504. The Wilderness New Menu.

  As ever, there are changes at The Wilderness. Marius Gedminas has left his role as Head Chef to do some travelling with Turkish-born Ediz Engin leading a new young team, some of whom, I’m sure, will acknowledge Simpsons as their Alma Mater - including recent Masterchef The Professionals contestants, Evan Holliday and Jordan Johnson (see Blog 496) and soon another big change will be announced which will stun and shock. Despite all this, I was visiting the restaurant again because there was a new Control menu (the menu has a new splendidly gothic TW at the top of it) to try out and the chance of a new 6 course meal which is quite enough for me and it is very well priced at £65.

  This was an excellent lunch with Ediz Engin in charge of the kitchen apart from one course which really didn’t do it for me. My dining companion had no reservations at all. We both agreed, as we have many times before, that if this food were being served in a London that restaurant would certainly have a Michelin star.

  We started with a charming croustade, with good crispy pastry. How Indo like my amuses gueulesand then enjoyed

  We found the Raw course of flamed Cornish mackeral to be lovely, the mackerel’s flavour was restrained and for me all the better for being so and it felt all very summery with the scattering of peas and the soothing buttermilk. Then the vegetable course - Greens - which was something of a misnomer as the principle element of the dish’s colour palate was the crimson, where ruby meets amethyst, of beetroot bathed in a joyous ajo blanco, the subtle almond calming the beetroot. A very pretty dish.

  There was a choice of barbecued mussels in Cafe de Paris sauce served on toasted brioche or a fine - well, actually quite fabulous - plump Orkney scallop, perfectly cooked and full of flavour, served with a full bodied, delicious roe sauce and very edible seaweed. Although costing an extra £12, the pleasure the dish brought meant it was worth every extra penny.

  And so to the main course. We both chose lamb rump with anchovy, a courgette espuma and a condiment monsterously powerfully flavoured with lemon which appeared to have been installed on the wrong plate altogether and certainly seemed to me to be the worse possible match for the delicate lamb which itself was beautifully cooked but ended up being grossly assaulted by the lemon. This was a match made in Hell and not in Heaven and needs to be expelled from the menu with all due haste. Yes I know that the acidity of the lemon cuts through the fattiness of lamb but there is more to lemon than acidity and no matter how many chefs may say that this is a classic pairing, I beg to differ. Alas, poor lamb. 

     We were treated to a predessert which restored pleasure to the meal in the form of a play on cheesecake and then a fine seasonally summer dessert employing strawberries, a tonka ice cream and a pretty tuile, coloured and shaped, like a strawberry.

   There’s a new fresh team at The Wilderness. Apart from the unhappy lemon condiment served with the lamb, this was a very fine meal.

Rating:-  🌞🌞

8 August 2025.

The pass at The Wilderness, Ediz Engin & Evan Holliday, August 2025

Farewell to Marius Gedminas, seen here at ADC.

Here is the Submission menu, cost £135 - 

Ediz Engin and Alex Claridge,

496. ‘Bâtard’, New Faces At The Wilderness.

 

  Alex Claridge was organising another dinner at The Wildetness to try out new dishes on customers before wheeling them out on to his menus definitively. As usual the diners were expected to give feed back which would help to decide whether or not the dishes made it to the medal winners stand. From August, Claridge is aiming to change his menus to make them more accessible to the dining public and not just in the financial sense. Hopefully he will successfully capture the atmosphere of the mid-2020s rather than the late 20teens, an atmosphere which I admittedly rather enjoyed. This particular attempt to engage the vox populi he named Batard which sounded controversial but, though being playfully provocative to those who do not know, was simply invoking the name of a French bread - the batard which tells us more about Alex’s current thinking on direction than one might first think.

A real batard.

  There was also something else new about The Wilderness that evening - being the first to arrive and having an easy view of the kitchen, I spotted two newly arrived young chefs - young but familiar, late of Simpsons, Evan Holliday and Jordan Johnson, who had appeared earlier this year, quite memorably, in Masterchef The Professionals, cooking then very much in the style of Simpsons and their then mentor, Luke Tipping. The Wilderness had also recently appointed the fine young pastry chef, Lewis Perks (recently awarded second place in the Young Chef of the Year competition) which further depleted the talent in Simpsons’ kitchen (though I have no doubt that there will be many more talented young chefs wishing to work in that restaurant’s kitchens depending, I suppose, on just what Simpsons’ future is to be given that Andreas Antona has announced that he intends to sell the business - maybe there’s a reason they are all leaving).

  However, The Wilderness has also experienced an important senior staff departure with the loss of former Head Chef, the immensely talented Marius Gedminas, who, I was told is presently doing some travelling in Europe before returning to the United Kingdom to do some agency work.

  All these changes! But to the food. 

  Gougères - pleasingly - seem to be the order of the month as the amuse gueule of choice and when you’ve got a highly talented new pastry chef, put him to good use. And of course it all brings La France to mind and I have the feeling that Alex Claridge is finding thoughts of French cuisine crowding in on him. Which is good.

  I am becoming worn down by the ubiquity of Chalkstream trout but the next dish restored by ability to eat - nicely cooked to a perfect texture and perfectly married to wasabi and a buttermilk sauce studded with a brunoise of darling summer peas and other vegetables. This was an excellent dish.

Evan Holliday, Jordan Johnson & Sonal Clare

  Jordan Johnson served me his notable contribution of a fine beef tartare elevated by the zing of mustard  and mustard ice cream. Classic combination. A fine dish.

Jordan Johnson

  Then another triumph. This was a devastatingly perfectly cooked red prawn with spicy tomato jam and Café de Paris butter alongside a crispy brioche (looking rather like that previously served at Simpsons) and prawn head and a slice of lime to spray deliciously over the dish. Big prawn flavours and more besides.

  We moved on to a choice of Cornish plaice with Champagne sauce or Iberico pork presa with mustard sauce. I was delighted to have chosen the delightfully cooked fish with its fine sauce, pickles, the texture of pine nuts and a sea herb garnish. One of my dining companions opted for the Iberico and found it very toothsome. The dishes were accompanied by a splendid Caesar salad and barbecued potatoes which were a littleal dente for my taste.

 Then to the desserts and what a delight to be served pastry. Lewis Perks is clearly making his mark in his new home. Firstly there was a tremendous lavendar tartlet, generously portioned, the lavender subtle and not overpowering - in fact quite the nicest lavendar dish I can rember having - and made beautiful with a glistening raspberry sorbet and the humorous use of ‘sparkles’. 

  Then a little macaron, by way of a mignardise, crispy on the outside, gloriously gooey at the centre. I assume that Mr Perks was also responsible for that little gem.

  Just one thought - in coaxing the admittedly lovely brioche out of Lewis, perhaps Alex Claridge might have suggested to him to bake a bâtard loaf instead.

Rating:-🌞🌞🌞

10 July 2025.

476. Being Bold At Rough Cut Wilderness.

 

  There’s no doubting that Alex Claridge is bold with his approach to what he serves to his diners. Fortunately most of them know what to expect. Or do they? Once more Claridge has sent out his e mails summoning those with a stiff spine and probably needing a stiff drink for his 2025 ‘Rough cut’ sessions where he tries out new dishes on those prepared to pay to be Guinea pigs and have the opportunity to make an honest comment or two on what they have eaten.

  The 2025 Rough Cut certainly seemed to be going boldly where no Birmingham fine dining chef had gone before - his message of summoning the faithful stated, “Alex and the band are playing with bolder and brighter for the coming months” and listed ingredients including sea urchin, smoked beef heart and lamb neck with grilled sea vegetables. All this when I feel I’ve reached a less bold stage in my life and memories of the particularly unpleasant sea urchin dish I was once served while on a tour of China and the whole beef hearts piled on a charger served to us for school lunch just the once back in 1967. Well, I thought, we’ll see.

  The menu served on the evening was similar to but not identical to the mooted menu featured in Claridge’s e mail. I was pleased with the changes as I have been served so many beef (and other) tartares in recent times that I have grown rather tired of the dish no matter what twist is put on it. On the other hand I was disappointed not to see the Basque cheesecake lined up on the final menu.

  I started off with a white port and tonic which Sonal Clare has put on the drinks menu after he recently had a trip to Portugal where it is, of course, all the rage. This pleasing, refreshing, light aperitif, which I have been ordering at various venues for the past twelve months or so, will hopefully replace the very vulgar negroni which has long dominated the preprandial drinks choice of those who think they are at the cutting edge but have long been washed away in the tide of good taste.

  The first course was excellent - a beautifully textured red prawn ceviche with a slice of tangy jalapeño, the hit of sorrel and the looming threat of wasabi, all tempered with milk curd. A dish with plenty of punch to it but finely judged. Then, very nicely flavoured barbecued mackerel with the well matched, mild ancho chilli used in Mexican cooking to bring a sweet and smoky flavour, and sweetly citrus blood orange, perhaps a little too sweet but weirdly enjoyable, and countered to some extent with mildly bitter endive. Very clever and ambitious.

  Next, deliciously sweet and perfectly flavoured confit leeks with Iberico in a creamy sauce. Little chunks of sea urchin were present but only discernible by its firm texture rather than its flavour. I think the dish would have been just as enjoyable without the sea urchin and another of God’s creatures would not have been sacrificed but I get the attempt to push diners a little further than their usual limits and bring some thrill to the dish.

  

  Then, a very fine dish of delightfully barbecued monkfish which had an excellent texture - meaty and full of body but not excessively chewy and the barbecuing had given it a truly delicious flavour. It was served on the bone as a dish for two alongside plates of impressively plump, tasty mussels enhanced by a tangy pepper sauce. 

  Then, finally some meat. This was pork jowl with a nice crispy skin though it was somewhat softened by the mustard sauce which really had no heat to it. It was a small cube of pork and though immensely tasty it proved to be a rather insubstantial dish. I should have liked pork loin - something with more substance than jowl - especially as a main course. There was some delightful apple sauce accompanying the pork and this was probably the best element of the course. The two or three shards of cabbage added little to the dish and only served to underline how insubstantial the whole dish seemed.

   In place of the hoped for Basque cheesecake, there was a delightful strawberry-based dish, sweet and full of the flavour of strawberries. One of the elements of the dish was oolong tea but the flavour did not come through to me. 

  We must remember that this was a meal aimed at trying out new dishes on the public who were invited to give their honest impressions of them. If something did not work then it was not a failure of the chef but a chance to learn about why it did not work and to put it right. Full marks for Alex Claridge and Marius Gedminas who, it seems, will be leaving The Wilderness soon and who will indeed very greatly missed by the admirers of his fine and inventive cooking. This modern world doesn’t stand still but change rarely seems to improve matters.. 

Rating:- 🌞🌞.

24 April 2025.

443. The Wilderness Celebrates Its Ninth Birthday.

 

  Many happy returns to The Wilderness. It was the restaurant’s ninth anniversary (though it had moved its location and name at least once during the course of that lifetime) and I was at its birthday party. Uncompromising, whimsical black balloons greeted me as I arrived at the door of this great culinary survivor but inside the atmosphere was far from funereal and busily celebratory even if I was the first diner to arrive. Well someone’s got to be the first guest to arrive at a party.

  The long established, easy hospitality was on display as Sonal Clare welcomed and me and the other diners who seemed to be old friends of Alex Claridfes’s unique - a fair adjective I think - and progressive dining establishment and the alcohol was soon being poured and the food began to appear from the kitchen. First an opening snack in the form of a punchy, beefy beignet - a mochi doughnut - rich in the flavour of beef dripping and gorgeously textured with tender former dairy beef and enlivened with a hit of quality wasabi. Then the Big Mac - more beef tartare immaculately presented with the soft crunch of pieces of shallot - the starter that is an integral part of the restaurant’s history.. This was delicious, immaculate, sublime, worth a star by itself. A pleasure which explains why The Wilderness has held on to its loyal diners.

  Moving on, firstly to gorgeous slices of glistening Cornish blue fin tuna, its flavour ideal with none of the aggression that tuna sometimes bring with it and the fermented chilli giving pleasing little pecks at the throat. Next the sensational colour, mildly lurid even, of Claridge’s familiar “Carrot 2022’ bringing with it all the textures you might wish.

  A course of, again, absolutely delicious BBQ red mullet - Alex Claridge really is in good form this birthday party evening - with a lobster bisque and the citrus of blood orange. And then to fine ex-dairy beef, nicely cooked served with mushroom, a powerful purée, truffle and a lovely koshu sauce.

  Finally, seasonal dessert - ‘Mince pie’, a lovely creamy icecream, robustly showing off its dominant cinnamon and gorgeous to slowly wind down with.

Happy birthday, The Wilderness. And many more of them, we hope.

  The 2023 series of the BBC’s Masterchef The Professionals failed to feature any West Midlands chefs in any of its programmes. Not one. Perhaps, it’s the thought that recording of the programme will move to studios in Digbeth which has made the producers recognise that the West Midlands in general and Birmingham in particular has a remarkable number of talented and hardworking young chefs who really shoukd be featured in the programme that has meant that suddenly the BBC is giving young chefs from the West Midlands an opportunity to appear in the programme. As we move through the third week of the programme we have so far seen five chefs with West Midlands connections competing in the contest.

  As the above tweet shows - in the first week we had Callum McDonald who is Head Chef at The Bookshop in Hereford, who did not progress to the next round, Dan Merriman who was born in Worcestershire but now works out of the region in Accrington who did progress to the next round as did Jordan Johnson, junior sous chef at Simpsons, and in the third week there was Alin Stoica, who was born in Romania but who is now Head Chef at the Jacobean Hotel in Coventry who did not progress and young Evan Holliday who, like Jordan was born and brought up in Birmingham and works as a sous chef in Simpsons and who won through to the second round (we wait to see his further progress).

Callum McDonald

Dan Merriman

Jordan Johnson

Alin Stoica

Evan Holliday

  Meanwhile, it’s all happening at Simpsons which has just announced that Steve Locklin who previously worked with Niall Keating at Lunar has been appointed to be Simpsons’ new restaurant manager.

Steve Locklin

  Andreas Antona’s other restaurant, TheCross, in Kenilworth, also took the opportunity to draw attention to its relatively recently appointed (September 2024) restaurant manager - Ed  Wilson - who had previously worked at The Churchill Arms, Mallory Court and The Lygon Arms in Broadway.

Ed Wilson