498. The Chef, The Film Star And The Politician - ‘Service’.

 

  Back in April 2024, I had dinner at Alex Claridge’s The Wilderness where filming was taking place which seemed to mainly involve observing Claridge at the pass, plating up his delicate, intricate, exquisite dishes (see Blog 395). Then, well over a year afterwards, an invitation arrived from Rachel Whittle, Claridge’s partner, to join others who had been present that evening to come along to the Mockingbird cinema in the Custard Factory in Digbeth to be part of the audience which would be shown the finished movie. And so, I found myself seated in the bar area of that particular place of cinematic entertainment waiting for the film to begin. I was surrounded by a lot of young, very casually dressed denizens of Digbeth (it was a hot evening) and middle aged and even elderly hipsters, mutton struggling hard to be lamb. I suppose they were just the characters you would expect to find at an event such as this in the heart of Digbeth.

Rachel Whittle

Alex Claridge

   We were called into the cinema theatre and seated comfortably and after an introduction, the film began. It felt like a very short tasting menu - just four minutes in length, which surprised me - I had in my mind that it might last 30 minutes or perhaps even an hour. It was energetically edited so that each scene lasted barely 3 or 4 seconds, just time enough for Alex to be heard making a comment or for images to hit the retina before, like a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage then being lost for ever (though as this was a film it was not lost forever since the mini-movie could be reshown as it indeed was for another fleeting four minutes at the end of the evening).

  Titled, pleasingly punningly, ‘Service’, the film strove in its brief and frantic quartet of minutes, to convey the life story, philosophy and love of Birmingham and of the hospitality industry of Alex Claridge but it proved to be a case of a brief candle of illumination on its subject. Still, it was quite a jazzy affair, filmed in brutal black and white and an atmosphere of punk frenzy, illustrating a man of deep-felt passions frustrated by the barriers raised by bureaucracies and incompetent politicians which were destroying businesses and the city and the spirit of creativeness. It felt like a manifesto. I suspected it was.

  

  And, so it proved to be. At a Question and Answers session after the movie had been shown, Chef criticised the dreary present Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, or Pointless Parker as he is known in some quarters, for his passivity and held out little hope that Parker will ever do anything useful to support the regional hospitality sector. So, Alex, announced that he himself would be the champion and that he would stand as a candidate in the next regional Mayoral election which is another three years or so in the future. That had been a manifesto and this seemed very much like his first campaign meeting. I asked him if he now recognised himself as a politician - he was reluctant to admit to himself that he was (he is now whether he likes it or not) and if this had been his first campaign meeting to which he did not respond having answered the first part of the question at length.

  Alex had a receptive audience present in the cinema - the students, the aging hipsters, the Digbeth denizens, the Brum Bohemians, the one or two descendants of the once booming gothic trend plus … me. After his announcement there was thunderous applause from that audience. It will be interesting to follow how Claridge’s political aspirations proceed from this point. Is he the man to save the city’s hospitality industry where conventional politicians have failed? These are interesting times and now we have a Chef/Filmstar/Politician all in one, in the form of the man who persuaded Brummies to eat ants.

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.