More Food Glorious Food

Okay here's the deal there is so much food going on in Birmingham it deserves a second blog.  Last time I was talking about the high end restaurants and street food, but this time I want to talk about the speciality shops and cafes.

Cakes, Bread etc:

Peel and Stone - Based in the Jewellery Quarter but branching out in to Harborne later this year.  They bake real bread using time honoured methods and trusted techniques. And have a small range of rustic and indulgent sweet treats, from delicate financiers to seasonal fruit pies, and the most decadent chocolate brownies.

Maison Mayci, Kings Heath and Moseley - Opened in Kings Heath in 2005 and later a café in Moseley in 2010 after customer demand.  They make French patisserie and bakery products with a rustic lunch menu, which includes daily soup, quiche and pasta specials.

Miss Macaroon - Mail order Macaroon.  Wedding gift boxes, themed macaroons, gift boxes and just yummy indulgences that you wouldn't know had not come from Paris.

Chocolates:

Crafty Brummie Chocolates - They have only been going a couple of years but can be found at most craft and food fairs in the area.  Offering beautiful and innovative chocolate designs.

Henley Chocolates - That's Henley in Arden not the other one, home of Henley ice-cream as well as chocolates and the longest High Street in the country.  The chocolates come with wonderful unique flavours such as Salted Morello Cherry and they offer workshops to learn to make your own.

Meat:

Bowketts Butchers - A little butchers shop on the Wolverhampton Road head in to Oldbury, plenty of people would drive passed.  They have been going over 75 years they supply free range chickens from Hereford, Prime Beef from Shiremeadow to English Lamb and bacon smoked in Oak chips.

Lashfords & Son, Knowle - The original butchers shop responsible for the famous award winning Lashford sausages.

Becketts Farm - This is a great farmshop the size of your average supermarket but the quality is of course first rate.  They also have a restaurant which is locally famous for its breakfasts.

But that is one of the best things about Birmingham you are always only 1/2 hour drive away from wonderful countryside with pretty villages and farm shops a plenty, so I have only touched on a few there.

Back in the centre of the city one place that needs special mention is The Great Western Arcade http://www.greatwesternarcade.co.uk/stores as about half their shops are food and drink related- Loki's Wine, The Whiskey Shop, Anderson and Hill, Chouchoute, Yorks Espresso Bar, Treat Greek Deli, The Bread Collection and the Victorian Tearoom.  If you know London it's a bit like a mini version of the Piccadilly or Burlington Arcades (but with a Greggs in the middle?!?!)

Loki's wine is an amazing place a wine shop/wine bar.  You can buy taster cards to use in what are effectively wine vending machines :-O  every home should have one!  And they organise Wine Tasting classes, speciality events and corporate events.  I went to one of their introduction in wine tasting classes last year, it was all going so well, until they said "okay class over, finish up what's left in the bottles if you like."  Oh uh, hubby said I came staggering down the street swerving to avoid parked cars..... but enough about my embarrassing moments.

Chouchoute is an amazing chocolate shop, they actually sell those heart shaped boxes you would see in a Doris Day movie.  But the flavours are uber modern, chilli chocolates, seasalt, kiwi, marzipans, rose and violet creams and best of all they make the chocolates on site.  It is owned and run my a lovely French man called Pierre, so you can pretend you are in gay Paris right in the centre of Brum.

The Bread Collection is an off-shoot from their larger shop and cafe in the village of Knowle.  Again keep the French thing going and pick up you real baguette and croissants here.

And of course there are the regular markets, today was the monthly food market at the mac.  Sadly I got there too late for the samosa stall but I did get some amazing brownies and a piece of truffle cheese from Curds and Whey/

All this is making me hungry, better go and get a snack.  Speak soon, byeeee!!!

Food Glorious Food!!!

Brummies LOVE food, no really it's not just me, or at least I think it's not?!?!? That might seem a bit strange given that Birmingham does not have a dish which is synonymous with the city (except perhaps the Balti but that didn't come about until the 70s). No, Melton Mowbray has its pork pies, Bakewell its Pudding, London its Pie and Mash, Grasmere its Gingerbread and Cornwall its Pasty. But Birmingham, well closest thing we have is Faggots and Peas but even that it more Black Country than true Brummie.

So how then did Birmingham become the Foodie capital of the UK? Beats me! But it did, over the last 10-15 years it has slowly crept up on us. These days Birmingham has 5 Michelin Starred restaurants, which is more than any other city in the UK (other than London), of those 5 restaurants one was voted by Trip Advisor contributors the 4th best restaurant in the WORLD!! and Number 1 in the UK. Yes people, according to real eaters and not Giles Coren forget London for your gourmet treat head to Brum.

The restaurant in question is in fact Adams run by Adam Stokes, this restaurant used to be a "pop-up" on Bennetts Hill, but moved round the corner to permanent and larger premises on Waterloo Street in January this year.

The other Michelin Stars belong to:
Purnells - obviously as he mentions it enough on the TV, and where you may even get to meet the yummy Brummie himself, I did :-)
Turners - in Harborne for such a great restaurant strangely located in the 1960s sections of the High Street a couple of doors down from Iceland.
Simpsons - which opened in Kenilworth in 1993 but moved to Birmingham in 2004 and received their star just one year later.
and the newest recruit Carters in Moseley, specialising in fresh local produce.

There are other chefs worthy of mention who are surely on the Michelin guide list for consideration. Such as Ahktar Islam our other celebrity chef (he won a course in Great British Menu twice) who owns and runs Indian fine dinning restaurant Lasan, Indian Cafe Raja Monkey, Champagne and Lobster bar Nosh and Quaff and Argentinian restaurant Fiesta Del Asado. And then there is Andy Waters whose success with his tiny restaurant Waters on the Square at St Chads Square in Edgbaston resulted in his invitation to Headline at the recently opened Resort World Casino and Leisure Complex at the NEC with the self named Andy Waters restaurant.

Okay I know what you are thinking that's all well and good for Alan Sugar but what about us mere mortals who can't afford Michelin Star food every night? Well have no fear my friends we have everything from chains like Giraffe, Cafe Rouge and Nandos to Fried Chicken shops open until 3am Eek!!!  Although for the truly individual you will want to check out the burgeoning street food scene down in Digbeth.

Digbeth Dining Club I have mentioned before is a super cool set up in an old warehouse open every Friday night where a selection of fab vendors set up shops for the evening including bands and DJs.

Habaneros Burritos also pitch up at the Cathedral Square on a weekday lunch time if you fancy a mid-week treat.

And there are new venues opening up all the time our first late night dessert only restaurant opened last week Pirlo's.  Just opposite the Calthorpe Road office is the new Park Regis Hotel with their Japanese restaurant and Sky bar, which I have yet to check out.

But don't just take my word it come and feast yours eyes (and bellies) on what Birmingham has to offer.

What's going on in the city at the moment?

So what been going on in the city recently and more importantly what's coming up you could get involved in?

Well Monday night I went to the Midlands Art Centre (The mac) to see Eddie Izzard perform a segment from his Force Majeure tour.  It was 3 shows, in 3 hours, in 3 languages French, German and then English.  Sadly he wasn't in sexy boy mode (I love the goatee) but wearing that hideous pink beret that he seems to be permanently attached to at the moment.

On Saturday we went to see the new production of King Lear at The Rep with Don Warrington in the title role (a.k.a the posh bloke from Rising Damp).  Which was 3 1/2 hours but totally amazing.

To celebrate payday some of us went over to check out the new Park Regis Hotel on Five Ways Island.  We booked in for Afternoon Tea and it was splendid, but at £24 a head something of a treat.  Next we need to go to the Japanese restaurant Rofuto and sky bar at the top of the hotel.

Well that's what has been happening but loads of stuff coming up.  Tomorrow sees the start of the Birmingham Pride festival.  An amazing couple of days of partying, parades, cabaret, music and general loud raucous fun in the Gay Village.  This year HSBC is one of the official sponsors so I'm guessing they want their presence known ready for the opening of the new head office on Broad Street.

As it's the last Sunday in the month the Food Market will be on at The mac,

Curds and Whey - A huge range of delicious cheeses.

Staffordshire Scotch Eggs - Delicious, handmade scotch eggs using free range eggs and quality pork. 16 varieties including vegetarian and gluten free options.

Hibiscus Grove - Ethically produced authentic South East Asian food

Vegan Grindhouse - 100% Plant-Based Fresh Grinds & Fab Food. Think of a 1950s American Diner - but all vegan and mobile!

More Cocoa - Handmade cocoa / chocolate cakes, chocolates and real chocolate beverages Fair trade chocolate.

B14 Artisan Collective - Passionate about local food

Frank's Sauces - A wake up for your taste buds, Frank's original Scotch Bonnet Jelly.

Kuskus - Vegetarian handmade natural food inspired by the Middle East

Tilesford Cottage Larder - Rare breed pork fare.

Rachel's Cake Delights - Vegan and gluten free cakes and bakes

Hungry Penguin - Sweet and savoury pancakes

Beans and Leaves - Coffee beans & speciality loose leaf teas.

Happy Gut Hut - Fermented food packed with good bacteria for vitality and energy.

Vegetropolis- Organic fruit & veg.

Yvodne's Caribbean Treats - Cakes and treats inspired by sweet flavours of the Caribbean.

It's a Wrap - Fresh Tex Mex style food and homemade toppings.

But sadly I won't be there much as I love my food markets as I will be back at the  Crescent Theatre watching the Musical of Musicals.

Bank holiday Monday sees the return of the Bournville Food Festival, where a lot of the Digbeth Dining Club regulars will emerge into the daylight.  It's held at the Rowheath Pavillon in the beautiful village of Bournville, home of the Chocolate Factory.

Wolverhampton born songstress Beverley Knight is performing at the Symphony Hall On Thursday 2nd June. Tickets are sold out but there may be cancellations on the night. And check out her star on the walk of fame across the street by the Hyatt.

And for anyone who grew up in the 80s Adam Ant will be there on 7th June.

18 June - City of Colours Street Art Festival arrives, it is one of the UK's largest celebrations of graffiti, street art and urban culture. Bringing together communities from across the city and wider, transforming the area around Digbeth into one of the world's largest outdoor art galleries, and what's more it's FREE!

Phew!  I'm exhausted just thinking about all this I'm off to lie down in a darkened room to get my energy going for the bank holiday weekend.

You live in Birmingham? Oh well never mind Part 2

So last time we tackled the appearance of Birmingham, but since then I found an interesting Youtube video called Birmingham Reputation versus Reality and discovered a couple of interesting things.  Firstly when asking visitors to the city what their expectations were those people who said negative things were entirely from the South of England and generally from the London area, those people who said they hadn't really got any preconceived ideas of what the city was like were entirely from the North.

Secondly the negative comments were, as previously mentioned, grey, dirty, comments about the accent and amazingly smokey.  What????  hang on a minute there did I just say smokey?  Yup, so when I have previously said someone from London came to Birmingham in the 1970s said it was a tip don't bother going there and no one has been back since I was wrong, clearly that should be the 1870s.  I mean seriously do Londoners really think we have coal fires and coal powered factories here, it is literally so ridiculous I can't even begin say how silly that it.  I also assume these people think in Yorkshire everyone has flat caps and whippets, in Lancashire everyone beats each other with Black puddings and in Scotland people say Ock eye the noo.   :-/

I sometimes wonder if I am banging my head against a brick wall on this whole thing, but hey I'll plough on.

Moving on from appearance how about the nothing of historical or cultural significant has ever some out of Birmingham?  Well today I attended a Birmingham Museum/Birmingham Cathedral sponsored talk on the history of the Lunar Society in Birmingham.  Never heard of the Lunar Society???  Oh dear, oh dear. One of the most important intellectual gatherings in the UK it was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813. The name arose because the society would meet during the full moon, as the extra light made the journey home easier and safer in the absence of street lighting. Venues included Erasmus Darwin's home in Lichfield, Matthew Boulton's home, Soho House, Bowbridge House in Derbyshire, and Great Barr Hall.

The main members of the society were

• Matthew Boulton, a true Brummie by birth he was a manufacturer and partner of James Watt, together with Watts Steam Engine they revolutionised manufacturing the world over.
• Erasmus Darwin, physician, natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor and poet. Oh and Charles' grandfather.
• Thomas Day, author and abolitionist
• Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish, politician, writer and inventor
• Samuel Galton, Jr., a Brummie Quaker and strangely arms manufacturer
• James Keir, Scottish chemist, geologist, industrialist, and inventor
• Joseph Priestley, theologian,dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and Liberal political theorist who published over 150 works and as a chemist he discovered Oxygen.
• William Small, Scottish doctor and philosopher, great friend of Benjamin Franklin who later moved to America. 
• Jonathan Stokes, physician and botanist, and one of the earliest adopters of the heart drug digitalis.
• James Watt, Scottish inventor, engineer and chemist who created Watts Steam engine.
• Josiah Wedgwood, potter and abolitionist,
• John Whitehurst clockmaker and scientists and 
• William Withering botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and the discoverer of digitalis.

But other sometime and visiting members were John Baskerville the father of modern printing, James Brindley the engineer, Thomas Percival who wrote the first ever code of medical ethics and Benjamin Franklin, (yes that one).  His father was from Northampton so he had lots of extended family in and around Birmingham and spent  a lot of time here while he was in England which he was frequently over a 20 year period starting in 1750.  A fascinating charatcter and not just from being an American President his Wikipedia entry starts with "A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat."

Some people may say most of the people mentioned were not actually from Birmingham, well a lot were but yes there is an element of truth but the significant point is that Birmingham was the hub of the industrial revolutions and at the forefront of worldwide advances in science, technology and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society.  So of course it attracted all the intellectuals of the time to come and see the advancements that were being worked on, to meet other intellectuals and take part in discussion.  Which is we come full circle is why the Lunar Society came about in the first place.
Next time I will talk about the cultural life of Birmingham.

February Update

Sorry I haven't been around for a little while but not had a great start to the year, my grandmother died at the end of January and now one of my cats (the actual bonglecat) is very seriously ill, so as you can imagine not much time for blogging.

I'll try and catch up now. Okay things that have been happening out and about in Brum, firstly National Theatre live broadcast of Les Liaisons Dangereuses was on 28th January, technically not just Birmingham but I was there at the Odeon at Broadway Plaza, watching Dominic West seducing Elaine Cassidy's brilliant Madame de Tourvel (remember her as Moray's jilted love interest in The Paradise?). It was also being shown at Electric Cinema which I love but since I work close to Five Ways the Odeon is easier to get to.

Old frontage

The Electric Cinema is another of Birmingham's hidden jewels, it is a cinema and sound recording facility on Station Street, it opened in 1909, showing its first silent film on 27 December of that year, and is now the oldest working cinema in the country. At one point is ended up showing porn films, but 80s and 90s it was more art house films and it was most noticeable for the contemporary art work which dominated the front. It was apparently called Thatchers Children and consisted of mannequins in the upper floor windows in bizarre costumes and attitudes.  

Refurbished 1930s style

It closed in 2003 and was refurbished back to it's 1930s Art Deco frontage and reopened in 2004, as a Luxury independent cinema, both screens seat around 100 people complete with luxury sofas and waiter service.  They have regular special events including themed meals in conjunction with various local restaurants, For example Valentines Day see's a special showing of Gone With the Wind including an introduction by Helen Laville lecturer in American Studies at Birmingham University.

So that's enough cinema what else has been happening, on Friday the 29th January was the re-opening of the Digbeth Dining Club (they have a little break over the Christmas period) to celebrate the re-opening the club spilled out from it's usual location and shut down the street for a full on Street Food Party.  They are located at Lower Trinity Street in the urban fashionable Digbeth area.  So following the reopening they can be found every Friday night from 5:30pm until late.  Check out their facebook page and instagram.

This week of course no one could fail to notice it is Chinese New Year, so Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!  As usual there was a massive celebration today down at the Arcadian centre in the Middle of Birmingham's China Town.  This included various displays of song, dancing and martial arts from the various Chinese and Korean communities in Birmingham and of course various stalls selling amazing food.  Always a highlight for us Brummies. Celebrations continue tomorrow at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston.

Coming up:

Check out the new Bowie mural in Dudley Street Southside.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the Crescent Theatre Sat 13th February

Spring Fair at the NEC on until Thursday

Noel Coward's Private Lives starts a run at the New Alexandra Theatre tomorrow.

Matthew Bourne's vampire inspired Sleeping Beauty is on at the Hippodrome from Tuesday until Saturday, no sure if their will be any tickets on that one.

You live in Birmingham? Oh well never mind Part I

This blog has taken me a while to write as it needs to be discussed but I don't want to it to be a rant.

The title of the blog "You live in Birmingham?  Oh well never mind."  is genuinely something people has said to me.  I mean firstly why is it considered okay to insult people you have never met before just based on the city they happen to live in?  And do people from say Hull or Southampton get that sort of comment, if not why not?

So to try and find out why these comments come about I did a Google search "What's wrong with Birmingham" and overwhelmingly I got "It's grey", seriously am I colour blind because don't see that any more than any other big city and "there has never been anyone of any significance to come from Birmingham", well I have 2 words for that one John Cadbury you're welcome world!!!  

A more detailed write up was:
This sounds mean but because its a huge city, second largest in the UK by population and land area, yet has little cultural significance and absolutely nothing interesting goes on there, it ends up being a large patch of insignificantness. People will also think it has no charm as its stuck between the north and the south, so is part of neither.

So all very interesting and if you know Birmingham at all very, very false, but I don't want to just pooh, pooh these opinions I'd rather try and see where they come from and address them head on.

Firstly it's grey.  Well the city centre and surrounding areas did take quite a battering during the Second World War, that may surprise you as Coventry got a lot more publicity but that was wartime propaganda don't let the Germans know how badly they've hit us.  At the time Birmingham was one of the most key manufacturing areas in the country.

Birmingham Small Arms Company (known as the BSA) at the start of the war was the only company in Britain producing rifles. And at Castle Bromwich there was a second Spitfire manufacturing plant, to supplement the original factory in Southampton.

Grey?

So this meant a lot of areas had to be rebuild some of it badly and in concrete admittedly, but those aside the majority of buildings in the city centre date back to the Victorian era and in keeping with fashion at the time are red brick.  These buildings and other modern examples regularly stood in for London in the TV series Hustle.  

Grey?

Grey?

Okay this one is grey.

So why do people think it's grey?  My theory is the A38M, yes the Aston Expressway is to blame (isn't is always?).  People not familiar with the city will follow the old SatNav route into the centre which is always the M6 and on to the A38M and let's face it this route is quite industrial.  So yes, probably a bit grey.  The other popular route is of course the train, again the main line from London comes in through the factories and industrial estates.  So people are judging the entire city based on one or two route into the centre.  That's like saying the whole of London is like the A40?!?!?  If you approach from the M42, M40 or the M5 you are driving between green fields and as you get closer to the city you are going through some lovely residential areas.

Let me tell you about another city I know where you go into to it through factories, industrial estates and soulless retail parks, that would be Milan.  Yes. I have approached one of the fashion capitals of Europe from both train and motorway both of which are similar to the routes into Birmingham.  This is very much a case of judging a book by it's cover erroneously. 

But did you know Birmingham has over 570 parks, gardens and green spaces?  This is more than any other European city.  Included in this total is Sutton Park in the north of the city which at 2,400 acres is the largest urban nature reserve in Europe.  So rather than being a grey city it is actually a very green city, if you bother to look at it.  

I say come in to Birmingham properly and have a look around, then tell me where all this depressing grey is?  Is it in the Victorian factory buildings now home to artists, in the Jewellery quarter, the modern glass and steel offices in the business district, in the parks and gardens, around the canals with the luxury apartments, in Edgbaston with the million pound mansions and tennis courts (where lawn tennis was invented), or in Bournville where the houses for the Cadbury factory workers still stand beautifully preserved by the Bournville trust?  

Of course you will show me a couple of industrial estates and say "ha there you are!"  but consider Birmingham is extremely proud of it's industrial heritage.   Before the phrase was used about China, Birmingham was indeed the workshop of the world.  

So in Part II I will discuss the historical and cultural heritage of the city and mention a few people and facts that will prove that Birmingham is not a large patch of insignificantness.

What's on this week:

Abba Mania - New Alexandra Theatre
Aladdin - The Hippodrome
Moscow State Circus - The Symphony Hall
National Theatre Live, Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Odeon Broadway Plaza and The Electric Cinema
Strictly Come Dancing Live - The NIA