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.

101. More Trees Than The Bois De Boulougne.

  Following on from Blog 100, I have now managed to obtain a fine copy of Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec’s and Maurice Joyant’s  ‘The Art of Cuisine’ in its English translation (by Marjory Weiner) which was published in its first edition in 1966 by Michael Joseph. It’s a fabulous book and full of curiosities. Not of all of it could be viewed as being applicable to Birmingham in the year 2020 however.
  Take this section for instance - “HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN TENDER Poulets a devenir tendres - In order to make chickens immediately edible, take them out of the hen-run, pursue them into open country, and when you have made them run, kill them with a gun loaded with very small shot. The meat of the chicken, gripped with fright, will become tender. This method used in the country of the Fangs (Gabon) seems infallible even for the oldest and toughest hens”. If you think de Toulouse-Lautrec has substance in his recommendations for chicken tenderising and you intend to follow his advice it would be wise to keep quiet about it. It seems hard to imagine one of Birmingham’s famous chefs pursuing a knackered old chicken down Cornwall Street or Waterloo Street or through the Jewellery Quarter to render its flesh more tender.
  Some illustrations from the book:-

Frontispiece showing a Painting of T-L (at his oven) at Misia and
 Thadée Natanson’s at
Villeneuve-sur-Yonne
by Eduard Vuillard, 1898

  It occurred to me that it might be nice to track down any T-L art in Birmingham and search out anything food-related and even if it weren’t at least come face-to-face with some of his joyous works in the flesh. Of course, it still being the time of Lockdown that was not something that was immediately doable (just like sitting down in Purnell’s to his witty dishes is still not doable). A trail of the internet was not very promising and I have only come up with three pieces of his work in Birmingham’s galleries. In Birmingham Art gallery and Museum there seems to be only one piece - Troupe Della Mlle Églantine which has nothing to do with food. I can’t quite see these young ladies showing a leg while diners sit eating their amuses bouches in the formality of Adam’s. I would have thought Adam’s was more pre-Raphaelite than gay Paree.

  The internet suggests that there are 2 T-L works at the fabulous Barber Institute in Edgbaston. Alas again not food-related in subject. Firstly there is A Woman seated in a garden (c.1890)which might do very well for Simpsons.

And secondly there is Le Divan Japonais (1892) which might sit well in one of Birmingham’s cocktail bars and Gingers Bar feels rather suitable considering the appearance of the lady in the picture.

  Finally one must think that The Wilderness is definitely more Goya than Lautrec.

  I think that vibrant numbered and signed printed menus by suitable local artists, their style to match the restaurant, served with meals, perhaps on special evenings if the expense is rather great, could be a great draw to bringing the fearful back to our restaurants once they are allowed to reopen. It could open up a new collectors’ market.

  It’s worth recalling that in the mid-20teens, Birmingham did indeed have a restaurant which attempted, to a limited extent, to recall the Parisian restaurants of the Belle Époque. The large restaurant at the far end of Corporation Street where one turns the corner into Steelhouse Lane was named Annexe and looked rather smaller as one walked past it. The location was awful with very little passing trade except, I suppose, from persons having business with the nearby Victoria Law Courts. The restaurant was also graced by employing one or two staff who thought that they were Parisian waiters and treated their customers with the appropriate degree of disdain and condescension. The food was expensive with nothing innovative about it which at least would have made the high prices demanded for shockingly small helpings of food more defensible. The interior was rather dark and gloomy and had nothing to do with the bright scenes depicted in the work of Toulouse-Lautrec. Special event evenings were held including the showing of classic French movies - that much at least was innovative and imaginative - and these, for a while at least, made the restaurant wildly popular  avec Les Tripadviseurs of Birmingham who rated it the number 1 restaurant in Birmingham until they probably became fed up of leaving the restaurant hungry despite having paid a large bill and having the experience of being treated with contempt by the waiters. Perhaps they thought that they were being given the genuine French expérience. 

  Annexe closed in July 2017 with the management announcing that their landlords, the owners of Central Hall, wanted to sell the entire building containing the restaurant. Before closing the restaurant did host a Bastille Day celebration.

  Apart from my first visit, when I noticed the restaurant as I was passing (probably the only passing trade it ever got), I sat at a table on the pavement outside downing a small quantity of some extravagantly priced but admittedly tasty onion soup with an equally small amount of bread (a table at nether-Corporation Street alas does not mimic Montmartre sufficiently) I visited Annex only one more time for a mid-week dinner - it seemed to be struggling to attract customers but that had had no effect on the chef’s inability to provide an adequate plate of food or the front of house staff to behave vaguely politely. It seemed likely that it was a restaurant with a limited life expectancy. Pity it could have been a great hit but it’s poor location and tight-fisted and ungracious approach to its customers ensured its doom.