With it still quiet, I ask the chef about the black magic we’ve just experienced. It turns out the tomato is dressed in its own tomato water vinaigrette, with smoked taramasalata seeping into bread toasted on the griddle… READ MORE
All tagged Recommended
Orelle
My dressed crab is everything I want from a plate of food; there’s lightly sweet buttermilk with citrussy-anise attitude from a dill coulis swirl, freshness and crunch in abundance from rainbow radish and tart, green apple, but the sweet, delicate flavour of the crab still takes centre stage… READ MORE
Cork and Cage
The hot, meaty spread of ‘nduja on ‘grilled bread’, more like crunchy, oil soaked, fried stale bread is throwing new light on the tomato and mild cheese combo. It’s the dream stage for creamy slabs of mozzarella and allows fresh, sweet datterini tomatoes and pickled chillies to combine for tongue tingling pleasure... READ MORE
Smoke at Hampton Manor
My two thick slices of tender strip loin are cooked pink with a crunchy, gnarly Yorkshire pudding, with plentiful bone marrow and Madeira sauce. As Sunday roasts go it’s flawless and reduces my hangover to just pleasant memories of last night’s shenanigans… READ MORE
Caneat
It’s a thick and rich, meat-laden stew, with different textures from the softness of pork belly, seared crusts and the sheer comfort of braised meats all making themselves known. A lightly truffled mash is an immaculate companion, with the sweetness of fried onions and peppery tingle of spring onion oil … READ MORE
Le Petit Bois
My perfectly slow cooked confit duck leg is meltingly tender under paper-thin crispy skin. It sits on an indulgently creamy white bean cassoulet brought into line by a sassy herb-rich sauce verte. Confit duck must be one of the high points of French cuisine and this is heavenly high… READ MORE
The Old Crown
The plate glows with deliciously pink, thick slab of sirloin; a perfectly crisp and gnarly Yorkshire; glazed, caramelised and roasted carrots; crunchy roast potatoes; and buttered greens with leeks. The cauliflower retains bite, in a sparse but cheesy sauce with a crust that cranks up the cheesiness to the required level… READ MORE
Chakana
The sea bream ceviche is cured to perfection so it melts in the mouth and again there is their signature mix of flavours and textures in abundance; from fried strips of sweet potato, tempered red onion, spicy, sourness from tiger’s milk and the taste of ‘unsugared Sugar Puffs’ and crunch from canchita (toasted corn nuts)… READ MORE
Stu Deeley at Home
It’s a sublime combination of flavours intensified by the barbecued charring and the nutty, earthiness of the potatoes; perfect on the bite asparagus dressed in chive oil; and then that gorgeous Cheddar custard… like an intense hit of liquified extra vintage Dairylea… READ MORE
Bonehead
My Friday the 13th special is a piece of art, covered in golden brown batter rippled like lava flows. Size wise it wouldn’t look out of place on the Sunday lunch table. The nose gushing and eyeball bursting 'hate crime' sauce must be completely off the Scoville Scale, but it’s a masochistic delight… READ MORE
Pulperia
There is so much joy on this plate. I’ve got both sauces adding extra layers of flavour, mixing in with lightly smoky steak juices, the sweet hits of black garlic and caramelised onion purees, and my rib eye tastes like it’s a beautifully intensified reduction of a bigger steak … READ MORE
Carters of Moseley
The next course is easily the most photogenic plate so far; a green flecked riot of orangey-pinkness with roe, scattered like pearls off a broken necklace and a piece of trout cooked sous vide. It’s coated in a miso sauce with fresh dill and chervil providing a taste spotlight for the trout’s starring role… READ MORE
caneat /// earlydoors
The pie arrives looking like a golden crown, alongside two plates of mash and the buttered hispi; almost translucent lime-green, fully leaved sweetheart cabbage. It looks like a plate of food from the school canteen but that comparison stops exactly there… READ MORE
Otto Wood Fired Pizza
These are magical times to be a pizza lover in Birmingham and we need it put in writing that it all started on 14th October 2016, when Otto opened with their wood-fired pizzas. For me—a fully confirmed wood-fired believer—this is comparable to the birth of Jesus … READ MORE
Zindiya Streatery & Bar
At its base sits a vegetable samosa; initially crisp, the yoghurty mix with its spicy chick peas and chutneys eventually entice the pastry into that optimum stage of being both simultaneously crispy and soggy. But you can’t linger on such mouthfuls of unbridled joy… READ MORE
Rudy's Neapolitan Pizza
I have to admit to a wave of food envy. The Calabrese with its spots of soft and spicy n’duja looks like God’s gift to hangovers, but it’s the Ancozzese (chilli flakes, smoked mozzarella, Tuscan sausage, friarielli and extra virgin olive oil) that taunts me the loudest about my poor decision-making... READ MORE
Legna
When the starters arrive, I see the others have mostly gone for antipasti and it only takes one mouthful to realise what a tragic mistake they’ve made. The ragù has cucina povera in abundance; it’s intensely meaty, beautifully flavoursome and succulent in a sauce richer than the deepest baritone… READ MORE
Bloom
It’s a menu that changes according to seasonality and today, there’s a nod to the festive season with egg nog porridge, mulled figs, chestnut purée, Christmas cake crumbs and gingerbread; and panettone butter pudding, cranberry and clementine compote, mascarpone and candied kumquats… READ MORE
The High Field
The waitress returns with a large serving tray of extra Yorkshires and roasties; these are absolutely spot on, with a thick golden crunch, scraped off the bottom of the roasting dish. The fresh batch of Yorkshires is as textbook as the first… READ MORE