November 2008 Archives

Purely out of interest - okay, okay....out of greed and lack of time - I popped into a burger bar at lunchtime as I hurried to our new offices to work a late shift.

It was the first time I'd visited such an establishment for donkey's years and, I hope, it is going to be a very long time until I return.

The burger I ate was as thin as a frisbee, just as hard and had about as much flavour.

Maharaja has been serving great quality curries for nearly 40 years and I've been a fan for longer than I care to disclose.

It underwent a major refurb in the summer and now looks light and airy, though the standard of the food and welcome remain unchanged.

My visit set me thinking about how many superb curry houses we have in Birmingham and I decided to work out my top five.

They'd be (in no particular order):

Leonard Cohen, a singer-songwriter who is commonly regarded as gloomy but is, in fact, incredibly witty, plays the NEC tomorrow night and I'll be there singing along.

But that presents a problem for someone as greedy as me: when, where and what will I eat before the show?

My wife and I aim to be there by about 7pm so cooking at home would be difficult and I never like to rush a restaurant meal. Plus anything I've ever eaten at the NEC hasn't exactly set my taste buds tingling with delight.

A couple of weeks ago I joined an ITV Central television crew at a farm called Turkey Talk in Balsall Common.

Obviously, they're gearing up for Cristmas when the demand for fresh turkey will be at its height.

But they were also keen to show off their smoke house, being used to produce smoked turkey breast.

Today's news that Birmingham is in the running to host the G20 conference of world leaders caused me to cast my mind back ten years to when G8 was held here.

And that made me realise how far this city's culinary scene has progressed in the past ten years.

Back then, the Left Bank restaurant hosted the summit's highest profile meal and, in truth, there weren't that many top class places to eat in the city.

With all the economic gloom and doom that's engulfing us, I was surprised to see how busy the Mailbox's restaurant were on Saturday night as my wife and I made our way to the very pleasant Ha Ha Bar and Grill.

Each of the restaurants we passed was packed with diners and, at Ha Ha, there was a slight delay while they checked if they could fit us in.

Which leads me to wonder whether (a) the economic downturn isn't impacting of people as harshly as claimed or (b) folk are spending regardless.

I don't expect any sympathy cards, but one of the hard bits about being a restaurant critic is that I eat out so often that I don't often get the chance to revisit my favourite places.

That wasn't the case last night, though, when my wife and I went to Purnell's in Cornwall Street in the city centre for a meal that was purely for pleasure rather than to write a review.

We ate the tasting menu and, from start to finish, it was magnificent. Glynn Purnell's unerring ability to match flavours and textures is impressive. Likewise the technique deployed in his kitchen.

Chocolate is good. Good chocolate is even better.

I was sent a couple of bars of organic dark chocolate today by the French company Chocolate Saveurs & Nature - one flavoured with lemon rind and corander, the other with coffeee grains.

Both were incredible in texture and well balanced flavour and were a hit with colleagues.

I don't think I'll ever eat a Twix again....

Perhaps it's because I'm a messy eater, but I almost always end up surrounded and covered by the stuff when I eat a cheese sandwich at my desk.

The reason: most sarnie shops use grated cheese rather than slices and (in my experience) it always spills out of the bread on to trousers, my desk and the carpet beneath.

That might be good news for any mice lurking about - but it's very bad news for office cleaners,

Another round of filming for the ITV Central programme Real Cooks took me to the superb Brindleyplace restaurant Edmunds last night.

Its chef-proprietor Andy Waters had sampled my effort at a Christmas dinner on Monday so last night it was my turn to sample his version.

The programme goes out on December 18 at 7.30pm so you can find out then what I thought of Andy's creations.