Birmingham Mail - Restaurant Spy

Bubbles

2009-06-22T09:36:29Z

Remember that Loadsamoney character's description of champagne as the best lager money can buy?

I think even Harry Enfield's immortal 1980s creation would have been forced to admit that it's a touch above even the best lager had he been at the Hyatt hotel in Broad Street on Thursday night.

The occasion was the annual dinner of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, a group that promotes the drinking and reputation of bubbly. I was there as a guest of Broad Street's manager Mike Olley, who is almost an effervescent as the drinks we supped.

We drank five different sorts and it was fascinating to listen to experts from the champagne houses explain the subtle differences.

My Favourite was a Tattinger, Compte de Champagne, Blanc de Blancs 1998 which was fabulously understated yet complex.

Oh that I could afford to drink wines of such quality all the time...

Telly chef

2009-06-16T14:35:48Z

Check out Brummie chef Glynn Purnell cooking his curried monkfish dish at the banquet for home-coming service personnel on Great British Menu on the Beeb tonight.

He really is an inventive guy. I wonder what treats he's planning when he participates in the Taste of Birmingham festival at Cannon Hill Park next month?

Ho ho....sob

2009-06-16T11:12:49Z

We've not yet choked on our strawberries and cream at the sight of the ghastly Andy Murray flopping at Wimbledon, but already it's time - apparently - to begin planning for Christmas.

I opened a silver envelope today and out popped an invitation from one of the major supermarkets to sample their Yuletide foods and drinks which the message: "Only 140 days to go!"

Yep...and until that number dwindles to 14, I don't want to think about it!

Wine time

2009-06-12T09:25:16Z

Whisper, please, for today my head is throbbing.

The reason: last night I and the Birmingham Mail's drinks writer Laurence McCoy went to the Connolly's wine tasting in the lovely RBSA gallery in St Paul's Square.

Something like 80 different wines from around the world were available for tasting (and buying) and I reckon we must have sampled at least a couple of dozen.

Thankfully, we did the sensible thing and spat out much of what we tried. But some was simply too good to end up in the spittoon. Plus I'm pretty sure the body absorbs some alcohol in the mouth before it's expelled.

I was particularly taken by a delicately sweet auslese reisling from Germany and a strapping red from Italy.

It was fascinating to chat to the wine makers and to compare wines made from the same grapes in different areas.

Laurence's account of the wines we tried will be in the Food + Drink section of the Mail next Thursday.

Most are available from Connolly's shop beneath the railway arches in Livery Street (the bit just beyond the Queensway).

Cheap thrills

2009-06-08T14:09:02Z

Pork cheeks are one of those cuts of meat that were well known to our frugal forebears but which are not much eaten these days.

What a shame because they are cheap, filling and - when properly cooked - tender and full of flavour.

I cooked a couple yesterday and was delighted with the results, though they did need a sharp apple sauce to cut through their richness.

I roasted them on a very low heat for six hours then placed them under a hot grill to crisp up the crackling.

The meat fell apart, the crackling tasted like the best pork scratchings you've ever eaten and the fat beneath melted.

Pork cheeks mightn't be a meat that would be recommended by heart specialists. But, boy, does it taste good.

If you can find them, give them a try.

Unimpressed

2009-06-02T14:31:54Z

Since visiting the place for the first time just over two years ago, I've loudly sung the praises of Jacky's Kitchen, an unfussy place serving north Chinese food just off Hurst Street n the city centre.

Until now. A recent visit with my teenage son left me underwhelmed.

The food, I thought, was unimpressive and the prices higher than I remember. There'll be a review in Thursday's Food + Drink section of the Mail.

Veal meat again

2009-06-01T10:53:05Z

We eat chickens that are a few weeks old. We eat lambs when they are still furry bundles of cuteness

Yet many of us shrink away from eating veal, appalled by the very idea.

Why these double standards - especially when veal can be such a wonderful meat?

I oppose the cruel way veal calves are treated in some countries and would never buy such a product.

But I have my meat delivered by an organic farmer who rears his animals with care and respect.

Occasionally, he slaughters a calf and, when that happens, I'm only too willing to buy.

Yesterday I cooked Dexter veal steaks with a lemon, butter sauce, new potatoes and a courgette, chilli, basil, lemon and olive oil salad and it was magnificent.

And you know what: I didn't regret a tender, sweet mouthful.

Fishing for votes

2009-05-27T13:47:36Z

Well done Glynn Purnell for topping the judges' vote with his fish course in last night's installment of Great British Menu.

The spiced monkfish, red lentil and coconut dish looked fantastic and, from the reactions of the judges, seemed to taste good, too.

It now has to go to a public vote and the result won't be known until Friday. But I'd be stunned if the dish didn't make it to the banquet for homecoming service personnel this summer.

Like all Bluenoses, Glynn is incredibly talented....

Vote now

2009-05-26T07:23:42Z

That excellent BBC2 series Great British Menu has reached its closing stages, with the eight finalists lining up to present the dishes they hope will give them the chance to cook for returning British service personnel at a swanky banquet this summer.

Starters were presented last night and Glynn Purnell's corned beef, beetroot and brown sauce combo didn't go down at all well with the judges - coming second last.

Fingers crossed his fish, main course and dessert do better over the next three nights.

But don't forget that there's a public vote, too. So get behind Glynn, who went all the way last year. Get voting.

It's just wrong

2009-05-20T09:13:46Z

There are some things that are just plain wrong. Like eating crisps on the bus at 7am.

The wrongness of such an act is compounded when the crisps are cheese and onion flavour.

And just imagine how wrong it is to immediately afterwards open a bag of salt and vinegar crisps to scoff.

Such was the behaviour of a man sitting directly behind me as I travelled to work today.

In the space of a 15 minute journey, he had eaten two bags of crisps and filled the air of the bus with a greasy, foul smell. I'd also had to endure the sound of him munching away.

That he was overweight came as no surprise.

Surely he could have eaten breakfast at home - substituting his fatty, salty snack with fruit or cereals or an egg.

Crisps have their place: in the pub with a pint....not on a crowded bus first thing in the morning.

Wrong number

2009-05-15T13:32:06Z

As the only bloke this side of 1957 who doesn't use a mobile phone, perhaps I'm biased.

But I hate the intrusive things - especially in restaurants.

I visited the brasserie at Malmaison last night and was horrified at the number of people who sat using the things, some of them to the exclusion of their dining partners. Such behaviour is appallingly rude.

I think there should be an absolute ban on mobiles in restaurants.

If people want to make phone calls and eat at the same time, let them visit their nearest Subway branch.

The mysterious case of the missing mango

2009-05-11T10:54:13Z

Is there some sort of shortage of exotic fruit?

I'm sure that at this time last year the stalls at the open market at the Bull Ring were groaning under the weight of honey mangoes, passion fruit and figs, all at an incredibly low price.

This year, there are a few under-ripe mango and no figs or passion fruit that I can see.

Anyone know the reason?

Tasty business

2009-05-09T08:55:42Z

In these credit-crunched times,businesses will be looking (with rather more rigour than MPs) at how they spend money.

Which posed a dilemma the organisers of Taste of Birmingham for corporate hospitality has been a major source of revenue for the event and has helped bolster attendances.

Fear not, businesses.You won't have to miss out on the first night fun at the festival at Cannon Hill Park on July 9.

Log on to taste.visitbirmingham.com/tasteofbusiness to find out how you can get free tickets for the first night's Taste of Business, being billed as the city's biggest business networking event.

On Thursday night I was at Brindleyplace's swish and impressive new Eleven building when the initiative was officially launched and I reckon it will be a winner.

And a bit of fun, too, since there'll be an open mic so this city's movers and shakers can show off their musical talents.

I doubt, though, any will be as good as Debbie Hodgson, a press officer at the NEC who is also carving out a growing reputation as a singer.

She sang at the launch event on Thursday and has one of the sweetest voices I've heard for a while....think (showing my age here) Joan Baez meets Emmylou Harris meets Joni Mitchell.

It's always been said that spin doctors should never be in the headlines. But I'd make an exception for Debbie. With a voice like that, who wouldn't?

The fat of the land

2009-05-04T15:33:01Z

Eating out is a treat. So imagine the pleasure of eating out at two of Birmingham's finest restaurants on the same day.

First came a cookery school followed by a four-course lunch at Simpson's. Then that night I sampled numerous new dishes at Lasan based on the management's recent tour of India.

Strangely enough, next day I wasn't very hungry at all.

But suddenly, the appeal of trousers with elasticated waistbands seems all too apparent...

Free the Kings Heath One!

2009-04-28T08:39:20Z

The imprisonment of journalists is a blight on any nation that values freedom of expression. And it is something I never thought I would encounter here in the good old democratic UK.

Especially not the imprisonment of a hack simply going about his unthreatening business as a restaurant reviewer.

Yet on Friday night, at Maison Mayci in Kings Heath, I found myself incarcerated....in the khazi.

No sinister plot to prevent me passing judgment on my meal (very pleasant, by the way....). Simply a case of a dodgy lock in the toilet door.

A few hammer blows to the door brought help and I was released....to the amusement of fellow diners, especially my wife.

My review of Maison Mayci appears in Thursday's Birmingham Mail, by the way.