Results tagged “Glynn Purnell” from Birmingham Mail - Restaurant Spy

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?

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.

A flat-capped Glynn Purnell was at last night's launch of the countdown to this July's Taste of Birmingham festival.

And it's good to hear that now the event is being managed by Marketing Birmingham rather than a London organisation, he's agreed to take part.

He took to the stage with Simpson's executive chef Luke Tipping to say a few words.

It was a pleasant event at University College Birmingham and attracted the great and good from this city's culinary scene, including the guys from Lasan, David Colcombe from Opus, representatives from Asha's and others.

Tamarind - used as a souring agent in eastern cookery - is a fabulous thing, giving tang and fruitiness to dishes.

Fresh tamarinds are hard to come by, but pulp and pressed blocks of the fruit are easily to find.

I made a sauce recently, adding lots of honey to counteract the sharpness of the fruit, and it went beautifully with duck breasts.

The plan this weekend is to try making a tamarind-infused gravy to accompany roast venison.

The Great British Menu returns to our TV screens next week - and, for once, Birmingham's thriving restaurant scene gets some recognition.

Glynn Purnell, who gained a Michelin star when he cooked at Jessica's in Edgbaston, is in the spotlight in the programme on BBC on Tuesday evening.

I was at his new restaurant, Purnell's, in Cornwall Street in the city centre when the show's urbane and charming presenter Matthew Fort recorded the episode before Christmas. I felt proud to be a Brummie as the dishes emerged from the kitchen.

Good luck in the competition, Glynn!