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food and drink
Edmunds Fine Dining
W
In town
tonight
e’d been skulking
outside Edmunds Fine
Dining for some weeks,
peering into the small,
40-seater restaurant,
past ladders and building junk, trying
to see how the new venture was shaping
up. And then, two days after it opened,
we spied customers inside and went
in on impulse.
We weren’t disappointed. It’s been
years since I ate Andy Waters’ cooking,
and memories of his classic, stylish food
at The Bay Tree in Edgbaston (now long
gone) lingered so pleasantly that I knew
we’d be in for a treat. After his stint at
The Bay Tree he moved to Henley-inArden and opened Edmunds, gaining a
Michelin star. Later, Waters closed that
business and – after some years working
as a consultant at, among others, Cielo
in Brindleyplace – he’s now brought
Edmunds to Birmingham, serving
English fine dining in the heart of the
business district.
We weren’t exactly dressed for fine
dining, but what struck us immediately
about Edmunds is that it exudes class,
without being arrogant or pretentious.
With its cream decor and simple, elegant
table dressings, its brasserie-like feel and
the charm and friendliness of its staff,
it’s perfect for the business crowd. We
were so relaxed, in fact, we hardly
needed to be persuaded to indulge in two
glasses of Perrier-Jouët champagne (£8
each), served in Belle Epoque flutes.
The wine list is wide-ranging, and the
menu even more so, with the lunch
selection currently including dishes
such as salad of Cornish crab with
macadamia nuts and pink grapefruit (two
courses £18, three £20, including coffee
and mineral water). In the evening
there’s a set menu with dishes such as
belly, trotter and fillet of Wiltshire pork
with a Calvados infusion and a vanilla
purée (two courses £35, three £39.50),
but we went for the tasting menu: five
courses, not including the amuse bouche
and pre-dessert (£55 per head including
mineral water or £75 per head including
mineral water and a personalised wine
selection). To drink, we enjoyed a couple
of Washington State wines by the glass,
including a knockout Merlot (£5.50),
and a fresh Petit Chablis (£5).
After some unnecessarily complicated
nibbles presented on silver spoons (the
fiddliest food of the evening), we started
All ready for brisk business:
Chef Andy Waters (top) works in
his Edmunds Fine Dining kitchen,
preparing a feast for his customers,
including lobster and cornish crab
with macadamia nuts (bottom)
A fillet of
Aberdeen Angus
and a braised
blade of beef,
topped with a
potato galette
and the tiniest
cubes of redwine jelly, was
impeccable
GIG
Sons Of Albion
Frontman Logan Plant, son of
Led Zeppelin’s Robert, has
rock royalty in his genes
Tonight, Bar Academy, 51 Dale
End, Birmingham, 7pm, £5 adv.
Tel: 0844 477 2000.
www.myspace.com/
sonsofalbionuk
with an amuse bouche comprising an
artichoke on a green bean salad with a
Parmesan crisp. Then it was straight into
the starters: a masterly trio of foie gras
including a bonbon, which looked like a
tiny ball of knitting wool, that delivered
a powerful combination of foie and
onion-crunch, plus a terrine and a small
seared block of foie that were both
deeply nutty and impossibly melting.
Meanwhile, a trio of lobster and Cornish
crab involved a pyramid of aspic, which
brilliantly enshrined the freshness of the
crab, but with the added kick of whole
peppercorns, which were also
suspended in the jelly.
W
aters isn’t afraid of
strong flavours, and
that’s what my
companion got with
his roasted squab
pigeon with a pastille of wild
mushrooms, which tasted powerfully
earthy. Meanwhile, I enjoyed confit of
Scottish salmon whose masterstroke
was the inclusion of beetroot and goat’s
cheese: unlikely but excellent
companions to fish.
Our mains were just as skilfully
prepared. A fillet of Aberdeen Angus
and a braised blade of beef, topped with
a potato galette and the tiniest cubes of
red-wine jelly, was impeccable.
A pavé of nicely firm halibut made a
classic combination with scallops,
clams, mussels, a king prawn and
a light creamy sauce.
An intermediary course of goat’s
cheese soufflé followed, with a fiery
drizzle of pepper and tomato confit.
Then a pre-dessert, a miniature crème
brûlée topped with a frosted violet,
before we launched into our final dishes:
peach and cinnamon Charlotte with
peach yoghurt and chocolate ice cream
and croquant of pistachio parfait with
milk snow, chocolate and sugared
raspberries. The latter was the best, with
Waters imitating the old Heston
Blumenthal trick of adding space dust to
the coating so that it pops on the tongue.
Undoubtedly there’s some powerful
alchemy at work in the kitchen at
FILM
Joy Division (15)
More Northern
miserabilism in a
sober documentary
about the seminal
post-punk band
Until Thu, The Light House, Chubb Buildings, Fryer
Street, Wolverhampton, 5.55pm and 8.25pm, £5.20,
£3.90 concs. Tel: 01902 716055. www.light-house.co.uk
Edmunds Fine Dining. Waters is very
good with herbs and seeds, which not
only give his dishes a subtle flavour but
a visual delicacy, too. Sometimes the
food is so detailed, you wonder if he’s
assembled it with a magnifying glass.
It seems inevitable that he’ll attract
comparisons with Glynn Purnell at
Purnell’s and to the dream-team of
Andreas Antona and Luke Tipping at
Simpsons, but this seems like a pointless
exercise. Waters’ cooking – though not
especially English in style – is quite
different from the above, and there’s
more than enough room for talents
such as this to co-exist in Birmingham.
In fact, we’re crying out for them,
so news that Waters is back on his
old stamping ground can only be cause
for celebration.
Annette Rubery
6 Brindleyplace, Birmingham, Lunch: Mon
to Fri noon to 2pm, Dinner: Mon to Sat
7pm to 10pm. Tel: 0121 633 4944.
www.edmundsbirmingham.com
■ For more food and drink reviews
visit www.metro.co.uk/wmidsfood
BOOK NOW
The Tempest
This RSC production, fresh
from a run in South Africa,
is headed by Antony
Sher (left)
Feb 14 to Mar 14, 2009, The
Courtyard Theatre, Waterside,
Stratford-upon-Avon, times vary, £5 to £48, concs
available. Tel: 0844 800 1110. www.rsc.org.uk
ratings
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