fine dining restaurant im birmingham.
Discussion
Hi
I'm taking the missus to Birmingham this Saturday to look for wedding rings in the jewelry quarter. we wanted to go to a michelin star restuarant for lunch. i was looking at Purnells Turners and Simpsons. Simpsons is fully booked and the other two dont seem to do lunch.
Can anyone recommend any other fine dining restaurants worth looking at (preferably near the jewelry quarter) that do a good set lunch looking at about £25- £30 per head. Interested in innovative and interesting food i.e. not something that i could nock up at home.
Cheers
Pete
I'm taking the missus to Birmingham this Saturday to look for wedding rings in the jewelry quarter. we wanted to go to a michelin star restuarant for lunch. i was looking at Purnells Turners and Simpsons. Simpsons is fully booked and the other two dont seem to do lunch.
Can anyone recommend any other fine dining restaurants worth looking at (preferably near the jewelry quarter) that do a good set lunch looking at about £25- £30 per head. Interested in innovative and interesting food i.e. not something that i could nock up at home.
Cheers
Pete
Haha no way i would be considered a "high end walk in". I'm vaguely presentable at best and not willing to splurge megabucks on wines etc.
I have found another restaurant that does lunch and is supposed to be pretty good: Loves http://www.loves-restaurant.co.uk/ I will probably make the booking tomorrow. does anyone have any experience of this place?
I have found another restaurant that does lunch and is supposed to be pretty good: Loves http://www.loves-restaurant.co.uk/ I will probably make the booking tomorrow. does anyone have any experience of this place?
Pete Franklin said:
Regarding Edmunds they also dont do sat lunch. got the feeling that people dont eat in birmingham on saturdays?
Just booked Loves for lunch so i'll report back once the deed is done
Let us know how you get on (just found this thread), as we've heard a lot of good things about them.Just booked Loves for lunch so i'll report back once the deed is done
Right, I just thought i'd give a quick review about this place (Loves)
We went for lunch- managed to get from Bristol to Birmingham via Iron Acton including a car breakdown, parking etc and walked in the door (slightly damp looking) for a 1pm sitting at 1:05 - not too bad considering, but the reception we got was a little cold.
Service was attentive but very very slow, which i think was due to holdups in the kitchen which was funny as the restaurant wasnt exactly full. just to give you an idea we went for the Prix fixe menu which you would have thought would be well prepped and I had 2 hrs on the car which i thought would be ample for a 3 course lunch? by the 2hr mark we only managed 2 courses and a quick espresso (with petit fours) which was a bit of a dissapointment.
anyway the food:
amuse buche: cucumber soup with a sharp flavoured jelly (maybe lime)- technically very good, great flavours and texture and very well balanced- a good start
Home made breads: very nice
starters: i'm struggling to remember exactly what was on my plate it was several elements of rabbit including terine and a liver pate: Loads of other elements, all very technical and well achieved, it all went together OK. was it a wow dish? no not really as i cant really rememeber what was in it. all i can remember is that the rabbit definatley tasted of rabbit and that the terrene was served on what i assume was a ribbon made from carrot and gelatine although i cant be sure because it didnt taste of a huge amount.
my partner had the coddled egg with asparagus volute and wild mushrooms. this was pretty tasty, again not really a wow dish but very technical. the egg was obviously slow cooked the volute clearly had a lot of work gone in to it.
Mains:
by the time the mains arrived we were both getting a little irritable as we had been there for an hour and a half by this point and we had a lot of things to get done later in the day- maybe this clouds my judgement a little, anyway:
my dish was trout fillet with corn beef hash? baby turnips broad beans and a green sauce which i'm yet to identify. it was OK- the fish was cooked again technically well- however it had been cooked in a bain marrie with the skin on. The texture was melting but i personally think fish skin should be served crisp or not at all, i'm willing to let that one slip. The hash as far as i could tell was just potato, couldnt identify anything else in it? all other elements were fine- it was a very earthy dish
my partner had chicken which was served 3 ways- roast breast ,confit thigh and boned and braised winglet all cooked very well again served with some veg and a red wine jus- the waitress however poured the sauce for my dish on my partners dish. she then realised her error but just said you get two sauces- she didnt make any attempt to correct it. either way we didnt have time to send it back. the dish was ok again not really much to write home about.
overall then: worth a try and pretty cheap for the amount of effort that has clearly gone into the cooking, however the service and the wait were a bit off. Also (and this goes against everything that i normally like about thes kinds of places) i think that there was just a bit too much going on on the plates. normally that makes me very happy but on this occasion i dont think it really added much.
Its nice enough but certainly a far way off michelin star
We went for lunch- managed to get from Bristol to Birmingham via Iron Acton including a car breakdown, parking etc and walked in the door (slightly damp looking) for a 1pm sitting at 1:05 - not too bad considering, but the reception we got was a little cold.
Service was attentive but very very slow, which i think was due to holdups in the kitchen which was funny as the restaurant wasnt exactly full. just to give you an idea we went for the Prix fixe menu which you would have thought would be well prepped and I had 2 hrs on the car which i thought would be ample for a 3 course lunch? by the 2hr mark we only managed 2 courses and a quick espresso (with petit fours) which was a bit of a dissapointment.
anyway the food:
amuse buche: cucumber soup with a sharp flavoured jelly (maybe lime)- technically very good, great flavours and texture and very well balanced- a good start
Home made breads: very nice
starters: i'm struggling to remember exactly what was on my plate it was several elements of rabbit including terine and a liver pate: Loads of other elements, all very technical and well achieved, it all went together OK. was it a wow dish? no not really as i cant really rememeber what was in it. all i can remember is that the rabbit definatley tasted of rabbit and that the terrene was served on what i assume was a ribbon made from carrot and gelatine although i cant be sure because it didnt taste of a huge amount.
my partner had the coddled egg with asparagus volute and wild mushrooms. this was pretty tasty, again not really a wow dish but very technical. the egg was obviously slow cooked the volute clearly had a lot of work gone in to it.
Mains:
by the time the mains arrived we were both getting a little irritable as we had been there for an hour and a half by this point and we had a lot of things to get done later in the day- maybe this clouds my judgement a little, anyway:
my dish was trout fillet with corn beef hash? baby turnips broad beans and a green sauce which i'm yet to identify. it was OK- the fish was cooked again technically well- however it had been cooked in a bain marrie with the skin on. The texture was melting but i personally think fish skin should be served crisp or not at all, i'm willing to let that one slip. The hash as far as i could tell was just potato, couldnt identify anything else in it? all other elements were fine- it was a very earthy dish
my partner had chicken which was served 3 ways- roast breast ,confit thigh and boned and braised winglet all cooked very well again served with some veg and a red wine jus- the waitress however poured the sauce for my dish on my partners dish. she then realised her error but just said you get two sauces- she didnt make any attempt to correct it. either way we didnt have time to send it back. the dish was ok again not really much to write home about.
overall then: worth a try and pretty cheap for the amount of effort that has clearly gone into the cooking, however the service and the wait were a bit off. Also (and this goes against everything that i normally like about thes kinds of places) i think that there was just a bit too much going on on the plates. normally that makes me very happy but on this occasion i dont think it really added much.
Its nice enough but certainly a far way off michelin star
Thanks Pete.
As an aside, we were in Cielo last night in BrindleyPlace (Italian sister to Edmunds, but no rosettes or stars). 5 people, 3 courses a-la carte, 2 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of water plus aperitifs and coffee = £250.
Food was very well cooked and well presented (modern style - minimalist accompaniments and simple/elegant arrangement, and just enough quantity). I wasn't 100% convinced that the mashed potato with mint I had with my monkfish worked, but that aside everyone seemed happy. Service was attentive.
Downsides were very plain white bread rolls (no choice), coffee served before dessert (pet hate of mine!), and the usual trick of charging for side-orders separately (£19 for monkfish, £14-25 for the other mains without sides), so despite being the 'cheaper' sister to Edmunds, I wouldn't say it was any better value-for-money. A posher alternative to Pasta di Piazza (which is by St. Paul's Square).
As an aside, we were in Cielo last night in BrindleyPlace (Italian sister to Edmunds, but no rosettes or stars). 5 people, 3 courses a-la carte, 2 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of water plus aperitifs and coffee = £250.
Food was very well cooked and well presented (modern style - minimalist accompaniments and simple/elegant arrangement, and just enough quantity). I wasn't 100% convinced that the mashed potato with mint I had with my monkfish worked, but that aside everyone seemed happy. Service was attentive.
Downsides were very plain white bread rolls (no choice), coffee served before dessert (pet hate of mine!), and the usual trick of charging for side-orders separately (£19 for monkfish, £14-25 for the other mains without sides), so despite being the 'cheaper' sister to Edmunds, I wouldn't say it was any better value-for-money. A posher alternative to Pasta di Piazza (which is by St. Paul's Square).
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