April 2009 Archives

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.

Pork belly has become fashionable over recent years. It can be found on the menus at many smart restaurants.

Quite right, too. It's fabulous stuff - flavoursome, beautifully tender when cooked properly and (important in these credit crunched times) great value.

Usually, it's a cut of meat I buy in a joint and slow roast.

But yesterday I adapted a Spanish recipe that uses pork cheeks and combines the meat with white wine, chicken stock, garlic, thyme, star anise, honey, broad beans, apples and black pudding in a sort of stew.

Farewell to Chris Duffy, chef at the excellent Filini restaurant at the Radisson hotel in the city centre.

He's off to work at the company's newly opened hotel in Split in Croatia at the end of the month.

I've met Chris - a contributer to the Mail's Food + Drink section on Thursdays - on several occasions and he's a charming, knowledge bloke.

Welcome to his successor, Jonathan Parnell, who trained at the Savoy.

Are queues in restaurants a good or bad thing?

I guess it depends if you're likelier to regard your pint glass as half full or half empty.

We visited Wing Wah in Nechells on Bank Holiday Monday and, though we arrived early evening, there was a long wait for a table.

One member of our group was less than happy, impatience kicking in after a few minutes.

But surely such popularity suggests that Wing Wah is doing something right, especially since a large number of those waiting (or already seated) were Chinese?

My experience of the north-east is limited, so excuse me if I'm totally wrong.

But is the cuisine of Geordie Land lacking? That's the impression I've gained from this week's episodes of Great British Menu, on which two chefs from the north-east are locking horns.

Kipper pie? Pease pudding? Hardly the stuff of which culinary dreams are made, is it?

It's perhaps unkind to kick a region when the chips are down - after all, Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough are all struggling.

Fans of the Channel 4 show Come Dine With Me - and I count myself among them - might be interested to know that this Sunday's edition comes from Birmingham.

Among those taking part is Mike Olley, a former city councillor and now manager of Broad Street.

I've seen only a few snatches of the programme and don't know how Mike fared in this programme. So I'll be watching on Sunday.

Please don't get the idea that I'm bored or anything, but I was just scanning the web and came across the news that Blues might face a 17-year-old striker called Tuna tomorrow which got me wondering how many footballers have fish-related names.

A quick trawl (what an appropriate word) of Google revealed a surprising number, including a left back with the wonderful name of Harry Haddock who played for Scotland in the 1950s.

There's the West Ham legend Geoff Pike and an NAC Breda player in Holland called Rafael Pike.

Glynn Purnell through last week. Tom Kitchin through this.

The final rounds of Great British Menu are starting to resemble the line-up of last year's series.

Interesting, I think, that both Glynn and Tom prepared dishes that better suited their brief - a celebratory home-coming meal for British troops - than those of their equally talented rivals, whose food was far fancier.

I'm delighted for both men: I know that Glynn is a great bloke and, from what I see on telly, Tom seems a good sort, too.

Sometimes the simple things in life are best. Like the food at the recently opened Pomodoro Rosso restaurant in Moseley.

The menu is straightforward - a few standard Italian starters, pasta, pizza and rissoto.

I ate there with my wife and was pleased - the dishes we ate had been cooked with care and used decent ingredients.

It's not going to wow any foodies, but it was enjoyable.

There's a full review in Thursday's Birmingham Mail's Food + Drink section.

I've eaten at many restaurants during my years as a restaurant critic, but I don't think I've ever encountered anywhere quite like St John's in Smithfield, London.

Though it charges fancy prices and is among the country's best known restaurants, it's about as far removed from the Michelin concept as it's possible to get.

The food is hearty, largely traditional and makes use of cheap cuts of meat and offal.

Diners - of which there were many on Saturday night - sit at long tables with paper tablecloths. Service is friendly and efficient, but not particularly polished.