at Simpsons. It is elegant and tasty and impressive. Land, much loved by the city’s vegetarian/vegan crowd, produces adequate dishes for those who are convinced that fish, meat or fowl are not for them and so Land has its necessary audience though I will not be sitting in the stalls with them.

4 June 2025.

  As a follow up to Blog 485, it’s worth recording that I was invited to join friends for an early evening dinner at the Wildmoor Oak Inn just 4 days after enjoying Sunday lunch there. At the beginning of June the menu has been revised and the pub’s very popular scotch egg has been restored to the list of dishes available. This proved to be a tasty light dish made particularly enjoyable crispy coating around the egg. The accompanying piccalilli was profoundly, addictively piquant and proved impossible not to eat, even that which remained after tge egg itself had been totally consumed.

  Once more, I could not resist the haddock and chips (both of which are some of the finest in the world, I’m sure) which came with an excellent mild tartare sauce, a nice fish and chip shop curry sauce just right for chip dipping and Chef’s very acceptable mushy peas.

  For dessert I chose banoffee parfait which had a good flavour and, I thought, was precisely textured and with it came vanilla ice cream, a salted caramel sauce and dried banana slices which were a little too hard to be enjoyed - better to have used slices of fresh banana.

   One of my fellow diners chose a main course of cheese burger which also came with the pub’s superb chips and pronounced themself well satisfied with their meal apart from the slight feeling that the burger was just a little too salty for their taste.

A lovely location, excellent food and at a very good price. Surely the Wildmoor Inn deserves a Bib Gourmand.

Rating:- 🌞.

5 June 2025.

295. Kray Tredwell-Ben Taylor Collaboration At Le Petit Bois.

 Taking pride of place at the head of this edition is a photograph of a gorgeous dish - possibly the most delicious I’ve had for ages - looking a little rustic but full of the most pleasing and happy flavours - a plate of wondrously moist and tender pork cheek Bourguignon with delightful duchess potatoes. This was a dish that memories are made of. It was the highlight of an extraordinary collaboration by two great Birmingham chefs - Kray Tredwell of 670 Grams cooking away from home at Le Petit Bois in Moseley where Ben Taylor was leading the home team. They are chefs of very contrasting styles and the outcome was an evening to remember.

  It really is so very nice at Le Petit Bois. It so comfortable and relaxed and yet the service is very good. I started off with a splendidly refreshingly bitter Bicyclette cocktail and then the riders were out of the stalls. The amuses gueules were an absolute hit. They arrived with a tiny little croustade perched in the lid of a dish which when the lid was removed, revealed a very happily tasting savoury Paris Brest, the crust of the choux being beautifully crispy and the interior a combination of gorgeously salty blue cheese and sweet finely chopped grape. A witty and delicious start to the meal.

  Then another exhilarating dish of perfectly seared scallop with celeriac remoulade, apple and the very recognisable and very welcome bursts of truffle on this dark, damp winter evening. To follow was a poached egg yolk with more admirable flavours - little crumbs of crunchy toasted brioche, fois gras and more truffle. It was enjoyable but the egg yolk was overcooked and not runny when cut into and if it had been it may have raised the dish to another level.

  I have already commented on the ecstatic pleasure of the remarkable main course of slow braised pig’s cheek Bourguignon (undoubtedly Ben Taylor’s dish I should think) and so to the fish course which had all the hallmarks of having been prepared by Chef Treadwell. This was a piece of very finely poached pollock served with an exquisite vanilla beurre blanc, fragments of Jersey Royal (I would not have minded a little more potato even though I had also had some with the Bourguignon) and a nice helping of Oscietra caviar. The two main courses - the beef and the fish - both excellent - managed to demonstrate the contrast in the styles of the two chefs and this was also evident in the two desserts. Firstly there was a freshly warm small vanilla Madeleine (perhaps the vanilla flavour was a little too subtle) served with a cheeky vanilla crême fraiche made saucy with a helping of marmalade and then, to round off, a triumphantly gooey tart tatin with calvados caramel and a miso ice Kray (no doubt about which of the chefs made that, I think).

  The evening was further livened up by spotting (not hard, he was only two tables away) Birmingham’s most recent Masterchef The Professionals winner Dan Lee (now working alongside that competition’s previous winner, Stuart Deeley, at Smoke at Hampton Manor) who was one of the diners. So then, three notable Birmingham chefs in the same restaurant all at the same time.

  It was quite an evening.

  The day before,  I had lunched at Orelle with an acquaintance who had travelled from South Yorkshire for the sole purpose of the experience of dining at Orelle to taste the food and take in the view from the 24th floor. It was not a pleasant day and when we stepped out of the lift that had whisked skywards we found that the view had all but disappeared, obscured by fog surrounding the tower. Still there was always the food. As usual the place looked very smart as did the front of house staff and the service was very good; pleasingly, perhaps because only half the tables were taken, service was not rushed and I was able to sip and enjoy my Orelle Sour cocktail in a relaxed and unhurried fashion.

  As it was lunch a three course meal was on offer for an extremely reasonable sum of £42 and comparing the lunch menu with what was on offer from the à la carte choice I felt perfectly satisfied to order from the lunch menu. We were brought an excellent sourdough loaf to share between us and I very much enjoyed it, having as it did, a good crispy crust and a fine interior texture, the flavour of the sourdough being not as brutally strong as some sourdough bread can be. And how lovely to have bread at the start of the meal, available to nibble while the rest is being prepared rather than having it suddenly turn up as a ‘bread course’ almost half way through the meal as seems to be happening with increasing frequency.

  The starter was satisfactory - Saumon - on the menu it was described as “barbecued Loch Duart salmon, pickled kohlrabi, calamansi and sourdough. I thought that fish was very accurately cooked and was nicely complemented by the pickled kohlrabi but the calamansi was the wrong sort of citrus for this dish, bringing in some sweetness which I did not want. My lunch companion in contrast was very pleased with the dish and liked the flavour of the calamansi (a fruit was is obviously now very much in vogue).

  For the main course I chose a very good and pleasingly flavoured and textured ballotine of chicken served with roast parsnips which were not adequately cooked and pear which, while accepting that a chicken-pear combination is an established pairing, did not, for me at least, contribute positively to the dish. There was some exquisitely delicious and perfectly prepared pomme purée with Dijon mustard 

underneath it all and I could have quite gladly eaten with relish at least five times the amount of that element served to me.

  There was something inauthentic about the desserts; they had the air of something that had not been prepared in the kitchens but had been brought in to serve. I chose ‘calamansi’ (yes, calamansi again) described as “calamansi mousseline, strawberry and mint jelly.  Perhaps it was because I was eating from the £42 set menu (and that would be a good enough reason) but the desserts were served on a plate rather than being presented from the wonderful dessert trolley, a pleasing bit of theatre, which had manifested itself on previous visits to Orelle (I do hope it hasn’t disappeared into history after such a happy, if short life. My dessert was not good - I don’t recall being aware of strawberry or mint and the gel was decidedly citric and excessively sharply flavoured to the point of being unpleasant. The body of the dessert was uninteresting and the plate was covered in crumble, a tiresome modern device used by chefs to bring a crunchy texture without having to work to provide a fine crispy pastry. 

  In conclusion, and I will not use the obvious cliché, this meal was good in parts. As an experience it was enjoyable even though the weather was doing its best to thwart one important element of dining at Orelle - the view. Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛

  Michelin has announced that the 2023 edition of the Michelin Guide Great Britain And Northern Ireland will be launched at a live event on Monday 27 March. Already you can feel various chefs’ pulse rates starting to quicken.

  Meanwhile, the Michelin inspectors on one of their apparent rare visits to the West Midlands, have included the vegetarian restaurant, Land (see Blog 180) in its January 2023 Guide update.

  Dishes eaten at Land in September 2021 -