Eat at a restaurant that has a Michelin star

Over the years I have been lucky enough to go to some nice places to eat. When I am on Holiday I am always on the lookout for good food, I guess I am at that stage in life where a night out isn’t a quick bite and then on to drinking as much as I can and dancing like a loon. I find it much more fun nowadays to have a nice meal and a few beers, plus this rarely leads to the explosive headaches the following day and a wasted day’s holiday while I recover from the previous night’s indulgence. The first time I ate at a restaurant that had a Michelin rating was in Portugal, my wife and her family have always referred to this restaurant as “Yellow Brollies” as it had yellow canopies outside. Its actual name is Restaurante Don Sebastião and is one of our favourite places to eat when we go to Portugal. The food is quite traditional and it is a great place to go to if you like to try different types of seafood as their fresh fish selection is very good. I was urged to try the Kid in clay pot, which is a slow cooked stew of Lamb, served in a clay pot…Exactly as the description suggests. When it was initially served I was not really expecting anything too special but I was so wrong. The meat was perfectly cooked and the whole meal was incredible. It was only after our second or third visit to this restaurant that I was made aware of the plaque on the wall indicating that the restaurant was mentioned in the Michelin guide.

The latest visit took us to Purnell’s Bistro in Birmingham, my wife casually mentioned that she would like to go there one day and since she is happy to go ahead and make other people’s dreams come true I wasted no time in booking the table for the weekend of her birthday.

I decided on a lunchtime visit and the table was booked for 1.30. 

To get to the restaurant part you need to go through “Gingers” cocktail bar, even at 1.30 on a Friday this was a lively place, the bar tenders were in full flight with their cocktail shakers and there were plenty of people sampling their impressively exotic looking drinks as we were shown to our table.

I’d had a chance to look at the Menu.

online a few days before but I still hadn’t decided what I was going to eat, my wife’s eyes widened when she started reading and she looked at me and pulled the face that tells me she is impressed or excited or both.

For my starter I decided on the Black Pudding with the poached egg yolk and Potato Rosti while Keely went for the goat’s cheese. For the main course it had to be the steak for me and Keely decided to have the Lamb shank.

The starter was nothing short of amazing, the rosti was a really thin layer of potato with the black pudding underneath, this was delicately spiced so that it didn’t overpower any of the other flavours that the dish had going on.  The egg, as you would expect, was perfectly cooked and the presentation was superb.  I almost felt guilty for destroying the work of art that was placed in front of me.

Keely’s starter was also amazingly presented, the goats cheese was accompanied by thin shavings of pear and the smallest delicate leaves of Rocket you would ever expect to see.  The detail that had been afforded to these dishes made us realise how special this place really was.

With the benefit of hindsight I would not have chosen a steak for my main meal, there was such a nice variety of food on offer that I now feel that not having something different was a bit of a wasted opportunity, after all a steak is a steak and you know you will rarely be disappointed.  The steak was good but I cannot say it was the best one I have ever had.  The star of the main course was, without a doubt, the potato. It was served in a small container and was a creamy mashed potato with a gratin on the top to liven it up a little.

To accompany Keely’s main meal the Lamb was served with curried lentil. Again, this was delicately spiced so it didn’t take anything away from the flavour of the lamb.

After we had finished our meals we knew we had not left any room for a dessert so declined the menu, instead we asked for an after dinner liqueur.  The waiter arranged for the Cocktail waiter to come and chat to us and we told him what we were looking for and a few minutes later he arrived with 2 glasses of Rhubarb Mumble.  It was made with fresh fruit and spices with a generous measure of spirit but it was so comforting and smelt like a glass of Christmas.

Our first experience at Purnells was brilliant and worthy of any special occasion.