495. Summer - Albatross Death Cult - Beret, Kimono, Sans Culottes.

 

  Alex Claridge is a master of of Birmingham’s hospitality sector - not for nothing that former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street chose him to be his adviser on the nighttime hospitality sector. And Alex knows just how to reel in the punters both old and knew, especially old regulars (old in both senses of the word). A feature of his business are tempting special events and some of these take the form of tastings of new dishes and the opportunity to give feedback on the dishes before or if they go on the new menus.

   This was one of those evenings. The premature and long summer drew on, there were blue skies and bright, warm sunshine with a hint of mild humidity and the feeling that the summer was going together hotter and more intolerable over the coming days. But inside Albatross Death Cult all was cool, calm and comfortable and familiar old faces were gathering to dine there with some less recognisable or never seen before. The atmosphere was the epitome of relaxed good cheer and Alex Claridge was leading the kitchen with Oliver Grieve in support and Claridge’s partner Rachael Whittle heading up the front of counter alongside sommelier Camilla Bonnannini who has far too many’n’s in her surname but who does a wonderful job with the wines and sakes she has selected.

    ‘Oyster’, the eternal old favourite and signature, reported many times before came first and then there was a fine crispy tartlet, fresh and summery, of tartare of sea bass with sorrel and peas - fresh as any breeze which might blow on these hot summer days and pleasingly soothing.

  Next, gorgeously crispy potato terrine topped by potently fishy taramasalata and smoked eel and unobtrusive seaweed. Next, an excellent dish of well flavoured mackerel made exquisite by tiny thin slices of sweetly pickled radish and ajo blanco, the flavour of almond delightfully discernible. My only complaint would be that I should have liked my ajo blanco to be more chilled than it was but it was an excellent dish.

  Next came a small sake cup of punchy prawn head and tomato consommé and then a finely cooked cod in an utterly delicious consommé with a garnish of  tiny shavings of summer truffle.

  Monkfish was next to be served. For me, though apparently not for any of the other diners, it seemed slightly undercooked - I should have liked a little more body to the fish’s texture but I liked the vividly green accompanying jalapeño Hollandaise which had an exciting spicy bite to it. The final fish course was Chalkstream trout for which, to be candid, I’m growing a little tired of but this was very nicely prepared and sat on the plate shaped like the white chocolate ‘hot lips’ petit fours that Claridge had served at The Wilderness in times past. The langoustine bisque served with it was pleasingly tasty.

  There was a thoroughly enjoyable new dessert on offer - a finely cooked tart made up of excellent crispy pastry with a filling of muscovado and katsuobishi (tuna flakes) which had an exciting well-judged sweetness and umami from the katsuobishi. Paired with deliciously and vibrantly-flavoured lime sorbet which cut through the flavour of the tart this made for a very toothsome dessert indeed.

  Finally, I derived great pleasure from the petit four, a very well made macaron with a mild hit odf nori. It had a lovely consistency and the outer part was nicely crispy with the outer part being gorgeously gooey.

  There was nothing left but to pay the bill and to say farewell to staff and one’s dining companions, some more eccentric than others - a red beret placed accurately on the precise spot on the head coupled with a kimono and san culottes certainly makes a statement and the wearer had to be the best-dressed diner in the Jewellery Quarter that evening.

461. Return To Albatross Death Cult; 2025 Michelin Awards Ceremony.

 

  I had very real expectations that Alex Claridge’s Albatross Death Cult would be awarded a Michelin Star in the 2025 Awards Ceremony held in Glasgow on 10 February and so, in anticipation of being present at the first service after a notable recognition, I reserved a table at ADC to scent the sweet smell of success at first hand. It was not to be, unlike last year when I had reserved a table at Opheem the first service after the award of two stars to Aktar Islam’s very fine restaurant. Alas, Michelin is a law onto itself and one should never assume that one knows what they are thinking. 

  Not that the news was all bad. The wonderful Ash Valenzuela-Heeger of Riverine Rabbit almost opened the proceedings by being awarded the Young Chef Award and her and Erin, her partner’s, restaurant was deservedly awarded a Bib Gourmand, the first seen in the city in many a year (though Rabbit was joined by Tropea in receiving the Bib).

  And further afield in the West Midlands, both Native in Tenbury Wells and Wild Shropshire in Whitchurch were awarded Green Michelin stars.

  Regardless of what did or did not come to pass, I was back at Albatross Death Cult, seated at the shiny counter and not sorry to be there. I was happy to chat to my neighbours - one on a visit to Birmingham from Chicago, interested very much in dining out especially at seafood restaurants and drawn to the ADC by its sphinxian full name. He felt that people dressed more nicely to go out and eat in England than back home in Chicago but then he hadn’t visited a Weatherspoons so he wasn’t fully in possession of the facts. My other neighbour was a young woman who had settled in Birmingham and now had more time to go out and visit our fine eateries and was gradually working her way through the Birmingham section of the Michelin Guide. She was enjoying herself and, like our visitor from the Windy City, was very impressed by ADC and all the dishes as they came out.

  Head Chef Piotr Szpak was in reassuringly good form with a slightly revised coiffure and an opening gambit of his familiar greeting, “Long time no see” although it had only been a couple of weeks since my last visit. It was also a pleasure to see the remarkably talented young senior sous chef, Oliver Grieve, back at his station and to have my drinks needs admirably addressed by sommelier Camilla Bonnannini.

  I have detailed a number of the dishes which were presented this evening and which were familiar from previous visits and I will not cover old ground save to say that each dish was as immaculate as ever and as deserving of a Michelin star as ever. The usual little snacks which started off the meal were gems in miniature of the culinary art in themselves - I have described them in previous Blogs - and then came a top rate dish of delicious smoked trout roe mousse with the orange pearls of trout roe and the joyous kick of wasabi. A real star, beyond a doubt.

 The tuna nigiri was beautifully textured and had all the characteristics of a beignet topped by tuna though of course it was rice rather than dough - delicious. Then came another dish to me - finally cut sea bass with umami tare sauce which could not help but be riven through with flavour. The apple with crab is a familiar favourite - the crab shone through which, elsewhere, is not always the case and the apple provides a perfect companion to it. Then accurately cooked opalescent cod wrapped in nori with the sun-gold yolk of a quail’s egg - again absolutely spot on cooking with the yolk still runny inside. Such delicacy of preparation - the cheerfulness and lightheartedness of the chefs does not prepare the diner for the precision and obsessional care with which they prepare the dishes.

  The mussel-black pepper-Iberico must be one of the very best dishes on offer in the region at the moment - the mussels tender and pepper-spicy and the Iberico adds an almost overwhelming saltiness as well as little spicules of comforting texture. But there were still jewels to come - the red prawn with its punchy prawn head sauce and then the delicious hamachi with the bracing flavour of sesame.

   There was just the divine pleasure of the sushi rice ice cream to come and a happy petit four jelly and it was time to go. Star or no star - ADC remains truly remarkable. I have little doubt that if it had been located in London and only been a fraction as good as it is, then Albatross Death Cult would have been celebrating the award of a star. But, Michelin is a law onto itself though, as Mr Bumble is quoted as saying, “The law is an ass”.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞

  Back to the Michelin Awards ceremony - it was overblown, preposterous, pretentious, arrogant, full of hubris and really quite silly. It had a big organ, a piper, a plethora of overwrought Scottish politicians, a Frenchman with an ‘Allo ‘Allo accent in charge of it all and long drawn out promotions of its sponsors including the repeated and time consuming disrobing of the award winning chefs in order that they may put on chefs’ jackets produced by one of the ceremony’s sponsors. A video promoting the advance of women in the restaurant industry was shown and included appearances by Ash and Erin Valenzuela-Heeger filmed inside a rather poorly lit Riverine Rabbit but Michelin’s presumably well-intentioned presentation brought more criticism than praise afterwards. 

  Perhaps it would be best if Michelin allowed the British to stage their own version of the Awards ceremony in future years without too much interference from France. After all, the French are hardly known for being able to put on a good show, at least not since the days of Toulouse-Lautrec and Fin de Siècle Montmartre and the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère  and all that sort of stuff. The Michelin Awards ceremonies, since they commenced in recent times have always been, at best, discomforting and, at worst , toe-curlingly embarrassing but every year that goes by, they are taking longer and longer to do what they are there for - that is - present awards to a tip-of-the-iceberg selection of some of Britain’s best chefs and thereby devolving into a tedious two hours lost from one’s life that one will never recover. No matter, it’s good to see our accomplished chefs rewarded for making dining out a pleasure, even if it’s not always affordable.

  At the end of it all, the West Midlands region now has 75 restaurants mentioned in the Michelin Guide which is far too few but an increase on this time last year.