To listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast Good Places To Eat In Birmingham June Round up with Carl & I, just press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this link https://breakingbreadpodcastuk.blog/listen/
Lamb Benedict Little Blackwood Best Food In Birmingham
HELLO FOODIES, Carl and I are back again this week. We start by talking about some of the delicious meals Carl has been cooking at home. He tells us about the cook books hes using most at the moment
Pinch Of Nom
Pinch Of Nom is a cracking book, packed full of healthy, exciting & delicious recipes. Brought to you by the same people who created the original Pinch Of Nom Blog One of the UK’s favourite blogs.
BOSH!
The biggest selling Vegan cookbook of all time, BOSH! is bursting with everyday, simple, yummy recipes. It’s our go to book for an easy meat free meal
A Spot At The Bar
A cracking and very simple to use cocktail book, that will get even the most novice of mixologists making beautiful drinks in no time. All with out the need for a 500 spirit back bar.
Places To Eat In Birmingham. Some Of The Restaurants We Have Visited
Little Blackwood
So many good places to eat in Birmingham but one of our favourites at the moment is Little Blackwood. Carl and I checked out there new exciting brunch menu
Maison Mayci
Beautiful French bakery in the heart of Moseley, which i visit regularkly for their tarts and sourdough. They have now decided to open their doors Friday & Saturday dinner times and are offering a beautiful little authentic French menu
Breaking Bread Podcast Ep.15 Purnells Head Chef Luke Butcher
To find out what’s it like to work in a Michelin starred kitchen, just listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast with Luke & I. Press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this link
Chef Luke Butcher
HELLO FOODIES, Welcome to Episode 15 of The Breaking Bread Podcast. This week we are breaking bread with chef Luke Butcher. Head chef at one of the most iconic restaurants in Birmingham, Purnells. A Michelin starred fine dining restaurant owned by celebrity chef Glyn Purnell.
Purnells Iconic Burnt Egg Custard
Luke’s Career Working In Michelin Starred Kitchens
Luke takes us through his career from his first job as a potwash in Adlard’s to working under Infamous Tom Kerridge at The Hand and Flowers in Marlow before settling in Brum at Purnells.
Mushrooms On Toast At Purnells
What’s It Like To Work In A Michelin Starred Kitchen?
We have a brilliant and interesting chat in which Luke offers a real insight in to what’s it like working in a Michelin Starred kitchen in 2019 . How the kitchen environment, working hours and working conditions have changed since he first started in the industry, and plenty of great useful advice for any new or young chefs just starting out.
music is royalty free track i will not let you let me down by joshwoodwardfreemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward/ edited by liam Haughey under creative license 3 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
If you enjoyed this episode why not take a look back at our episodes with
To listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast with Carl & I, just press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this link https://breakingbreadpodcastuk.blog/listen-to-our-podcast/
Ep.14 Breaking Bread Podcast
HELLO FOODIES, Carl and I are back again this week. We start by talking about some of the delicious meals Carl has been cooking at home. Not as much home cooked food this week, as we have been eating out lots lately.
#AD
One of the places we visited was Lasan, who have just launched their weekend feast menu. We were very kindly invited to try the new menu and share our thoughts with Lasan. So just to be clear we did not pay for this meal, although as usual all opinions are our own. We’re not big fans of taking free food, but accepted this, because it was a restaurant we like and have paid to visit many times before.
Lasan is a very popular up market indian restaurant based in the Jewellery Quarter. With impeccable service, stunning interior which match the quality of it’s food. The beautiful dining room on your right as you walk in, is perfect. On this warm spring day the light comes cascading through the windows filling the whole room.
Beautiful Dining Room
After a short time at the bar enjoying cocktails and meeting other guests who had been invited to try the new menu, we are shown to our tables. Seated in groups of fours and sixes, to make the most of the everybody get stuck in sharing aspect of the new feast menu.
Mutton Samosa
First up is a mutton samosa. A delicious little crispy parcel of well spiced mutton, a tasty little warm up act for the feast that was about to follow
Masala Shoulder Of Lamb
The aromatic smell of spice fills the dining room making my mouth water, as the waiters start to fill the table with Lasan’s take on a traditional Sunday roast.
There is a heavily spiced, slightly sweet Red lentil and papaya dish called Papita Daal. Some excellent fluffy roast potatoes caked in chili, mustard seed and curry leaf. which the table votes unanimously to request more of. There is also a masala coated cauliflower, which i don’t like but Carl does. No Indian feast would be complete without a pillow like nan, this one seasoned with a little truffle oil perfect to mop up the juices.
Dum Aloo
The show stopping focal point of this feast, is the enormous shoulder of masala spiced lamb relaxing on a bed of fragrant Biriyiani. It’s stunning, cooked perfectly. I could grab the bone and the meat would just fall straight off it. Tender is a serious understatement.
As a table we fully emerge into the sharing aspect of the meal, and get stuck in. It feels like the right thing to do, and is an experience i really enjoy. I love that every table is eating and talking, there’s a real family atmosphere in the dining room, which is exactly what i believe the restaurant are aiming for.
Carrot Cake
Although we struggle to finish the lamb, we miraculously manage to eat dessert. A deconstructed carrot cake with vanilla ice cream which is good but not special. I feel it might be a bit on the pricey side to ask for an extra £6 for dessert on top of the £35 for the meal.
Is Natural Wine All That? Is Vegetarian & Vegan Wine Really The Next Big THING? Is Non Alcohol Wine Any Good? All About Wine With Wine Expert Chris Connolly
To listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast with Carl & I, just press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this link https://breakingbreadpodcastuk.blog/listen-to-our-podcast/
HELLO FOODIES, this week we are Breaking Bread with wine expert and wine merchant Chris Connolly. Chris owns two shops, one on Dovehouse Parade in Solihull, another one in the centre of Birmingham
The one in town has an amazing and popular wine bar inside it, called Arch 13. Connolly’s take pride in offering exciting wines and spirits from all over the world, and are known for their friendly and extremely knowledgeable staff.
Chris not only sells wine to the public, he also works with many top end restaurants. Helping them build unique and well balanced wine lists for their restaurants. A fantastic conversation all about wine, what Chris doesn’t know about wine isn’t worth knowing.
Have we ever told you about the covered wagon!? No cowboys plenty, of Indian.
To listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast with Carl & I, just press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this link https://breakingbreadpodcastuk.blog/listen-to-our-podcast/
Breaking Bread Podcast The Covered Wagon
This week me and Carl are back!! Its been a hot minute since we got to sit down and talk about food in this amazing city of ours. We kick off by chatting about some of Carl’s amazing homecooking, you may have seen his beef wellington and fillet steak on Instagram.
We Then have a great little discussion about some of the amazing places we’ve visited lately and food we’ve eaten
52 Gas Street
We were very kindly invited to the opening of a new canal side bar, called 52 Gas Street. A trendy looking bar with nice interior, means it will be a very popular destination for the broad st kind of crowd, but the thing that interests me most here is the food. I love the idea of bars offering street food vendors a home for a weekend, which is the case here.
On the night we visited, South American street food was been provided by Liverpool based Viajero. I had the pork taco which was tasty enough but a little steep at £7 each, but the deep fried cheese parcels with green chili sauce were delightful.
Since opening 52 Gas Street has welcomed street food giants such as Dim Sum Su, Presse De Cuba, Gyro Guys and What The Cluck giving me a feeling that this place will go on to be very sucessful giving me reason to visit a side of town i rarely visit.
The Covered Wagon Wagon Grill
The Covered Wagon
Just a stone throw from Moseley, The Covered Wagon is definitely the place we’ve eaten most at in the last year. There’s good reason for this, it’s incredible!
Since taking on a tired looking, not very busy neighborhood boozer about eighteen months ago. The new owners have completely turned this place around. It’s gone from somewhere i wouldn’t even consider eating, to top of the list of “where do you fancy for dinner” conversations.
Typical Breaking Bread Feast
The interior of the pub has been completely transformed to a bright and modern bar and restaurant area. There’s always a great relaxed family atmosphere flowing through the place, and the smell of grilled spice hits you as soon as you walk in, making you immediately hungry.
The menu is a very affordable mix of traditional curries, breads and rices, but also offers show stopping mix grill platters. We usually order The Wagon Grill Special Sizzler, the biggest grill on the menu. Which if you have ever listened to us will not surprise you. A mountain of perfectly grilled chicken tikka, chicken wings, lamb chops, sheesh kebabs and fish pakora. This tasty beast of perfectly spiced food is a bargain at just £15.50, easily enough food for two.
Great Food, Great Beer
Due to the serious amount of meat on the mix grill we tend to get a vegetarian curry to go with it. There’s not many we haven’t tried with the Palak Paneer being a solid favorite. Generous chunks of paneer cheese and spinach in a perfectly medium hot gravy, mopped up with pillow like peshwari nan.
The covered wagon curries
I couldn’t write about the covered wagon, without mentioning some of their amazing sides. Their sizzling prawns are a must and the chili paneer is immense. If you’re feeling brave swap your usual chips for the chili ones, you won’t regret it. The covered Wagon really have done a fantastic job transforming a pub that was on it’s way out. We really can’t recommend this place enough.
To listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast, just press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this link https://breakingbreadpodcastuk.blog/listen-to-our-podcast/
Naomi & Her Trike
HELLO FOODIES,
This episode we bring you our amazing chat with the bubbly and talented Naomi Morris. The Birmingham foodie entrepreneur turned her porridge trike university dream in to a reality. After various appearances at street food festivals and markets selling her unique wholesome porridge creations, such as the very delicious arancini she makes using special cut oats instead of rice.
Morridge Arancini
Naomi and her film star trike, have recently took up residence five days a week at the charming Victorian Great Western Arcade in Birmingham city centre. Their amazing porridge creations are attracting loads of attention from media outlets and happy customers.
Amazing Chocolate, Salted Date Caramel, peanut Butter And Cocao Porridge By Morridge
Naomi tells us about her journey, which involved training at UCB and gaining valuable work experience at Wickanninish Inn, Canada, Rick Stein in Mollymook, Australia and the two Michelin Stared Hand and Flowers in Marlow. Naomi talks us through the steps she took making her idea, in to a business. A truly inspirational story for anyone thinking about starting their own business.
To listen to this episode just press play on the player above, alternatively you can listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the drop box on this link https://anchor.fm/breakingbreadpodcastuk
The beautiful Little Blackwood
Recently when discussing the best places to eat in Birmingham with a few of our podcast guests and other foodie friends, a common answer has been emerging. Little Blackwood.
Little Blackwood
opened in Moseley just under a year ago and the little gem of a restaurant, has
rapidly established itself as a firm favourite.
The recommendation
became impossible to ignore, and we booked for dinner. We definitely were not
disappointed.
Offering beautiful seasonal dishes with more than a hint of Asian inspiration, in a relaxed laid back atmosphere. Little Blackwood is a must visit.
We arrive a bit
early for our booking, but are immediately shown to our table in the cosy
restaurant, where we get cracking with a round of cocktails. I am very happy us
non drinkers are catered for with a few Seadlip cocktails to choose from.
Little Blackwood’s menu is extremely reasonably priced, with diner costing £26 for two courses, or three courses for £32.
Pig Cheek/Langoustine/Black Olive
The menu isn’t
massive, a choice of four starters, five mains and three desserts. However, it still presents the painfully
tough challenge of narrowing it down to three dishes, eventually I manage it.
For starters I have
the pig cheeks/langoustine/blackolive.
Slowly braised pig cheeks that at the very sight of my fork, fall apart faster than the Aston Villa back four. The pig cheeks bathing in a langoustine bisque are so comforting, they have me remonising of bitter winter days spent slurping a deep bisque or chowder with a hunk of soda bread. Usually beside a roaring open turf fire in Donegal. The black olive tapenade ties everything together perfectly.
Mushroom/Lemongrass/Shallots
My wife very happy with her starter of mushroom wontons, which comes in a delicate mushroom and lemongrass dashi. I thought the fork full I managed to steal when she wasn’t looking, was very good.
Carl’s wife Siobhan opted for the specials board which was three of the biggest scallops I’ve ever seen.
scallops
The langoustine
bisque still has my mind travelling to a far off place, when our main arrives.
Strictly adhering to my, if there’s pork belly on the menu, stop reading, and
order pork belly, philosophy. I have the pork belly. Delicious soft slightly
sweet pork belly with a joyfully crisp skin, a spiced carrot puree, sharp
pickled carrot, fermented cabbage, an excellent earthy black pudding bon bon
finished with a generous sprinkle of smokey little crunchy puffs of pork skin.
A dish so deeply comforting I’m nearly kicking my shoes off, and putting my
feet up.
Pork/Black Pudding/Cabbage
The rest of our
party have the Fillet of beef with a potato coquette, a bordelaise sauce,
topped with bone marrow and for a £4 supplement, foie gras.
The monkfish and king prawn curry with sauteed sea vegetables, butternut squash and banana leaf sticky rice. All these dishes emphasise the greatness of this place. A restaurant that uses exceptional ingredients to create top class comfort food in a serene chilled atmosphere.
Time for dessert, I have the Little Blackwood chocolate bar. A salted caramel moose topped with sweet droplets of strawberry gel, in a glossy smooth milk chocolate case with a creamy scoop of peanut butter ice cream. Not too big or too sweet, it is just the right way to finish a delightful relaxed evening.
Little Blackwood Chocolate Bar
Judging by the the clean plates and wide smiles, the others enjoyed their desserts too. Maria had the chocolate brownie, with white chocolate ice cream, popcorn and burnt white chocolate. She loved the ice cream but found the brownie a bit underwhelming, I tasted and agreed it could be more gooey.
Carl and Siobhan both choose the Asian influenced honey and yuzu cake, simply garnished with chantilly cream, fresh honey and pistachios.
The simply quality dishes, that make you want to eat everything on the menu, along with the relaxed nature of the dining room makes Little Blackwood the kind of place you will want to visit regularly. I’m already planning my next visit, maybe for their famous Sunday lunch. Mainly because Little Blackwood appears on nearly every list of Sunday lunch recommendations, a true gem of a restaurant in the heart of Moseley.
This episode I have a chat with massively talented, great guy Sebastian Clough. Sebastian is a Baker and owner of Four Oaks bakery Onthebreadline. The bakery creates quality handcrafted baked goodies and breads. An interesting chat where we discuss taking a talent and skill, and turning it into a business.
One of the big reasons i wanted to speak to Sebastian on our podcast, is because i’m a huge fan of his food. His fresh bread and baguettes are fantastic and the flavoured muffins are a real treat. Especially the Kinda and the M&M muffins. If you find yourself over this side of town be sure to pay him a visit, but get there early as they do tend to sell out.
A Quick Note About The Sound Quality Of This Episode
Unfortunately when we organised a date to sit down and record this chat, i failed to notice that i had organised it for November 5th. Bonfire night. To make things worse, Sebastian’s bakery is across the road from a school which was holding a giant fireworks display. So a complete rookie error on my part, but its a learning curve. Thankfully the display finishes four minutes in, and we have a great little chat.
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music is royalty free track i will not let you let me down by joshwoodwardfreemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward/ edited by liam Haughey under creative license 3 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
The
Birmingham suburb of Kings Heath is a place with many happy memories for me,
not many of them food related though. The main reason for this, is that there
just wasn’t much to get excited about food wise in Kings Heath back then.
Sausage, beans and chips from the greasy spoon at the back of inshops was the
highlight of a long day being dragged around Woolworths, Safeway and other
shops that are now long gone.
Now Kings Heath is a completely different place and there are so many seriously good places to eat, it would be tough to choose the best place to eat in Kings Heath.
One of the best places to eat in Kings Heath
It was 2014 when I first sat up and took notice of the first hint that Kings Heath would go on to be the little foodie paradise it is today. My sister phoned me to say, “have you seen that French bakery in Kings Heath & Moseley?” When I told her, I hadn’t she pointed me in the direction of an ITV Series called ‘Britain’s Best Bakery’ where a little bakery called Maison Mayci had made it all the way to the final, and I really needed to try it.
So, I did, and Maison Mayci has been a favourite of mine ever since. Great coffee, fresh pastries, several different kinds of freshly baked bread and some of the best little tartlets I’ve seen, what’s not to love? Maison Mayci’s ‘Tarte au Citron’ is sooo good I find it near impossible to walk past the charming little shop without being tempted in.
Kings Heath wasn’t the first place that came to mind when considering somewhere to get a decent hearty brunch, but with the modern and stylish Bloom, that has changed. We finally got around to trying Bloom on a cold Saturday in December, and the hot aromatic coffee and warming comfort food soon took our mind off the weather outside.
Duck Hash
The menu has a great little selection of dishes which changes regularly, ranging from the traditional fry up to the less conventional eggnog porridge. So much so that choosing what to eat became a very difficult decision, and after all the studying I eventually ordered two dishes. Crispy but succulent duck, on a bed of creamy smooth sweet potato mash topped with crispy onions and a fried egg with a yolk just waiting to erupt and perfectly finished off with a dense fragrant broth that I enjoy so much I nearly take the pattern off the plate trying to scrape up every drop of it.
Eggnog Porridge
I could quite easily have settled our tab and left a very happy fatty, but there was no way I could pass up the chance of trying eggnog porridge. Probably more a dessert than brunch, its impossible not to smile when presented with this creamy porridge with a hazelnut puree, prunes and mini gingerbread men that instantly drew jealous glances from the other diners.
Pour Over Coffee
Bloom is well
known for its excellent coffee and after a few flat whites I can vouch for that.
Carl who was with me opted for a coffee I’d not seen before, ‘pour over coffee’
a drink that took coffee to a whole new scientific level. It made for a lighter
more delicate drink but just as delicious.
Good Food X Good Coffee is the proud headline on their website, this is way too modest. Bloom is one of the first places that comes to mind when thinking of the best places to eat in Kings Heath.
Another one of the best places to eat in kings heath
There are other places on my list to visit in Kings Heath that I haven’t got to yet. Byzantium serves Mediterranean style tapas and comes very highly recommended by some of my foodie friends. Also recommended is bar & bistro Fletchers. With home cooked food and a great selection of drinks and cocktails in a relaxed environment, Fletchers is somewhere I will be trying very soon. Fletchers is the sister venue to one of Kings Heaths favourite places Kitchen Garden Café. Kitchen Garden is a cracking little cafe serving great home cooked food, and regularly hosting pop up events and live music. They also have an amazing deli so you can take their excellent food away with you.
Fresh on the Kings Heath foodie scene, and instant favourite of mine. is the incredible The Early Bird Bakery. Created by pastry chef Tim and two business partners, The Early Bird serves delicious cakes, pastries and savouries baked in house daily, using the finest ingredients sourced locally where possible.
Another great place to get coffee in an area where we are now spoilt for choice, for great coffee. I enjoyed a cracking flat white. I strongly recommend the apple and custard brioche muffin and the lemon and lime meringue with the perfectly balanced citrus, that covers a short and delicate pastry base topped with a cloud like meringue.
Another little favourite of mine is The Rainbow Cantonese restaurant at the bottom of Kings Heath. No airs and graces just tasty Chinese food in a relaxed, friendly restaurant, just a good little neighbourhood place worth a visit if you’re in the area.
The food scene isn’t the only thing that’s changing in Kings Heath, with a couple of new openings adding to the legendary Hare & Hounds. There’s never been a better time to go drinking in Kings Heath.
One of those recent openings being The Juke, a cosy little bar on York Road offering a fantastic selection of real ales, lots of them from the expanding number of Birmingham breweries. They also have a classic style juke box, and often host food pop ups like the great folks from Indian grill Zindiya and Ramen hero’s Koba-Ko.
Another
recent addition to the independent bars in Kings Heath is Hop & Scotch
situated just off the high street, serving great real ale and craft beers from
local and national breweries. With a bottle shop promised for early this year.
If you’re
not keen on beer, and wine is more your thing, then Grace + James is for you. The
bar has an ever-changing wine list that focuses on natural and organic wine and
a small deli menu of olives, cheese and breads to accompany the wine.
Grace+James is another fantastic addition to Kings Heath.
There’s far more food and drink related things to do and explore in Kings Heath, more than I can list here. We have done a podcast episode to accompany this, about everything we like about Kings Heath which you can listen to by clicking the play button at the top. Hopefully we’ve done enough to entice you all to visit Kings Heath and its amazing places to eat and drink, and maybe you will be more successful then I, in deciding the best place to eat in Kings Heath.
I’m not sure where this steamed Bao revolution in the UK has come from, it feels like since discovering ‘Dim Sum Su’ and her amazing bao at Digbeth Dining Club a year or so ago, bao are now popping up everywhere. My Instagram feed is full of them, which If you love them as much as I do is no bad thing.
Lately most
of the pictures clogging up my timeline and making me drool are from the recently
opened ‘Tiger Bites Pig’ on Stephenson street. Now I may not know where this new-found
bao popularity has come from, but there are two things I do know. I know that
the name of the restaurant originates from Taiwan where in some parts, the
popular steamed buns were known as hó˙-kā-ti (Tiger Bites Pig) This was because
of the mouth like shape of the bun and its filling which was usually pork
belly.
The other thing I knew, was that I just had to try this new addition to the independent food scene in Brum. So, one Thursday lunch time that’s what I did, and I was not disappointed. The petit restaurants interior is minimalistic but that really doesn’t matter, as it is the amazing food that does all the talking.
The menu has
five different bao and some rice bowls and an excellent selection of interesting
drinks of both the soft and alcohol variety. In the interest of been able to
write a decent review and being a greedy so & so, I ordered four bao, and a
bottle of the very refreshing peach and green tea firefly natural drink.
The smell of the food being prepared in the open plan kitchen invades the restaurant making my belly growl and making me salivate in anticipation of what’s to come.
Braised short rib with chili, black vinegar, shitake mushrooms and cured egg yolk inside a cloud like steamed bun which was light, delicate and everything a good bao should be is the pick of the four. Although the other three were so good, it was near impossible to choose a favourite.
Tender and succulent slow cooked red pork belly with the most amazing texture is accompanied by slightly sweet pickled mustard greens topped with peanuts which provide a delicious crunch.
Perfectly cooked juicy slices of double cooked duck with water spinach and some fantastically fragrant XO sauce which took the bao to a whole new level, the same way that the heavenly crispy sesame chicken skin that topped the white chicken, spring onion and ginger dressed in Sichuan chili oil bao did. That crispy chicken skin will haunt my hungriest memories for ever, it was incredible.
Tiger Bites Pig is a fantastic addition to the ever-growing list of amazing new openings in the city centre, and even though I’m counting down till my next visit here, I am quite glad I don’t work in the city centre as I would be here every day leaving my wallet light and my waistline bao like, it really is that good.
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