270. Eat Vietnam.

 

  Stirchley is reputed to be, according to some newspaper survey or the other, one of the coolest suburbs in Britain. The ‘High Street’, which is actually a section of the Pershore Road, is an ugly, neglected, characterless dump (away from the main thoroughfare there are some lovely green areas and pleasing 1930s estates) and its rundown appearance hasn’t really changed since my boyhood in the 1950s. It is very unattractive. 

  In very recent years however middle-class middling-achievers have moved into Stirchley because, being middling achievers, they are unable to afford property in the more established, expensive suburbs where the better-off socialist middle class would aspire to live, starting with Edgbaston and Moseley and working down to Harborne and Kings Heath. They say that they have brought ‘gentrification’ with them to the area though, since they are not in any way members of the gentry (being in actual fact a population of socialist hipsters, negroni drinkers and women in dungarees, mostly employed in jobs which generally benefit their fellows but little) in the case of Stirchley ‘gentrification’ actually means tarted up small terraced houses where honest workmen lived sixty years ago accompanied by a profusion of cafés and small independent businesses where the denizens of the suburb can learn to bake their own bread, swig negronis and hang out in thirdhand attire bought from charity shops.

 Being very cool, it is not so surprising perhaps that Stirchley and its businesses get reported on by the gullible as being of high quality either by the hipster denizens of the area or by those lured to the area by its reputation for cool. I was certainly surprised to find that The Good Food Guide inspectors were suddenly inflamed by one or two micro-businesses in the area handing out plaudits to unpromising-looking restaurants on the ramshackle high street. 

  First, remarkably, up popped Yikouchi At Chancers Cafe accredited with a GFG ‘Very Good’ rating which makes it one of the Guide’s leading Birmingham restaurants though it is hardly any bigger than a dog kennel, does not offer reservations, and only seems to sell the award-winning food on Fridays. I intend to go there when I get the chance but was not excited by the thought of doing so after squinting through the shop windows to see the restaurant’s interior. The food will have to be very good indeed to convince me that the Good Food Guide inspectors haven’t gone mad.

  Then a second Stirchley restaurant appeared in the Good Food Guide - rated ‘good’ it was Eat Vietnam, a couple of doors along from Chancers Cafe. This place, from the outside at least, appears even more unpromising with the sign of the old greasy spoon cafe which was the previous occupant of the building still very visibly in place and a tiny sign advertising the real name of the restaurant plus a large ugly red and yellow poster dominating the upper part of the building and reading, “FISH SAUCE IS NOT FOR EVERYONE”.

  The Good Food Guide notes that the Chef/owner Ming Nham “was in the music/fashion business before taking to the stoves” and ascribes the “cool soundtrack, buzzy vibe and hipster clientele” to Mr Nham’s former profession. Presumably Ming Nham’s previous occupation also explains the rather unique approach to signage though it has to be said that the interior decor, as I discovered when I visited the restaurant, is without any real amount of artistic eccentricity apart from there being another of the ‘Fish sauce’ epigrams in large letters on one of the walls.

  The welcome by the front of house staff was pleasing and a bottle of water was brought to my table immediately and I was not rushed into ordering a drink or making a choice from the menu. I felt comfortable and cosy on a dreary autumn late afternoon - the GFG notes that Eat Vietnam is a “super-relaxed, friendly and comfortable eatery”.

  There was a sensibly short paper menu plus a blackboard on the wall above my head with the ‘specials’ written on it. Many dishes were small plates though larger dishes were on offer with accompaniments included in the moderate prices. The dishes looked interesting and highly tempting. After a little discussion with the very friendly and helpful waitress I settled on four small plates though it emerged that one of them was not available which was just as well as three proved to be very ample.

  From the board menu I chose pan-fried scallops with potato dauphine and a coconut and scallion sauce. All elements of the dish were delicious and the scallops were nicely cooked and the whole was delightful. I chose from the paper menu, under recommendation, the splendidly tasty spicy, crispy cauliflower, delightfully unctiousness and enhanced with peanut (proof that there is a way to cauliflower heaven for anyone who would not normally wish to eat that vegetable).

  Finally, again from the ‘specials’ board, glazed pork with green beans. The pork was pleasingly tender and the glaze acceptably if subtly tasty. Sesame seeds made a contribution to the taste and texture.

   There are no desserts available apart from three flavours of ice cream sold in, one presumes, bought in cartons. I question whether this is adequate for a GFG-listed restaurant. I chose the pandan-flavoured offering which was pleasant if unremarkable.

  The food was indeed good and well-cooked and presented. The restaurant itself is perfectly apt for its location - a suburb which is home to the self-consciously hipster who in the past might have liked to think of themselves as being Bohemian. A party of about eight arrived while I was there led by a pushy, early middle-aged hipster demanding to be seated in the open air, rather chilly, area in the garden at the back of the restaurant though one or two of of the party, feeling the pleasant warmth of the restaurant itself, looked a little doubtful about the group leader’s decision. Other diners did indeed include a woman dressed in dungarees who looked like a refugee from Greenham Common and I doubt if any diner apart from myself was aged less than forty (and most under thirty).

  The toilet was also ‘round the back’, was clean and workable but had a broken lock and no way of indicating that there was already someone in there carrying out their bodily functions. This summed up the restaurant. The food is good but a lot of small neighbourhood restaurants produce good food. If one lives in Stirchley or its vicinity this is a good, moderately priced, place to eat a filling and tasty meal but I think that the Good Food Guide has been a little generous in elevating it to a place in its hoary pages. The Guide is making a move to be more inclusive of small local dining establishments which would quite reasonably make it into a local guide but I’m not sure that if I came all the way from, say, Leeds I would be all that delighted to consult the GFG and as a result, venture out on an unreliable local bus service on a dark evening to find myself on the scruffy Stirchley main thoroughfare and turning up at this odd little restaurant without proper signage.

  Ming Nham really needs to take the place to a higher level (first of all fix the lavatory lock) before the GFG, or any other guide starts recommending it on a national basis. It feels like the Good Food Guide inspectors had had one negroni too many the evening they visited this establishment. But that does not mean that I shall not return - the food is indeed ‘Good Food’ and the restaurant is dog-friendly which makes a refreshing change and the Labrador would enjoy an evening there sniffing at the vaguely comical Stirchley hipsters even though, in my experience, they tend to be cat fanciers. Rating:- 🌛🌛.

Ming Nham:-

269. Good Food Guide Rates Birmingham As Most Exciting Food Destination.

 

  It seems to me that the relevance of the Michelin Guide to high quality dining out in England is declining exponentially. Its inspectors visit London and Home Counties restaurants which are convenient for them and elsewhere they go to nice places in the Cotswolds, or Lake District or, latterly, even the Peak District. But the conclusions they reach from their visits are arcane and repetitive and most of all … questionably outdated and unambitious. But still chefs are whipped up into pre-Award announcement frenzies. They shouldn’t be. Michelin doesn’t even bother to publish a book now and the ‘reviews’ on their websites are vague and often unhelpful, text being sacrificed for a glossy photograph.

  The Good Food Guide, on the other hand has had, and is still undergoing, a reboot which brings it firmly into the post-COVID 2020s. It was slow to get reviews on its internet pages but the number of listed restaurants is now snowballing and making the Guide a very useful tool when deciding where to go for a really good meal. Its inspectors are out and about in areas which the Michelin inspectors have not imagined in their worst nightmares but where real people live and where they to wish to dine well without driving out into the middle of a fairytale forest on a moonlit night in late autumn or, even worse, where they have to pay £300 to stay the night if they wish to drink alcohol because there are no local taxis operating late evening. 

  For historical reasons, and because of snob appeal and the indoctrination of chefs, the Michelin Guide will remain of interest for the foreseeable future but The Good Food Guide now seems to be the reliable place to go for useful, clearly defined advice on where to eat in England (and here in the West Midlands).

  As of 17 October 2022, The Good Food Guide now lists the following West Midlands restaurants - 

Grading (the symbols are my little intrusion to make the post more colourful)

                 Exceptional  - 🍗🍗🍗

                 Very good -    🍗🍗

                  Good -           🍗

West Midlands County -

The Wilderness - Birmingham 🍗🍗🍗

Grace And Savour  - Hampton In Arden 🍗🍗🍗

Carter’s Of Moseley  - Moseley, Birmingham - 🍗🍗🍗

Harborne Kitchen - Harborne, Birmingham - 🍗🍗🍗 

Purnell’s - Birmingham - 🍗🍗

Adam’s - Birmingham - 🍗🍗

Folium - Birmingham - 🍗🍗

Opheem - Birmingham - 🍗🍗

Peel’s - Hampton in Arden - 🍗🍗

Smoke - Hampton in Arden - 🍗🍗

Yikouchi At Chancer’s Cafe - Stirchley, Birmingham - 🍗🍗

670 Grams - Digbeth, Birmingham - 🍗

Chakana - Moseley, Birmingham - 🍗

Chapter - Harborne, Birmingham - 🍗 

Dishoom - Birmingham - 🍗

Land - Birmingham - 🍗

Tierra - Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham - 🍗

Tropea - Harborne, Birmingham - 🍗

The Oyster Club - Birmingham - 🍗

Eat Vietnam - Stirchley, Birmingham - 🍗

Yip in Bashu - Coventry - 🍗

Warwickshire -

Cheal’s Of Henley - Henley in Arden - 🍗🍗

The Cross At Kenilworth - Kenilworth - 🍗🍗

Salt - Stratford upon Avon - 🍗

Tailors - Warwick - 🍗

The Royal Oak - Whatcote - 🍗

Staffordshire -

Upstairs By Tom Shepherd - Lichfield - 🍗🍗🍗

The Boat - Lichfield - 🍗

Shropshire -

The Walrus - Shrewsbury - 🍗🍗

Forelles At Fishmore Hall - Ludlow - 🍗

Mortimers - Ludlow -  🍗

Old Downton Lodge - Ludlow - 🍗

Charlton Arms - Ludlow - 🍗

Sebastians - Oswestry - 🍗

Worcestershire -

Russell’s of Broadway - Broadway - 🍗

Herefordshire -

33 The Homend  - Ledbury - 🍗

The Cider Barn -  Penbridge - 🍗

The Kilpeck Inn - Kilpeck - 🍗

The Riverside Inn at Aymestrey - Aymestrey - 🍗

Gloucestershire -

Le Champignon Sauvage - Cheltenham - 🍗🍗

The Bell at Selsey - Selsey - 🍗

The Butcher’s Arms - Eldersfield - 🍗

The Woolpack Inn - Stroud - 🍗

  The West Midlands now has 43 listed restaurants with 17 located in Birmingham. There are a number of glaring omissions still - no Simpsons nor About 8 - and no visit yet to Whitchurch nor to Lunar in Stoke on Trent. No listing yet for The Woodsman in Stratford upon Avon and I would have thought a call in at Lamb’s Of Sheep Street might be considered worthwhile while in that town. In Worcestershire, there’s no mention of Pensons, and Solihull and Barnt Green now both have excellent restaurants to be visited. The Guide remains a work in progress in some ways but is catching up rapidly.

  Regardless, on the evening of 17 October, The Guide held its ceremony to announce Britain’s Top Twenty Restaurants for 2022 at the Groucho Club in Soho. I was delighted to have been invited to the event and before plunging into the remarkably noisy hubbub of a lot of food people closely packed and reaching out for generous amounts of free drinks and delicious canapés - including a fabulous sausage roll and a sea bream ceviche - I took a walk around Soho wandering down the streets which had been, and still were in some cases, home to some legendary restaurants.

  Once in the Groucho Club and having eventually deduced precisely which part of it the event was located in, I was delighted to see the familiar face of Alex Claridge and with him his partner and later, the legendary Sonal Clare and head chef Marius Gedminas - so obviously The Wilderness was to feature on the list of Twenty Most Exciting Restaurants - a very real achievement for a dining establishment which had not previously featured in the book’s listings.

  The place was buzzing - here was Richard Corrigan, there was the larger than life figure of Gareth Ward. Eventually upstepped the diminutive figure of the Guide’s Chief Editor, Elizabeth Carter, quietly spoken to announce who had won what.

  Firstly came the announcement of the year’s Most Exciting Dining Destination. Birmingham. The young chefs have made the place. And the city has benefitted from their genius, their hard work, their inventiveness, their dedication. Well done indeed. But less us not forget that the city’s shining dining scene was established fifteen to twenty years ago, in evolving stages, by the generation of the city’s great chefs and restaurateurs that has preceded those whom The Good Food Guide is highlighting in 2022.

  And so to the announcement of just which restaurants are deemed by the editors of the Good Food Guide to be “the most exciting in Britain”. Birmingham and the West Midlands got off to a great start with Carter’s of Moseley being placed at number 18, followed shortly afterwards by Grace And Savour. But where was The Wilderness? The countdown continued to number 11. So The Wilderness was in the top ten. And that was its placing - an immensely impressive number 10 - with those placed higher all already established in the gastronomic firmament. The winner was the three Michelin-starred L’Enclume and just behind it at number two was the acclaimed Ynyshir, so the as yet unstarred The Wilderness had scored a notable achievement to be in such gastronomic company. 

  The announcements were over. The achievers, some locked in comradely embraces were ready to party and it was time to leave. What an astonishing evening for dining out in the West Midlands and in Birmingham. The Good Food Guide editors see this, I think, as a gradual changing of the guard as the blisteringly good young chefs begin to become the centre of attention as their seniors start to fade. What it means is that when the established chefs do call it a day, Birmingham will still have a mesmerising dining scene recognised by the experts who advise people where to eat.

Richard Corrigan (or his back at least) at the Awards ceremony -

Gareth Ward of Ynyshir -

Alex Clare and Sonal Claridge of The Wilderness with their award - 

Brad Carter of Carter’s Of Moseley in a comradely embrace with Gareth Ward - 

268. Qavali, Purnell’s, Cheal’s Of Henley, Hussain’s

   

  Last week was busy. Birmingham then Stratford with a trip to Henley in Arden in the middle. Train strikes did not make travelling any easier and the city centre was full of delegates to the Conservative Conference at the ICC and noisy, splendidly scruffy middle class Tarquins representing all sorts of causes protesting at the Conservatives’ presence in Birmingham. Dining out was easier than I expected since all the politicians were at evening meetings or noshing banquets in large groups.

  Dinner at Qavali on Monday evening. It was very quiet. There were a few Conference delegates there who obviously hadn’t received invitations to any group meals. I went straight to a main course which was excellent - Kassori lamb karahi - delicious, the meat tender and tasty, the sauce hitting the target on spiciness and flavour and the peshwari naans possibly the best I have had for a long time. There were problems - bar service was slow and my drink arrived in a glass with a chipped rim which could have been nasty. That should never have happened. I had a pleasing light dessert of two ice creams - rose flavour with Turkish delight pieces in it and pistachio. 

Rating - 0 (chipped glass indefensible).

   The following evening, to Purnell’s. No surprise that there were no chipped glasses there. No surprise too that I was unable to resist the Tasting menu especially as there were a number of new dishes on it which had to be tried.

  Firstly there was the sheer joy of Purnell’s Gifts from the kitchen. Sometimes I think that a restaurant that  served nothing but fine canapés might be just what I’m looking for. Purnell’s chip - now well-established as a panisse had undergone a further evolution and was now made, deliciously, from sweet spiced carrot; this was served along with a little disc of rye bread on which was mounted by splended tomato and bacon meringue - unfortunately the rye did not present a very nice texture - if this was to achieve what Purnell’s should be achieving then the base would have been far better if it had been pastry. Then more ‘gifts’ - the hilarious little truffle pig sable with blobs of cheese custard and balsamic gel - delicious - served with truffle potatoes and herb emulsion. Very good though I had little flashbacks of the longtime favourite edible charcoal with its gorgeous chorizo dip. I suppose I will get over the loss eventually.

  Then the old favourite of Emotions of soixante dix - Purnell’s ever-evolving play on the vintage cheese and pineapple and then Loch Duart salmon disastrously assaulted by excruciatingly sharp citrus - lime and ponzu - with undetectable ginger. This is a dish which needs a very rapid and drastic rethink.

  I substituted the very familiar Haddock and eggs with a lovely heritage tomato dish served with a shiso leaf fritter. How could anyone not love a dish with a fritter as one of its ingredients. Then a fine piece of Cornish monkfish with tallegio and a delightful ragu of octopus and cuttlefish and squid.

Next, an irreproachable piece of roast sirloin cooked beautifully and presented in the company of equally nicely cooked salsify with the additional pleasures of hazelnut and leek. Then a startling intermediate dish made up of duck liver and sweet raisins and the pastry from which the tomato and bacon meringue amuse gueule may have benefitted. The meal drew to a close with the immortal 10 10 10 Burnt English egg surprise with the accompanying cherry lollipops as I had to recognise that I was replete and the mint choccy chip was a dessert too far.

Despite the unfortunate Loch Duart salmon dish, rating:- 🌞🌞.

  The following day, the dog and I battled the travel impediments put in our way by striking train drivers, through a raging rainstorm to get to Stratford (by taxi as a last resort) so that I could see the present production of Richard III at the RSC for my third and final time. We stayed as usual at the Shakespeare Hotel, a minute or so from the theatre. Dating back to the early 17th century, it has seen better days and is always waiting for its long expected refurbishment but to my pleasure, the management reopened the atmospheric Quill Bar during this visit and I sipped Cotswold Gin, in the absence of Monkey 47, while the dog lounged around appealingly waiting for other guests to admire and stroke her.

  I travelled to Henley in Arden the next day to renew my romance with Cheal’s of Henley which remains one of the West Midlands’ most outstanding restaurants. The place remains faultless starting with the excellent, informed service which is delivered supremely professionally. The food served remains exemplary. There was a lunch menu which was very appealing but Cheal’s is just too good to miss the remarkable gems which feature in its tasting menu. And so the tasting menu it was.

  Along with an excellent and colourful amuse gueule, bread was served with butter and beef fat (what, I suppose we used to call ‘dripping’ though rather more refined I expect). 

  The first dish led the way in confirming that this meal was going to be another Cheal’s great success. No skimping on the luxuries either. Along came a very pretty little bowl containing pieces of lobster with delightful heritage tomato and tomato consommé. Who would have thought it? - a tomato dish raised to new heights by the pleasure of lobster. Well, obviously Matt Cheal thought of it.

  And then one of my all-time favourite dishes sidled up to me and made me laugh out loud with pleasurable surprise and to purr with happiness. This was the Crispy Duck Yolk dish, previously wonderful, but now in a class of its home. The egg was certainly admirably cooked and nicely crispy and with it were little pieces of crispy bacon and tiny sweet tomatoes and perfectly cooked black pudding (so often cooked elsewhere to a dry mouth-clagging inedibility) but pushing all of it aside, underneath lurked cheeky, shocking, sweet baked beans completing this hilarious and delicious Full English breakfast pastiche. A great, delightful, witty, naughty dish for a fine dining restaurant - I loved it.

  Conventionality was restored, probably wisely by another dish with a luxury ingredient - lovely turbot with baby artichoke and a delicious lobster sauce.

  The main course was perfectly cooked new season venison with girolles, mischievous pieces of sweetcorn, nice potato gnocchi and an excellent Pedro Ximenez sauce. The excellence of this was matched by the excellence of the dessert - an irreproachable apple crumble soufflé with blackcurrant half plunged into it. For good measure, a selection of good English cheeses was served to complete the meal. The total price (excluding drinks and service) was £85. This is exceptionally good value in these present times particularly as the superlative meal included some fine luxury ingredients.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.

  With another day in Stratford, I was able to take myself to dinner at a restaurant I have been intending to visit for some time - Hussain’s, which held a Michelin recommendation for longer than anywhere else in Stratford upon Avon, from 1989 to 2001. Those days are long over, true, but I was curious to see how this place measured up in this era of South Asian food being served in restaurants such as Opheem.

  This was good old fashioned ‘Indian’ food, barely any different from that being served in the 1970s. The restaurant was busy - it was a Friday evening - and the service was polite and brisk. The decor is very old fashioned, not necessarily a disadvantage, and very pink which it was, I remember distinctly, when I last visited there some years ago. Hussain’s clearly is not a slave to fashion; presumably it does not need to be.

  Given the atmosphere of decades gone by, I thought I would order a meal of times gone by starting off with onion pakora (which I think could well have been the ‘onion bhajis’ of former times) served with a traditional but nicely fresh salad garnish. There were four little onion bhajis, distinctive by their intense redness but nice and crispy and generally quite enjoyable. Then I chose chicken tikka dhansak with Peshwari naan. The chicken was far too dry and gave little pleasure but the sauce was edible enough bringing the combination of heat and sweetness and dryness that makes dhansak my favourite curry shop dish. The naan was satisfactory though a little flabby particularly in comparison with the naan I had eaten at Qavali earlier in the week

  I concluded with another ancient favourite - a mango khulfi, a flavourless and not very pleasant, highly  phallic erection standing not very proud on the plate. To be avoided in the future.

  Hussain’s seems to attract plenty of punters so for some the old ways are still acceptable. But not for me, though never say never.

  Rating:- 0.

Recent developments - 

It was announced on 7 October that 670 Grams will be enlarged after Chef patron Kray Tredwell acquired the shop next door to the present restaurant. It is planned that the kitchen will double in size and that the number of covers will increase from 16 to 26. There will also be a private dining room accommodating 10 to 12 guests. In pictures the decor looks more chic than the present very bohemian look which I think is something to be welcomed.

On 11 September Simpsons announced that a new general manager, Jamie Halcrow, had been appointed there.