Nocturnal Animals
I have a quick glance around the dazzling dining room and for the fourth time during the six courses I’m wandering to myself ‘could I be booted out for licking the plate clean?’. Such bad manners wouldn’t usually cross my mind, particularly when eating in a fine dining establishment. However, this is not like any other fine dining establishment I’ve been to. This becomes glaringly obvious right from the beginning of the Nocturnal Animals experience.
Head straight to the bottom of Bennet’s Hill towards New Street, just look for the crowd huddled with camera in hand to catch a snap of what must by now, be one of the most photographed neon illuminated restaurant frontages in the City. Enter the warm welcome of the bar to be presented with the funky drinks menu by a knowledgeable waiter who goes on to explain the menu in depth and takes our order. This is not your traditional drinks menu as you might expect from such a unique bar.
With some help from our waiter my wife decided on a bottle of Moulin de Gassac wine. She reliably informed this was excellent and judging by her slight ‘Bambi on ice’ walk after it was a winner!
As the sensible half of the Breaking Bread team I was thrilled to see a whole page of non-alcohol cocktails on the menu, and even more jubilant that the cocktail I chose “Ginger Spice”tasted like a proper grown up drink. Nothing like the standard excessively sweet undiluted and cordial-like non-alcohol cocktail usually served up.
After 15 minutes of sitting in awe of the fantastically outlandish bar interior whilst taking in the fun atmosphere, we were taken to our table. This was an experience in itself, down one of the most iconic of corridors I’ve seen. You would be forgiven for thinking you’ve stepped onto the set of a music video, more suited to a strut than to walk and impossible not to stop and take a photo. A member of staff mentioned they have had a lot of people come in for a drink and demand to know where ‘the’ corridor is. Down a few steps and we’re into a truly wonderful dining room. I couldn’t help but feel a rumbling of excitement in anticipation of Birmingham’s newest joint.
The décor of the dining room is a must see. Dark black walls with cream, sky blue, royal blue and blood red triangle and hexagon shaped tiles cover the floor. Yet another funky neon lit corridor leads to the restrooms which are a statement in themselves.
On to the reason we’re here –the food! I really wanted to find faults in the six-course tasting menu, but I just couldn’t.
My favorite part of every tasting menu I’ve eaten is the deep elation I feel when eating a dish that completely takes me by surprise.
Moments after reading the menu and thinking this next course of Duck & Foie Gras Gyoza is a dead cert to be on my least favorites list. However, I’m declaring it to be one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten. Soft tasty moon shaped dumplings swimming in a deep, aged duck broth with crunchy cashews.
This dish hammers at all my senses like an invading army smashing at the doors of an enemy castle. It looks, smells and tastes incredible.
As soon as it is presented to me, the smell puts an instant smile on my face. It’s the accompanying broth, smoky and fragrant, like a magnet pulling me in and compelling me to eat it.The dish is served on what looks like a razor clam shell and I’m more than half tempted to pick it up and tip the remains of the broth into my mouth.
The whole meal is superb, the texture of the velvety smooth creamy chicken liver parfait, meaty monkfish in a delicate tempura with a garlic aioli, super fresh yellow fin tuna tartar with punchy wasabi and the incredible katsu quail dish. With juicy quail covered in crispy panko crumb, quail spring roll and puffed wild rice in a pool of aromatic katsu curry sauce.
To finish the meal a visually stunning dessert of rich chocolate goes amazingly well with the blobs of yuzu which are a perfect balance of both sweet and sharp and takes this dessert to a whole new level. The colored chocolate shards that match the floor add a real fun element to this dish. Its good REAL good.
There’s so much to admire about Nocturnal Animals and its two fingered attitude to what is perceived as ‘fine dining’. It would have been far easier to go the tried & tested traditional fine dining restaurant route. Make a beautiful but bland pastel colored restaurant with non-offensive “elevator music”.
Thankfully Alex Claridge (Owner& Chef) dared to be brave and go against this. Instead choosing to put himself out there and make a restaurant that truly reflects his personality and philosophy. I truly believe in the vision portrayed by Nocturnal Animals. World class cooking and quality food, should be the focus of the whole experience irrelative to surroundings or décor.
The focus of the dining room is the open plan kitchen situated at the front of the room, where Alex and his team are in full flow. It has a bold statement in red neon lights above the pass declaring “Its Only Fucking Food”.
Well it is only food, it’s not life or death but judging by the amount of love, passion and attention to detail that Alex pours into every morsel on each and every plate, combined with all of the detailed elements of his stunning new restaurant, It’s obvious to see that to Alex, it’s far more fucking important than that.
Breaking Bread Podcast, the podcast all about food
Killer review. Would love to treat my other half to a night there one day. Love the reviews.