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.
Talking All Things Chocolate In The Heart Of Birmingham, Not A Drum Playing Gorilla In Sight
To listen to this episode of Breaking Bread Podcast with Maninder from The Chocolate Quarter, 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
This episode we are breaking bread with Maninder, head chocolatier from the fantastic The Chocolate Quarter in The Jewellery Quarter. A haven for chocolate lovers, with their hand crafted chocolates and their very popular bean to bar chocolate experiences
The Chocolate Quarter
We had a great conversation. It was good to hear all about this brilliant family run business, and all the amazing things they do. Their handmade chocolates include flavours such as, cappuccino and peach Bellini. They even use more original flavours like bacon with whiskey, for special one offs like farther’s day. They’re current line up includes a selection of hand made Easter eggs, with their famous popping candy creation making a return.
Breaking Bread Podcast Chocolate
Chocolate Experiences
As well as making and selling some fabulous chocolates, The Chocolate Quarter host a variety of experiences. Their Bean to Bar experience gets lucky participants to actually make their own chocolate, straight from cacao nibs, before getting to feast on lots of yummy chocolate. There is a Bean to Bar experience for the kids to get involved too.
The Chocolate Quarter
Chocolate In School
A recent change to school curriculum, means that kids need to learn all about the Biology, Economics, Cultivation, Ethics, and Science behind cacao and the chocolate making process. The Chocolate Quarter have been approached by schools to visit and provide interactive, educational and fun sessions all about chocolate. To do this The Chocolate Quarter have started a Go Fund Me page to help purchase the equipment they need to get started. You can donate to that page here https://uk.gofundme.com/help-us-educate-children-about-chocolate
Designing Restaurants, Creating Brands & Celebrating Space With Mel From Spencer Swinden Design
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The Wonderful Mel
HELLO FOODIES,
This episode of the Breaking bread podcast, we are breaking bread with the wonderful Mel from Spencer Swinden Design. Spencer Swinden are an interior design company based in Birmingham who have worked on some of our favourite bars and restaurants including Purecraft Bar, Gas St Social, The Village Moseley, The Plough Harbourne and Argentinian steak house Fiesta Del Asado.
Horse Shoe Shaped Bar Fiesta Del Asado
We started Breaking Bread podcast to bring conversations with people from all over the hospitality industry. So we are very excited to bring you this great chat with Mel.
Purecraft Bar & Kitchen
“This is more than interior design. This is business, psychology, art, science and a lot of fun too”– Spencer Swinden Website
We have a very informative chat in which we discuss the importance of design when it comes to creating a brand. Mel through her years of experience working in the industry, has a valuable knowledge of how everything from customer service, food quality and restaurant design all comes together to create the experience for the customer. customer experience, ultimately determines how successful the business will be.
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, 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.
Logo designed by
cardiff based artist now accepting commissions instagram.com/arlunydd/
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.
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/
HELLO FOODIES, This is one of the nicest chats i’ve had since starting this podcast. Julia, Beatrice and their team welcome all who visit their restaurant Ju Ju’s Cafe as long lost relatives. That’s exactly how i felt after finishing this podcast there.
The famous unicorn Julia bought Beatrice
It was so good to hear their story, their love and passion for what they do really shines through. A real and genuine family run restaurant serving fresh home cooked comfort food in the heart of Birmingham, Ju Ju’s is somewhere you have to visit.
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.
Breaking Bread Podcast, the podcast all about food
