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.