121. Veil Of Tiers.

Tier 3 - Hell by Giotto di Bondone 1267-1337, Scrovegni Chapel Padua.

   Late in the morning of Thursday 26 November the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced the plans  Boris Johnson’s government had made for when England would exit the 4 week long COVID-19 ‘lockdown’. There were to be 3 Tiers as before but in the newly renamed Very High Tier 3 restaurants and hotels and public houses were to remain shut apart from the provision of takeaway meals. The precise locations of the unfortunate Tier 3 areas were to have been revealed on a government website but so great was the number of people trying to discover in which tier their own area had been placed that the site soon crashed. But the truth was soon revealed - Birmingham, Staffordshire, West Midlands and Warwickshire were all allocated a place in the Hell of Tier 3 while Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Shropshire were consigned to the Purgatory of Tier 2. Indeed of the whole of England only Cornwall, Scilly Islands and Isle Of Wight had found their way into the Heaven of Tier 1.

  This announcement was a great disappointment and cause for concern for the future of the hospitality industry in the West Midlands.  Notable Birmingham restaurants broke the news to their customers with various messages on line and The Birmingham Post headlined the threat to the industry in anticipation of the city’s allocation to Tier 3.

  Only 5 days prior to the government’s announcement, Sam Morgan, patron of Craft and 8, had been publicising that the restaurant had been putting into place more of its ‘dining pods’ which had proved to be very popular during the preceding weeks and helped to ensure heavily booked reservation lists for the restaurant.

 

So in the words of Haircut One Hundred (I have no idea why they suddenly came to mind):-

  And is that the boiling lake of Tier 3 Hell where the lost souls of restauranteurs end up? I hope not.

71. TV Star Achievers Associated With New Developments.

  Birmingham’s  food reputation keeps moving onwards and upwards. Much has happened in the past 2 months or so.

  I have visited the Craft Dining Rooms situated in the International Convention Centre and really must get around to reporting my experiences there but quite what those have been can be judged by the fact that I have paid three visits there in just a short period of time. This chicly decorated (the theme is centred on gold and silver) spacious dining area spaced around an attractive, large bar and only marred by its rather low ambient temperature (its management is working on ways to solve the problem) was opened on 15 July 2019 by Birmingham-based Sam and Emma Morgan with Tom Wells from Birmingham who had worked with Tom Aikens among others as the first Chef Director. The emphasis of the restaurant has been very much on British food and British drinks to accompany.
  British wines have been highlighted and the menus have been fascinating to look through as they give a full description of the wines and the British vineyards from which they originate. There has also been a lengthy list of gins from which to select though on my last visit I was told that the list was going to slimmed down a bit.
  It was announced that Karl Martin, formerly chef patron of Old Downton Lodge at Ludlow, would become Executive Chef there from November but subsequently it was announced that Great British Menu finalist in 2018 and 2019 (as well as North West Chef of the Year in 2011), Andrew Sheridan, would take over the role of Executive Chef which he did in early December 2019. It is planned to open an outside canal-side terrace garden in January 2020 (let’s hope it’s warming than the interior restaurant) with the involvement of Akhtar Islam of Michelin star-winning Opheem and Legna) fame.

  More television-related news of significance to the Birmingham food scene was the awarding of the title Masterchef The Professionals Champion to Brummie chef Stu Deeley in late December 2019. He had been working most recently at Alex Claridge’s The Wilderness and has now left the post in
preparation for becoming head chef at a new restaurant to open in spring 2020 in the Jewellery Quarter. That’s something to get excited about.

  In his training Deeley had studied at Halesowen College and later worked at Simpsons. In the Masterchef finals Deeley beat another West Midlands chef - Olivia Burt from Worcestershire.
  I’m sad to write that after 10 years of working at Purnell’s, the brilliant Manager/Maitre D’  Sonal Clare has left the Cornwall Street-based palace of dining to prepare to work at another restaurant here in Birmingham. A sublime performer of his art, he will be missed by Purnell’s customers as no-one in Birmingham can schmooze his diners in the way that Sonal can. I look forward to visiting his new place of work.