Top food finds of 2016 in Shropshire and the Midlands
It's been a truly sensational year for food in the West Midlands and Shropshire. Andy Richardson shares his favourite finds of 2016...
Far be it from us to blow our own trumpet. One, we don't have a trumpet and, two, if we did we'd hit it with a typhoon, rather than a puffy little blow.
Strong breezes are for wimps. We're all about the hurricanes. When it comes to brass instruments, tempests are where it's at. Parrappaappppaaaaaaap.
But blow our own trumpet we will. For one week only, we are Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. We are Wynton Marsalis and Miles Davis. We are Chet Baker and That Bloke From James, whatsisname, Andy Diagram. What a name. What a player. What a trumpet.
At the end of 2015 – the Chinese year of the Goat, fact fans – we ended our Weekend round-up of regional restaurants by telling you this: You ain't seen nothing yet – the best is yet to come. And boy, oh boy were we right on the money. Hit that trumpet, Dizzy.
2016 – the Chinese year of the Monkey, primate fans – has been a sensational year for local cuisine.
Tastier, more adventurous, braver and cooked with an ever-greater attention to provenance and seasonality; there has never been a better time for great dinners, sensational street food, exquisite snacks, mighty fine festivals and delicious deli deals. Hell, even pork scratchings have been given a makeover and seasoned with sea salt and balsamic vinegar – they're delicious, since you ask.
We've never had it so good. There's never been a better time to be greedy.
You have to rewind to the early part of the 2000s – say 2000 to 2005 – to find a time that even came close to the riches we can now enjoy. For sure, not every town or borough has a decent place to eat: it's still the season of goodwill to all men, so today isn't the day to name and shame.
And besides, our postie's back is almost done in from delivering the thousands of Christmas cards that you sent us. We don't want to inspire a slew of hate mail as we head into a shiny new year. We're not talking about the grubby and the dirty, the fly-by-night cowboys – do cowboys fly? – or the corner-cutting, profiteers. The Microwave crew can wallow in their MSG-infused Trans Fat while we're eating our triple cooked duck fat chips, our knockout neighbourhood baltis or our Ogleshield Gougères.
We have as many Michelin starred restaurants than ever before – six, with five in Brum and one in Mid-Wales – but, and here's the rub, we're not dancing in our seasonal Vivienne Westwood kilt because the stars have finally aligned. Exciting though that is, it obscures a more brilliant, breathless and impressive truth. The wonderful thing about food in 2016 is that standards across the board are up a notch. Delis source better food from the continent. Restaurants change their menus more often and focus on the seasons and local produce. Growers are more innovative. Farmers are creating new and exciting products. Chef skills are continuing to rise.
So let's take a 500-word, whistle-stop tour of the region to pick out the good, the sublime and the downright extraordinary.
Oh, and just like Black Country Santa did a week ago, we'll be handing out four prizes at the end. Toot toot.
We have to start in Birmingham, the UK's Second City in every respect. While Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bath, Brighton, Glasgow and Edinburgh crave the kind of culinary standards that will make them the nonpareil, Birmingham is already there.
The Michelin-starred crew go from strength to strength. Carter's offers thrilling flavours and fantastically engaging service; Simpsons has taken things up a level following its £1 million refit. For my money, it's presently the best in the region with a phenomenal kitchen supported by a superlative front of house team. Adam's offers moments of pure brilliance. Elegantly housed in exquisite premises, it offers the most sophisticated dining in town. And then there's the maverick, Glynn 'Yummy Brummy' Purnell remains a law unto himself. His food is out-of-the-box bewitching. And he remains the most charismatic man in town. If he doesn't get James Martin's old gig as host of Saturday Kitchen there's something deeply wrong in TV land. He's a natural.
Turner's, at Harborne, retains its reputation while The Wilderness is one of the most exciting finds of the year. Formerly Nomad, it offers confident, dramatic and occasionally ground-breaking food in humble surrounds. Great flavours and great fun.
There are others: Lasan, Original Patty Men, Fumo, Nosh & Quaff and El Borracho are all worth the ticket price. Though this critic's shilling was most happily spent at The Pig and Tail, in the Jewellery Quarter, where tapas-sized portions offer explosive flavourbombs for a fiver.
Right, 100 words on the Black Country and Staffordshire. Another 100 on Shropshire, then we'll hand out a few gongs before you lot hit the eggnog or something fizzier.
Saffron, at Oldbury, and Bilash, in Wolverhampton, give the Black Country something to cheer about. Though the region is filled with great curry houses – most of them neighbourhood joints serving authentic Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani dishes for the cost of two pints – those two stand out.
The Bell, at Belbroughton, upholds standards due south, towards Stourbridge, while further north, in Staffordshire, the stand-outs remain the venerable and talented Matt Davis, at The Moat House, in Acton Trussell, and the sublimely talented team at Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield, which fully deserves its three AA rosettes.
Shropshire's food scene has changed. While it once offered elite levels of Birmingham-style dining, it now focuses on brilliant and inventive mid-priced independents. The exception to the rule is the one star Checkers, at Montgomery, where the gifted and hard-working Stephane Borie serves French classics a la Waterside Inn.
Karl Martin, at Old Downton Lodge, near Ludlow, is another superlative performer. His food has progressed dramatically during the past year and he's now cooking at one star standard. He's the best in Shropshire right now and has the brightest of futures. Wayne Smith, at Mortimers, is another one to watch. An exciting and perfectionistic chef, his food gets better and he'll last the course.
Csons, in Shrewsbury, serves great food at affordable prices; as does Clay's, at Broseley; The Pound Inn, at Leebotwood; The Charlton Arms, at Ludlow; the King and Thai, at Broseley; The Inn at Grinshill; Crown County Inn, at Aston Munslow; Sebastians, at Oswestry; Pen-y-Dyffryn Country Hotel, at Oswestry and The Hand, at Llanarmon, where Grant Mullholland continues to excite.
The Green Café, at Ludlow, remains a class apart when it comes to low cost café eating – if only all restaurants put in the effort that those guys do – while Chris Burt's tasting menus at The Peach Tree, in Shrewsbury, elevate him too.
Ding Dong. It's awards time.
Chef Of The Year goes to – drumroll – wait. We need two. One for Staffordshire, Birmingham and the Black Country and another for Shropshire. So, here goes: Chef Of The Year For The Conurbation And City goes to the incandescent and technically excellent Nathan Eades, head chef at Simpsons, who has made that restaurant one of the UK's best.
Chef Of The Year For The Countryside goes to the aforementioned Karl Martin, at Old Downton Lodge, near Ludlow. His food is sheer pleasure. Intricate, light, delicate and using the most exciting ingredients, Martin is both a grafter and artisan.
Restaurant Of The Year For The Conurbation and City goes to Carter's, of Moseley, because as well as being gastronomically brilliant, it's also great fun. Informal, unfussy and unpretentious, it's everything a classy neighbourhood restaurant should be. Restaurant of the Year For The Countryside goes to The Checkers, at Montgomery, where the flavours of France are served in sumptuous surrounds.
Right, the fat lady's singing. It's all those mince pies. That was the year that was. And we enjoyed every mouthful.
The new Gourmet Shropshire Magazine reflects on the county's exceptional food scene with recipes, interviews with producers and a round-up of events. Copies are available by calling the Shropshire Star on 01952 242424 or by ordering from your local newsagent.
