Nostalgia, it’s a strange thing. I’m in one of the most famous Michelin starred establishments in Birmingham. Yet the third course of our nine-course tasting menu. A dish of slow cooked mouth-watering pork belly with turnips, pickled onions and a welcome crunch coming in the way of the smoked potato crisps, has transported me back twenty(ish) years.
I’m coming home from school on a bitterly cold day to a warm dining table where I find a gigantic bowl of stew, the kind that warms deep to your core. The kind that has been cooking so long the meat softly falls apart, struggling to keep it together under the weight of the light gravy that covers it. This was slow cooking before slow cooking became a big thing.
Now I’m not comparing my mom’s cooking, to the cooking of Purnells talented brigade of chefs. I’m nostalgic not delirious. Not that my mom was a bad cook by any stretch of the imagination, just that her unfussy, simple and wholesome food which I loved and miss dearly, was a million miles apart from the refined, delicate dishes I’m sampling today.
As it goes, a sense of fun and nostalgia seem to be the two key ingredients to the magic of this great restaurant. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a restaurant created by Glyn Purnell. A chef who talks so fondly about his early years experimenting with food he cooked for his younger siblings. His fun and mischievous personality won him fans nationwide when he appeared on BBC’s Great British Menu. This was the first time that I had seen a chef on TV who made me really take notice of what top level cooking could look like, I wanted to try his food instantly.
The fun begins with the gifts from the kitchen, smoked eel filled with what I believed to be a squid ink wafer cone topped with a delicate mousse giving it the appearance of a mini ice cream cone.
The other gifts were some super fresh mackerel on a crisp crouton with an olive tapenade that escalated the whole thing to another level.
The final treat was a delightful potato bon bon that was cleverly made to resemble a lump of coal, and if all lumps of coal tasted this incredible, I’d be praying to be on the big man’s naughty list this year.
Warm hearty home-made bread arrived with our first course, a dish I have desired since I first got Glyn’s book. Cheese and Pineapple – “Emotions of Soixante-Dix” A fun dish of salt baked pineapple covered in a warming blanket of parmesan mousse topped with frozen pineapple with two mini bread sticks to act as the tooth pick from the old buffet favourite.
‘Mushrooms on Toast’ was the title of our next course, a dish that for me was the highlight of the night. Everything on this dish the crisp toast, foie gras, runny quail egg, sweet pickled mushrooms and a deep broth all cooked perfectly and combining in harmony to create a real autumn treat.
There was a change to our menu for the next course, instead of the halibut we would be having his curried monkfish dish that was from the Great British Menu. This was a good swap. Subtly spiced meaty monkfish, topped with fermented carrot, served with some beautifully spiced fragrant curry lentils, finished perfectly with some coriander emulsion. This is a very good and clever dish that manages to take what Birmingham is famous for, curry, but turns it into something sophisticated and very worthy of a Michelin star restaurant.
‘Nice to MEAT you’ the name of our main course, a course which follows the same high standards set by the previous courses. A visually beautiful dish of roast Balmoral venison loin which is pink, and succulent absolutely cooked to perfection. The generous chunk of venison comes with a sweet butternut squash puree, some sour citrus flavours provided by blobs of orange and ponzu, and a piece of crispy nori, a Japanese seaweed which brings a brilliant interesting texture to this fantastic dish.
The first of our desserts ‘Shy babies get no sweets’ is a zingy refreshing pallet cleansing genius of a dish that matches deliciously balanced lemon balm with liquorice. Not a combination I’ve had before but one I will be having again, they go together amazingly, and I absolutely loved it.
‘Burnt English Egg Custard Surprise 10/10/10 GBM 2008’ The most iconic and famous dish on the menu, and one that I have wanted to try ever since I first seen it on the Great British Menu TV programme. A heavenly dish that has a real sense of fun, it did not disappoint. A creamy, smooth, silky custard with a vanilla gel, and burnt sugar topping inside a hollowed hens egg shell. As a bonus this was served with a caramel baked apple, topped with what tasted like a stroopwafle and a quenelle of vanilla ice cream which put together actually tasted like a great apple straddle.
The final curtain came in the form of ‘Mint Choccy Chip’. A rich chocolate and mint mousse, with a chocolate crumb topping. The dish presents a giant helping of theatrics, provided by dry ice being poured over dried mint engulfing the whole table in a menthol fog. It’s by far the best after dinner chocolate I’ve ever had.
It’s easy to take the level of service provided at restaurants such as Purnells for granted. It’s all too easy to just dismiss it with a comment such as “it’s what you would expect”, however it really does make the difference to the whole experience. Its all well and good that the food is of the highest quality but it’s the warm friendly, attentive and knowledgeable front of house team that can really make an experience memorable, and on this occasion all the people who looked after us were excellent. Everybody, lead by restaurant manager Sonal had a smile on their face, made us feel welcome, introduced every course with passion and enthusiasm, kept our glasses permanently full, and advised us on which wine to order. All small simple tasks that were consistently done all night and contributed to this being a special experience and not just a normal dinner out.
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