Edgbaston Priory Club is home to one of 15 Regional Player Development Centres (RPDC) in the UK – a selective performance-based programme that’s intense and drives success whatever that looks like. While the dream is to get every child to Wimbledon, it’s more rounded than that. For some players it might be preparing them for international competition at the highest level, helping them progress to the national academy in Loughborough or it might be winning a lucrative scholarship to a top tennis university in the US. Others might end up carving out a career in tennis outside of playing.

Assuming not all young tennis players ‘make it’, keeping them engaged with the sport for life is also a win. Brett compares tennis with the statistics for young football players. He says: “Only 0.013 per cent of kids become Premier League players and tennis is probably about the same.”

LONG LIST

Tennis is an early specialisation sport and there’s a team of national coaches in each region scouting players aged between seven and nine years. Some are then invited to regional camps. Once their name is added to the LTA National Longlist made up of approximately 250 children countrywide, they can register their interest with a RPDC and attend a type of open day and trial situation to check it’s right for them and the club.

The children at RPDC level are aged between 10 and 14, so the more local the better as managing school with intense training can be tricky, particularly if you throw in travelling time too. Brett says: “We draw mainly from the Midlands – certainly within driving distance. We have the Bush sisters (Leah and Tegan) who travel from Northampton which is probably the furthest distance. They’re currently representing GB.” It’s a demanding full-time programme every day before and after school with children looking at dropping non-core subjects to claw back more time for tennis, so it’s a huge commitment.

INNER DRIVE

The experience offered at Edgbaston Priory Club is rounded, so as well as four to five hours of strength and conditioning teamed with technical and tactical training, there’s also a dedicated mental skills programme. Learning how to use your mind and control emotions building inner drive and crucially, resilience is key.

Brett says: “There are high expectations. The system sells a dream very early in tennis. Everybody develops at a different rate, so kids can be the same age but biologically there might be two or three years difference.” By the time players move on from RPDC aged 14 they’re starting to mature physically and are developing adult bodies.

The RPDC is like a programme within a programme at Edgbaston. It’s LTA funded and sits within a broader pathway at the club. The home-grown performance element and academy is extensive with a number of promising juniors coming through the ranks. For instance, the club’s mini tennis programme is for aspirational players aged between six and 10 who have been invited to LTA regional tennis camps and are striving to make the LTA’s Longlist.

LEVELLING UP

Midlands tennis used to be the strongest region in the UK, but it’s recently slipped below the South East belt just outside London. Brett’s keen to change that and reclaim the top spot. He says it’s an eco-system and it will only happen if everyone plays their part in building the foundations and encouraging coaches to drive performance forward.

There’s no getting away that tennis is still perceived as a middle-class sport, so accessibility and inclusivity is also high on the agenda. Edgbaston Priory Club goes into a wide range of schools to encourage participation, and Brett says there are times when coaching can be as basic as setting up some tape down the middle of a netball court and encouraging 30 kids to just get excited about hitting a ball.

You never know who might be inspired to progress with the sport but as well as nurturing the next big stars, Brett wants youngsters to have a positive first experience of the sport and break down barriers.

Tell us about your cooking?

I’m a chef whose cooking is rooted in French and Mediterranean influences, with a philosophy centred on simplicity, balance and respect for ingredients. I believe that great cooking should allow the natural flavours of quality ingredients to take centre stage on the plate.

How did you become a chef?

I trained at Redditch College, where I developed the foundations of my culinary craft. A defining influence on my career came from Andy Waters, who took me under his wing and mentored me into the chef I am today. Under Andy’s guidance, I refined my technique, discipline and understanding of flavour. Food has always been deeply personal to me. My love for cooking started in childhood with my grandparents. One of my earliest memories is my grandfather Rex’s lemon meringue pie – a dish I still remember fondly even though I lost him at a young age. My other grandfather Jim encouraged my curiosity in the kitchen, letting me help cook meals and eventually trusting me to use a knife for the first time. Those small moments sparked a passion that grew into a life-long career.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

As a child, my favourite meal was a traditional roast dinner, a classic British dish that still represents comfort and nostalgia for me today.

What do you eat at home?

At home, I prefer simple, fresh food that reflects my cooking philosophy. My go-to meals are usually pasta dishes, salads, grilled chicken and seasonal vegetables – dishes that celebrate natural flavours without unnecessary complexity.

Who’s the best chef in the world, and the best in Brum?

When it comes to culinary inspiration, I regard Marco Pierre White as the greatest chef in the world. As the first British chef to achieve three Michelin stars, he helped elevate British cuisine on the global stage through his creativity, bold flavours and iconic presentation. Closer to home, I believe Birmingham has some of the UK’s most exciting culinary talent. In my opinion stand-out chefs in the city include Luke Tipping, Aktar Islam and Glynn Purnell, all of whom have played a significant role in shaping the region’s reputation for exceptional food.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I’m an adventurous eater and enjoy exploring new cuisines and ingredients whenever I can. One of the most unusual foods I’ve tried is alligator, which reflects my curiosity and willingness to experience new flavours. That said, there are still a couple of ingredients I prefer to avoid – parsnips and sprouts.

Share a cooking tip

My advice for both aspiring chefs and home cooks is simple… always let the ingredients be the star of the plate.

If you weren’t a chef what would you be?

Although cooking has always been my clear path, I believe that if I had chosen another career it would have been something equally hands-on and practical. Creativity, craftsmanship and working with my hands have always been important to me.

Not to make the same mistake twice, en route to what turned out to be an excellent production of To Kill A Mockingbird, we found ourselves somewhere that hadn’t previously been on our radar. The Banana Tree in the Bullring looked like a decent option and was pretty close to the Hippodrome, so we thought we’d give it a whirl.

Just by St Martin’s church, the place was basic – not in a bad way, just unfussy – and was busy for a Tuesday evening; people were waiting for tables which is always a good sign. The South Asian menu is hefty and there’s plenty of choice, maybe too much as we needed to be fairly speedy, but ordered three small plates to share and a couple of main courses which was about right for two.

The star of the show, and can’t quite believe we’re saying this, was the broccoli – Bang Bang Broccoli to be precise. Battered and deep fried, the florets were crunchy and served with a very good, sweet chilli sauce. If your kids won’t eat greens, bring them here. Duck spring rolls were more inventive than they sounded. Served with crisp iceberg lettuce and herbs, as directed by a little accompanying instruction card, the rolls were to be wrapped in the lettuce along with fresh coriander then dipped in a sweet plum sauce and enjoyed. And they were indeed enjoyed very much. Soft moreish chicken gyoza were packed with flavour and served with a garlic and herb sauce. All three dishes were super and we’d order again.

Then came a pad Thai with chicken and a bowl of steaming ramen. While they were tasty, they were both less interesting than the small plates, so felt a bit disappointing. The staff were great and if you scurry down the back route to the Hippodrome, you’re literally a five-minute walk away. It’s also a great little place for lunch while out shopping. We’ll definitely be back to work our way through the small plate menu and no doubt consume a clutch of cocktails too. (They’re two for one on a Tuesday if you’re interested. Hic…)

Tell us about your cooking?

I’m a baker – I make wedding cakes that lean more toward Asian events, simply because my style and designs seem to fit well into the grandeur and ceremony that surrounds a Sikh, Hindu or Muslim wedding. There’s little more exciting than setting up a huge wedding cake in the middle of a dance floor, where the scene is set for it to sit centre-stage, like a chandelier, until the bride and groom make their epic entrance.

How did you become a baker?

My first career involved lots of travel and when I decided to stop, I founded a cupcake business which quickly grew into a cake business as I ploughed all the money I made back into lessons to learning how to make cakes properly. I took a few classes at a cake school, a government-backed course, and several private tutorials from artists I admired. I still take decorating technique classes now – you’re never too old to learn!

What do you eat at home?

Not cake! I do love cooking from scratch though when I get time, and I fancy myself as pretty good at a Thai red curry.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My parents gave us a huge range of food that most kids don’t try, and consequently I had a quite precocious palette. My mum made a lemon syllabub that I adored and probably shouldn’t have been allowed until I was 18!

Who’s the best chef in the world, and the best in Brum?

Glynn Purnell is undoubtedly the king of chefs in Brum. I’m a regular at Plates by Purnells and I’m off to Trillium this month for my birthday.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is fresh seafood in any shape or form. Especially served with a glass of ice-cold pink champagne. Recently one of the Indian chefs I work with gave me a feta cheese and spinach samosa. Hands down the tastiest samosa I’ve ever had. As for hell… Bizarrely since I love seafood, I don’t like fish.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

In Japan in the early 90’s, if you went to a bar, you’d get a plate of big fat snails. I embraced it at the time. I’m not sure I’d be so keen now though!

If you weren’t a baker, what would you be?

Before I was a wedding cake designer I looked after lots of different bands on tour and actors in theatres in London’s West End. I looked after the backstage area, the dressing rooms and the wardrobe, and was personal dresser to actors like Dame Emma Thompson, Sir Stephen Fry and Sir Michael Gambon. I worked with Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, the Monkees, the Kinks, Squeeze, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and UB40, among many others, from the age of 17. I loved my life then and would do it all over again. It’s also how I met my husband, who was a founding member of, and still is in, Birmingham’s very own reggae stars, UB40.

Share a baking tip

As a cake baker a huge tip is that you can store eggs in the freezer. No one seems to know this! You must crack them into a container and whisk them a little to break the yolks. I always write on the side when they were frozen too. It’s a good way to save eggs if you feel you may end up wasting them. Defrosted, they also create fluffier sponges.

Give us a nice easy recipe for our readers to make at home.

To get a perfect sponge, weigh your eggs in the shell and use that weight for your self-raising flour, butter or margarine, and caster sugar. This works for cupcakes, too.

Under his artist name ‘PBN’, Dr Harpreet Jandu has developed his career as an independent artist and producer, releasing multiple albums and singles collaborating with artists and performing for audiences around the world. PBN’s music has reached millions of listeners globally, with more than 100 million views and streams. Alongside Harpreet’s work in music, he has also been involved in projects across theatre, TV and film, contributing creatively to storytelling across different mediums.

Now, through Playback Creates, he’s giving back. The not-for-profit platform is dedicated to developing talent, celebrating culture and creating pathways into the creative industries. He says: “Everything I’ve achieved today comes from those early grassroots beginnings, and it’s why I remain passionate about supporting emerging talent and helping create platforms that give the next generation of artists the same opportunities to grow. It’s what I do.”

OPENING DOORS

Playback is about opening doors creating opportunities for artists to develop their skills, gain confidence and access the industry through mentoring, live showcases and collaborative projects. Harpreet says: “Through my role I lead the development of creative projects, talent programmes, and cultural platforms that support emerging artists and storytellers, particularly from underrepresented communities.” He adds: “For the people we work with, it’s often about more than just music or performance. It’s about support, guidance and creating pathways that help the next generation of talent grow and be seen.”

When Harpreet started out, he found he was figuring things out as he went along without much guidance, structure or a platform to work with. He says that through Playback Creates, he wants to change that for other youngsters and that means creating programmes, partnerships and opportunities that genuinely help creatives move from grassroots beginnings into sustainable careers.

BIGGEST LESSON

One of the biggest lessons Harpreet learned and one that he’s keen to pass on, is the importance of understanding the business side of the industry. He says: “When you first start out, you’re focused on the music, the creativity and performing, which is how it should be, but over time you realise how important it is to understand things like ownership, publishing, and the long term value of the work you create.”

Of the creative scene in Birmingham, Harpreet says: “The city has always felt full of energy and diversity. One of the things I’ve always loved about it is the mix of cultures and how that naturally feeds into the creative scene. There’s a real sense of community here, and so much talent across music, arts, and culture.” Harpreet’s work has been recognised by the University of Wolverhampton which awarded him an honorary doctorate of music which he describes as humbling.

FULL CIRCLE MOMENT

“For someone who started out through grassroots community initiatives and local platforms, it felt like a full circle moment. What makes it even more special is knowing that moments like that can inspire others from similar backgrounds to believe that their work and their voice can be valued at the highest level too.”

Even when Harpreet has a bit of down time, he’s likely to be immersed music. He says: “When I get a bit of downtime, I like to step away from the pace of work and reset. Music is obviously a big part of my life, but interestingly one of the ways I relax is by listening to completely different genres and discovering new sounds. It helps clear my head and often sparks new ideas.”

A choir that started in lockdown which enables children and young people with severe and profound learning disabilities to enjoy music and singing is making a name for itself in Birmingham. Now in its fifth year, Birmingham Inclusive Choir brings together young people from across the city to play music-making instruments that include tambourines, maracas, xylophone and egg shakers for percussion.

The choir, which is run by Birmingham charity Services For Education with national charity Soundabout – recently staged a special Showcase concert at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC). It was the first time the choir has held its own Showcase event having performed at Services For Education’s Outdoor Festival at MAC in May 2025, which featured its Music Services’ ensembles.

The choir is funded through grants and fund-raising and costs £15,000 a year to run. Sharon Bell, chief executive of Services For Education, said: “Birmingham Inclusive Choir is hugely important, fostering a sense of belonging, community and joy – regardless of musical background, physical, or cognitive abilities. An environment is created where choir members develop strong bonds and lasting friendships, where every voice is valued, and participants, regardless of their background or abilities, have equal status. We’re delighted our skilled and enthusiastic staff enable this choir to make such a contribution to the lives of young people.”

ENJOYMENT AND EXPRESSION

The choir holds face-to-face sessions during term time at MAC with additional online sessions happening as part of West Midlands Inclusive Choir. Participation is free, with no auditions or requirement to read music — the focus is on enjoyment and expression rather than performance skill. Experienced choir leaders and practitioners from Services For Education and Soundabout tailor activities to suit the needs of those attending. There are different ways to take part, from singing, vocalising sounds, playing percussion instruments, moving to music, or simply listening. Songs range from children’s favourites to pop classics, often chosen with input from members themselves. Some songs having physical actions and ‘call and response’ moments for everyone to join in with.

In addition to live gatherings, the choir can connect with the wider West Midlands Inclusive Choir network through online or hybrid sessions, helping participants engage even if they can’t be there in person. The choir also participates in performances and collaborative projects, sometimes working with other inclusive choirs across the UK.

STRONGER THAN EVER

Richard Mabbott, head of the Music Service at Services For Education, said: “The choir is just a brilliant way of bringing music to the lives of children and young people with complex support needs. They and their family, friends and carers really enjoy and get pleasure from singing and playing sound makers, listening, vocalising and moving to the music.

“It’s just amazing that nearly five years on from being established in lockdown, when the only way they could get together was online, Birmingham Inclusive Choir is stronger and more powerful than ever bringing joy to the choir members’ lives. Whether it’s Abba’s Dancing Queen – always a hot-favourite – or simply making music, the choir just loves performing.”

CONFIDENCE BOOST

Families regularly highlight the boost in confidence, connection, and enjoyment that choir members get from being part of the group. Naomi Stevenson is mum to eight-year-old Thomas, who joined the choir in 2023. She said: “At first Thomas was a little nervous (about attending), but now he absolutely loves it. I remember the first time – on his third visit – he actually interacted with people. It’s all about learning social skills and communication skills that he has struggled with but when it happened, it was just like being lifted. Thomas was going with one of the leaders, helping her with the microphone and taking drums round and giving instruments to the other children. I’d never seen him do that before. It was absolutely amazing.”

The choir is led by Helen Phipps, who has worked in the vocal department for Services for Education for the past 18 years; Emily Tully of Soundabout who is a Birmingham-based music specialist; and Martin Fisher, who has worked part-time for Soundabout since 2019, including three years at a school in Coventry for children of all school ages with a broad range of special educational needs. Helen said: “I find it a joy coming together with the participants every month – just seeing the smiles the songs bring to their faces.”

We last caught up with Richard O’Gorman aka Instagram’s @househomo just after his stint on the BBC’s Interior Design Masters which didn’t end that well thanks to the contentious length of a pair of curtains. Their loss is our gain. The Birmingham mural artist works across public spaces and personal commissions creating large scale pieces to suit the location. Some days it’s a big commercial space, other days it’s somebody’s bedroom.

Last year Richard was picked to create a legacy piece for the city as part of last month’s breathtaking Birmingham Light Festival and he was cock-a-hoop with the result. Richard’s installation, Where The Trees Begin (pictured) is located in Edgbaston Village, bringing light and joy to a once dreary car park. The artist also created a story to go with the piece which viewers can access by scanning a QR code so they can listen while they absorb the artwork for a multi-sensory experience. There are even benches to relax on while viewers take it all in.

NAPKIN DOODLING

The selection process was lengthy, involving the mastermind of the Light Festival Alex Nicholson Evans as well as events OPUS (Outdoor Spaces Unusual Places) and Calthorpe Estates. When the legacy funding was announced Richard received emails highlighting the opportunity from multiple people including Alex and the people at OPUS which he saw as a sign that he should go for it.

He went out for lunch with his partner and couldn’t think about anything else. He says: “I just kept staring off into the distance and eventually I got a pen and a napkin and started drawing ideas.” Richard submitted a statement as per the process and was invited to an interview with Alex, OPUS and Calthorpe Estate’s Demi Swingler, of which he says they got on so well it didn’t feel like an interview. The list was whittled down to three artists.

Richard hadn’t worked with lighting on any sort of grand scale and thankfully the final three artists were able to chat to local firm Taylex about how their designs might come to life from a technical perspective. Richard says: “Usually as a mural artist there’s a flat wall and some paint, so it was a bit different. It was a super fast learning curve!”

Keen to ensure the piece worked in daytime as well as at night, Richard set about designing something unique. He says: “Sometimes with light installations you’re waiting for it to get dark for it to work and it looks a bit off during the day. It was important to me that it worked for both.” When Richard found out his design had been chosen, he cried. He says he’d put so much pressure on it.

BROLLIES OF BRUM

Then began the task of creating the piece. The biblical rain of January and February didn’t help but mercifully, the artwork was created indoors and transported to its resting place. Richard says: “Usually I paint onto a wall directly, so the idea was get up on a scissor lift and go for it. Thankfully we painted it indoors and transported to site. I got up on the lift to do some touch ups.” The rain didn’t keep the people of Birmingham away during the festival either. He says: “I was there every day and despite the rain, the footfall was amazing. There were a lot of brollies and hoods but it didn’t put us off.”

Richard is enjoying a well-deserved rest before he gets back to it and during our chat we reflected on how his career could have taken a very different path. He was told by one of his teachers that he was no good at art. Naturally he believed him – the teacher was in a position of power and responsibility after all.

Richard studied economics at university as it felt like a solid degree and didn’t pick up a pencil or a paint brush for years. Once he did though, there was no stopping him. What started in lockdown as a solitary yellow circle on the wall above a fireplace at home, turned into a love affair with painting and colour. Richard says: “It’s been one long exploration ever since. I love it. It’s my happy place, my therapy.”

Well, you can’t go much bigger that Brum’s first two-Michelin-star restaurant, so on went the velvet jacket and off we popped to Opheem.

We first visited Aktar Islam’s cracking restaurant not long after it opened in 2018 when we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. And oh my, hasn’t she aged well. By which we mean Opheem! The first thing you clock is just how awesome and welcoming all the staff are – always a good sign. We were shepherded into a very comfortable and swanky bar area for fizz and snacks and kicked off events with a lively apple and cucumber shot followed by a series of amazing little canapes that included an oyster emulsion with red Kashmir chilli broth and an apple macaron with spiced beef tartare and duck liver – all fab but a special note for the mango tuile with lettuce gel and mango chutney that was incredibly pretty and entirely delicious. We had arrived with high expectations, and we were now properly excited.

For the main event, it’s through to a separate dining room that’s tastefully decorated and adorned with spectacular ceiling lights and the now obligatory, open kitchen. We’d already selected a five-course tasting menu but there’s a 10-course option if you want the full experience. There’s an interesting and extensive wine list, but we decided to put ourselves in the hands of affable Georgian sommelier, Stefan, and opted for a wine flight which is thoroughly recommended. Now let the culinary journey begin…

At this point we could chat through every course in great detail, and you could either nod off or assume we’d been treated to a freebie (we hadn’t) but let’s just say everything was in varying degrees of awesome. Highlights included the tandoori sand carrot with lentil pakora, mint and coriander – a glorious dish that actually made us a bit emotional; a delightful, street food-inspired, pink fir potato with tamarind, potato espuma and spiced potato croutons; and a perfectly cooked venison saddle, with a thin, braised neck momo and a gorgeous, deeply delicious croquette with a rich spiced sauce – no words.

All finished with an incredible dessert of granny smith apple with sorrel, cinnamon and brown butter before returning to the lounge for coffee and grappa by the fire with some rather fine petit fours, courtesy of the in-house chocolatier. High expectations entirely exceeded.

There’s no pretending that Opheim’s cheap. At £145 per head for the five-course menu, it’s probably not somewhere you’d pop into for a mid-week treat, but it’s completely excellent and entirely worth the investment. Should you prefer, there’s also a lunchtime a la carte menu from £75 which really does seem like good value. Either way, you should go – you’re worth it – and if it’s not your big birthday, just pretend!

Tell us about your cooking?

My cooking style is based on simplicity and respect for ingredients. I don’t overcomplicate dishes – I believe when you start with great produce your job as a chef is to let it speak for itself. Seasonality is very important because using ingredients at their best gives you better flavour, texture and quality.

I’m very passionate about supporting local and independent suppliers. It’s important to know where your food comes from and to build relationships with the people producing it. Through my cooking, I want to show people that Sicilian cuisine is much more than just pizza and pasta. It’s diverse, seasonal, produce-driven and full of history. 

How did you become a chef?

Through professional training and deep family roots in food. I trained at UCB and then refined my skills working in several Michelin-star kitchens, most notably Simpsons in Edgbaston. But my true beginning as a chef started much earlier – in the kitchen with my Nonna. My family are from Agrigento in Sicily, and cooking with her is where my passion was really born. There were no written recipes or scales — everything was taught through feel, repetition and instinct. Through her I learned that food is never just food – it’s care, memory, and love. Hospitality was also shaped by my family. Spending time with my grandfather on his ice cream van taught me that looking after people is just as important as cooking for them; making guests feel welcome, valued and remembered.

What do you eat at home?

My partner Tom and I both love cooking over fire, so we spend a lot of time using our Gozney Dome and Green Egg. It’s where we switch off, experiment and cook in a more relaxed way. A favourite is a slow, one-pot roast chicken cooked gently in the Gozney – something unfussy, cooked with care and made to share. 

Who’s the best chef in the world, and the best in Brum?

I don’t think there’s ever just one ‘best’ chef in the world, but for me Massimo Bottura stands out. What I admire most is his ability to combine deep respect for Italian tradition with creativity and emotion. In Birmingham, I have a lot of respect for Aktar Islam. He’s done an incredible job of pushing boundaries while maintaining identity and precision. What he’s achieved for the city’s food scene is inspiring, and the level of consistency and standards in his kitchens is something I really respect.

Share a cooking tip

Season as you go – and trust me, it usually needs more garlic.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Snails or mussels in my Nonna’s sugu. It might not be what most kids would choose, but in our house it was comfort food. Slow-cooked and full of flavour.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven for me is any fresh shellfish, smothered in garlic butter. Hell would be faggots and mash… I’ve given it chances, but it’s just not meant to be.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Probably pani câ meusa in Palermo: veal spleen and lung, fried in lard, in a sesame bun. It’s a historic Sicilian classic and the locals absolutely love it, so I felt duty-bound to try it. I’ll be honest, I admire the tradition more than the flavour!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Probably a glass blower. I did some work experience in glass blowing and thought I’d found my calling… until I realised I’m too clumsy to be trusted around molten glass. So, I chose knives and fire instead – much safer!

You might know Seventh Circle through its former Moseley home where it stayed for three years between the original shed and its current vast Digbeth home. The footprint in Moseley was small but Chez and Marie (Robin Chesworth and Marie Hutton) made the best of it supporting artists and serving customers with their signature charm and authenticity. Marie says the tiny framing operation was a bit like Tetris, but other than that, Moseley treated them well.

Small business owning is not for the faint-hearted and the question, ‘do we stick or twist?’ will resonate with many. The decision to twist and make the move to a massive former factory in Digbeth eight times the size of the Moseley gallery was a biggie, but a goodie. Marie says: “We chatted about moving in January 2025 and saw the place in February, so found it quickly. It was a doer-upper.” One thing Marie learned: “Sanding is not my calling!”

After much DIY, the space is smart but crucially welcoming. There’s real scope for events as well as for artists and clients and there’s certainly more space for the framing operation – it’s more a workshop than a desk. Marie says: “It’s lovely to step back and realise what we’ve done.” There’s also a strong creative community that’s beneficial and joyful. The gallery’s Bowyer Street landlord is picky about his tenants and seems to be building a creative hub – there’s a guitar maker and a Lambretta restorer among others. There’s also the Be a Good Neighbour scheme in the area that does what it says on the tin and encourages community and support.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

It’s not all been plain sailing mind you. The initial decision for Chez to go from a steady salary leading a team of art installers to branching out on his own was a tough one. He rented studios in Wolverhampton initially which often turned out to be cold, leaky and just not fit for purpose. Then he found a gem which gave him more than enough space for a workshop, meetings with clients and gallery space.

Unfortunately, just as things were taking off, Covid reared its ugly head and Chez was forced to scale back. Projects were cancelled and he found himself paying rent for a space he couldn’t use. Bruised but undeterred, Chez built a workshop in his garden from which the business took off. He was framing, installing and creating late into the night and it became obvious it was too much for one person. Cue Marie. She took the leap in 2021, joining Chez and the plucky pair began searching for gallery space the following year. Marie’s background was in galleries working across numerous departments including sales, curation, events and management which brought an excellent set of skills to the table.

CREATIVE ECO-SYSTEM

In late March 2022, the Moseley gallery opened displaying and selling artwork by local artists and hosting events. The mission has always been to reject art snobbery and create an accessible, authentic space connecting people with art in a meaningful way. The Moseley gallery grew into just that and became a joyful place for customers and artists alike. They just outgrew it.

The move to Digbeth has been ‘reinvigorating’ and Marie says it’s more than a gallery now, ‘it’s a full blown creative eco-system built on resilience, red wine and a radical love of art’. Among the joy, there’s been sadness too. Just before they picked up the keys to Bowyer Street, Chez’s beloved dad, Alan died. He’d been heavily involved in Seventh Circle’s journey always up a ladder or on his hands and knees getting stuck into DIY in the gallery or helping Chez on installations, so his absence is acutely felt, but also spurs them on.

GREATEST JOY

The launch party was a joyful celebration that set the tone for the future. Despite all the changes, Marie says the mission hasn’t changed: “Still the greatest joy is watching someone walk in unsure, maybe even feeling out of place, and leaving with a smile, saying they’ll be back.” In a world that’s riddled with pretention, Chez and Marie’s warm, authentic approach is refreshing and infectious. Here’s to a brilliant 2026!

The emphasis on provenance, ethical farming and sustainability is all admirable but not unique. However, the Pasture guys have taken it a step further, owning and running their own farm, growing vegetables, fruit and herbs. They’ve also been awarded the highest rating for sustainability in the hospitality sector across all areas of their business which sets them apart.

Officially Pasture is a chain with three sites, but that feels like a mischaracterisation. Nothing about it says chain and our waitress was an excellent example. She was invested in the Pasture story beyond a mere paycheque. She’d clearly sampled the menu, loved her food, advised us brilliantly and got us excited for our next visit, convincing us there’s so much more to try. We were sold.

COO LIKE A BABY

As you’d expect, the choice of cuts of beef is impressive and we lapped up a delicious, perfectly pink sirloin with a generous helping of beef fat bearnaise. However, it was the bits and bobs around the steak that wowed us. For instance, short rib croquettes from the nibbles menu made us coo like babies. A rich, unctuous, intensely beefy middle encased in a crisp crumb was superb served with a punchy gochujang aioli – an inspired recommendation from our waitress. Again, from the nibbles menu, whipped smoked aubergine with shawarma chickpeas, pomegranate and mint had a heady Middle Eastern vibe all scooped up with thin, crisp sourdough crackers.

WE COULD TELL YOU BUT…

Then came a burger which was no ordinary burger. The patty was crafted from 45-day aged beef served in a soft bun with plenty of pickles, bacon jam, crispy shallots, oozing cheese and a secret sauce that made the whole thing sing. It was messy as hell, but we didn’t care. We swapped the fries for beef fat chips but found them a bit meh. A side of fire roasted carrots on the other hand, was unforgettable and that’s no exaggeration. Cooking with fire is a big thing at Pasture and this mound of charred, intensely flavoured veg was utterly fantastic. The carrots were served with crunchy chickpea dukkah, a bright green herby zhoug and a curry aioli. It was an absolute triumph.

While the emphasis is most definitely on beef, there are plenty of inventive dishes for non-meat eaters. We recommend sitting with your back to the massive fridges packed with great hunks of ageing meat which we found a bit off putting. Aside from that, we’re mightily impressed and already planning another trip. Those carrots…

Tell us about your cooking?

My cooking comes from pure passion. It’s intuitive, expressive, and deeply rooted in feeling. While I’m of African heritage and those flavours shape who I am, my palate cuts across continents. I love classic recipes, but I rarely recreate a dish the same way twice I almost always experiment, substitute, or reimagine an element. What excites me is balance: respecting tradition while allowing creativity to breathe. What’s most important to me is that food feels honest, comforting and memorable – food that speaks softly but stays with you. 

How did you become a chef?

I’m self-taught, and I say that proudly. My journey into cooking wasn’t through formal culinary school, but through curiosity, repetition and an unwavering love for food. I’ve learnt enormously from other chefs, cookbooks, travel and television, constantly observing, tasting and refining. Family played a huge role; food was always central to our lives. Meals weren’t just eaten, they were shared, discussed and celebrated. That sense of food as connection has stayed with me. 

What do you eat at home?

To be honest, whatever is available and comforting. I like throwing leftovers together and fleshing it up with some salad, fried eggs or steamed vegetables. No fuss meals that are simple, nourishing and deeply satisfying. 

Who’s the best chef in the world, and the best in Brum?

Best in the world for me is Massimo Bottura. What I admire most is his grace. He isn’t loud or performative, yet his influence is undeniable. He’s known for transforming traditional Italian cuisine with creativity, humility, and purpose, while also using food as a force for social good. That quiet excellence resonates deeply with me. Here in Birmingham, we are incredibly rich in culinary talent, but Aktar Islam of Opheem stands out. His work is thoughtful, refined, and culturally expressive. He’s helped put Birmingham firmly on the global food map while staying rooted in authenticity. That balance is something I truly respect. 

Is the customer always right?

The customer is always important, always to be respected, but not always right. Great dining experiences happen when there’s trust between the guest and the chef, and when both sides value the craft. 

Share a cooking tip

Taste as you go and trust your palate. Recipes are guides, not rules. Once you understand flavour, you gain the freedom to cook with confidence. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Rice. I loved rice growing up. I enjoyed it paired with fish or poultry in tomato pepper stews. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven is well-seasoned, thoughtfully cooked food that feels balanced and intentional. Food hell is food cooked without care, no seasoning, no soul. 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I’ve eaten a few unconventional things, but what matters more than how unusual something is, is how well it’s prepared. Almost anything can be enjoyable when cooked with respect. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I’d be running Oyetty Foundation full time. It’s a charity registered in Nigeria that supports parents and carers of children with special educational needs. It’s very close to my heart, and service has always been as important to me as creativity. 

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The Empress Coconut Rice. It’s rich, fragrant, and deeply satisfying. The coconut is subtle, not overpowering. It’s cooked with smoked goat meat, smoked turkey, succulent prawns and mixed vegetables. If you’re visiting us for the first time, I’ll always recommend our Jollof rice.

Despite his youthful looks, restaurant manager Soroush is hugely experienced and loves making a good cocktail. He rustled up some punchy versions to kick off what became a really enjoyable lunch. A selection of bread and quality olives complemented the drinks.

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

Gamberi piccanti was a highlight of lunch with a buttery sauce packed with garlic and a hint of chilli perfect for mopping up with bread. We could’ve grazed on it all day. A burrata salad had a hefty mound of greenery and avocado, a generous amount of prosciutto and a balsamic glaze. The burrata could have been a bit warmer and therefore gooier, but it was tasty nonetheless.
The pasta dishes were particularly good. Linguine alla Sorrentina was nicely spiced with nduja running through a tomato and white wine sauce along with pieces of mozzarella. Tortellini Alfredo – pasta stuffed with ricotta and spinach served in a creamy sauce with saffron, white wine and roasted vegetables – was superb. We shared a gorgeous tiramisu with a big hit of coffee and wondered if we’d ever sleep again. We did.

The pizza we took home was excellent and after a quick blast in the oven was devoured by a hungry teenager while the desserts were perfect the next day.
If, like us, you haven’t been to Del Villagio for an age, it’s worth revisiting. Italian food, good vibes and brilliant hospitality are a winning combo in our book. Team that with a decent local gin and we’re all in. Soroush introduced us to Dr Eamers Black Country Gin and honestly, I fear if one of us hadn’t been driving, we might still be there propping up the bar. Happy days!

Will Venner kicked off his career in hospitality as a part-time kitchen porter aged just 16. He wasn’t dreaming of a career in food at the time, in fact he was a fussy eater as a boy and cheffing had never crossed his mind. Despite that, he worked his way from kitchen porter to the grill at Miller and Carter where he started out.

Fast forward a few years and heaps of experience and Will is now working as a junior sous chef at the brilliant Michelin-starred Simpsons restaurant where he’s reveling in the creativity and endless possibilities of a high-end kitchen. Securing the job at Simpsons is a big career highlight for Will as well as being named as a finalist in the prestigious Young Chef of the Year awards in 2019.

THANKS DAD!

Despite his fussiness as a child, Will remembers enjoying helping his dad in the kitchen rustling up a Sunday roast or a full English breakfast. He says: “Without knowing it, I suppose my dad inspired me to cook.” For Will, cheffing was a slow burn that really took off when he decided university wasn’t for him. He came back from Southampton where he’d been studying and started working as a commis chef at local gastro pub The Boot Inn in Lapworth where he worked his way up to junior sous chef. Will recalls: “This was my first time cooking fresh food and I quickly found a passion for it.”

Will moved from The Boot to the Eden Collection’s Mallory Court which is a very different beast. Shifting from a fast-paced, high-cover gastro pub environment to a fine dining kitchen where consistency and precision are key was a challenge but one that Will embraced. Under Simon Haigh’s tutelage, Will began honing a classical French style. He says “Simon is more than just a mentor but also a good friend. He gave me my first opportunity in fine dining and taught me a lot which I will be forever grateful for. He is also someone I can always rely on for advice and guidance which is always helpful in this industry.”

WORLD CLASS

After two years at Mallory Court, Will moved to country house hotel Buckland Manor in Broadway before returning to the city to the Simpsons kitchen under the guidance of Luke Tipping. Arriving as a chef de partie in 2024, Will has been promoted to junior sous chef. The kitchen at Simpsons consistently produces world class dishes that excite and wow thanks to a bunch of chefs bursting with creativity and obsessed with flavour and detail.

Will is enjoying the challenge and the opportunity to create. Ultimately he says his ambitions are like most chefs: “To have my own restaurant but aside from that, it would probably be cooking and serving food that excites me and that I’m proud to serve. Most of all it is making people happy when they eat my food.” Will’s excited by the food scene in Birmingham generally. We asked him where he eats when he’s not working and it’s a neat little list that’s worth noting.

Of Stirchley, Will says: “There seems to be a growing food scene developing here but my standout restaurant has to be Eat Vietnam. It’s relaxed, laid back but the food is tasty. It gets better every time I go!” In the city centre, Will raves about Bonehead: “In my opinion it has the best fried chicken in Birmingham. The Nashville hot chicken burger really hits the spot!” For bao buns, Will heads to Tiger Bites Pig: “Whether it’s a couple of bao buns or a rice bowl, it’s always delicious.” And in China Town, Will loves the unassuming, unfussy Peach Garden with its hanging Cantonese meat in the window. He says: “It never disappoints.”

Tell us about your cooking?

I love simple food, done properly, with patience, care, and zero nonsense. That’s what excites me. I like mixing, slow cooking, classic methods, and flavours, I don’t like overworked stuff. Our slow cooked Boston butt pork we do at the shop is a pure example… it’s my favourite thing on the menu right now.

How did you become a chef?

I trained at UCB, which gave me a solid foundation and good basics. After that I only wanted to see how the best kitchens work. I went to work around the world – the Ritz London to a little restaurant in Sennen, Cornwall, to Paris in a one-Michelin-star restaurant. That experience shaped a lot of my approach – work ethic, discipline and determination! I moved to Margaret River in Australia which gave me a completely different perspective – more relaxed, more produce-led, and more honest in a way. It taught me that great food can be simple if the ingredients and technique are right.
My influences have always been chefs who cook with restraint and clarity. People like Thomas Keller, and the ethos at the River Café. Food that looks simple, tastes clean and is built on skill, ingredients rather than decoration.

What do you eat at home?

I love home comforts, like proper pies and steaks. If you want to make me happy, cook me a plate of ham, eggs and chips or a T-bone steak with crusty bread… I’m a purist, nothing fancy!

Who’s the best chef in Brum?

To be honest I’m a bit out of the loop with the Birmingham food scene but I would say someone who has been very interesting to me is Glynn Purnell. We came from the same area and his school was directly opposite mine, and I really respect his hard work and dedication to Birmingham. He is a proud Brummie and I like that about him.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My nan’s steak, little roast potatoes and gravy. It was a personal treat for me if I cut the grass for her. She’d lay the table for one and would call me in when it was done – the best!

What’s your food hell?

Baked beans. I am honestly repulsed by them and I have no idea why!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

A Vietnamese duck embryo. Cracking open the shell of a warm duck egg to see a part-formed duck – it was brutal.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I would love to be a gardener at the Botanical Gardens. I love it there and would happily help out. I’d like my own green work outfit and boots.

Give us a nice easy recipe for our readers to make at home

This is a secret that I’m willing to share now with Birmingham – my signature roast potatoes!

Buy red russet potatoes, peel and cut them in half down the middle, part blanch them in salted water until just before breaking point, fluff them up and let them cool down. Place them in a freezer until frozen, then put them in a bag for when you need them. To finish, you put them on a hot oiled baking tray, place them in frozen for 35 minutes on the flat side of the potato, gentle turn each potato over and put them in for another 20 minutes. They will be ultra-crispy and perfect inside. Enjoy!

Despite an incredible show reel, Anton Lesser seems to remain comfortably under the radar. He’s not harangued in the supermarket and goes about his life largely unfussed by fame. And yet, he’s appeared in shows that have attracted huge audiences and much critical acclaim such as Wolf Hall, Game of Thrones, Endeavour, The Crown, Andor, Pirates of the Caribbean and umpteen others.
He’s portrayed some of the most high profile characters on stage and voiced many audio books including most of Dickens’s novels for which he won a Talkie Award for his reading of Great Expectations. A national treasure one might say, not that Anton would see it that way. He’s just keen to make work that does some good and that gives people hope.

EPIPHANY MOMENT

The acting world almost missed out on Anton’s talent but thanks to an epiphany in Nigeria and a British Council film about the RSC, one of the UK’s now most respected actors headed to RADA. Anton says at Moseley Grammar school he was only really good at English so was always reading out loud in class. Drama was a natural progression and he remembers playing the title role in Hamlet, but acting didn’t feel like a career path at that time.

Unsure what he wanted to do, Anton headed to Liverpool University to study Architecture. While on a placement in an architect’s office in Nigeria, he watched a British Council film on the RSC and something in him shifted. Anton recalls: “It was a film essentially saying, this is what the RSC is about and an extraordinary thing happened. I knew I had to act. I’d never been more certain of anything in my life and I came back to go to drama school.”

RADA accepted Anton and he enjoyed a wonderful few years training followed by a glittering career during which he says he’s lucky to have never really been out of work. He says: “Out of the 21 in my class at RADA only three or four have continued acting. It can be pretty grim. I’m very lucky.”

ORCHESTRA OF THE SWAN

Relatively recently Anton has started working with the Orchestra of the Swan who we’ve featured in these pages previously. A group of highly talented musicians all from the Midlands and led by David Le Page, the Orchestra has transcended its Warwickshire roots performing all over the country and beyond. Anton was approached by the orchestra with an idea about combining live music with the spoken word which he jumped at. This month the orchestra and Anton are bringing Dickens’s A Christmas Carol to Town Hall.

Anton says: “Words and music is a kind of unique genre, neither pure reading, nor acting, but there’s this wonderful immediacy, that comes from the huge emotional impact the music has upon the words, and vice versa, and the interplay we actors enjoy with the musicians on-stage. Quite simply, it’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done! I’m thrilled and delighted – as a Birmingham boy – to be performing in the actual place Dickens’s immortal tale began. The very thought gives me goosebumps!”

Uniquely the music is integral to the concert not slotted in between the action. The musicians heighten the suspense and emotion in a way the orchestra believes Dickens would approve of. Anton’s versatility, ability to break hearts and comedy makes him the perfect partner. It’s something that took Anton by surprise but he enjoys immensely. He says: “I’m lucky to have found this group of people – well they found me actually. They are a group of stunning musicians and David Le Page is magnificent. We have a lovely relationship – it’s very improvisational and we inspire each other.” He adds: “It’s a minimal set. For Dickens there’ll be chairs for the orchestra and lots of candles. It’ll be wonderful.”

DICKENS TO STAR WARS

The variety of Anton’s work is a testament to his versatility – from Dickens to Star Wars for instance is quite the leap. He says the writing on Andor was superb. “That sort of genre is usually very predictable but this was interesting and complex. For a big franchise like that it’s unusual.” Anton is also playing Garrick Ollivander in the Harry Potter series and has done many seasons in Stratford which he’s loved.

At this period in Anton’s career, he’s in the fortunate position of being able to be more choosey than an actor starting out. He says: “For 50 years I’ve been pretending and people respond so wonderfully. My aspiration is a continual one – to work and do things which have goodness coming through and make people feel hope. The bits of work I’m offered now I always ask myself, “do I want to be expressing this and is it uplifting?”

Tell us about your cooking?

I was classically trained but there’ve been changes in my palate over the years. I’ve now gravitated back to classical cooking – French, simple. The quality of ingredients is first on the list of what’s important. I like cooking something that seems simple, but there’s a complexity of flavour going on. A customer might say, ‘that was the best steak I’ve eaten’ but they don’t why – that’s magic!

How did you become a chef?

I grew up in Charnley Wood and I always enjoyed food – we didn’t have a lot of it, so it was joy. I learned to cook partly by watching my mum cook. She’s from Worcester and used to cook things like pig’s feet and fresh fish roe. Then on a Saturday, I’d go shopping with my dad to buy bits and pieces to cook up. He was a factory man and loved watching Food and Drink. He’d be cooking curries from scratch after watching Maddah Jaffry. I started cooking professionally aged 14 on a work placement at the Metropole Hotel, then moved to Simpsons when it was still in Kenilworth where I worked my way up to Sous Chef. I then trained with chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Gary Rhodes and Claude Bosi and travelled abroad to work with top chefs in Europe.

What do you eat at home?

My partner Molly is pescatarian, so I cook a lot of fish at home. Or, I might make a whole roast belly of pork with polenta and sweet and sour tomatoes if we’ve people coming over.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

In Birmingham, it’s Aktar Islam. His food is phenomenal, and he’s a proper gentleman. I’d also say, Rob Palmer who is brilliant and is working with me at Trillium. In the world it’s Claude Bosi. I was his sous chef at Hibiscus. Also, Pierre Gagnaire who has three stars in four or five countries.

Share a cooking tip

When you buy a nice steak, take it out of its wrapping, dry it off well with kitchen roll. Put it on a plate uncovered in the bottom of the fridge and leave it for one or two days turning it over after the first day. It’ll dry age the steak so when you cook it, you get that nice brown crust.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Dad’s poached eggs with hot buttered toast and pepper – and mum’s old school boiled ham and parsley sauce.

Food heaven and food hell?

One of my faves is a big plate of flash fried squid with fresh chilli, lime and sea salt. Food hell – sprouts. People will say to me, ‘oh, but have you tried them with bacon or ginger maybe?’ I’ve been cooking for 30 years, so yes, I’ve thought of that! It’s the only real thing I don’t like.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Lamb’s testicles. Claude cooked them, then sliced them thinly so it was like a lamb’s testicle carpaccio. It was okay and to be honest it was served with capers so that became the main flavour.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A rock star, a cage fighter or a zoo keeper. I boxed as a kid and still train a bit at Eastside gym. I wanted to be a zoo keeper as a kid and when Purnell’s closed I applied for the role of assistant zoo keeper at a local zoo – I won’t say which one. I got a phone call from them asking if I was the Glynn Purnell and when I said yes, they asked if I could cook a Michelin-star meal for the penguins as a PR stunt. Obviously, I said no!

There’s a new menu in town but given we’d only ever consumed cocktails in da club, any food was new to us. It’s a big old menu with an eclectic mix of styles – dishes like a steak sandwich with peppercorn sauce and mozzarella and ricotta arancini sit alongside Asian-inspired curries, Spanish chicken and Iraqi flatbread. The restaurant doesn’t claim to fit neatly into one culinary genre so why not?

The small plate menu was particularly appealing and we ordered three dishes between two of us to start. Pulled beef and smoked bacon croquettes were satisfyingly crunchy on the outside with an unctuous smoky middle enhanced with a scoop of earthy black garlic aioli. (A garnish of crispy leeks added nothing.) Crispy cauliflower tossed in a sweet chilli glaze with satay mayonnaise, sesame and curry leaves was a delight. We could have worked our way through a very large bowl full. Zingy, hot and sweet combined to create something very lovely indeed. A warm Iraqi laffa flatbread coated with a slick of melted butter and sea salt was utterly moreish.

Back to Asia with a sticky chicken salad – sounds dull, but it was anything but. Soy glazed buttermilk fried chicken, punchy kimchi, shredded leaves, tangy pickled mooli, edamame beans and a rice wine dressing came together to create a bowl of bold flavours and textures that worked a treat. Swap the chicken for crispy cauliflower if you’re veggie which would be equally delicious.

A steak sandwich let the side down a bit served in a focaccia so hard the knife struggled, let alone our veneers. We’d expected fluffy warm bread moist with meaty juices and a mustard mayo, so it was a bit of a disappointment. The filling however, was Aubrey Allen’s finest rump steak – tender and packed with flavour with accompaniments of caramelised onion, Dijon mayonnaise and watercress. We switched fries for the sweet potato variety which were perfect.

Pud came in the form of apple crumble with two spoons. A good crumble to fruit ratio and creamy vanilla ice cream felt nostalgic and perfect for a chilly Sunday. We’d healed the rift, had a very enjoyable lunch before heading to IKON to mooch around the marvellous Donald Locke exhibition and a stroll by the canal. Birmingham – you’re magic!

We’ve not much to thank Covid-19 for however it represented a new dawn for many people who had time to really think about what they wanted from life. Sandra Palmer was one of those people. She was under the strictest of lockdowns due to a health issue which meant she was even more isolated than most.

Having entered lockdown making and selling lingerie around the world, Sandra emerged as an artist. She began taking photos of flowers in the garden and creating surreal collages using the photos alongside images of some of Birmingham’s iconic architecture. Black and white photos juxtaposed with the vibrancy of the of the flowers produced striking results.

STORY TELLING

Sandra says: “I wanted my art to be relatable, memorable and tell a story. I needed to make art about being happy and positive. People mock Birmingham but there’s beauty out there.” Sandra remembers Birmingham in the eighties when the city had a brutalist energy: “Prince Charles came here and said Birmingham was a concrete city which prompted the council to try to make it more green. Now I think there’s beauty all around.” Influenced by the candid photography of Terry O’Neill and the floral collages of 17^th century artist Mary Delaney, Sandra’s art celebrates the beauty of the everyday.

For Sandra, growing up in Birmingham in the seventies and eighties was all about playing out until it got dark, hopscotch, cycling miles on your bike and using two paper cups and a piece of string as a mobile phone and her art feels a bit nostalgic. Lockdown in many ways provided the simpler way of life that mirrored childhood. Sandra slowed down focusing on meditation, art and walks. She says: “I liked the slow pace of life. In some ways it was good emotionally. You could hear the birds tweeting in the city. Things were simpler.”

Sandra tries to strike a balance now. She takes every Sunday off completely in order to relax and reset learning from previous business experience. She used to feel she had to post on social media every day, but she’s cut it down to three times a week. Her focus is trying to get more people to her website as well getting more representation in the city. Sandra’s now selling through Owen De Vissier’s Lux Gallery and has some pieces exhibited at newly opened Society Brum along with another Brummie favourite, Cold War Steve.

CHALLENGING NOTIONS

Sandra completed a course earlier in the year with art historian and author Ruth Millington essentially about how to get into galleries. We’ve heard so many times when interviewing artists based in Birmingham that the scene is incredibly supportive which warms the cockles. Ruth Millington’s name comes up time and again as someone who champions artists and brings them together. Over the summer Sandra exhibited at Belongings, a group exhibition featuring the work of 20 local artists exploring themes of identity, journey, heritage and multiculturalism organised by Ruth. Challenging notions that we only belong to one space, the exhibition celebrated layered stories and memories, multiple senses of self and the idea of physical and emotional ‘belongings’.

Sandra also took part in Open Studios – a wonderful project organised by Owen from Lux which allows artists and craftspeople to display their work from their own homes or studios. This year a whopping 170 artists over 86 venues took part. Sandra displayed her work at Moseley Exchange.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Sandra has begun creating custom collages – personalised pieces centred around a photo from a client that’s given the Brummy Artist collage treatment. Christmas gift anyone? She’d like to sell into museum shops, exhibit more, get more representation and ultimately Sandra would love to hang some pieces in The Grand Hotel. If anyone at the hotel is reading this…

If you’ve visited Indico at the original Mailbox site, you know the drill – a menu as long as your arm packed with street food style dishes, small plates and curries. There’s also a thali option which is brilliant if you want to try numerous dishes rather than committing to one main curry option.

We devoured many papadams with the customary pickle, raita, mango chutney and onion combination. What’s not to love? We then opted for a handful of small plates and a thali to share. First up, our favourite thing – pani puri, puffed up crisp hollow pastry cases with a hole in the top that you fill with a potato mix at the table then pour over a little mint water. They’re delicate and fresh and a lovely start to a meal. Word to the wise, pop the entire thing in your mouth in one go else you’ll be in a hell of a mess.

A crunchy samosa chaat with a soft moreish middle of chickpeas, herbs and spices served with an accompanying onion relish was delicious. Lollipop fried chicken had been marinated in a tangy chilli and soy sauce then deep fried on the bone to maximise the flavour and chicken tikka bites were deep fried then tossed in a warming, rich tikka masala sauce.

The Chef’s Special Thali which would be perfect for one person without all the small plates consisted of more papadams, an excellent daal makhani, makai palak – a flavour packed dish of sweetcorn and spinach, aloo pyaaz ke pakora – a crisp pakora with potatoes and onions, spices, herbs and chilli. Then there was rice, a really great naan, raita and a choice of two curries. We enjoyed lamb rogan josh and butter chicken – both were seriously tasty.

The thali sounds like an enormous amount of food when listed but there’s just a small bowl of each so it’s not overwhelming. If you’re out and about in Solihull, it’s definitely worth a look. We assumed wrongly the restaurant would be open during Touchwood shopping hours only, but it’s actually open from 12pm to 10pm, so something to bear in mind.

Tell us about your cooking?

I wouldn’t say I necessarily have a particular style of cooking. I do like more classical styles of food and I think that shows when I create menus. We get a lot of different requests for menus so it’s important to be able to adapt to the needs of guests. 

How did you become a chef?

I never really intended to become a chef growing up. I always enjoyed cooking and my parents always cooked a lot and I would like to go in and taste the food and try to be a part of that. I originally was going to be a mechanic and spent two years studying mechanics before completely switching and then going to study catering! Once I started with that I’ve never looked back. 

What do you eat at home?

If I’m being honest, I don’t cook anywhere near as well at home compared to the food I cook at work. Most nights, it’s something quick and easy. A couple nights a week though my partner and I do fancy something a bit nicer and it helps that we are both chefs! 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

The best chef for me would be Heston Blumenthal. I think what he does with food is amazing and how he can make ingredients that would never normally go together work so well is genius. I think I’ve always really liked Glyn Purnell as a chef. With him being from Birmingham, opening his restaurant Purnell’s and being able to attain a Michelin star has always been something that has stuck with me. 

Share a cooking tip

It’s less of a cooking tip but something that will help everyone at home! Put a damp cloth under your cutting board before you start doing any prep work. This will stop the board from moving while you’re chopping and give you more control. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Growing up I loved home-style cooking, so something like spaghetti bolognese was always a favourite of mine. Even when we would go out for a meal somewhere I can vividly remember always ordering spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread at one specific restaurant that we would go to a lot. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven for me would either be a spaghetti carbonara or a simple sirloin steak and chips with peppercorn sauce – either of these two dishes could be my last meal. Food hell would be any kind of seafood. Seafood has never really appealed to me, I’ve continued to try new thing as I’ve got older, but that sea taste has never sat right with me. I’ve always really enjoyed cooking seafood and probably the dish that I would go to if I wanted to showcase my skills and my food would always be a fish dish.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I can’t think of many unusual things that I’ve eaten, but if I had to pick one it would probably be tripe – the stomach lining from a cow. Tripe is a very old-fashioned dish and not something you would see on many menus anymore. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I do think if I had never gotten into cheffing I would have continued down the mechanic path. I’ve always been someone who liked working with my hands.

TRY GLENN’S SUPER EASY SPAGHETTI CARBONARA:

A nice easy recipe for me would be spaghetti carbonara because there’s very few ingredients. All you need is spaghetti, traditionally guanciale which is pig cheek, but pancetta or smoked bacon will work fine, parmesan cheese or pecorino cheese, whole eggs or just the egg yolk for a richer flavour and cracked black pepper.

Start by cooking your bacon or pancetta slowly so you can render the fat down. Once the fat starts to render and the meat begins to brown start cooking your spaghetti in salted water. While the spaghetti is cooking you would mix your eggs with your cheese, I would typically suggest one whole egg or two yolks per person. You want to mix the eggs and enough finely grated cheese to make a paste and once you have made the paste add a little bit of the pasta water to temper the eggs which will help the eggs not to scramble.

Once you’ve done all this the pasta should be cooked and now you just want to add them all together. Take your pan with the pancetta off the heat and add the spaghetti straight into the pan with a little of the pasta water which helps make the sauce creamy. Once the pasta is coated in the oils of the bacon add your cheesy egg mix and mix well. As long as your pan isn’t too hot you should get a lovely creamy carbonara sauce. Enjoy!

Adman, film maker and galactic gallivanter… Trevor Beattie leads an extraordinary life. As well as the day job crafting excellent films, he’s trekked to the South Pole with Buzz Aldrin, rubbed shoulders with Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali and fulfilled his boyhood dream of flying to space – the first Brummie to do so. One of his most cherished achievements is the Jack and Ada Beattie Foundation he created in honour of his parents in 2011.

The Foundation awards cash grants to people who need it most and is about to launch a new initiative called Tons of Help. It’s a simple notion. Start with a pile of money, chop it up into £100 portions and give it away. If you’re in need, apply. If you can help out, contribute.

Trevor says: “We’ve done a lot of research and the unit of £100 feels important. For some it’s nothing, for others it’s a fortune – a week’s energy bill, the food shop, Christmas presents.” He adds: “Things are tough. Groceries have risen 20 per cent since lockdown. It’s staggering.” With Christmas approaching and the additional pressure piled onto people who are already struggling, Trevor set about wondering what the Foundation could do right now which is where the Tons of Help idea came from.

FIGHTING YOUR CORNER

As one of eight children in a family that didn’t have much money, Trevor says he knows what it’s like to have a tough Christmas. The Foundation’s tagline is, knowing that someone is fighting your corner is half the battle. He says: “The crucial thing is knowing someone out there cares and the Foundation sends that signal to people.” Beneficiaries must be residents of Birmingham and applications must be submitted by a safeguarding referee such as a social worker, healthcare professional, education provider.

As well as cash grants, the Foundation has funded the return of D-Day veterans to Normandy for years. It started with 800 veterans, last year there was one and now, sadly there are none. Although Jack and Ada weren’t in the military, they lived through the second world war and had huge respect.

As with all big families, Trevor’s home life in Balsall Heath was busy. He attended Moseley School of Art followed by Wolverhampton Polytechnic where he studied Graphic Design leading to a sparkling career in advertising. Trevor made a name for himself in London with striking campaigns such as Wonderbra (Hello Boys) and French Connection (FCUK) as well as masterminding three general election campaigns and contributing to the invention of the New Labour brand.

The only ads Trevor creates now are for the films he makes and it turns out, he quite likes being the client. Trevor’s first film, Moon directed by Duncan Jones won a Bafta for Outstanding Debut by a British Director. More award-winning films followed including Nureyev, Spitfire, Lancaster and Midas Man, a biopic of Brian Epstein, the man who discovered the Beatles. Trevor says: “There are two mad projects about to kick off – dramas in every sense.” He can’t tell us more, but we’d put money on whatever it is being brilliant.

DREAM COME TRUE

Trevor’s trip to space with Virgin Galactic was genuinely a lifelong dream, the reality of which blew him away. As an 11-year-old, Trevor created a space project at school. He was so convinced that he would make it to space one day, he left the back page blank so he had room to insert a press cutting after his trip. It’s now complete.

His teacher, Mr Palmer, gave the project a mere B+ but Trevor had it re-marked by famed Moon landing astronaut Buzz Aldrin who gave it an A+. The battered project made it to space tucked under a chair. I wonder what Jack and Ada would have made of his voyage. Trevor says his dad would have laughed and, while his mum wasn’t thrilled by the idea, she would probably have been telling all her friends about it.

Of his home town Trevor says while it had a bad rep over the summer with the bin strikes making headlines, the city spectacularly came out for Ozzy Osbourne’s funeral and Birmingham was up again. He says: “Birmingham’s always changing. If you don’t like this one, don’t worry, we’re building a new one.”

Tell us about your cooking?

I don’t really think I have a style, I’m classically trained, but I’ve learned a lot of different techniques over the years and always love to experiment and tweak things. I suppose ideas just come to me and my brain works out a way to make it work! Seasons, amazingly fresh and local produce really excite me. I also started foraging many years ago to help with my mental health and it’s now a huge factor in how I approach my cooking. I love being outdoors and just appreciating what is around me and what can be used or preserved. 

How did you become a chef?

My first job was as a pot washer at Mallory Court in Leamington under the watchful eyes of Simon Haigh. I was 15. It had a Michelin star and I just became obsessed with it, the buzz, the routine, how regimented it was. Some of my oldest friends are from back then, and a fair few of them even came to my wedding this year. Proper friends. Within a year I was full-time and loving life.

The chefs who have probably inspired me the most over the years would be Sat Bains, Simon Rogan, Daniel Clifford and obviously Simon Haigh. The list could (and is) huge. Far too many for me to list, but certainly these were the most inspiring when I was young and eager!

Family have always been a huge inspiration for me wanting to cook, and I have fond memories of grandma’s treacle tart, picking blackberries from Abbey Fields and making crumbles. Whenever I was at my dad’s, I was always being shown and taught how to make things from scratch. 

What do you eat at home?

I’m a stickler for beans on toast, loads of butter and some beautifully runny poached eggs. My wife loves it when I do a roast or a risotto. Very few chefs cook properly at home – we hate the washing up! 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

In the world, I’m not sure. In the UK at the moment, I think Gareth Ward is up there – a third star must come soon. Best in Brum is a difficult question to answer. I love Alex Claridge, his approach to food is fun and intriguing. Kray at 670 is also a bit of a wizard and I love his nods to Birmingham in his menu. 

Share a cooking tip

Always season as you go, build layers of seasoning as you cook and add things, don’t wait until the end. Also, you can always add more, but you can never take away. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Jacket potato, tuna mayo, beans and cheese, sweetcorn relish. (judge me all you want) from the jacket potato stall on The Parade in Leamington. Or grandma’s sausage casserole. Dreamy! 

Food heaven and food hell?

I love really buttery, wet, scrambled eggs with loads of salt. But I can also sit down at Ynyshir and indulge in a 30-course tasting menu. Food hell, raw oysters, tripe and deep-fried bugs. 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Those deep fried bugs in Thailand. You have to try everything once don’t you! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I think if the question was what I would tell a younger me, then it would be to find an extremely well-paid job that was based around the Internet. The world is a much, much bigger place than four walls and an office.

The USP at Six By Nico is that themed six-course tasting menu that changes every six weeks, and until 16 November the theme is Space. There were optional extras outside the tasting menu like an aperitif called Launch Sequence (£11) – a zingy elderflower, salted cucumber cordial and prosecco number, plus a couple of nibbles to kick things off, one of which was up there with our favourite dish of the night. Pommes Anna Chips (£9) – think of the 15-hour crisp layered potatoes that went viral during lockdown served with parmesan cream and a hint of truffle. Perfection.

If we talked you through all six courses, you’d be here all day. Trust us there were no bad dishes, just some we preferred more than others. Every course was inventive, exciting and a bit of an experience. For instance, a dish called Black Hole was eaten wearing headphones and an eye mask. Everyone looked crackers but it was great fun. Biopack – smoked ham hock and chicken terrine was delicious in its own right, but the chefs pushed it further with 12 garnishes ranging from a punchy mojo verde to an intense black garlic ketchup and even grapefruit. Still no catch.

We sampled the cocktail pairing (£40) and the wine flight (£30) which was fun to try, and our waitress was very knowledgeable about the wines particularly, but in truth, next time we’d go for the aperitif followed by a nice bottle of wine. On the subject of staff, everyone we met seemed happy to be there from the lovely manager, Dan to the person that took our coats. It was infectious.

The restaurant was packed which on a Wednesday night doesn’t happen much in Birmingham right now. The clientele was varied in terms of age range – a father and young son, date nights, groups of mates, older couples. Since we couldn’t find a catch, we concluded that this price point and level of experience might just be the hospitality sweet spot.

Paul Lemmon is a bit of a contradiction. His work is largely created using traditional oil paint on board, yet his finished work encompasses the essence of the digital world scraped, deconstructed and turned into analogue works of art. Paul’s pixelated works are created by collecting then breaking apart digital images and film footage blurring the lines between real life and technology.

He says it’s quite ironic standing in front of a painting made from physical board and pigments derived from the earth yet created by scraping the digital world. Paul describes his work as floating somewhere between abstract and figurative.  He says: “I play around, disrupt, make images collide. I let the computer do it by accident almost.”

It’s quite a technical process to arrive at a composition – masking film, laying paint down, finding a pattern, asking is there an image there? Paul says: “There’s a meditative aspect to it and I always sleep better when working. Each piece needs to be more than pleasing. It needs to compel you to think, so I’m always considering the experience of the viewer.”

COVENTRY BIENNIAL

Paul is represented by Forward Gallery in Birmingham and RVP in London which is somewhat of a relief. He used to sell his work directly which involved a lot of juggling so he’s glad to hand some of that to the gallery and focus on his work. Paul takes on private commissions as well as public projects and selling to the general public. He says simply: “I make objects that hopefully people want to buy.”

One of Paul’s highlights so far was taking on a major commission for Coventry Biennial. In collaboration with University of Warwick professor Graeme Macdonald, the large-scale piece titled, Memories of a Future City catalogues imagined future events in Coventry leading to the transition from fossil fuel to clean energy. It represents the dynamics of environment and time, and the forces at play in energy transition. The completed piece consists of four painted panels sat together to form a six-metre wide piece that Paul’s particularly proud of. He says: “It was a privilege to create a timeline into the future for the people of Coventry. It was in a public place with good footfall and as a result I met some great people.”

SURREAL SOLIHULL

Paul also took part in Surreal Solihull earlier in the year where he exhibited his surrealist painting titled, And Takes Me to My Dreaming, which featured among the work of 29 artists as part of an original outdoor exhibition along Solihull’s High Street. The work now hangs at the entrance to Touchwood shopping centre on Station Road.

Paul didn’t have a traditional route into fine art, if indeed there is such a thing. Initially, he decided university wasn’t for him post-A levels and embarked on a YTS scheme apprenticeship, then completed a BTec at Mid-Warwickshire College before studying graphic design at Kingston. He says: “It was a strange time. It was polytechnic when I joined and a university when I left.”

Post graduation, Paul worked in London as a graphic designer for 14 years before believing he could build a career as an artist. In the early noughties he visited exhibitions like Frieze London which lit the fine art fuse in him. Having said that, much earlier in life he was a prolific drawer and painter. He fears he may have worried his mother when at nursery he was given a piece of paper and some paint, and he painted the entire thing black. Not like his lively technicolour pieces today.

Musing on the future and the rise in popularity of AI, Paul says: “I can see it coming over the horizon and I’m aware of the threat, but I don’t think AI can replicate oils. I guess scams are possible.” For Paul, his art is a spiritual experience as well as physical and surely something that’s safe from the march of the tech revolution.

Tell us about your cooking?

My style of cooking, and what’s important to me, is probably more Italian grandma than fancy! Italian cooking is all about simple cooking with the best ingredients to ensure they shine. What excites me most is regional food, whether in Italy or any other country, as it always reflects the best of what is available in that place. Often in countries with a real food culture, specific dishes that typify the area are only made there and can be so special.

How did you become a chef?

I trained at UCB in Birmingham in 2010 and then went to Ireland as an apprentice for a year. To be completely honest, that was the extent of my cooking career, but I always really wanted to get back into the kitchen. Opening Tropea meant that I could do that and also allow my obsession with Italian cuisine to be fulfilled.

What do you eat at home?

I love my pressure cooker for braising meat and cooking pulses. We eat loads of fresh vegetables from my allotment. Also, I love a roast chicken!

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I loved Pierogi – they’re Polish dumplings filled with potato and cheese and not too unlike ravioli…

Food heaven and food hell?

Grilled fresh fish on the beach VS raw onion! I react badly to them!

Share a cooking tip

Buy the best quality ingredients you can, treat them simply and finally, don’t forget to season your dishes while you cook

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Lightly smoked puffin in Iceland. It’s a bit like pigeon and very delicious, although I felt pretty guilty afterwards as they are such nice birds.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I would be a gardener or a market gardener. I love my allotment and could definitely do that full-time.

Give us a nice easy recipe for our readers to make at home

Ok, here’s a super simple tomato sauce for four people:

• Thinly slice three cloves of garlic.

• Keeping the juice, drain two tins of the best tinned whole plum tomatoes you can find (Sardinian if you can find them (Anderson and Hill in town sells Antonella, which are great). Mutti if you can’t get the Antonella tins. Drain the tomatoes but keep the juice!

• In a wide-bottomed saucepan (the wider the better), gently fry the garlic on a medium heat in three tablespoons of good olive oil. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and fry that with the garlic until the oil starts to turn red.

• Now add the drained tomatoes, mash them up with your spoon and fry them on the same medium heat. Make sure you are stirring and mashing constantly for about five minutes until they start to break down and much of the liquid has evaporated.

• Add half-a-teaspoon of salt and the juice from the drained tomatoes and reduce the whole mixture until you have a chunky tomato sauce consistency. Taste and season with salt and finish with torn basil leaves stirred through it.

It’s no secret that the textiles industry is a big polluter and for young designers starting out, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword, for some it’s non-negotiable. Birmingham City University (BCU) Fashion Design graduate, Megan Ginn is a great example of that.

The focus on sustainability and biomaterials at her interview with BCU lecturers is one of the reasons Megan chose to study in Birmingham – a focus she didn’t feel was prominent at other universities she visited. Megan’s mission is to design conscious fashion pieces that focus on custom made biomaterials, reducing the need for fossil fuel derived synthetics.

For instance, Megan has developed an algae-based biomaterial that acts as a bonding agent for wool and fabric. While there are clear environmental advantages over synthetic adhesive, it has functional pluses too. It can be reheated and reshaped allowing for garments to adapt over time encouraging longevity and durability.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

As well as the clear focus on renewable, sustainable fashion, Megan’s designs are stunning. She combines her Celtic cultural heritage using traditional knitwear techniques with her cutting-edge biomaterial honouring tradition while successfully meeting today’s environmental challenges.

Her designs were part of the BCU Presents: 1000 Threads fashion show, which is a fresh take on what used to be BCU’s graduate fashion week. Megan says: “Lecturers felt there’d be more opportunity for students at a larger event with a bigger profile.”

Oozells Square in Brindleyplace provided the perfect open-air backdrop for an event that incorporated 10 talented students from a variety of disciplines including textiles, jewellery and fashion with industry contacts, press and supporters of the university watching on. An after-party with a live DJ set from Pussycat Dolls’ Kimberley Wyatt was a bonus.

NEXT GENERATION

At the event Megan received a design excellence award from designer, Phoebe English. Phoebe is one of Megan’s inspirations, so it felt extra special. Another of Megan’s inspirations is Alice Potts who creates crystals out of human sweat among other things and has collaborated with the likes of Gucci. While collecting sweat doesn’t sound appealing, the results are mind-blowing with the jewel-like crystals adorning caps and shoes.

Studying in Birmingham was a positive experience which Megan says she found supportive and open-minded with a real sense of community. She’s moving back to her hometown of Northampton to find her graduate feet and expects life will be one of job applications and networking for the foreseeable future. With a portfolio of work that’s brimming with innovation, talent and authenticity we don’t think she’ll be job-hunting for long.

Tell us about your cooking?

My cooking is always flavour-led and carefully considered. I just cook the things I like to eat. I don’t just cook something because it’s a ‘classical pairing‘. That said, my execution is always very precise. I started out working on the pastry section, so that never really leaves you. Seasonality is really important – if you can get the ingredient at its peak, you’re guaranteed great quality, and equally, the flavour is unmatched. I still get excited when a piece of meat is slowly rendering on the BBQ. You get those lovely flickers of heat when the fat drops down. The flavour and caramelisation you get from a BBQ just can’t be recreated.

How did you become a chef?

Being a chef was never the dream. I went to a school where they pushed for more academic studies. So, I didn’t even know being a chef was a ‘proper’ job. I just remember speaking to my friends, thinking it was mental that they didn’t do any cooking on a weekend or even enjoy it, for that matter. I realised it could be more than just a hobby, so I left sixth form and started at culinary college. After various work placements, I started at the Man Behind The Curtain in Leeds, where I stayed for four years, learning a lot of what I know.

My family are a big reason that I love cooking so much, my mum would always let me get involved in the cooking and educate us about food, and where it comes from. I became a bit of an egg snob once I learned about battery hens. Just the daily ritual of sitting at the dinner table, talking about your day, was just always something I looked forward to.

What do you eat at home?

At home, sometimes it’s nice to get a bit ‘cheffy‘, especially at Christmas time. But a jacket potato with tuna and green giant sweet corn is honestly 10/10.

Who is the best chef in the world and why? And the best in Brum?

Best chef in the world, I’m gonna say Gareth Ward. Genuinely, I think he changed the way chefs cook and plate food. Best chef in Brum, we’re so lucky there’s loads. I’m gonna say James at Chancers Cafe in Stirchley. The fried chicken is bonkers, and the gaifan is unbelievable with a side of smacked cucumber. Also, shout-out to Luke Tipping, longevity and all that, Simpson’s is beautiful.

Share a cooking tip

If you’re cooking a steak, oil and season it before cooking. Not the pan. You just end up with a smoking pan, and you’ll probably set the fire alarm off.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Definitely my grandma’s casserole. She would cook it all day while we were at school, and my grandad would make the butteriest mash.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven, I’ll go with pizza – P2 from Otto, to be exact. Hell? OMG anything with offal. I know that’s so ignorant, but I just can’t get down with it. Deep-fried monkfish liver, it’s a no from me.

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

An architect – I love Grand Designs.

If you’re a fan of tennis, particularly the quintessentially English form of lawn tennis, you may already know that Birmingham has a unique place in its history. Actually, Edgbaston to be precise. It’s here, in 1859 that a certain Major Harry Gem and Augurio Perara first marked out a croquet lawn at ‘Fairlight’ in Ampton Road as a tennis court. That court, and the world’s first game of lawn tennis played upon it, is less than half-a-mile from another Birmingham landmark – and home to tennis, fitness and wellbeing excellence – Edgbaston Priory Club (EPC).

This year marks an incredible milestone for EPC — its 150th anniversary. It’s a year of celebration, reflection, and pride commemorated with a series of events that reflect the spirit, history and community at the heart of the club.

The club as we know it today was formed in December 1964 as a result of a merger between two long established clubs; Edgbaston Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club founded in 1878 and Priory Lawn Tennis Club founded in 1875. The merger came about in May 1963 when a fire completely destroyed Priory’s clubhouse – which is reflected in the club’s logo of a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Some of the world’s earliest lawn tennis tournaments were held at Edgbaston, Priory and then Edgbaston Priory Club from 1882 to the 1970s such as the Priory Whitsun Tournament, the Davis Cup, the Midland Counties Tournament and now the Lexus Birmingham Open.

At its core today, the club exists to provide a welcoming and world-class environment where members of all ages and abilities can thrive — whether on court, in the gym or socially. It’s not over-hyping to say that for many of its members, it’s a way of life. As recently appointed CEO Claire Daniel explained: “What makes EPC unique is our fusion of tradition and innovation. Members enjoy elite facilities, expert coaching, a strong sense of camaraderie, and a calendar packed with both competitive and social events. We host major events like the Lexus Birmingham Open, serve as a launchpad for local and national talent and run community programmes that open doors to sport. We’re proud to be both a sporting beacon and a social cornerstone in Birmingham.”

Providing the facilities and back-up needed to allow all-ages to achieve the best they can be in sports is at the heart of the club’s past, present and future. Household names like squash legend Jonah Barrington and Wimbledon champion Ann Jones were just regular club members who went on to reach the pinnacle of their sports. And the club is still developing elite athletes today – as well as providing the best facilities for budding amateurs and less talented ‘have-a-go-heroes’. Despite the club expanding and becoming slicker over time, there still a familiar community vibe about the place. The club has supported many grassroots community programmes with local schools such as Lordswood School and also in Cannon Hill Park, as well as working with the Heart of Birmingham Vocational College that helps provide workplace opportunities for young people with learning disabilities.

“With our proud heritage comes the challenge of staying relevant, fresh, and forward-thinking,” said Claire. “Our biggest challenge is balancing tradition with innovation — honouring our 150-year history while adapting to the changing needs of our members and the wider sporting landscape. We also face operational challenges common to member-led institutions – ensuring long-term financial and environmental sustainability, maintaining and upgrading our facilities to the highest standards, and continually enhancing the member experience. We already boast some of the finest squash courts and tennis surfaces in the UK, but the journey to excellence never stops.”

Looking to the future, the club has identified four key areas – grow participation through grassroots partnerships, inclusive programming, and outreach to schools and underrepresented communities; enhance member experience through technology and digital innovation; raise its profile across the city; and embrace emerging trends in sport – such as Padel and Pickleball.
So, as EPC celebrates this very special anniversary, we raise our glasses (or should that be raquets) to the club’s next 150 years.

LEGENDS & ICONS

Many legends of tennis have graced the club’s courts over the years. The first Wimbledon ladies singles winner, Maud Watson, was a member of Edgbaston Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. She brought the Wimbledon trophy back to Birmingham with her name engraved on it in 1885, and it is still awarded annually.

King’s Heath-born, Ann Jones, a life member of the club, won Wimbledon in 1969, two French Open singles titles, and reached six other Grand Slam singles finals. Ann went on to play an active role in the club, mentoring young players and refereeing tournaments. The new centre court which opened in 2013, was named after her.

Many more early Wimbledon winners perfected their strokes on the courts of the two clubs, among them Joan Fry (Wimbledon ladies singles finalist in 1925) and Dorothy Round (1934 and 1937).
In the 20th century Fred Perry, Dan Maskell (for many years the BBC’s voice of Wimbledon), Bjorn Borg, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova played at the club and more recently Maria Sharapova, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

LA-POP! in Islington Row, Edgbaston has been making and selling insta-friendly, handcrafted gelato popsicles for the last six years. Like a lot of cracking businesses, the concept is original but beautifully simple.
Freshly made using locally sourced organic milk, you pick your perfect flavour gelato and then customise from a vast selection of toppings, sprinkles and drizzles that’s as individual as you are. There are more than 700 different combinations, so a huge variety available, although by all accounts there’s serious demand for a Lotus Biscoff-themed creation that boasts a white chocolate dipped gelato with caramel fudge, salted caramel crunch, and crushed Lotus Biscoff! Blimey!

POP-TASTIC!

So, let’s go back to the beginning. The founders of LA-POP! are husband and wife team, Abdul and Anum Kaium. Both Brummies by birth, their dream was kickstarted on a family holiday to Dubai in 2017 where their young children expressed a wish for their own ice cream shop and the entrepreneurial seed was sown.

The couple spent the next few months researching and training in artisan gelato, learning the techniques that build credibility and the finest flavour, before sourcing the custom Italian gelato machines that would lead to the best possible popsicles. During this time, they also developed the strong, vibrant brand identity that helps sets them apart “We can thank a good friend of ours who truly understood our vision and created the LA-POP! logo and brand identity,” says Anum.

LOCATION, LOCATION

With product and brand sorted, the next key component was location. They always knew that they wanted to bring LA-POP! to their hometown. “After working as a professional chef for more than 20 years, I was always drawn to the city’s vibrant food scene and strong sense of community” says Abdul. Securing the Edgbaston site, with the support of Calthorpe Estate, was a key milestone. “We chose the area because we believed the leafy suburbs were the perfect place where Brummies would embrace a fresh, fun take on gelato,” Anum adds.

Building works began before a major financial setback from a failed relationship with the original contractor, led to a delay to the opening. The doors finally opened in August 2019 and after a positive start, just six months later the fledgling family business was hit by the pandemic. It was a tough time and the team almost lost hope, but they never lost sight of their vision before successfully navigating the choppy waters “Passion and perseverance carried us through,” said Abdul. “And the support from our customers was amazing, even showing up on rainy and cold days.”

Five years later, the award-winning business is thriving with some exciting expansion plans ahead, including new product ranges, more local partnerships and tie-ins with Edgbaston Village, and sights set on new locations – bringing the vibrant joy of LA-POP! to new neighbourhoods.

So, what is their key ingredients to success? “Passion, trustworthy partnerships and a supportive community that builds momentum—from family inspiration to Brummie love – have helped us turn our children’s dream into a thriving, award-winning business,” said Anum.

From overcoming early setbacks to crafting thousands of colourful, delicious creations, it feels like LA-POP! is only just beginning its journey.

Tell us about your cooking?

My style is rooted in refined English fine dining. I’m passionate about crafting dishes that are both elegant and full of bold, unexpected flavour. What drives me is transforming familiar ingredients into something truly memorable. 

How did you become a chef?

I was born into a humble farming family, where early mornings meant feeding cows and long days were spent tending fields. While my mum worked tirelessly outside, I found my joy in the kitchen, helping her cook dinner after her hard day. I was just a child, but those moments – stirring pots, learning to boil rice, watching her hands move with love and precision – sparked something deep in me. As I grew older, I picked up every little detail my parents shared about food. Slowly, I began cooking basic curries on my own. The first time my wife tasted my food, she was amazed. Her encouragement planted a new dream in me – to become a chef.

I started my culinary journey in Chandigarh, Punjab, where I trained with dedication. After moving to the UK, I got an incredible opportunity to work for Gordon Ramsay as a Senior Chef de Partie. There, I discovered the art of British cuisine and sharpened my skills in one of the world’s most demanding kitchens. I later joined Three Church Road as a sous chef and then Jaguar Land Rover group as a hospitality chef before returning home here to St George’s Place as head chef.

What do you eat at home?

Simple foods and a lot of vegetarian options. 

Who is the best chef in the world and why? And the best in Brum?

I am inspired by chef Vikas Khanna’s journey – his life is a powerful example of turning struggles into strength. Born in Amritsar with a clubfoot, he faced many challenges, but with the support of his family and a deep passion for cooking he rose to become a Michelin-starred chef in the USA and gained international recognition. He has cooked for world leaders, authored several books and continues to shine globally. Despite his success, he remains humble and kind. He is also a beloved judge on Indian television’s MasterChef India, and his compassion is seen in efforts like his Feed India initiative. In my opinion, the best chef in Birmingham would be Glynn Purnell. 

Share a cooking tip

To get the perfect Yorkshire puddings always be sure to get that oil smoking hot. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Some flavours stay with you forever and for me it’s my grandmother’s home-made rice pudding. The fragrant smell and sweet taste was something I found hard to resist. 

Food heaven and food hell?

My food heaven would be a buttery lobster ravioli in a saffron cream sauce. My food hell would be overcooked liver! 

What’s the most unusual thing you have eaten?

Bheja Fry – that’s goat or lamb brain, delicately cooked with spices, onions and herbs. 

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

A farmer – that would follow with family tradition.

As the old saying goes, there’s nothing like a team player. And Bears Women captain Georgia Davis is certainly that. Georgia’s journey with the Bear started at Under-10s and the club’s youth pathway. Now, 15 years on, she has made it to the top of the senior tree, skippering the side in its historic first season. She truly does have the Bears in her blood!

You might think that Georgia has spent every minute of every day practising, training and generally devoting her life to cricket – and there’s no doubt she has been, and is, hugely committed to the sport. However, her journey into professional cricket has been anything but conventional.

Until 2023, she was combining a working life as a West Midlands Police officer with her time at the Edgbaston Indoor School as she pursued her dream of being a professional cricketer. Georgia said: “It was tough, balancing being an officer with my passion for cricket. I watched The Bill on TV growing up and wanted to be a police officer, but coming off a night shift into a game or training was particularly hard. I think the worst bit was probably having to use all my annual leave on games, so I ended up having no off time to myself.”

DEDICATION AND PRIDE

Bears Women are fighting for trophies on three fronts this season in the Vitality Blast T20, Metro Bank One Day Cup, and for the first time a knockout competition featuring sides from all three tiers of the national system.

It’s been tough in the Metro Bank One Day Cup after a positive start and a couple of wins, including a thumping victory against Essex and a draw with Hampshire, the Bears lost three matches on the spin. But Georgia’s been on good form with both bat and ball and will hope to end the season well when it finishes in July.

At the time of writing, the Bears were about to feature in their first home Vitality Blast T20 in a double header with the men against Durham Cricket at Edgbaston – a fantastic opportunity for the girls to shine in front of a big, new audience of cricket fans.

Georgia said: “As my cricket progressed from a love and passion to a potential career, with the women’s game expanding, I knew there was an opportunity and one I needed to dedicate all my focus on to succeed. I’m quite proud of the fact I was able to sustain a full-time job for three years which required shifts and still perform at the level I did. I look back now and don’t know how I did it!”

Georgia called time on her police career in 2023 as she stepped into full time cricket and a pro contract with the former regional side Central Sparks. “My goal was always to get as far as I possibly could with cricket. I look back at my time with the police with fond memories… but I’m extremely happy with my choice to turn professional,” she said. “It was a dream to be able to have the opportunity to play cricket for a living, and something I never take for granted.”

ENGLAND CAP

The spinning all-rounder was the leading wicket taker in the 2023 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, she made it to the Hundred final with Welsh Fire last summer, and took two wickets on debut for England in a ODI last September. She said: “Last year was a great year and topping it off with my first England cap was a pretty special moment for myself and my family who have supported me in whatever I have chosen to do.

“This year is an exciting one and being able to call Warwickshire my home again is something very special. I’ve played for Warwickshire since I was 10 and played 100 senior games, so to continue doing this but as a professional now is amazing for me.

“We’ve got a young and talented squad of Bears Women, so it’s going to be very exciting to see what we can achieve over the next few years.”

The lunch menu is made up of hot sandwiches, light bites and cobs. The main menu, available in the evening, is essentially a collection of refined pub classics. We’re drumming this home because we didn’t check before we went and had our eye on the Bearwood Bangers for lunch which wasn’t an option. We were a bit deflated but soon got a grip when we saw the lunch menu.

DRINK UP

If you know 1000 Trades in the Jewellery Quarter, you know the drill. Locally sourced produce where possible as well as a fine drink selection on rotation to keep things interesting. We chose a blackberry Sandford cider from the taps which was heaven served with a couple of ice cubes. Flat not sparkling, it was perfect. The other half slurped a craft lager. There’s plenty of natural wine served by the glass or carafe too.

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

The Katsu from the Posh Sandwich menu was a triumph. Chicken thigh rather than breast ensured maximum juiciness while panko breadcrumbs provided a satisfying crunch. The Katsu curry sauce was heady while pickled onions added a sharpness – the balance was spot on. A side of chips was straight out of the top drawer. The Black Country Ploughmans did what it said on the tin – great ham, cheddar, cornichons, slices of apple, grapes, whipped butter and a good selection of bread.

There was a bit of a wait for food, but we didn’t notice until someone apologised for the wait. It’s such a gorgeous spot to sit and natter in the sunshine. It’s relaxed – you order at the bar and grab your own cutlery and condiments, and the staff seemed genuinely happy to be there. The whole place had a feel-good air about it. The happiest of days.

From post girl to designer and every department in between, Poppy Elder got under the skin of her family’s metal casting and jewellery business where she developed a unique understanding and appreciation of the industry. Now, with all her knowledge and experience, Poppy is creating meaningful, timeless pieces from her studio in Sutton Coldfield.

In the Fifties, Poppy’s grandparents opened a metal casting business in the Jewellery Quarter which became one of Europe’s largest independent jewellery manufacturers. Poppy was involved from an early age working in the school holidays for a bit of pocket money and when decisions about university were being made, she chose to follow her family into jewellery making instead. In addition to the factory, the family had a shop in the Jewellery Quarter where Poppy worked so that she could learn the retail side of the business. What was meant to be a 12-month stint in the shop turned into a decade.

Poppy’s mum and uncle are in the process of retiring and explored selling the business before settling on an employee ownership scheme in order to protect their loyal work force. While they had plenty of interest from people looking to buy the business, Poppy’s mum and uncle were worried they were looking to make a quick buck asset-stripping the factory which obviously they were keen to avoid. Poppy says: “The MD had been there for donkeys years and lots of people had worked there for decades, so it would have been heartbreaking. There would have been a hundred jobs lost potentially, which is why they started the employee ownership scheme.”

TIMELESS DESIGNS

With the wealth of experience under Poppy’s belt, going it alone wasn’t daunting, and she quickly found her own unique style preferring to create timeless pieces rather than following fickle trends. She’s had customers who have visited her with very wide gold wedding bands that were fashionable when they got married, but they don’t like them anymore. She says: “It has to last a lifetime, so there’s got to be an element of classic.” Poppy enjoys using unusual diamonds and colours in a classic setting ensuring beauty and longevity while also making the piece individual.

There’s a lot of emotion involved in the design process. She explains: “Nobody’s buying fine jewellery for the sake of it. It might be a wedding, an anniversary or a special birthday. There are generally a lot of emotions.” This is most evident with engagement rings when Poppy does a lot of hand holding through the design process. Some people come to see Poppy with very set ideas that might need managing.

She explains: “It’s a big decision and there are a lot of hats to wear. Some people want white gold but don’t realise that the shiny white finish might wear off in time and need work further down the line. Platinum doesn’t require that. Also, the cost of gold fluctuates because when there’s instability in the world people invest in gold. It’s currently more expensive than platinum and more high maintenance, so platinum is a better option.” Sometimes people want the stone to be as big as possible, others want it to be as perfect as possible. There’s generally a budget, so Poppy says there’s a fine balance to strike. She says: “There’s also the element of surprise with an engagement so that adds to the emotion.” Poppy is the only point of contact throughout the whole process making it a truly one to one experience that customers appreciate. Surprisingly she says WhatsApp has become a useful tool for answering questions quickly and discreetly with engagement rings.

AWARD-WINNING

Online business has generally been big for some time and while many of Poppy’s customers are local and pop in for face-to-face consultations, there’s a significant proportion online too – Poppy’s biggest wholesale customer is online.

As well as bespoke pieces that are collaborative and take time, Poppy has created an award-winning collection of one-of-a-kind pieces that are ready to ship which she has called the Signature Collection. Inspired by the natural beauty of the diamond or gemstone the piece is built around, crafted in 18ct gold or platinum, each piece is unique and aimed at customers who don’t want to wait.

Last year Poppy was part of the first cohort of the 51% Club which is a Birmingham-based organisation supporting female founders across all industries. It aims to change the landscape for female founders in the region through networking, masterclasses, workshops and generally creating opportunities and developing support networks. On the back of 51% Poppy has started running workshops for similar businesses to hers. She says: “The businesses could be seen as competitive but there’s enough work here for everybody. It’s a supportive community.”

In terms of what’s next for Poppy, she’s already building her dream career, so more of the same. She says: “This isn’t just a job for me, it’s my passion. I’m honoured to be part of such special moments in my clients’ lives.”

Tell us about your cooking?

I’d describe my cooking as Tokyo-style ramen with a bit of Brummie soul. I love food that’s thoughtful but not overcomplicated – flavours need to make sense, textures should surprise you, and there’s got to be balance in every bite. I’m big on making sure everything has its place on the plate or in the bowl. I get excited about umami, fermentation, and anything that takes a bit of craft. I’m always learning and always tweaking.

How did you become a chef?

Honestly? It was a bit of a happy accident. I covered a kitchen shift at the pub I worked at, and I just… got hooked. There’s something addictive about the buzz and the pressure. I went on to train in Oxford with Corin Earland, who was at the time chef director at Peach Pubs­ – he taught me the discipline and joy of great food. Then I had the mad luck of working in Tokyo at Les Enfants Gates with Naoki Matazawa. That place changed how I think about ingredients and presentation. It’s been a mix of luck, graft, and just saying “yes” a lot.

What do you eat at home?

When I get home, I’m not knocking out dashi from scratch – I’ll be honest. Sausage and mash hits the spot, properly buttery mash and good gravy. But I do like to sneak in a gyudon or something quick and comforting if I’ve got leftovers in the fridge.

Who is the best chef in the world and why? And the best in Brum?

Best in the world, I’d still say Naoki Matazawa – he just has this precision and flair without being showy. In Brum, there’s serious talent. Brad Carter is doing wicked things. And Andrew Sheridan – what a machine.

Share a cooking tip

Taste everything. It sounds obvious, but I see so many people skipping it. And don’t be afraid of acid – lemon, vinegar, pickles. That little pop can lift a whole dish. Also, read. Just pick up books, watch stuff, go down rabbit holes. And then go cook.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My nan used to make this roast chicken with proper crispy skin and bread sauce – it still makes me smile thinking about it. That and Angel Delight, specifically banana flavour.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven? Tonkotsu ramen, no question. Fatty, rich, warming – you can’t beat it. Hell? Anything overcooked and bland. Or a dry chicken breast. That’s just cruel.

What’s the most unusual thing you have eaten?

Raw horse. No joke. I’d just come off an 18-hour shift in Japan, totally shattered, and met some mates who’d been out drinking all night. It was about 4am and we ended up in this mad little spot where you pay per head and eat as much as you like. A dish turned up on the table that looked like sashimi, so I tucked in without thinking. My girlfriend at the time casually mentions, “That’s horse sashimi.” Honestly? I have no regrets – I’m always up for trying something new. With a bit of soy sauce, it went down alright!

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

I’d probably be doing something with my hands. Maybe carpentry? I like making things, tweaking and perfecting. Or maybe I’d just be one of those blokes with too many Japanese knives and no real use for them.

We still grieve the closure of Tom’s Kitchen on the same site, but we accept it’s time to move on.

Medicine on New Street has become our go-to meeting place with buzzy vibes, loads of natural light and bang in the centre of town. The Mailbox version is a different beast entirely. It’s tucked away, cosy and feels much more restaurant-y. Largely the Medicine guys kept the Tom’s Kitchen interior – big central bar, lively open kitchen and lots of wood. All very lovely.

There’s a definite brunch vibe and we kicked off with a couple of smoothies – a Very Berry (sweet and delicious) and a Green Goddess (more earthy and virtuous tasting but still gorgeous.)

Among the huevos ranchos and eggs benedict, was an unexpectedly brilliant Korean fried chicken sandwich – only unexpected because it felt a little off-piste. Chicken thigh rather than breast was given a crunchy coating, honey and gochugang glaze, punchy sriracha mayonnaise and a crisp Asian slaw served in the softest of brioche buns. It was really great. A hash brown on the side was soggy so fell a bit flat. It was served on a romesco sauce and honestly, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

The Vegan Medicine, which is essentially a vegan version of a full English, hit the spot and boosted the plant intake beautifully. Pumpkin falafel, smashed avocado, kale, mushroom, romesco sauce and a whopping slice of sourdough toast was a joy. We added nicely charred halloumi as an extra. Our only gripe was another soggy hash brown. It’s not the end of the world but if brunch is one of your strengths, you’ve got to be able to serve up a crisp hash brown. Aside from that, the place is independent, reasonably priced and cosy serving cracking food with warm service. It’s a win.

On the way out of the Mailbox, we ran the gauntlet of the Medicine coffee cart but got sucked in big time. We bought our own bodyweight in pastry/cake and took them home to share with the kids. A salted caramel cruffin got the thumbs up, a raspberry pavlova donut was so great it caused a fight, and the carrot and walnut cake was dreamy.

With a version of Medicine Bakery set to open at the Botanical Gardens this month we’re expecting great things.

Tell us about your cooking?

My cooking style currently is an extension of some of the incredible restaurants and chefs I have worked with, most importantly Tom Shepherd, my current chef patron, who I have known for more than 11 years and who I supported at the restaurant’s launch in 2021 as sous chef. My cooking style is very seasonal and ingredient led, with flavour taking the forefront of the focus, ensuring everything really packs a punch with flavour! 

How did you become a chef?

I entered a professional kitchen at a young age with a part-time job as a KP. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and being able to work with amazing produce. I have always loved and have been interested by food. This is how my culinary journey started. I then went to work at Michelin star restaurants such as Restaurant Sat Bains, Adams and I was Tom’s sous chef at Upstairs when we won our Michelin star just four months after opening. Sat and Tom have been massive influences for me and my career and so many more in the industry I look up to that have created incredible restaurants. Some of my most inspiring visits have been, The Ledbury, Moor Hall, Row on 5.  

What do you eat at home?

An unhealthy amount of milk chocolate Hobnobs. 

Who is the best chef in the world and why? And the best in Brum?

A very difficult question for me as I don’t think there is any one chef that’s the best! They are all very different and incredible in their own style. For me, based on how many young chefs have been influenced and developed and the impact on our industry, I would have to say Gordan Ramsay. Best in Brum (slightly biased) would have to be Tom Shepherd, I have been lucky to be a part of Tom’s journey during the restaurant and his career and it has been inspiring to me as a younger chef coming through the industry and similar kitchens. 

Share a cooking tip

My tip is for cooking meat. Rest your meat for around the same time as you cooked it, this really retains all the important juices and flavour of your meat. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Spaghetti Bolognese and fajitas – still one of my favourite dinners now.  

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is spicy buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese sauce. My hell is fermented fish – the worst food experience of my life! 

What’s the most unusual thing you have eaten?

I was very fortunate to eat at D.O.M, a special restaurant in Brazil where I experienced ants – very unusual but interesting. 

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

If ‘chief milk chocolate Hobnob tester’ wasn’t available at the time, then a job in the motorsport industry for sure, A racing car driver!

Gill’s media shenanigans are a means to an end allowing her to raise her profile and in turn boost her charity fund-raising. When we spoke, Gill was fresh from completing the Polar Night Marathon in Norway and was as focused as ever on fund-raising for Cancer Research UK. Gill has raised just shy of £2million for the charity and is hoping to break through that mark by running the London Marathon in May.

Remarkably Gill doesn’t enjoy running which makes her achievements even more incredible. She’s been running and raising funds for more than 20 years and says she won’t stop until we live in a world without cancer. The fund-raising was prompted by her father’s devastating terminal diagnosis of bile duct cancer. Although Gill played hockey and cricket to a high level, she wasn’t a runner and thought it would amuse her father to see her running the London Marathon, so she did, and her fund-raising crusade was born.

POLAR BEAR

To complicate matters, Gill runs dressed in a polar bear outfit which her pupils at South Bromsgrove School have named Paula as it sounds a bit like polar and in honour of distance running royalty Paula Radcliffe. Cancer Research organises a winter run series where the support staff and volunteers dress as polar bears, huskies and penguins which is where the idea came from. The first time Gill donned the costume was London 2016 and she recalls: “As fun as it was, it was so hot. I never really thought I’d do it again.” Yet here we are.

It’s thanks to the polar bear outfit that Gill became a race ambassador for the Polar Night Marathon in Norway earlier in the year raising an impressive £22,000. She says: “The organisers fully embraced the idea and threw publicity behind it. I was on Norwegian TV and in the press.” It was a bit unnerving at times. At one point the temperature dropped to -23 degrees and Gill could hear arctic wolves howling which she says focused her!

CHEERS AND TEARS

Gill remembers running out of the wilderness and into hamlets where children were standing in the streets in temperatures of -16 waving drawings of polar bears. There were tears inside the costume not least because Gill knew that a week later to the day, she’d be sat in the chapel at Bromsgrove School, remembering one of her dear friends, Lesley, who had died from cancer. Gill says: “There is genuinely not a family in this country or any country that hasn’t been touched by cancer. The number of cases is rising, so it has never been more urgent to beat cancer.”

Gill’s training is consistent building to an intense 17-week schedule leading up to a marathon. She completed her very first marathon in London all those years ago with minimal training to which she said, ‘never again’. She says you have to keep the mileage up and get those long runs in.

SIX-HITTER

As head of sport at South Bromsgrove School as well as a coach at Bromsgrove School, Gill fits her runs around the day job by completing quick European runs or runs that fall in the school holidays. That said, she has managed to complete all six major marathons in the world – Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York – and has been awarded the Six Star World Marathon Major medal. More people have reached the top of Everest than have been awarded this accolade. So, what’s next?

Gill would like to have a crack at the infamous Marathon de Sable in Morocco which is approximately the distance of six regular marathons over seven days. She says: “Maybe when I retire.”

The menu is much more interesting than we remembered and so much more than merely steak. Yes, you can get your red meat fix in various guises but there are plenty of veggie and fish options too. And plenty of cocktails… hicc.

A dish of crisp salt and pepper calamari was great particularly when dunked into an intensely smoked garlic and lemon aioli, while hot honey chicken wings had my man cooing like Homer Simpson. Roquito hot honey was the right combination of hot and sweet while slaw and watercress injected a bit of freshness and crunch.

A Black Angus sirloin which the menu suggested medium rare was cooked to perfection served with a brilliant bearnaise sauce, crispy fries and a wedge of iceberg with bacon and mustard dressing. We’re eternally confused by a wedge, but it added a nice cool crunch, nonetheless.

Spinach, feta, lemon and garlic filo pie was light and summery with a crispy top – think spanakopita vibes. It was served on a whopping mound of sauteed vegetables and in fairness we looked like we needed some greens. We opted for fries instead of new potatoes which were super.

The portions were fairly hefty but if you like a bit of sweetness at the end of a meal, we recommend a mini dessert served with a cocktail or coffee. Alright cocktail. A salted caramel profiterole and an espresso martini hit the spot nicely. We’ll not leave it so long next time.

Emma came to the CBSO from Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre where she landed after spending a decade as chief executive of the historic Bristol Old Vic. She was also head of theatre at Arts Council England and cultural programme advisor at the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games as well as executive director of Battersea Arts Centre among other roles.  Now she has bold ambitions for the CBSO.

She says her vision is to connect with people who live here: “Classical repertoire will always be at the heart of what we do, however today’s Birmingham is immensely multicultural and young. We need to be bold enough to explore what to become. We need to be adventurous and brave enough to find something distinctive and step into new kinds of music.”

In April, the orchestra is putting on a concert in partnership with Punch Records titled Legacy which is surely the CBSO’s first foray into grime. Emma adds: “The musicians love the breadth. They’ll be playing Beethoven No9 at Symphony Hall one day and film music for a Halloween event the next.”

NUTS BUT FUN

Last summer the orchestra brought musical magic to the city by popping up and performing 27 free concerts in places like Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the library and New Street station among others. Emma says: “It was sort of nuts but the best fun ever. I would arrive at the office and it was like mission control. A string quartet would be off to play in a café, brass in the park. It was magic.”

Emma describes her role as CEO as a curious one. She says: “Internally my job is to care for the company. Do we have enough money and resources? There’s a strategic side too, so what we play and where as well as pushing us to think about the future.” She adds: “Externally, I represent the company and talk to partners and collaborate with cultural colleagues such as the ballet and internationally, represent the CBSO on the world stage. We’re in Europe in May, Japan in July. We take the city’s name with us.”

COMPLETELY MAGICAL

Just as Emma joined the orchestra, so did chief conductor and artistic advisor Kazuki Yamada who she works closely with and describes as ‘completely magical’ and who shares her love for the CBSO. Kazuki says: “It is a great orchestra with a very special connection, almost like telepathy. They have the ability to know in advance everything I want them to do. For me, it’s exciting just to think about how much fun it is to make music with them.”

Emma’s first impressions of Birmingham were positive. “I love being in the city. There’s a vibrancy and a happiness and so many different cultures. I found it welcoming.” Emma’s top foodie haunt is the unassuming Indian Racer. She says: “It’s my favourite restaurant. I take everyone. It’s in the back of a pub and such an improbable looking place. You go through a curtain and there it is. I absolutely love it.” The only issue with the city for Emma, and one we agree with, is the public transport provisions after dark. She says: “Public transport needs improving to stop the 9.30pm transit out of the city. It’s terrible for the night time economy. The mayor could sort it.”

VIOLIN BY ZOOM

It’ll surprise you to learn that Emma isn’t very musical but thought she’d have a stab at the violin during lockdown. She says: “I made various attempts as a child. I reached grade 2 on the piano. I spent my time dancing – ballet and tap.” She adds: “During lockdown in Toronto an oddly shaped package arrived from a friend which turned out to be a violin. I started a weekly Zoom class – poor neighbours! I got to a point where I could play Amazing Grace. It was really enjoyable.”

Emma headed up the Soulpepper Theatre throughout the pandemic so worked a lot from the kitchen table. A salary subsidy scheme kept the theatre’s staff employed. She says: “It was the opposite of the furlough scheme. Here people were paid not to work and in Canada the salary subsidy paid people to stay employed. We did all sorts – radio plays, sorting out the archive, sign language lessons.”

Emma says Birmingham is like Toronto in some ways, but she’s not looking back. She’s looking ahead to a packed programme for the rest of 2025 and ensuring that the CBSO continues to thrive. She says: “It has an incredible history, and I feel a profound responsibility.”

Tell us about your cooking?

For me, it’s seasonally based. We look at what’s in season and go from there. My cooking is quite classical and influenced in part by my family in Italy. As a kid, I spent the six-week summer holidays in Benevento near Campania with my Italian family. They have a lot of land with sheep, goats and a vineyard. The produce is incredible and everywhere you walk you can just pick ingredients. It surrounds you. Also, you’ve got to make sure what you’re offering is good. People don’t have much spare income. You’ve got to kind of bend and adjust to the market and situation. It won’t work otherwise. At Cuubo, Wednesdays and Thursdays are quiet so we’re introducing a couple of offers for those days. 

How did you become a chef?

My other half had a hair salon and I was a hairdresser for seven years. I got into cooking quite late at age 26 and learned everything at Simpsons. I’d had no formal college training so when I had a trial at Simpsons, they must have seen something in me. 

What do you eat at home?

I’m terrible at home! Fags and coffee! My oven has blown up, so I have no oven or hob. That aside, after 12 hours cooking, I honestly can’t be arsed. We have the odd Caribbean takeaway which feels a bit healthy. 

Who is the best chef in the world and why?

The best chef in the world is Jordi Roca – he’s a pastry chef at El Celler de Can Roca (in Girona, Spain) and is amazing. In Birmingham it has to be Luke Tipping. He trained me and was the best person to learn under unless I passed him a burnt garnish. Let’s just say I developed a thick skin… 

Share a cooking tip?

Don’t be afraid of food – it’s mostly common sense. And season your water. Taste the water you’re about to cook your food in. Simple. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Italian all the way. Bread, olive oil, parmesan and salami. I think I’ve been spoilt with food from a young age so I’m a bit of a nightmare. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven would be simple spaghetti, pomodoro sauce and parmesan. I love proper traditional Italian food, simple ingredients done really well. I suppose food hell is supermarket food. We’ve been brainwashed into thinking £9 for a ready meal at M&S and Waitrose is acceptable. I guess it’s about food that’s not cooked properly. Just give it a bit of love. 

What’s the most unusual thing you have eaten?

Cow’s head. In Italy, my 80-year-old uncle came home with a cow’s head for my nan to cook. She fried it up whole and it was just weird. It’s the only thing my nan has cooked that I haven’t enjoyed. She used to cook pig’s head slowly for 20 hours which was amazing, but fried cow’s head? No… 

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

I don’t know what else I could do. Chief taster maybe?

The people who introduced Jacuzzi’s flamboyant décor to the capital have given Birmingham the Big Mamma treatment too. On the site of what was the cavernous Vinoteca, La Bellezza fills the space in a way that its predecessor didn’t.

Packed with oversized chandeliers, sumptuous drapes, thousands of backlit colourful bottles and a ladies’ loo that doubles as a shrine to Francesco Totti, it’s quite the spectacle. There’s also a serious pizza oven on display that reaches 400 degrees and cooks a beautifully blistered pizza in 80 seconds.

Cocktails are a big thing and in the case of the Jumbo Mamma, literally so. On our visit there were regular renditions of happy birthday in Italian. A candle stuck in a boozy tiramisu while being serenaded? Lovely. It’s that sort of place. It feels a bit special and perfect for a crowd celebrating something. Anything.

And what of the food? Warm focaccia was perfection – soft with a crisp crust and a hint of oregano. We piled oozing smoky stracciatella on top and hey presto, heaven. Pulled pork croquettes with an anchovy mayo were probably the star of the show. Crunchy on the outside, melt in the mouth tender and packed with flavour on the inside plus the anchovy (don’t let that put you off) mayo was delicious.

We went simple with polpette al sugo. The beef meatballs were succulent and moreish while a San Marzano tomato sauce with a generous handful of basil was superb. We ordered crunchy roast potatoes on the side which were okay but nothing to write home about while a piccola finocchio salad of little gem, roasted fennel and walnuts absolutely wowed.

Ravioli allo Strachitunt consisted of home-made fazzoletti (triangle shaped ravioli) filled with ricotta and parmesan served with a creamy Strachitunt (raw milk blue veined cheese) sauce. Due to the cheeses, the dish was served warm rather than piping hot and tasted brilliant – incredibly cheesy but brilliant.

We couldn’t face the huge lemon meringue pie the restaurant is becoming famous for, so instead shared a profiterole which is also a whopper as it turns out. Crunchy choux cut in half and filled with soft Mr Whippy style ice cream was drenched in a hot chocolate sauce. It tasted as you’d expect, blooming lovely.

Before our visit we worried the restaurant might be a bit style over substance and happily, we were wrong. It’s a massive asset to the city’s food scene and well worth a look.

John Mincher credits his Nan for getting him into baking as a boy. Fast forward a couple of decades and who’d have thought he’d be rustling up five-tier showstoppers on Channel 4 and being recognised in the bread aisle in Morrisons?

Auditioning for Bake Off 2024 wasn’t John Mincher’s first rodeo having been a reserve in a previous series. The auditioning process is intense, but second time round John nailed it and got the call up. Keeping it a secret wasn’t easy and in order not to blab, John distanced himself from friends which he says is very unlike him. Normally he’s sociable and has friends round for drinks often but John went mysteriously quiet. He says: “I had a kitchen full of random baking objects and stuff which I couldn’t have explained so I just avoided seeing people.”

Auditions took place in January and filming started in April with announcements regarding the contestants made in September, so it was a long old time to keep schtum. There was even a moment when his friends became a bit concerned about his welfare! When John was finally able to reveal his involvement in the show, he got his nearest and dearest round for the big reveal. He recalls: “I put the Bake Off music on and just said: ‘Here we go. I’m on Bake Off!’”

FRIENDS FOR LIFE

John’s day job in the NHS is busy which feels like a tremendous understatement. We caught up with him in the new year when hospitals were under immense strain – a far cry from the fluffiness of the Bake Off tent. The wholesome nature of the show is real and John says he’s made friends for life. “I know it’s hard to believe and people think, ‘they can’t possibly all like one another’ but it’s true. The other contestants, crew, production team – friends for life. We all stayed in apartments and had dinner together every night. We were like a little family.”

The contestants WhatsApp group is going strong, and they chat every day. John also bonded with the show’s presenter Allison Hammond which he puts down to their Midlands roots. “There was definitely a little bond between us. The accent was an immediate connection and we just had a sort of shorthand. She was really supportive.”

PRESSURE COOKER

On leaving during bread week, John says he bakes bread successfully all the time, so it was an annoying way to exit the show. He puts his under-par performance down to the pressure of the tent plus the novel gadgets such as the proving drawer that he’d never used before but also accepts, ‘a good workman never blames his tools!’ He says what you don’t see on TV is the behind the scenes chaos. There are roughly 100 people in the tent – a series of cameras down the middle aisle plus runners, crew and home economists, so it’s a bit of a pressure cooker.

While John’s roots are in Wolverhampton, he spends a lot of time in Birmingham and in particular brunching at Gas Street Social which inspired one of his bakes. The Mailbox bar has named a cocktail after him since John revealed that one of his showstoppers on the show was inspired by one of their drinks. Such is the mutual love, John took a cake into the bar for the staff last week.

Of Birmingham generally, John loves the city’s ‘great energy’. “It’s such a metropolitan city now. As well as Gas Street I love Fumo and Albert Schloss which has a great vibe. I can spend a couple of hours people watching.”

SWEET TREATS

We’re keen to know where John might get his sweet treats from when he’s in Brum. He says he largely bakes at home and doesn’t tend to buy cakes and pastries but if pushed the Selfridges food hall ticks all the boxes as well as Medicine which he says is really good and which started life in his home town before expanding into Birmingham.

Life’s changed in some ways since Bake Off. John says: “Little things have changed like being recognised in Morrisons in my joggers. Everyone’s lovely though.” Always writing recipes, we wonder if John might have aspirations of publishing a book. He says: “I can’t say too much, but there might be a book in the pipeline.” We’ll take that as a yes and look forward to seeing what the talented baker does next.

Tell us about your cooking?

I think that my style is cooking food simply with good flavour and texture served with good flavoured sauces – don’t over complicate it – give customers tasty food. I am excited by the young chefs coming through with new ideas and techniques and new ingredients from across the world, also seeing people that I have worked with and influenced doing well. 

How did you become a chef?

I became a chef through necessity as my mother passed away when I was young, so I learned to cook from watching her as a young boy and following the things that I had seen being cooked at home. Then trying them for myself with mixed results! I then started experimenting making simple food cakes, scones and also cooking Sunday roast dinners.

This led to my school form teacher getting me an interview in a local hotel in Leamington Spa. I began washing up on Saturdays, watching the chefs cooking for large numbers of guests for weddings, events and functions as well as food for the restaurant. This fascinated me seeing big numbers being catered for.

I then helped in the Still Room making tea and coffee for lounge service and room service and washing glasses for functions. Washing up glasses on weddings was always a treat as the restaurant manager would always give me a sneaky glass of Champagne from the wedding toast (a great treat for a 14-year-old). I still love the taste of Champagne.

The hotel manager offered me an apprenticeship within the kitchen and I had a great grounding working in all sections of the kitchen, learning about fish, meat, poultry and game, pastry and event catering. I worked at that hotel for seven years in total.

I went to South Warwickshire College in Stratford-upon-Avon going to college on a day release course for four years (a lifetime later I am back in Stratford!). 

What do you eat at home?

At home, I cook simple tasty dishes. After a busy day it’s good to eat simple. One of my go-to dishes is the Captain’s fish fingers, baked beans and creamy mash. 

Who is the best chef in the world and why?

One of the best chefs in the world for me is Raymond Blanc. His food is full of flavour and simply presented and he is a great mentor to many chefs. I ate one of the best meals of my life at his restaurant at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Luke Tipping and Andreas Antona at Simpsons in Birmingham are two of the best in town. I have dined at Simpsons since their early days in Kenilworth many years ago and the food is always different and unique. 

Share a cooking tip?

My tip would be, if what you are making goes wrong keep at it and don’t give up – practice is the key to success. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My favourite food growing was hearty beef stew, lots of veg as beef was very expensive and big suet dumplings in a rich gravy. Perfect! 

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven is roast saddle of English spring lamb, cooked pink with a rich sauce.

Food hell – I’m not a fan of caviar… 

What’s the most unusual thing you have eaten?

Crocodile, zebra and horse. 

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

If I wasn’t a chef, I have no idea what I would be, but definitely something working with people in a creative way.

The interior didn’t exactly envelop us in the cosy way we might have liked. The no-nonsense wooden furniture does the job – no more no less. I suspect the vibe is cosier by night with candles and festoon lighting.

The menu is interesting and almost everything appealed. We launched into bruschetta with roasted peppers, garlic, capers and little mounds of whipped ricotta which tasted much more glorious than our description sounds. It was quite a hefty portion and in truth it would have been a decent lunch on its own. A plate of this with a glass of something chilled would knock spots of most lunches in the city, but in the interest of giving you a more comprehensive view of the place we ordered more. Someone’s got to do it.

Pumpkin arancini with guanciale (dry cured pork cheek) and carbonara sauce had a nice crisp outer with a gooey moreish middle – the comfort food we craved. As was a dish from the specials menu which was a proper winter warmer hailing from the 14th century – Peposo. Essentially a beef stew cooked for hours with red wine, peppercorns and garlic, it was more brilliant than we could ever convey here. Served with crunchy potatoes and sourdough for mopping up the rich sauce, there was so much to love. If it’s still on the menu when you read this we highly recommend.

We also had high hopes for the pasta and ordered ravioli which was wafer thin and stuffed with ricotta and smoked potato served in a parmesan sauce. It wasn’t pretty – all a bit beige – but it was skilfully packed with an intense smoky flavour. However, in our layman’s view, the smokiness of the filling and the saltiness of the parmesan meant we could have done with some zingy dressed greens or a handful of fresh herbs to balance it out a bit.

Dessert would have been a step too far in our quest for comfort, but they all sounded dreamy. We left very happy with our carb fest, promising to be back for dinner very soon.

In October last year, comedian Tom Towelling was presented with the Breaking Talent award at the Birmingham Comedy Festival during an evening of laughs at a packed out Glee club. Tom treated the audience to his unique brand of physical and musical comedy impressing the judges who say they were wowed by his “showmanship, unpredictability and impressive musical segments” which included a surprise rendition of the National Anthem.

Of Tom’s win, the Birmingham Comedy Festival team said: “It’s tough to select a winner when the standard of acts coming out of the region is so high. But the judges agreed that Tom’s approach to comedy was exciting, unexpected, buzzing with energy and showed great potential, making him a worthy winner.”

EYES ON THE PRIZE

On receiving the prestigious Mug of Victory, pictured, Tom says he felt ecstatic: “It’s really great to see the Birmingham comedy scene thriving. I’m really grateful for the award, I’m so chuffed. Birmingham Comedy Festival has been such a massive part of my comedy journey; it provides an opportunity to take risks and a forum for comedians. It’s been such a gift.”

Tom approached the competition with some jeopardy not knowing exactly what he might do on stage, which isn’t completely out of character. He explains: “There’s some uncertainty there. All the routines I’ve worked on before, but to an extent I’m guided by the atmosphere of the room when it comes to going into a particular bit. I move between set pieces – the set pieces bring everyone along.”

Tom is in good company as previous winners of the Breakthrough Talent award include Josh Pugh, Celya AB and Andrew McBurney. He’s also not new to winning awards having picked up the Musical Comedy Award last year at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London where he made multiple entrances and sang a song about the King. Now in its 16th year, 12 acts competed for the prestigious prize but it was Tom who was triumphant.

GOING SOLO

Tom was in various sketch troupes at university before starting the double act Good Kids with his mate Kieran Flynn known for their songs and sketches in which they had some success. He dabbled with stand-up over the years and started pursuing it more seriously in early 2023 and became a regular at Deep Fried Comedy at the Dark Horse in Moseley.

He describes his style as ‘deliciously rich and creamy’ and says he’s an admirer of John Kearns, Lara Ricote and Daniel Kitson. Immediate plans include working his material into an hour-long show which Tom can take to other festivals and eventually the Edinburgh Fringe. We can’t wait to see how Tom develops.

We couldn’t make the launch party so popped in the next day. If the staff were jaded from a busy launch, they didn’t show it. If anything, the success of the party added to their already considerable excitement. Our waiter, Ryan was brimming with unbridled enthusiasm which was genuinely joyful.

Cow and Sow is focused on meat and that’s reflected in the carnivore-heavy menu. If you’re in a group with a non-meat eater there are vegetarian options too. We went all-in with the Cow and Sow sharer – crunchy salt and pepper pork rinds, baby back pork ribs, potted ox cheek with truffle, pigs in blankets, poached and charred pineapple, olives and pain de champagne with whipped butter.

The standout picks were the intensely sweet and charred pineapple and the sticky, sweet, salty pigs in blankets, a seasonal addition so they’re for the chop this month. We’re wondering whether to start a campaign to keep them on the menu for good as they were superb.

Then a perfectly pink succulent 35-day aged sirloin hit the spot nicely served with a bearnaise. We love a bearnaise sauce, often wallop the lot and have to ask for extra, but it wasn’t the best we’ve tried. The chips on the other hand were excellent. We tried the ‘normal’ chunky chips as well as a beef dripping version for comparison. You won’t be disappointed by either.

Porchetta with mulled cider poached apple, carrot puree, sprouts, chestnuts and a spiced cider jus was absolutely superb. We also sampled something called a crispy onion blossom which is a bit mad but brilliant. It’s essentially a whole onion coated in batter and deep fried so the onion layers fan out like a flower topped with black garlic dip. It’s as big as your head, sweet, crunchy and moreish. It’s too much for two people as a side – the restaurant recommends it for four, but we were intrigued so had a good crack at it.

All-in-all, Cow and Sow is a fab addition to Birmingham in a corner of the city that’s fast becoming a destination for foodies. Restaurant manager, Jordan cut his teeth at Hotel du Vin before moving to Gaucho, so he knows his stuff and the city well. That experience teamed with a lively, efficient team and great food, is the best start. Show them some love this month when there’s usually a lull for hospitality.

Tell us about your cooking?

I believe that my cooking explores the realms of versatility combined with the authenticity of ingredients. What excites me is the adrenaline rush of being able to refine and produce a dish from something basic to extraordinary. Keeping its originality in mind which makes its resourcing very important. 

How did you become a chef?

By accident or fate… I think that it was written for me. Despite my parents’ numerous efforts of trying to persuade me to become a doctor or engineer, I ended up in a hotel management college where I realised my passion was in cooking and that is where I find my peace and my language of expression.

I trained at places like Centaur Hotel Delhi, Le-Meridian Delhi and Hilton New Delhi but professionally started working in 1998 as a chef in India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, where I was the only female chef among the team of 104 male chefs or colleagues. It was a tough fight to start with, but I gave my heart and soul to prove my mettle and secure my place in their hearts and the team.

The family has always been important during my 26-year career. Initially, it just started as a basic job to earn money and support the family financially, but then with time the passion deepened and the hunger to prove and make myself better and better kicked in. Also, I was very influenced by my friends and colleagues finding work abroad, so when I told my mother she said I think you should give it a try – that is how I came to the UK. After marriage, my husband supported me in my career and profession. 

What do you eat at home?

My favourite food is simple Indian lentil and rice with vegetables – in India we call it dal chawal and sabji. 

Who is the best chef in the world and why?

My personal favourite chef Vikas Khanna, due to many reasons like his simplicity and originality, the way he humbly relates to food, culture and emotions. No one does it better, he produces spectacular masterpieces with the basic ingredients.

Is the customer always right?

It is a tricky question, and the answer depends on the situation – there is no black and white because our main motto is to keep the guests happy, we try and make the scenario right for them. As a team we try and ensure every guest who walks through our door has a good time and walks out with a happy face. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I loved the rice and choley that were prepared at traditional Indian weddings 

Food heaven and food hell?

An ideal service begins with everything and everyone in place: deliveries are on time, the team is fully prepared with mise en place ready, and a full house of reservations awaits. This creates the perfect environment to focus on guest satisfaction. If even one of these elements is missing it can make things chaotic as it is harder to concentrate on delivering a seamless experience to guests.

Having all these components aligned allows us to provide the level of service that keeps guests happy and coming back.

Share a cooking tip?

Keep your knives sharp and tools clean. 

What’s the most unusual thing you have eaten?

The most unique thing I tried was rabri ka parantha [the traditional Indian snack flavoured with thickened condensed milk, cardamom, saffron, and nuts] in Chandni Chowk, Delhi in the paranthe waali gali. It was just magical to even see it take shape with rabri being in soft, semi-liquid form held and rolled in solid dough – a real art! The chef was making 20 different varieties of paranthas, it was scrumptious. 

If you weren’t a chef what will you be?

If I had not become a chef, I would have been a pilot. It was my dream to fly high… although I still am – but just with my imagination.

Its always wonderful to have friends and family that have a hobby or interest that you can buy them gifts for! My wife always used to love owls and as such I’d bought her all manner of owl bits and pieces over the years – and gardeners are no doubt recipients of similar garden-related trinkets! However, rather than buying them something they don’t need, how about taking in my suggestions for some ideal tools and other garden paraphernalia items to put a smile on their faces this year Christmas time?

Gardening Gear

For years, finding trousers that could withstand hard outdoor winter tasks while offering flexibility felt impossible – until I tried Genus’ 3-Season Gardening Trousers. These have been a total game-changer.
The design is packed with clever features, like the adjustable, waterproof knee pads, which let you kneel or crouch without a second thought, and a waterproof seat panel, ensuring you can sit comfortably anywhere without worrying about a damp behind!
With numerous, spacious pockets tough enough to carry secateurs and all sorts of gardening tools, these trousers handle any task you throw at them. Durable, flexible, and reliable, they’ve made garden work a breeze. Available at genus.gs, priced from £139.99

Sowing Seeds of Love

Though not essential, a seed tamper is a wonderful addition to any potting bench and makes a unique gift for gardeners. This handy tool helps ensure successful germination by pressing seeds gently into the compost, maximizing their contact with the soil surface.
Handmade from sturdy oak and finished with oil, these tampers are built to last and bring a touch of craftsmanship to gardening tasks. Whether you’re an avid gardener or know someone with a green thumb, a seed tamper is both practical and charming. Available from Creamore.co.uk, they start at just £8, making them an affordable treat.

Beautiful Watering Can

Not all watering cans are created equal, and this one proves that! Sure, you could pick one up at any standard DIY store, but why not invest in something truly special – like the Bearwood Brook from Haws in the one-gallon green model?
Made right here in the UK – in fact, they’re based in the Midlands quite close to where I live – Haws watering cans have become a classic, gracing prestigious shows like the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Crafted from galvanized steel and powder-coated to resist corrosion, this watering can is built to last. It’s a perfect choice for personal use or as a thoughtful gift. Available at haws.co.uk, £70. Larger sizes also offered.

Reliable Trowel

A gardener simply can’t go without a good trowel – it’s the backbone of planting sessions, whether for plug plants or setting in those 9cm garden centre pots. A quality hand trowel is essential, and my top pick is the Kent and Stowe Capability Trowel.
Named after the famed gardener Capability Brown, who believed everything could be improved, this tool offers much more than basic digging. Its serrated edge tackles weeding effortlessly, the measuring gauge helps ensure perfect planting depth and the hammer tip on the handle is ideal for securing canes. Durable and versatile, it’s a trusty addition to any garden kit. Available at gardenhealth.com with prices from £12.99.

Glorious Gloves

A trustworthy pair of gardening gloves is essential when working through all weather conditions, and time and again I’ve found myself reaching for Burgon and Ball’s range. Among their options, the Dig The Glove and Love The Glove lines are perfect for winter gardening, providing just the right combination of flexibility and protection.
These gloves allow full movement of hands and fingers, making tasks easy while keeping your hands warm and dry, even in damp soil or chilly air. Comfortable and sturdy, they’re an invaluable companion in winter gardens. Explore the selection at burgonandball.com, starting from £17.49 – a worthwhile investment for any gardener braving the elements.

If we weren’t constrained by a word count, it would read, ‘Tropea is perfect. Do yourself a favour and go.’ We do have a word count, so prepare for some gushing.

Firstly, the place is effortlessly cool while simultaneously feeling cosy – no mean feat. The focus is on being a great local restaurant. The vibe is chilled, the staff are brilliant and the food is utterly superb. Small plates are where it’s at and the restaurant recommends six to seven between two. We happily did as we were told while tucking into a carafe of Italian white.

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

Among multiple contenders, the food is the star of the show. Focaccia with sundried tomato and rosemary was perfection – think crunchy salty crust with a light soft middle. Arancino stuffed with butternut squash, sage and oozing provolone cheese was ridiculously good. Burrata served at the ideal temperature achieved peak creaminess and was elevated further with a grilled red pepper sauce, basil oil, hazelnuts and a sprinkling of sea salt. Gnocchi with gorgonzola, confit sweet red onion and walnut silenced us – that’s all you need to know.

MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH

Tagliatelle with shredded duck white wine ragu served with a hefty handful of parmesan prompted child-like cooing and a Tuscan ribollita – cavolo nero and white bean stew with chunky croutons – was dreamy. Melt-in-the-mouth pork cheek braised in sofrito and orange with a potato rosti and savoy cabbage cooked in wine completed the savoury line-up beautifully. Dessert was a toss-up between tiramisu, canoli and pannacotta. Tiramisu with two spoons won – a fittingly delicious end to a top-notch lunch.

Tell us about your cooking

Being born and raised in Naples, I am deeply connected to my Southern Italian heritage, so my cooking is filled with Mediterranean traditions, but with a twist and a touch of innovation. I love bold and contrasting flavours, using an array of spices and rich sauces like ragù and béchamel.
Naturally I love working with our fantastic suppliers at Big Mamma – having such excellent Italian produce is always such a privilege, while pairing them with seasonal British ingredients to elevate a simple Italian dish is very interesting. These classic recipes with fun additions are something we have tried to create at La Bellezza – such as our homemade pici served in a rich, but spiced lamb and San Marzano ragu.

How did you become a chef?

My culinary journey began at the age of eight, thanks to my grandmother. She invited me into the kitchen to help prepare family meals, immersing me in every aspect of the process and igniting my curiosity about cooking. By the time I was 13 my passion for the kitchen was blossoming, leading me to apply to a culinary school. I moved to Tuscany, where I learned many of the techniques I still use today. My greatest influences have undoubtedly been my grandmother and a few pioneering chefs who made their mark on television, such as Antonino Cannavacciuolo. During my summer jobs in Naples, I had the privilege of learning from true masters who taught me the art of pizza dough making. These mentors not only imparted their culinary skills but also instilled in me the dedication, commitment, and patience required in the kitchen – qualities that are essential, especially when you consider that pizza dough can take up to 36 hours to rise!

What do you eat at home?

Pasta, pasta, pasta! In all its shapes! There’s nothing quite like a rich ‘pasta al forno’ to get cosy in the winter. One of my absolute favourites is Pasta alla Genovese. This dish holds a special place in my heart, but it requires a significant amount of time to prepare, so often it is best made on a relaxed Sunday as the perfect lunch to enjoy with friends and family.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana is a chef I admire hugely. He is always evolving and remains at the forefront of the culinary world as a true pioneer, not just within Italian cuisine but globally. I also have great respect for Luke Tipping. While I haven’t yet had the chance to dine at Simpsons, I deeply admire his work and would love to experience his cooking.

Share a cooking tip

I have never shared this before, it’s a treasured family secret! But to make her version of Genovese, my grandmother added a pinch of baking soda to make the onions creamier. This little trick not only enhances the texture but also elevates the overall flavour.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Pizza has always been my favourite! I could never say no to a classic Margherita topped with mozzarella di bufala and plenty of fresh basil.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is all about pizza and pasta. Hell is when Italian recipes are misinterpreted or distorted. I love when people embrace Italian cooking, but you really do need to stick to traditions. Take carbonara, for example, it’s all about those simple, wonderful ingredients: guanciale, eggs, Pecorino Romano, and black pepper. When people toss in chicken and heavy cream, it might make for a creamy dish but it totally misses that authentic vibe.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Probably crickets in Mexico!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A career that involves working closely with people. Being surrounded by others is essential to my ideal job. I thrive in environments where I can connect, collaborate, and create memorable experiences, much like I do in the kitchen.

Featuring 100′s of gift ideas, our guide is packed with presents for your favourite people. We’ve included web addresses to make your research easy, but where possible we urge you to get out and shop in person – retailers will welcome your support, plus the city is a festive feel-good treat right now, so make the most of it. Here’s just a taste of what’s on offer….Happy Christmas!
1 Brindleyplace print £50, Brumhaus, brumhaus.uk/products/brindleyplace-classic-palette

12 James T Smith ceramics from £25, Seventh Circle Artworks and Aesthetics, svnthcrcl.com

31 Erdingtonia, Thirteen Days Before Referendum (2024) by Tereza Bušková – a beautiful digital print with gold leaf hand screen printed overlay, in an edition of only 13. Signed and numbered by the artist £400, Ikon Gallery, shop.ikon-gallery.org

33 YES BAB gold necklace £95, Punks and Chancers, punksandchancers.co.uk

39 Membership of Birmingham Botanical Gardens from £30, birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk

44 Potterne vase £79, Neptune Edgbaston, neptune.com

45 Normann Copenhagen fem bowl £70, Kin Edgbaston, kinstore.co.uk

72 The Belfry’s 1960 gin £65, available to buy at reception, The Belfry, thebelfry.com

76 Alliance Coeurs embellished 9kt gold ring £2,795, Harvey Nichols, harveynichols.com

Tell us about your cooking

My culinary journey reflects a profound connection to mother nature, respect for top quality produce and commitment towards the art of cooking. I truly believe that if you cook with the best ingredients, you’ll produce the best dish and provide a great culinary experience. My dishes are clean, modern, light and fresh and I like to use techniques that will extract maximum flavour from the key ingredients. Knowing where produce comes from is important to me – where possible I like to source ingredients locally.

How did you become a chef?

I was born in Mumbai and my earliest food memories were visiting the coastal town of Mangalore each summer. We used to cook fresh fish on the BBQ and were surrounded by lush green paddy fields filled with cocoa, vanilla, and peppercorn trees. It was a family effort to harvest all these ingredients and it was here I found my passion for fresh, high-quality and seasonal produce. My mother had a huge influence on my decision to pursue cooking as a career. I have fond memories of her cooking delicious dishes at home from humble ingredients.

After moving to the UK, I completed a degree in hospitality and have now worked in the industry for 21 years. I first joined D&D Group in 2009, working as a chef de partie at London’s La Pont de la Tour. I trained under Lee Bennet, who is currently global culinary director for the Gordon Ramsay Group. I honed my craft under chef Lee, also moving to Singapore with him to learn about Asian cooking styles.

I completed stints in restaurants and hotels in Singapore and Mumbai, before moving back to London and re-joining D&D in 2022. I ran restaurants including German Gymnasium, Skylon and returned to Le Pont de la Tour, before moving to the West Midlands to take up the role of executive chef at Orelle.

What do you eat at home?

Simple meals based on rice, pulses, and legumes. I do a lot of fermentation at home, including cultured milk, kombucha and fermented savoury crepes, which are really good for your gut. I love to bake my own breads at home, I have had a sourdough bread culture for over 12 years that I’ve preserved, I bring it along wherever I move.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I was very fortunate to work alongside chef Jason Atherton who has achieved the pinnacle in culinary gastronomy and currently holds two Michelin stars. I also admire my mentor chef Lee Bennett – we still travel around trying new restaurants together today. I think the best chef in Birmingham is Luke Tipping from Simpsons. I was lucky enough to cook for him at Orelle and he welcomed me to Birmingham. It was great to chat to him about the region’s food scene.

Share a cooking tip

Brine your meat or fish to improve the flavour and texture. Make up a brine using a 10:1 ratio (1litre water to 100g salt) and then you can add flavours such as garlic, spices or strong herbs like thyme or rosemary. Another important tip is to taste everything!

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Mum’s home cooked Sunday roast lunches were part of childhood. We used to have savoury crepes, chicken curries, seafood and rice pudding. I also have fond memories of her preserving delicious jams and jellies and making sorbet or ice cream.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is a dish cooked with the simplest and freshest of ingredients. Hell is anything with mock meats – to me plant-based diets should be made of ingredients in their freshest forms.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Bugs in Thailand. It’s a delicacy there, so I had to try them. I also had cod sperm on my tasting menu in Singapore.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I couldn’t think of being anything but a chef!

Matthew Brotherson responded to a call out for Birmingham City University (BCU) students and faculty members to enter a competition to create a piece of artwork that would be displayed in the communal space of Grainger’s new Silver Yard development in Exchange Square. The call out came from his tutors over the summer, of which Matthew says: “I didn’t have much of a plan for how I’d be spending the summer, but I figured that I might as well give it a go. I had nothing to lose.”

The brief sparked by a collaboration between BCU and developer, Grainger asked artists to create a piece of artwork which visually portrayed the question, what does Birmingham mean to you? Matthew began by making random shapes on Adobe Illustrator not adding faces to them at that point. He says because he doesn’t drive, his journey to and from BCU allowed him to observe many unique faces. He says: “Each night I would work on the piece adding some faces. I just used black lines, carefully adjusting the thickness of each line to create depth in the features because it created an amazing contrast against the orange hues of the shapes.”

ICONIC BULL

Matthew is born and bred in Birmingham and used the piece to celebrate the wonderful diversity of our city while using the shape of the famous bull as inspiration. He says: “I took the facial features I’d collected and placed these features onto the iconic statue’s face, making each one unique. So, the overall theme of my piece was diversity.” Matthew submitted a smaller version of his work along with a synopsis for the original judging process.

The judging panel consisted of award-winning Birmingham artist and creative director at Rebel Creatives, Amrit Singh as well as Fiona McDonald, head of Onboarding, and Lewis Morris, senior resident services manager at Grainger, plus Dr Jemma Browne, head of Birmingham School of Architecture and Design at BCU.

Given the calibre of submissions the judging panel expanded the scope of work to include two winners – Matthew and John Hall, exhibitions manager at BCU. The artists started liaising with the Grainger team to upscale the work and prepare it for the allocated space. Matthew recalls: “When I first received the e-mail to let me know I was a winner I couldn’t quite believe it and went straight to tell my mum who was over the moon. I could barely sleep I was so happy!”

On having his work displayed on this scale Matthew says it’s crazy: “To think that many people have seen my work blows my mind because although I’ve had small-scale exhibitions at BCU, I’ve never had a piece be in a building that isn’t connected to the university before. It’s been a very exciting time for me.”

VIP UNVEILING

Matthew says that long term he’d love to find a studio space to rent in Birmingham from which to create and sell his work. He says: “I am looking forward to exhibiting my works because I am now much more confident and proud of the art I create thanks to the Silver Yard Arts Project. Alternatively, I would love to be commissioned by a well-known company to create something for their brand. Whatever the case may be in the future, I hope that when people see my art, it evokes the same kind of inspiring feeling that I experience when I see others’ work.”

The winning artwork was revealed at a VIP unveiling held at the Silver Yard for residents, family and friends, fellow students and local stakeholders, to celebrate the winners’ achievements. Lewis Morris, resident services manager at the Silver Yard said: “As our second development in Birmingham, we wanted to try something new to really celebrate the city within our newest development. Working closely with Birmingham City University and their talented pool of budding art students, we had so many amazing entries that we picked not one but two winners, in our aim to support talented up-and-coming artists. We are pleased the artworks now have pride of place in our amenity spaces for our residents to enjoy.”

Other than a pre-show glass of fizz, we’re newbies to the restaurant. Floor to ceiling windows offer up a gorgeous view of Centenary Square and the décor is devoid of chintz in favour of simplicity and modernity which sums up the place actually. It’s not fancy in the best of ways.

The menu’s succinct and appealing – fuss free food done well we hoped. Brunch is served all day which felt very civilised. We veered from our usual eggs benedict in favour of a punchier chorizo harissa version of the classic. Toasted ciabatta, spinach, mushrooms, chunks of chorizo and two perfectly poached eggs with pimped up hollandaise sauce hit the spot. At £12 it’s reasonable too.

In a city spoilt for choice in the burger genre the Bostin Brum Burger was okay – two smashed patties, sesame seed bun, great burger sauce, pickles, onion and lettuce served with fries for £14.50. It wasn’t bad at all, just don’t expect Meatshackers or OPM. However, the unexpected star of this show were the loaded fries which we ordered as an extra – don’t judge. A generous portion of crunchy fries, covered in the kind of nacho cheese sauce you want to hate, but would bathe in if you could, teamed with a sticky sweet BBQ sauce and crisp Southern fried chicken fillets was superb. At £8.50 it was a steal.

Situated in Symphony Hall, B:Eats isn’t the first spot that springs to mind unless you’re visiting the venue for another reason, but it’s worth popping on your radar particularly as the chaos of the German market gets going. Rather than spending a small fortune on sub-standard street food (bah humbug), you’ll do well to fuel up on a tasty plate of loaded fries before entering the fray. Happy Christmas!

When Jay visited, the dining room wasn’t the finished article, but when we popped in last month, it oozed minimal chic with creamy walls, wishbone chairs and gold details. Some reviewers have claimed the restaurant’s not finished and there’s artwork still to be hung, but we reckon it’s intentional minimalist perfection.

On that theme, they’ve kept things small in the menu department too. The wine list’s short but includes enough to satisfy – a Sicilian Rosato hit the spot – and the menu is succinct. We ate from the lunch listing (£38 for three courses). There’s a tasting option if you really want to sample the Cuubo magic (£75).

We kicked things off with onion soup. It sounds dull but was anything but – creamy, smooth and moreish with genius additions like burnt sourdough crumbs adding an intense toasted flavour as well as pine nuts and a healthy dose of chopped chives which enhanced the onion flavour. It’s wonderful and we don’t say that lightly.

Rich, unctuous pork belly with skin ranking high on the crunch scale served with bacon cream, punchy nduja oil and a zingy fennel salad was a treat. Dan’s spent time at Simpsons so we knew standards would be high, but still, we were blown away at this point.

A beautifully cooked cod fillet was served with borlotti beans, tomato, courgette, a nduja sauce packed with heat and flavour finished with herb oil impressed, as did a brilliant beef dish. Braised slowly, the meat was so tender it was falling apart wrapped in a Romaine lettuce leaf served with a deep, glossy beef sauce, sweet shallots, bacon and creamy potato straight from the top drawer.

Dessert is not my thing but the other half convinced me to order one so he could try two. He didn’t get much of a look in as a dish of chilled lemon custard with salted ricotta rice cream with little gems of pistachio, biscuit and a tang of fennel was unbelievable. The other half polished off a superbly rich chocolate delice with almond, sweet poached pear and a fresh yogurt sorbet.

I’m not sure what we expected but it wasn’t this despite having read Jay’s review. If you live in Harborne, well done you. If you don’t, it’s worth the journey. We’d travel a significant distance for food this great.

So… who knew Morris dance was a tradition going back 75 years in Brum? No neither did we, but a chat with the crew at Jockey Morris soon set us straight. The club is celebrating its special landmark this year in the only way it knows how – with a special dance event in Birmingham city centre on 12 October with guests attending from across the Midlands. And as the club’s Squire (that’s Chair to the rest of us) Peter Austin says: “Having lots of fun, too.”

Jockey Morris was formed in 1949 and has represented dancing and the city of Birmingham in places as far flung as France, Flanders, Cyprus, Holland and Germany, as well as nearer to home here in the UK. “We like to keep our national folk tradition alive both at home and abroad,” explained Peter.

The club’s founder Gwen Johnson was a member of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), and she formed Jockey Morris after becoming unimpressed with the standard of Morris Dancing in general and in Birmingham in particular. Inspiration for the club’s name came from Jockey Road, Sutton Coldfield where Gwen lived. The distinctive rosettes worn on members’ kits are taken from the Sutton Rose motif and the Blue Baldricks are from the colour associated with the City of Birmingham.

ALL AGES

You may think that Morris dancing is only associated with the period around May Day. You’d be totally wrong, as it’s a form of dance that’s practiced, perfected and performed all year round. You may also be under the misapprehension that it appeals to a certain (more mature) age group. Again wrong! Jockey Morris has members from all walks of life from students and professionals, right up to a sprightly 80-year-old. Peter said: “If you can walk, we can teach you to dance!”

Jockey Morris practice all year round on Friday evenings at Highgate Baptist Church, in Conybere Street. “After exerting ourselves in an energetic way for a couple of hours or so we then usually retire to the Lamp Tavern on Barford Street to refresh our weary bodies,” Peter added. While the dancing is key with ‘routines’ dating back many centuries, the social side is also important.
Of his own background, Peter explained: “I’d always enjoyed folk music and when I came to work in Birmingham, I was looking for a social activity that appealed to my musical background and which was on a Friday night so I could unwind for the weekend ahead, and just have fun. I discovered Jockey Morris and have loved it ever since.”

ALL WELCOME

There are more than 600 Morris teams in the UK with nearly 18,000 members. As with all forms of dance, there are numerous traditional steps and performances to learn and follow, but that doesn’t mean Morris is rigid. “At Jockey, we’ve added our own and I’ve even written some dances myself,” said Peter, who also serves as secretary to one of the national Morris dancing organisations.
Brummies will get the chance to see Jockey Morris celebrate its 75 years in style this month with anniversary performances around the city centre, including at New Street station and outside the library. Go watch them in action, and you may just be tempted to join Jockey yourself. As Peter says: “Everyone is welcome. It should be a great day.”

Tell us about your cooking

I use a traditional Brazilian gaucho style of cooking – selecting different cuts of fresh and succulent meat which is then seasoned and slowly roasted over a charcoal fire.

How did you become a chef?

When I was 18, I started working in a restaurant and fell in love with the Brazilian gaucho style through watching a chef prepare this type of cuisine. I worked in several restaurants with different chefs and learned a little from each one.

What do you eat at home?

Everyone in my house loves eating a variety of meat and fish. We try to sit down as a family as much as we can to enjoy eating together.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

It’s impossible to pick just one! I believe that each chef has their own essence and their own way of preparing food that creates something special and unique.

Is the customer always right?

Yes! But there are some exceptions…

Share a cooking tip

Don’t be afraid of seasoning your meat well – there’s nothing worse than a bland, tasteless steak! It’s also very important to take care of the temperature of the meat so that it comes out succulent, tasty and cooked to preference.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Definitely a good lasagne

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Fish soup with milk

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

An electrical engineer

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

Picanha asada a su punto – a cut of steak with fat that melts in your mouth.

We’ve seen the before shots and what dynamic duo Sarah Robinson and Bex Wilkins achieved in just eight weeks of renovation is staggering. The vibe is classic country pub inside with the prettiest of gardens outside. Business is booming, probably helped along by the garden and sunshine colliding.

We sat inside – it was too hot outside – and as we visited on a Sunday the menu’s a bit different to the usual lunch menu. Devon crabcakes from the specials menu kicked things off in great style – crisp outer and generous on the crab served with a squeeze of lemon and a punchy shellfish mayonnaise. A delicious mackerel pâté included some chunks of mackerel rather than a completely smooth affair which we loved. Served with a contrasting pickled cucumber and crunchy sourdough toast, it’s one to shout about.

A full-on roast beef with all the trimmings on one of the hottest days of the year might have been misguided, but to call this beauty a mistake would be wrong. The Aubrey Allen beef rump was pink and delicious accompanied by a big yorkie, crunchy roast potatoes, a generous slug of rich gravy, some greens and glazed carrots. We ordered a side of cauliflower cheese which we thoroughly recommend.
A more summery, perfectly pan-fried bream with new potatoes, green beans and a zingy chive butter sauce hit the spot too while a shared chocolate delice with honeycomb finished lunch on a sweet high.

In truth, the place is the kind of local you dream about. Customers are greeted like old friends and the place is buzzing with a mixed bag of people – families with babies, groups of mates, couples, the odd local propping up the bar. Everyone’s welcome and the impressive food and drink are the icing on the cake. Bravo!

Yoga has seen a massive uplift in the UK over recent years with the industry now estimated to generate a revenue of more than £895million in 2023. This huge growth has been built on the many associated health benefits of yoga that include improved flexibility, building muscle strength, improved bone health, lowering blood sugar levels, increasing your blood flow and helping your circulation, especially in your hands and feet.

But have you heard of Hot Yoga? Incorporating everything yoga stands for – mindfulness, balance of body and spirit, alleviation of stress and anxiety; along with the detoxifying benefits of the added heat, the rewards of hot yoga are countless.

IT’S NOT JUST PHYSICAL

Great for beginners as well as experienced yogis, hot yoga – carrying out yoga in the heat – is designed to stretch and strengthen muscles through a sequence of static asana (postures) which leave you feeling stronger, renewed, and flexible. The heat enables joints and muscles to loosen and open up, allowing an increased range of movement while cleansing your body from within.
Increased sweat improves circulation and increases oxygen-rich blood to your skin cells, providing you with a post-yoga glow. Sweating from exercise can actually reverse signs of ageing from a cellular level. The positive impact means your skin can produce more collagen, better hydration and less sagging.

Working out in a hot room is will also mean your heart and lungs work a little harder giving your respiration, heart rate and metabolism a boost. There is also some early evidence to suggest that yoga can improve brain health and aspects of brain function like cognition, attention and processing speed.

REDUCE SEVERE DEPRESSION

A new study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in the US, also found that regular hot yoga classes are an effective treatment for symptoms of depression. The study showed that 44 per cent of adults who participated in at least two hot yoga classes per week had seen such a dramatic improvement in symptoms that they were no longer classed as clinically depressed.

HOTPOD YOGA

If you haven’t tried hot yoga yet, there’s a super cool new addition to the yoga family that may just appeal. Hotpod Yoga was launched in 2013 by yoga teacher Nick and strategy consultant Max with a simple ambition to create a yoga experience like no other – one that turned up the dials to new levels, including calming scents, glowing lights and relaxing beats as well as the heat.
Fusing innovative design and intricate detailing, it’s basically doing yoga in a specially designed pod that’s heated to 37℃, and since its launch nearly 500,000 people have taken part in classes across more than 50 locations in the UK. And it’s now arrived in Brum!

SCIENCE BEHIND THE SWEAT

While yoga is a fairly low intensity form of exercise, the heat of the Pod raises your body temperature. By mimicking the effects of a more intense physical activity, it increases your heart rate, providing a challenge for your cardiovascular system. More so than unheated yoga. And, of course, regular cardiovascular exercise equals a healthy heart.

The fact that it takes much less time in the heat to loosen up those muscles, is one of the big benefits of hot yoga, allowing you to get to those deeper stretches sooner.

Tell us about your cooking

My style is simple, fresh ingredients done in a street food style. It’s traditional Vietnamese street food, but with a British twist. Food has always been big in my family and recipes have been passed down through the generations. However, the food at Seafood City is all about diving right in, putting your bib aprons on and getting your hands messy so that you can enjoy seafood in an unpretentious way, enjoying the riches of the sea in the simplest way possible. 

How did you become a chef?

I kind of fell into cooking. I worked in front of house for a while then took a job in the kitchen at District One in Putney in London which is a Vietnamese street food restaurant. I just fell in love with cooking. I’d always loved eating and trying different flavour combinations, but when I experienced life in the kitchen my eyes were opened. It was always dynamic – the early morning shifts baking bao buns and fresh baguettes, the marinating, grilling and brining of the meat for maximum tenderness and flavour. It was exciting! 

What do you eat at home?

Mainly Vietnamese food – I just love it or an Indian curry.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

The best chef in the world is Jamie Oliver. A British guy taking on another country’s cuisine is brave and some might not agree with the authenticity, but I appreciate adapting to suit a market. I can’t say the best chef in Birmingham, but the restaurant I love more than any other is Ken Ho next to the Hippodrome. The service is – let’s say – not amazing, but the food is 10 out of 10.

Is the customer always right?

No. If you want to please everyone, you please no one. You have to be confident and think ‘this is what we offer. This is our food’. 

Share a cooking tip

Use the freshest ingredients you can.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Banh Mi which is essentially a French baguette – there’s a lot of French influence in Vietnam. The baguette is filled with pate, ham, pickled carrot, mayo. The flavour profile is spot on. The way the ham is marinated, the pickled tones. It’s amazing. Try it!

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is a well-made traditional Balti curry with fresh naan. Hell is anything bland with no flavour.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

On a trip to Vietnam, I ate a beating snake’s heart in vodka. It just tasted of vodka and slipped straight down.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A stand-up comedian. I like instant feedback, so I think that would be good.

Tell us about your cooking

For me, it’s all about showing respect for the ingredients. Before the products came to me, someone had to work very hard to produce them. It’s about showing respect not just for the ingredients but also for their producers. I like to mix different styles of cooking, pick different ingredients from the places I travel to and just experiment. Ultimately, it’s about well-balanced food packed with flavour.

How did you become a chef?

It all started when I was 14-years-old and I knew I would need to know how to cook to fend for myself once I moved out of my parents’ home. Little did I know I was about to find my passion for the culinary world and become addicted to it. Understanding the hard work that goes into each product to achieve the best always fascinated me. That’s how it all started for me, watching my grandparents sustainably grow and nurturing every crop to provide for themselves and the family back in Portugal. Such a childhood opened the doors to creativity which led to exciting new beginnings.

I went through culinary school in Portugal and worked in diverse places to discover what route I wanted to follow. Fine dining was always in the background of what I wanted to do. When I moved to England to do my degree in Culinary Arts Management at University College Birmingham, I came across some great opportunities in the fine dining world. Places like The Wilderness and Opheem were probably the highlights until I started to work at Soko Patisserie.

What do you eat at home?

I like to vary – anything like curry, stir fry or some good traditional Portuguese dishes. A cheeky Ramen and sushi Deliveroo once in a while. I always keep some ice cream in my freezer.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

There are too many great chefs in the world that I look up to. Currently, for me in the patisserie world, I would have to say one of them is Amaury Guichon. In Birmingham, I can’t answer that – but in Portugal, no one beats my grandma’s or mother’s cooking. However, I will have to mention my pastry mentor Bharat Chandegra with his work ethic and amazing products.

Share a cooking tip

Always season your ice creams or ganaches with a bit of salt. Salt is a flavour enhancer and trust me it will make all the difference in the world.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I wouldn’t be a good Portuguese if I didn’t say a good Pastel de Nata. However, eating a freshly picked tomato from my nan’s farm with a sprinkle of salt with my sister every summer will always be a fond memory of my childhood.

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven – Petiscos! Portuguese tapas on a late afternoon with a nice chilled bottle of white wine with a table full of friends and family. Food hell – Anything that involves Marmite!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Not so unusual in Portugal, but one of my favourites would be chicken gizzards slow-cooked with beer, wine and port and loads of piri-piri and aromatics. A nice cold beer to go with that, please.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I don’t see myself doing anything else apart from being a chef! I think it’s something that just runs in my blood and will always be something that will influence my life. But if not that, maybe the next Cristiano Ronaldo… haha!

Give a nice easy recipe for our readers to make at home using those lingering items in the store cupboard

This recipe is one of my all-time Portuguese favourite desserts and super easy to do at home. It’s called Leite de Crème and consists of a nice Portuguese custard that you can flavour with anything. Make sure to caramelise the top with some Demerara sugar for that extra texture.

To make Leite de Crème, you will need:

• 1,000g whole milk
• 170g caster sugar
• 40g cornflour
• 120g liquid egg yolk
• 2 vanilla pods

Bring the milk with the vanilla pods to a boil (scrape the pods). Mix the sugar with the egg yolk and cornstarch. Add a bit of milk into the mix while mixing to temper the mix. Pour everything back into the pan and cook it until it thickens and the flavour from the cornstarch is gone. Leave in the fridge to set. Sprinkle some sugar on top and pass the blowtorch to caramelise the sugar.

Happy eating!

Whether you’re a fan of folk or your introduction to Katherine Priddy was her haunting appearance on Later… with Jools Holland, you’re about to see and hear more of her. Katherine will be performing at Moseley Folk and Arts Festival in August with an hour-long set on the main stage featuring tracks from her new album, The Pendulum Swing plus some older tunes. Of the festival Katherine says: “It’s a great event with big family vibes and a home crowd for me. It feels like the last hurrah of the summer. It’s special.”

Katherine’s debut album, The Eternal Rocks Beneath was released in 2021 to much critical acclaim with a five-star review in Songlines and radio play on BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 as well as topping the official UK folk chart. The second album, The Pendulum Swing recorded in Birmingham by Simon J Weaver was a different experience from the first.

Katherine says: “With the first album there were no expectations and no time constraints. The songwriting has matured, it’s more personal. Sound-wise, it’s bigger with a broader spectrum of instrumentation – cinematic I’d say.” Covid lockdowns in some way inspired The Pendulum Swing. Katherine lost all her work, moved back in with her parents and was living off savings. She says: “I was torn between desperately wanting to move out and treasuring that time. Pendulum Swing is perhaps about the urge to leave and the urge to stay – striking that balance.”

PINCH ME

Over the last couple of years Katherine has enjoyed some ‘pinch me’ moments. She played at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms accompanied by the BBC concert orchestra as well as performing on the acoustic stage at Glastonbury. She has performed in Australia, the US and Holland and appeared as a special guest at Guy Garvey’s show at the Roundhouse. Guy has been a champion of Katherine’s music since the get-go, giving her airplay on his BBC 6 Music show, so much so that Katherine recently received an e-mail asking her to perform at an Elbow gig at Ludlow Castle which she describes as ‘amazing’.

Katherine performed a gorgeous version of A Boat On the River from the new album on Later… with Jools Holland which we thoroughly recommend watching on catch up. She says it was ‘utterly terrifying’ adding: “It’s a prestigious thing. I always watched Hootenanny with my family, so it was quite bizarre being there and talking to Jools. There aren’t many opportunities for folk musicians to get that kind of exposure.”

GAME CHANGER

Talking of exposure, social media has been a game changer, but Katherine is keen to keep things authentic. She says: “Whether we like it or not it’s a big part of being a musician. The way to deal with it is to bend it to suit you. Keep it personal – genuine. It’s a brilliant way to reach a global audience which wouldn’t have been an option before social media. Just do it on your terms.” Katherine’s manager is her best friend – someone she trusts completely which she says is a ‘wonderful’ arrangement.

Birmingham has always been home and of the city Katherine says: “I love it. Some of my friends have moved to London to get into music but I don’t think it’s necessary anymore. You can do so much from wherever you are now. Birmingham has a great scene. The Kitchen Garden Café is the perfect size when you’re starting out, as well as the Hare and Hounds. The open mic nights at The Yardbird were great – it’s sadly not there anymore. The city and the culture are encouraging and supportive.”

Katherine’s dream gig would have been headlining Union Chapel except she’s just ticked that off the bucket list, so next up would be her own show at Symphony Hall which she says would be ‘great’. Also, a duet with local legend Robert Plant would be Katherine’s ultimate collaboration. Robert – if you’re reading this…

Far from the American diner blandness is new kid on the block, Qavali which has popped up in its place and whose owners have transformed the restaurant into a dramatic, dark Indo-Persian restaurant with bags of charm.

They’ve kept the curved banquette seating and upholstered them in racing green as well as adding lots of striking art and greenery. Even the ladies loo has had the Qavali treatment with ornate basins and gorgeous taps. While the décor’s worth a look, the food and drink are the main draw.

We visited at lunchtime so stayed off the booze, but there are plenty of non-alcoholic options. We slurped a punchy little – and we mean thimble-sized – mocktail called Akbar and Alphonso. The combo of mango and ginger was a thing of beauty. If we’re being picky we’d increase the size slightly.

The menu is varied – yes, you’ll find your butter chicken and tikka faves but also more inventive dishes. First up the usual drill with papadums served with three chutneys – one heady with coriander, one spicy number and a sticky sweet version.

There’s a tempting Qavali Grand Platter for £94 which would be a great way to sample lots of dishes, but we refrained this time. Instead, we ate a starter of falafel which sounds simple, but not all falafels are equal apparently. We’ve eaten some dry, tasteless versions in the past, but these spheres were packed with flavour, herbs and a bit of heat served drizzled with yogurt with some truly great houmous on the side. We didn’t expect to be wowed by falafel but there you go.

Peshwari Chapli kebab, although nice, didn’t get us excited. The lamb tasted lamby and a zingy salad on the side was fresh and lively. Butter chicken on the other hand did get us excited. The sauce was an absolute triumph that we scooped up hungrily with a warm naan and then smothered on a Multani paneer tikka dish which was seriously good in its own right, but with the added sauce, perfection.

In truth, the place feels more suited to dinner than lunch – having said that the service was speedy so you could easily have a very good lunch in under an hour. It just feels like an after dark place in the best of ways – glamorous décor, great lighting and a well-stocked bar.

We’ll be back, there’s a platter with our name on it.

Tell us about your cooking

I’m really just about natural cooking that’s honest, not fussy and or too complicated. Things like cooking meat and fish on the bone. Cooking with three ingredients, but ingredients that are simple, really good quality ones. Easy-going and relatable food. I sometimes say I cook from the hip – I put great, simple ingredients in a pan and make it the best I can.

How did you become a chef?

I was a pot-wash at school and used to work evenings. I thought chefs were rockstars. I was quite fussy when I was younger and didn’t really eat very much of anything. But when I did start trying food, it really opened my eyes to what food was and it really interested me. It sparked my passion. I went on to study at University College Birmingham and had some great stages in places like Purnell’s and Simpsons before getting the chance to work under chef Lionel Levy at the Hotel InterContinental Marseille – Hotel Dieu. That was an amazing time and taught me a lot. As did Brad Carter. I wouldn’t be the chef I am today if it wasn’t for him, Glynn Purnell and Luke Tipping – Brummie chefs who I worked with early in my career. They inspired me when younger to go into fine dining and cooking came naturally. Now, I’m always cooking to the best of my ability.

What do you eat at home?

I do love a crumpet, so I’d like to make my own at some point. My favourite topping is scrambled egg. When eating out I love a good pub roast and a good curry.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Very difficult to answer, there are too many! Best in Brum, I can’t answer that – but they know who they are!

Share a cooking tip

If doing a one pot, poach chicken in stock. Remove when cooked and wrap in foil. Throw your veggies in to cook then remove. Reduce the sauce and add spices and then cook with noodles. Add everything back in and serve. Great for sharing and minimal washing-up.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I was very fussy. I pretty much lived off chips for most of my youth!

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven would be a custard slice and a whole pot of tea. Hell is Heinz baked beans.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Ants at Carters! Tasted great though… but they are ants!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Probably unemployed. There’s nothing else I would want to be doing! That said, I would have loved to have been a fighter pilot. Maybe, in my next life…

We hadn’t been to either the Harborne or Mere Green restaurants before, so thought it was time to pop along. We chose Harborne for no other reason than it’s closer, but as a chain the experience is presumably the same.

First up, the intriguing name has nothing to do with the food and is the nickname of one of Andy and Pranee’s children. Now grown-up, they no doubt shun the moniker, Giggling Squid. The décor is girlie and pretty – lots of faux blooms and pastels and a bit different to your average Thai restaurant – something Pranee wanted to achieve.

The menu is hefty and in the interest of trying as many dishes as possible – not because we’re greedy but for your benefit, you understand – we chose a series of small plates. We were in for a quick lunch and the small plates suited that. All the dishes arrived at the same time and fairly promptly.

The two seafood dishes were the stand-outs, with the One Bite Salmon dish in particular being superb. A mouthful of salmon with heady flavours of ginger, lemongrass, lime and chilli drizzled with a salty-sweet dressing wrapped in a betel leaf tasted just great. The other winner was a succulent Samui butterflied prawn dish with a delicious zingy citrus sauce.

Chicken satay was a bit underwhelming while duck spring rolls were tasty and a new caramelised pork belly dish achieved the perfect flavour trio of sweet, sour and heat. Giggling wings did what they said on the tin – sticky, sweet and meaty – while the Golden Money Bags were a hit, filled with Thai spiced chicken and plenty of herbs – particularly good when dunked in a sweet chilli sauce.

We regretted not ordering a zingy papaya salad to balance the richness and sweetness of the other dishes, so our advice would be to lose the satay in favour of something a bit fresher on the palate.

All-in-all, it’s a nice place – the environment is lovely, and the staff were enthusiastic and warm. There’s stiff competition for great Thai food in the city and while we might not travel for Giggling Squid, as a local restaurant it does the job sweetly.

After a somewhat wet spring, is summer finally here? Let’s hope so! Summer is that time of year when I like to think that we can sit back and start to enjoy the fruits of our labour, the flowers are blooming and your crops are getting bigger as the days go on. But if you’re itching to keep going (just like me) then here are a few things to be getting on with this month.

Fill gaps with luscious lilies

Elevate your garden borders effortlessly with bursts of instant colour by strategically placing pots of tall bulbs. Incorporate the simplicity of this technique as you fill those empty spaces with the vibrant blooms of fragrant lilies, gaps will be appearing and adding the odd pot or two here and there can improve a border effortlessly.

Imagine the delight of watching as these tall, graceful stems emerge from their pots, reaching towards the sky, decked with delicate yet show-stopping flowers. Scented lilies, with their captivating fragrance and elegant petals, are sure to charm the senses and become the focal point of your garden borders. What’s more, this approach is perfect for beginners, requiring minimal effort and expertise.

Simply select a variety of lily, plant them in pots, and position them cleverly in your borders to fill any gaps you find. With just a few pots of tall bulbs, you can easily breathe new life into spaces that would otherwise be empty. Lilies are a relatively new addition to our garden and I used to think they were old-fashioned but once you accept that they give you not only colour, but scent too then they’re a real winner.

Feed for maximum growth

Revitalise your garden with a seaweed-based garden feed. It’s a simple yet effective way to nourish your plants and promote lush growth. Just follow the instructions on the bottle to dilute the seaweed concentrate, then water it around the base of your plants. This natural solution is teeming with nutrients straight from the ocean, providing your garden with everything it needs to thrive.

Seaweed feed is suitable for all types of plants throughout the entire growing season. Not only does it enrich the soil, but it also boosts plant resilience against pests and diseases, ensuring a healthy garden year-round. What’s more, seaweed feed is environmentally friendly, making it a sustainable choice for gardeners who care about the planet. By incorporating this natural feed into your gardening routine, you can nurture your plants while minimising your environmental impact.

Its especially important to feed pots as over time, the benefits and nutrients added to the compost will wear thin and this additional feed with keep containers looking fresh, hopefully for the rest of the season.

A lawn to die for!

Keep your lawn looking its best with regular mowing sessions that are as easy as a walk in the park. As the summer sun shines bright, your lawn will practically grow before your eyes and some summers it’ll need a trim every week. But don’t feel like you need to turn it into a marathon! Break it down into manageable chunks, perhaps tackling a section at a time, making sure to maintain and even length across the whole space.

Remember, variety is the spice of life – or in this case, the key to a healthy lawn! While mowing regularly helps keep things tidy, leaving some parts wild adds a touch of natural beauty to your garden. Allow wildflowers to flourish in certain areas, providing a haven for pollinators and adding a splash of colour to your garden. Wildflower patches are actually notoriously tough to get going, but if you stick with it then you could create something really rather special.

How about it, will you keep ‘No Mow May’ going on into June too?

A brilliant orchestra? Yes, that’s a given but the Orchestra of the Swan is so much more. In addition to supporting local community projects, they’re also selling out venues, climbing the Classical Music charts and enjoying radio play on 6 Music and Radio 3, not to mention over 10 million digital streams globally.

CORE VALUES

Founded in 1995 and based at the Warwick Schools Foundation, the orchestra has always been committed to promoting accessibility and inclusivity. Believing in the therapeutic power of music, the orchestra delivers activities for people with dementia, visual impairment, PTSD and a range of mental health issues. They run a regular dementia friendly café as well as performing family concerts introducing young audiences to music in a relaxed and engaging way.

Under the artistic direction of David Le Page, this multi-faceted orchestra enjoys pushing boundaries, blending genres and popping up in venues you might not expect to see or hear an orchestra.

CREATIVE COLLABORATION

Their upcoming project, Bhangra Symphonica is a great example. The orchestra is collaborating with Bhangra rock band, Kissmet in a gig at Birmingham’s Town Hall which promises to be thrilling.

Founded by Ron and Buzz Singh, Kissmet’s sound reflects the brothers’ experience of growing up in multicultural Britain. Described as a fusion of the traditional Punjabi folk dance music, Bhangra and Rock, Kissmet’s influences include classical Hindi and Punjabi as well as The Clash and Led Zepellin. It’s rousing, uplifting and unique – a sound that might just make you weep in the very best of ways.

The combination of Bhangra and classical strings might sound a bit bonkers but it works. David says “As far as we are aware this remarkable collaboration is first of its kind! The creation of Bhangra Symphonica, blending two totally different musical genres is such an exhilarating experience which will challenge and excite us as artists and performers.”

Then there’s the Night Owl concerts that are intimate cabaret-style gigs more akin to jazz than the confines of classical performance. Creative lighting, staging and narration create a more rounded engaging experience. It’s innovative and unexpected, where audiences can expect to hear anything from Bach to Radiohead.

There’s also a new touring series called Swan Projects – the first of which titled Earthcycle focuses on the impact of climate change. It features Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as well as jazz, baroque and folk to keep audiences on their toes. In partnership with the Stratford Literary Festival, the orchestra has created a series of podcasts to accompany Earthcycle featuring environmental journalist George Monbiot and audio producer Madeleine Finlay. Along the same climate emergency theme, the orchestra has produced a Nurture Nature video aimed at primary schools, that tackle the topic in a creative age-appropriate way.

MODERN DAY MIXTAPE

Adapting to Covid, the orchestra began producing digital mixtapes which have been hugely successful and continue to gain critical acclaim and airplay. The mixtape albums which feature music ranging from Bowie to Bach have been nominated for Gramophone awards as well as achieving healthy streaming numbers. The albums are supported by seven themed digital concerts inventively staged aimed at contemporary audiences.

The orchestra performs in forty-five concerts per year collaborating with celebrated guest conductors and solo artists. This feeds into the desire and commitment to new work. The orchestra has worked with composers such as Roxanna Panufrik and Huw Watkins to produce over 70 premieres.

There’s a core of musicians that make up the regular orchestra plus administration staff and composers, musicians and artists who come in on a project-by-project basis. Partnering with local organisations such as Stratford Play House, Birmingham Conservatoire, the Armed Forces and Coventry University, music education is at the core of the orchestra’s ethos and a commitment to provide as many schools as possible with access to professional high-quality musical and performance experiences.

The orchestra runs at a financial loss despite Arts Council funding which is hard. Selling out the RSC helps of course, but more of that would be very welcome. While the orchestra is making a name for itself beyond the Midlands travelling isn’t easy particularly across Europe thanks to you know what which is frustrating. The digital output solves this problem in part but there’s nothing like live performance.

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking is totally inspired by my surroundings, I like to call it proper country food. We work really closely with our community of local farmers and estate owners and the menu is written around the best that each season has to offer – be that wild fallow shot a mile from the front door and skinned by my apprentice, or squirrel to help a local estate manage their woodland, world-class farmed meat supplied by our neighbours at Paddock Farm, who rear grass fed Herefords or Tamworth pigs that respectively graze and rout near the pub.

How did you become a chef?

I went to school in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds and started working in kitchens as a kitchen porter because it was warmer and better paid than my paper round! I really enjoyed the environment and went full-time after school in what was supposed to be a gap year before university. After initially ‘falling’ into the industry I came to the realisation that it had become a career that I would pursue. I spent time in South Africa which was a great source of inspiration to me – the restaurant at Le Quartier Francais had a distinctive style using local, sometimes unusual ingredients with a strong focus on the indigenous game. It made sense to highlight all the amazing produce available in the Cotswolds when we returned to England.

What do you eat at home?

Simple, seasonal dishes. My wife Solanche always says that when we first met l was working in an Italian restaurant and that it made me an attractive proposition… so I don’t stray too far from those early dishes!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I know and have eaten with a lot of the Birmingham chefs, so that’s a really tough one. I love eating at Carters, and obviously Aktar Islam has just become Birmingham’s first two Michelin-starred chef. My old sous chef John Bluck is head chef at Grace and Savour and very talented. And I’m really looking forward to eating with Ash and Erin at Riverine Rabbit in Stirchley soon. The best chef in the world is incredibly tough and personal. I think it depends on your mood, there are restaurants that can be inspiring and luxurious and those that are for family. Food can be so powerful and evocative, and for me, the best chef was my grandmother, or Pauline as she would have preferred to be known.

Share a cooking tip

Make a big batch of homemade wild garlic pesto and Aglio e Olio (garlic, chilli and parsley) and keep it in Kilner jars in the fridge under a little olive oil, the olive oil seals it and it will keep for months and is perfect fast food with dried pasta.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Dad’s self-proclaimed ‘poor man’s risotto’, which wasn’t a risotto as you know it now. It had long-grain rice cooked with the chicken carcass from the weekend roast and any vegetables we had to hand.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is my grandmother’s strawberry trifle. Hell would be smoked kippers, not great early in the mornings when I worked breakfast shifts in hotels.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I’ll eat almost anything, the strangest would definitely be reindeer penis at Restaurant Frantzen. It had been cured and grated as a seasoning, rather than a dish with texture thankfully.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

When I was at school we had a careers test which suggested a gamekeeper or working in conservation, both of which I would have definitely enjoyed. As a youngster living in the countryside, the outdoors was always attractive to me, helping my dad with odd jobs or beating for an informal shoot on the farm that we lived on the edge of.

Give us a nice easy recipe for our readers to make at home that makes use of those lingering items in the store cupboard.

We always seem to have a jar of lentils in the cupboard and lots of dried spices. Boil the lentils for 10 to 15 minutes until soft with a little bite, heat butter and oil sweat off an onion, garlic and chillies (or use chilli powder) add cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and garam masala. Add a tin of tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for a few minutes before adding the lentils and combining together and season with salt. If you have fresh coriander it’s even better.

We arrived to a joyful hubbub, lots of chatter and much laughter. Kicking off with the customary glass of prosecco – when in Rome and all that – we nibbled a bowl of plump green olives and a basket of Italian bread with a tangy sundried tomato paste and a rich olive tapenade. A nice start.

There are some dishes new for summer (ha), one of which blew our socks off – carpaccio of tuna. Wafer thin sashimi grade tuna with a zingy sesame and lime dressing, capers and chunks of sweet orange was delightful. Then an old favourite, a comforting spaghetti carbonara. A bowlful of smoky, cheesy, unctuous loveliness. What’s not to love?

A gnocchetti pasta melanzane e salsiccia – Sardinian style pasta (shaped like gnocchi hence the name) with an aubergine and sausage ragu was delicious. The sauce was a rich tomato number with a big hit of fennel coming from the sausage. We loved it but accept it’s an acquired taste. It was a mammoth portion that could have fed the entire table but apart from that, it was a cracking dish.

We were piggy and shared a dessert. A mint tea or a digestiv would have been a better idea given the amount of food we’d eaten, but a millfoglie was winking. The Italian version of millefeuille, crisp puff pastry with a simple vanilla laced Chantilly cream. It was tasty and pleasing to finish with something sweet but not wow inducing.

We hadn’t been to San Carlo for years before this visit – certainly pre-pandemic and we’d forgotten how well they do this restaurant stuff. They would, wouldn’t they? Charming staff, no nonsense tasty food, good vibes and a great wine list – simple.

Tom is also one of three new trustees to join the board of ambitious national charity Kids’ Village. The charity is raising £5million to build the UK’s first holiday village to provide free breaks for critically ill children and their families in Wychnor.

Tell us about your cooking

I’d describe my style of cooking as seasonal-led, flavour-focused and a concentrated classic style of cooking. New seasons always excite me as it produces a change of direction with your food and breathes fresh life into the kitchen. It’s important we are led by the seasons, as it’s much more sustainable to eat a product that is in season here in the UK at the right time, as opposed to eating an ingredient from another country, out of season.

How did you become a chef?

I sort of fell into it really. I was offered a trainee manager’s position at New Hall Hotel, Walmley when I was 17, and part of the programme was to spend time in the kitchen. The head chef was Wayne Thomson, someone I owe a lot to. He saw something in me that no one else did, I was always determined and hungry to succeed, I just hadn’t found the right platform to really express that. Wayne urged me to consider becoming a chef as he clearly saw my potential. I spent three years with Wayne and that learning was an integral part of where I am today. My family have always been super-supportive of me, always allowed me to make mistakes, but have always been there to direct and support me when I’ve needed it. I love my family a lot.

What do you eat at home?

Me, my wife and little daughter absolutely love a Sunday roast, Roast beef or chicken are our go-to, you can’t beat roasties, yorkies, honey glazed carrots, stuffing, gravy, etc. It’s just the best and us Brits do it best!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

That’s a hard one as it depends on how you look at it. Gordon Ramsay was and still is a huge inspiration for me. He was one of the first chefs I ever watched and followed and I couldn’t believe the amount of drive, desire and determination he had to succeed. But he’s not in kitchens now as his career has just blown up all over the world. Brett Graham, recently awarded three Michelin stars and owner of the Ledbury in Notting Hill, is most certainly a big inspiration for me, I think his cooking style, ethos and delivery is exceptional and one I admire greatly.
Best chef in Brum, that’s easy. Aktar Islam, one of my closest chef friends, one I’ve known for a long time and for him to be the first two Michelin Star chef in Birmingham is just magic. There isn’t a nicer guy – he has supported me since day one of Upstairs, and before!

Share a cooking tip, or two…

Support local producers. Only buy UK produce where you can. Always rest your meat for as long as you cook it for (as it keeps cooking outside of the oven/pan) and never cook meat or fish straight from the fridge. Always allow it to come up to temperature. And always have garlic.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Easy – bangers and mash!

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is Buffalo chicken wings. Hell is aubergine.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I’ve eaten some pretty unusual things, but a chicken foot with nails still attached has to be the worst.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I love sports, so I’d like to think something to do with football, golf, darts, fishing, maybe. I also have an addictive obsession with cars – so again, anything car related.

The last few years of Anthony Madu’s life read like a fairytale. It started with a video of him dancing in the rain barefoot in Lagos which became a worldwide sensation that led to a scholarship at Elmhurst Ballet School.

Anthony didn’t think the video would have an impact and never contemplated millions of people all over the world watching it. He says: “I genuinely didn’t expect any response at all. It didn’t really seem like much of a big deal at the time. My old dance school used to post a video of the week on Instagram, and this was one of those.”

A few months after the video blew up in 2020, one of the directors from Disney visited Anthony’s school in Nigeria. Anthony recalls: “We had a chat and he watched my ballet class, and then a week later they started filming! It felt exciting, but also a bit weird, because of having cameras around me all the time. But the longer it went on, the more I got used to it.”

CAMERA CREW

The cameras followed Anthony for 15 months. They filmed him at home in Nigeria for the first few months then at Elmhurst where the crew would film for a week at a time, followed by a two-week break and back again. It sounds intense, but it was a fun time for Anthony.

He says: “They were a great team, and just having different people around me all the time like the camera guy and the directors and the producers was fun. Even the things that were quite difficult were good because the team made it fun.”

Anthony has seen the film three times – he saw the first edit last year which he found a ‘bit cringe’ as he didn’t like seeing himself on screen. The second time he watched it with close friends who naturally kept asking questions throughout the film, but during the third viewing he really tried to focus and take it all in.

He remembers: “When I watched it that time, I remembered when we filmed the scenes. There’s a scene at the airport in Nigeria and it was really sad leaving my parents and my siblings and I remembered how I felt and I actually cried when I watched it.” He adds: “Filming that scene wasn’t a set-up. I was actually filmed going to the airport, saying goodbye to my family. Then one of the two directors, Kachi Benson, got on the plane with me. He had a little camera and he was filming different parts of the journey to Birmingham.”

BRIGHT SIDE

Edgbaston is a far cry from Anthony’s life in Nigeria but he’s relishing the opportunity. He explains: “The transition at the start was quite hard because of missing home and the different culture. But I had to really think of the bright side – I’m at a ballet school. It’s pretty much what I’ve always wanted to do. I had to just get on with it and not think about all the hard stuff and just keep pushing.” He adds: “I love the way dance makes me feel when I’m doing it. Sometimes it’s quite hard, but then when you ‘get it’, it’s amazing.”

Anthony goes back to Nigeria each summer and his family are so excited to see him. He says: “I always get jumped on and they’re all there just waiting to give me a massive hug. To see the excitement on their faces that I’m back, it’s just amazing. It makes me feel really happy.”

When in Edgbaston, Anthony says he doesn’t like a chaotic life, so he chooses to have a small circle of close friends who he enjoys going to Cannon Hill Park with or shopping in Selly Oak when they have down time. He enjoys the school trips too, such as to the Malvern Hills, the Black Country Living Museum and of course trips to see Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Hippodrome – a stage we might be lucky enough to see him perform on in a few years.

Anthony says: “I just want to be the best I can be. I want to perform. I think that if I do get into a ballet company, I’d like to perform in The Nutcracker. I really enjoyed it when I watched Birmingham Royal Ballet do it.” Since Anthony has spent so much time around a film crew, he’s also open to the idea of acting and if that happens, he’d like to be an Avenger! For now, his hero is his mum, “I’ve only got one hero and that’s my mum. I really want to say thank you to her for how she’s always been there for me since I started dancing.”

We popped in for lunch and found much more than pub grub and a pint. With a mixed crowd including solo diners working on laptops, yummy mummies with bairns in buggies and groups of mates tucking in, it was a lively affair despite being an average Wednesday.

ECLECTIC MIX

The menu’s equally mixed. Classic pub dishes like burgers, pizza, sandwiches and fish and chips feature alongside poke bowls, sweet potato quinoa with harissa flatbread and wild mushroom tagliatelle with truffle. It reads like an identity crisis, but we reckon the menu is just reflective of the local crowd. We thought we’d sample the traditional and the more inventive dishes so we ordered a pizza and a poke bowl.

The chicken teriyaki version of the poke bowl was a triumph with sweet chunks of mango, creamy avocado, crunchy radish, sushi rice, succulent teriyaki chicken along with the usual edamame and seaweed. It was a zingy colourful bowl full of goodness packed with flavour and texture.

ALL ABOUT THE BASE

Then for a fiery chilli and nduja pork pizza. Fresh red chilli and punchy nduja pork punctuated the oozing cheese while the charred blistered crust was perfection. We highly recommend dunking the crust into the Japanese mayo that came with the poke bowl.

There are two-for-one deals on certain dishes on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which put the price of lunch on a par with a substandard coffee shop chain and we know where we’d rather be. Support local and all that jazz not out of charity but because it’s blooming good.

Busy rehearsing for An Officer and a Gentleman before its opening at the Alexandra last month, Sinead Long told us she was happy to be back in the Midlands. In the city briefly before touring the UK for ten months, Sinead says she’ll always view the region as home.

Birmingham provided the springboard to an acting career that began by honing her craft as a dancer and she has fond memories of travelling in from Halesowen to attend workshops such as those at DanceXchange. While dance was Sinead’s main discipline, she always loved musicals and it became apparent as a teenager that she could really sing which was a revelation. Sinead remembers from an early age just loving going to the theatre. She says: “I would be poring over the programme seeing where the actors came from and where they studied. I loved it.”

While Sinead’s not from an acting dynasty with a black book packed with industry contacts or financial backing, she had a mother who wholeheartedly supported her daughter’s obvious talent and passion. Sinead remembers: “Mum just loved theatre and had a child that loved it. She made a lot of sacrifices.” Sinead says she needed the full scholarship she was offered from Arts Ed in Chiswick or it wouldn’t have been possible for her to move to London and go drama school.

INJURY SHOCK

Sinead says Arts Ed is very good at getting students seen, and adds: “In the third year Arts Ed students put on three full-scale musicals to which agents and casting directors are invited.” As a result, Sinead was snapped up by an agent and given her first professional theatre role on the back of the showcases before she’d even graduated. She was offered the part of Serena in Legally Blonde, but it wasn’t all plain sailing. Sinead sustained an injury on tour that required surgery.

Thankfully it didn’t put a stop to her career and she’s since gone on to star on stage in productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Hamilton, Jersey Boys and more, as well as TV roles most notably Doctors and Prince Andrew The Musical. A stint in Hamilton was interrupted by Covid which, while it was strange time, Sinead felt more secure than most.

She explains: “Lockdown was a tricky one. I was in a better position than some actors. I was in Hamilton when Covid hit and because it was so massive, the show felt safe and unlikely to close.” She adds: “Some big shows did close, but Hamilton never felt like it would. It was hard to plan though. Hamilton didn’t want to re-open and then have to close again, so in the end we had 14 months off.”

EMOTIONAL

While we all felt the void and missed the arts strongly through lockdowns, Sinead says she really felt that from audiences. “The first show Hamilton opened post-Covid, the whole place erupted. It was really cool and quite emotional.” One thing that Sinead thinks changed for the better during the pandemic is increased online and self-tape auditions. For someone so keen to make a career in the arts more accessible, this is a good move squashing the need for expensive travel costs to get to auditions which are generally in London. The need for accessibility is one close to Sinead’s heart. Programmes such as the DADA (dance and drama award) which help with fees and living costs at private dance and drama schools are reducing in numbers. Talented actors from backgrounds like Sinead might not get the opportunities she enjoyed. While online and self-tape auditions are an option, that becomes irrelevant if people can’t afford to move away and study.

DEMYSTIFY LIFE

Such is Sinead’s mission to boost accessibility, she runs a project called West Enducate which aims to ‘demystify life working in the West End’. West Enducate runs bespoke workshops sharing professional knowledge. There’s vocal coaching and musical workshops as well as industry insight and more. Sinead explains: “There are so many opportunities for young people. With the workshops we find someone from the show we’re planning to workshop which is important. We also offer young people practical knowledge such as how your life works when you’re in the arts. It’s hard to understand the full extent of being self-employed and what that means.”

Sinead enjoys chatting to the youngsters in the Q&A sessions at the end of a workshop. She says: “The younger children want to know the fun side like costumes etc. and the older students are more concerned with more technical aspects and navigating getting the balance right.”

With dream roles like ‘Roxy in Chicago, any of the girls in Six and maybe Cats’ as well as more TV on the horizon, we reckon we’ll be seeing a lot more of Sinead Long.

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking style is simple. I work with different key ingredients to keep the dish simple and tasty. Presentation is crucial with simplicity.

How did you become a chef?

Since childhood I was very fond of street food and home cooking. I used to help my mom in the kitchen, and I was trained in the Radisson hotel. My mom played an important role as she taught me home style cooking and introduced me to the world of our culture’s cuisines.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

My mom is the best chef in the world. She was my first teacher who taught me that cooking is an art and it can only be done from the heart and with love. People can have techniques but not the love that comes from within. In Birmingham all our chefs are the best because all are working with passion.

Share a cooking tip

Always taste the dish in between as the taste changes during cooking time, so check that the right flavours are coming through.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Samosa chaat – a traditional Indian dish made from boiled potatoes, lentils, spices and samosas.

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven is eating Aloo Paratha in the mountains of Indo-Persia and hell was when I ate chilli samosa in 50c temperature.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Frog.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A cop.

TRY DEEPARK’S RECIPE FOR DELICIOUS PERSIAN KOOBIDEH KEBABS 

Ingredients

• • 1kg lamb mince
• • 2 medium white onions
• • 1tsp saffron
• • 6 cloves of garlic, pasted
• • 100gm butter, melted
• • ½tsp black pepper
• • ½tsp rose water
• • ½tsp sumac
• • Salt to taste

Method

Mix all the dry ingredients with lamb mince. Puree the onions and then strain discarding any water. Mix with the garlic paste and rose water then add to the mince, kneading until all the ingredients are combined.

Divide the mince into five portions, shape onto skewers and cook over charcoal grill or barbecue while basting with the melted butter. Cook until meat is tender then enjoy with lavash bread or rice.

From the outside the restaurant looks a bit soulless – kerb appeal is not its strong point – but on the inside it’s a winner and that’s what counts, right? Bright, characterful, warm and welcoming, it’s a delight.

The menu’s large featuring Malaysian dishes alongside Chinese options. We opted for a mixture. A platter of starters to share included crunchy vegetable fritters delicious dunked in a hot chilli dip, chicken satay skewers with a top-notch peanut sauce, punchy rendang beef spring rolls and pandan fried chicken. Wrapped tightly and cooked in banana leaf, the chicken was incredibly succulent. £9.90 per person.

NOSTALGIA TRIP

Nasi Lemak with chicken took us back to a trip to Langkawi where we ate something similar most days. Served on the bone, the chicken was superb with a generous helping of moreish perfectly spiced sauce, coconut rice, a fried egg, sambal chilli, peanuts, anchovies and pickled vegetables. The combination of heat with sweet coconut and sharp pickled veg was seriously good. The rice was marbled with something blue which was a bit off putting, but it tasted great. Sweet and sour chicken didn’t break the mould, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It was really good and free from the cloying sauce that seems commonplace, it tasted fresh and delicately flavoured.

BAO BUN BOOM

A bao bun with shredded duck and hoisin sauce was a surprise. We ordered it merely to sample rather than because we thought it’d blow our socks off, but it was brilliant. The soft pillowy bun was filled with gorgeous flavours and textures we didn’t expect. We’re planning another trip dedicated to working our way through the entire selection.

We were warned the food might take 15 to 20 minutes if we ordered from the ‘signature dishes’ part of the menu which felt like a good sign – everything we ate felt freshly and thoughtfully prepared. Obviously, that should be a given but it’s not always the case. We’d highly recommend.

Tell us about your cooking

I love casual dining; conceptual restaurants that stand on their own two feet even when sitting within a luxury lifestyle hotel. Throughout my career I’ve been exposed to different cuisines – fine dining to street food, banqueting to coffee shops – and I really enjoy the exposure and experience of all these outlets coming together under one roof to deliver all-round excellent food and drink.

How did you become a chef?

I was never much of a cook at a young age – I was interested in becoming a firefighter. I’ve never been academic, so to raise some cash as a teenager I started pot washing and was quickly exposed to a kitchen environment. It wasn’t an easy ride from that point, but I’m proud now that I stuck with it and found a real passion for quality ingredients, designing dishes and giving guests an elevated culinary experience.

What do you eat at home?

The one thing I’ll say about chefs is that we don’t cook out of work! I am very partial to a lasagne and chips – who doesn’t love carbs on carbs? And a dirty burger will always have a special place in my heart.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

We lost a lot of excellent chefs last year, including Michel Bourdin, Nico Ladenis and Bill Granger and I always feel this gives us an opportunity to look back and reflect on our inspirations through our career, of which there are so many for me that I couldn’t choose one. We’re lucky in Birmingham to have the number of Michelin-starred restaurants that we do and I’m grateful to my colleagues and pals Aktar Islam, Brad Carter, Andreas Antona and Adam Stokes who really push the boundaries.

Share a cooking tip

Taste, taste, taste! It’s something I drill into my children at home as much as the team in the kitchen.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Chocolate eclairs. I was allowed them as a treat from Druckers, which was a patisserie.

Food heaven and food hell?

Simple comfort food is my heaven – shepherd’s pie on a Sunday afternoon or a bowl of pasta. While I love eggs as an ingredient to make something tasty, I’m not a fan of the texture of poached or fried.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Sea urchin in a restaurant called Niechel in Spain that was run by a British husband and wife. We got chatting and by the end of the night I had joined the rest of the chefs in the kitchen!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I’d like to think I’d have pursued my dream of being a firefighter but now, as I’m here in my mid-40s and reflecting on my career, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Give us an easy recipe readers can make using those lingering items in the store cupboard

Jazz up frozen chips. Put a family-size portion into a mixing bowl, add two teaspoons of vegetable oil, two pinches of salt, your choice of dry herbs like paprika or chilli flakes, and give them a good shake. Bake as normal for a really tasty tray of chips.

Law graduate Alex has swapped a career in law for an exciting opportunity at Warwickshire County Cricket. Granted it’s not obvious career progression, but one that means the new job ‘doesn’t feel like work’ and that’s the dream.

Aged just 30, Alex has spent seven years working as a solicitor specialising in family law while captaining Earlswood CC first XI, coaching youngsters in his spare time and training for his advanced coach qualification. He made the decision to leave his previous job before the role at Warwickshire came up, so it was a serendipitous moment that worked out beautifully.
Now the club’s early years high performance coach Alex says: “It’s certainly not your standard route into cricket coaching. I spent 10 years in total studying law and then working in a law firm, but my passion has always been cricket. I’ve played for as long as I can remember, since four-years-old in the garden and then junior cricket from eight onwards.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

He adds: “I worked as a casual coach on the pathway, learning from the team here, and a club coach for a long time as well. My involvement on the pathway gradually increased over the last couple of years and I found I was enjoying it more and more. The success of the U10s intra-county programme really was the spark for me.”

Alex started the role in November and while Warwickshire cricket is in good shape, he’s excited about making a difference. Much of Alex’s day is spent planning, strategising and working to ensure the club is reaching young talent while his evenings and weekends are spent coaching youngsters.

Warwickshire is already ‘extremely inclusive’ but Alex is keen to spread the net even further finding fresh talent, broadening the pathway and strengthening community links. The Independent Commission into Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report set out a number of recommendations for county pathways to adopt that are designed to identify and nurture young talent and promote cricket to more children.

STARS OF THE FUTURE

While the ECB works on what the proposals might look like, Alex continues to work to boost engagement and find ways to identify talent that means potential stars don’t fall through the net. Much of Alex’s summer will be spent travelling around the county watching and scouting. He says: “Coming to Edgbaston could be quite intimidating so I aim to take the pathway out too. There are challenges to playing cricket – facilities and equipment for example. Some children also view it as their summer sport not their main sport, so I’d like to change that perception.”

Alex says the cricket board has some great community schemes and there a couple of national schemes doing brilliant work that support the effort to boost the sport’s uptake, such as Chance to Shine – a national charity aiming to give all children the opportunity to play, learn and develop through cricket and the ACE programme which aims to inspire the wider game to support reconnecting the black community with cricket.

GAME FOR ALL

One of the routes to increased inclusivity is the potential for budding players to be able to submit videos to show their skills. Alex says: “Everybody can put themselves forward. Biases can be avoided and it spreads the net wider. The ECB’s strategy is that cricket is a game for all and that’s what the aim is.”

Warwickshire head of high performance Paul Greetham adds: “We want to ensure access to representative cricket is ‘barrier-free’ and accessible regardless of a child’s background. And to achieve that we’re increasingly looking for proactive ways to engage in grassroots cricket, in conjunction with the Warwickshire Cricket Board, to accelerate talent development and encourage participation.”

On a personal level Alex says he’s doing something that he enjoys every day. “Cricket is in my blood and I enjoy helping young players learn and develop, as people as well as players. You can see a real impact over a 12-month cycle and being able to improve the state of cricket around the county is an amazing position to be in.”

Seared’s tagline is ‘Pub with Global Grub’ which we had reservations about. Rather than a single-minded specialist food offering, Seared’s menu is globetrotting from the Caribbean to India and there’s jeopardy in that. The danger is a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ outcome, but having met the people at Greene King, we trust it’s not their first rodeo.

Interiors are fresh and zingy. There’s a cracking bar area and an upgraded drinks menu with increased new world beers, wine and cocktails and decent alcohol-free options too. The bar still has the pool table and cosy nooks that the locals enjoy just with added va va voom.

The dining area feels more modern bistro than country pub and the menu, as expected, is big and wide ranging. A section of small plates quickly became our favourite thing – specifically a punchy sticky Korean fried chicken (£4.95) and a delicious lamb kofta (£5.25).

HEFTY HELPING

There were a few sharing options like a plate of loaded nachos (£7.95) that would have fed four people – ideal for tucking into with a bunch of mates and a few drinks. Then there were sharing platters from around the world, including A Taste of the Middle East, India, Caribbean, South America and the Mediterranean. We didn’t sample these, but plenty of them were winging their way from the kitchen looking mighty fine. At £24.95 they looked like great value.

Slow cooked Korean beef rib coated in a BBQ glaze was falling off the bone tender served with sharp kimchi and a crunchy slaw (£15.95). It was also served with a hefty helping of fries which felt out of place. A South American rump steak skewer served with Texan BBQ sauce (£13.95) was punctuated with charred padron peppers served on grilled veg and with a side of fries. Cooked pink, the steak was succulent and tasty and the crisp skin on fries hit the spot.

We visited on a Monday a couple of weeks after opening and the place was encouragingly busy. There were still a few finishing touches happening, but other than that, it felt pretty polished. A few dishes on the menu were sold out, but I guess it takes time to get to grips with ordering patterns and volumes. Our lunch was fairly meaty, but there were plenty of plant-based dishes too and a dedicated gluten-free menu. The danger of being a Jack of all trades we initially feared doesn’t actually matter. Seared isn’t promising fine dining, it’s a lively pub serving great value, tasty food with a fab drinks offering.

Over a six-month period from May to November, the youngsters put together a podcast called Bathcasts. From conceptualising the idea, engaging with the space and the community to commissioning artists and producing a final product, the creatives owned the project which is available to listen to until the middle of January.

The six young curators are a wonderfully eclectic mix of talent, background and interests and are all Birmingham-based, some born and bred. They include Sadie who’s from South London originally and describes herself as a general do-er of bits ’n’ bobs, particularly in the realms of music, broadcasting and silly art.

Then there’s Malikah who is currently a speech and language therapy student and enjoys sports. Amira has just finished college and looks forward to doing something other than studying while Nicole works for a charity supporting refugees in the city and loves languages and painting. Habib is an Arabic teacher and service designer who loves languages, the gym and drawing and Jessica, a neurodiverse and queer practitioner focusing on performance and event design and photography.

TUB TALK

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and part of the Moseley Road Baths Diving In Project, Bathcasts is hosted by comedian Rachel Baker who was one of our Young, Gifted and Brummie subjects last year. The podcast interviewees are people connected to the historic baths who chat about their lives and the community building. Each interview takes place in one of the Moseley Road Baths bathtubs.

It’s an intriguing idea and you can hear the splish-sploshing in the podcast, but it works. As well as the interviews, the Young Curators commissioned original poetry and music for each episode from 10 local artists. Interviewees include Adam Wynn, Malikah and Shazia, Sadim Garvey, Ayan Aden and Fabio Henriques, all people with a connection to Moseley Road Baths.

Gaby Songui, creative producer for the Young Curators Programme, said: “Telling their own stories has been key to the Young Curators programme, with each of the curators considering their experiences in Balsall Heath, as creatives, at Moseley Road Baths and it’s been brilliant seeing this result in an innovative series of podcasts. The podcast encourages you to listen to it in the bath at home, immersing yourself in water at the same times as our interviewees.”

DEEP BREATHS

We listened to the Adam Wynn episode in preparation for this article and hadn’t expected it to kick off with guided meditation from Adjei Sun. We can confirm we haven’t breathed deeply or dropped our shoulders for roughly a decade. Bloomin’ lovely. Rachel Baker was a great choice for a host – she’s natural and curious – plus there was poetry by Erin Gilbey and music from Aayushi Jain.

It’s a gentle, thoughtful listen that contrasts so much with the madness of social media and the horror of the current news cycle. It’s a bit of escapism – a pocket of loveliness that the six curators should be proud of. Bravo!

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

After university I went into the army as an infantry officer in the Staffordshire Regiment. I served in Germany at the end of the Cold War as well as in England, USA, Belize and two tours of Northern Ireland. My most rewarding time was training recruits at Whittington Barracks near Lichfield, as well as the pastoral side of being an officer and the responsible for the personal development of the soldiers under my command. After eight years this led to a career in teaching, and I have been working in schools serving disadvantaged communities in Birmingham since 1997.

IT’S WHAT I DO

In a nutshell I provide opportunities to our pupils that middle-class children take for granted. These are key to developing the social and personal skills that lead to successful adult lives and drive social mobility. They also broaden horizons and raise aspirations. These opportunities include residential trips in the UK and abroad, enrichment opportunities after school and exposure to career pathways the pupils have never heard of. It means I spend a lot of time sourcing grant funding and developing partnerships. This includes with Solihull School where we have now had five young people progress to their sixth form on fully-funded places. I am also chair of trustees of the Bryntail Cottage Charity, trying to revive this property in mid-Wales that has been used by children from Birmingham since 1915. One recent addition to my role is providing a pathway to boarding schools in partnership with the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

Leading the top scoring team in the British Army’s Cambrian Patrol Competition in 1988. The Exercise has been running for more than 60 years and is the British Army’s principal All Arms Patrol Exercise and is open to all three Services (Regular and Reserve) and international participants.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

Be ambitious and seize opportunities.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

I would love the Government to make an entitlement for children to certain experiences during their time at school and provide the funding to enable this. For example, a camping trip or a visit to the pantomime.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

I love the multi-cultural nature of Birmingham and being part of making that a success.

DOWNTIME

I enjoy running with Droitwich Athletic Club, walking and skiing holidays with my wife and spending time with my children when they are back from university.

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking style is simple food cooked from my heart, my mind and my memories. Understanding your ingredients is very important to be able to produce great taste and flavours. What excites me is keeping a traditional dish as your base and then mixing and matching the spices – underpinned with an understanding of what it does to the taste, flavour, and the body – until you get something interesting and playful that makes sense. 

How did you become a chef?

I was a very fussy eater as a child, so my family – especially my aunt – would try different twists on my usual meals to try and encourage me to eat. Because of her, I became fascinated and intrigued by the process of cooking, the ingredients used and the taste that was created – and I became more involved with cooking at home. This gave me an amazing opportunity to learn about eastern spices, herbs and recipes at an early age. After school and college, I undertook a diploma in hotel management which gave me opportunities to work in 5-star hotels in India where I learned from some of the greatest chefs of Indian cuisine. 

What do you eat at home?

Something simple and fresh. Nowadays, I have to cook food from various cuisines to satisfy my eight-year-old son as he likes trying different cuisines. His favourites at the moment are Chinese and Korean. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I admire chefs like Alain Ducasse who operate dozens of restaurants without compromising on quality. Also, Pierre Koffmann and the Roux family for the love and passion they have for their craft. However, in my personal experience the very best chef in the world is the legendary grand master chef of Indian cookery Imtiaz Qureshi (who I was lucky enough to work under). In Birmingham, I think Glynn Purnell and Luke Tipping are incredibly exciting chefs, and Dan Lee is most definitely one to watch. 

Share a cooking tip

Nutritious and healthy food needs time both before and during cooking. For example, the soaking of rice and lentils is very important. The longer it takes time to grow in nature the more time it needs to do good for you. And using all your senses to taste and adjust your dish at every stage is important. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Momo! A meat dumpling encased in flour pastry, steamed, and served with a light soup. This is a Tibetan influence in Nepali cuisine eaten with dale chilli (a type of chilli found in the Himalayan ranges near Nepal and Darjeeling) and served with roasted tomato chutney. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is fresh home cooked food, especially vegetarian dishes, eaten with loved ones. Hell would be something overcooked and reheated, with no life (prana) left in it.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Goat testicle. I absolutely would not recommend! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Maybe a schoolteacher in my hometown in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Northeast India. Or, a painter – my portrait and abstract works won some awards when I was growing up.

Dismantling barriers to making music is what Elizabeth J Birch does on the daily. A talented instrumentalist, music technician and vocalist, Elizabeth is striving to give all young people unfettered access to music. While the music industry isn’t famed for its inclusivity, it’s slowly improving thanks to change makers and campaigners like Elizabeth committed to boosting accessibility and opportunity.

Winning the Inspirational Leader Award at the Youth Music Awards earlier in the year was a complete surprise to Elizabeth but probably not a shock to anyone who’s familiar with her work. She has paved the way for countless young disabled musicians by breaking down barriers and boosting their self-belief. She’s worked with Midlands Arts Centre’s inclusive band Switch as well as BBC Introducing and has chaired panel discussions around access to music at numerous conferences.

She has developed an impressive knowledge of music technology which she shares with aspiring musicians through her unique workshops both online and in person. Of the award, Elizabeth says: “Awards and recognition aren’t why I do it – I’m perfectly satisfied if I’m not recognised but I guess it’s confirmation that others see what I do which is really nice.” The judging panel included singer-songwriter and Hits Radio UK presenter Fleur East, Chicken Shop Date star and youth services advocate Amelia Dimoldenberg, singer and BRIT-nominated Rising Star Joy Crookes and mixed media visual artist Kojey Radical.

BIGGEST CHALLENGES

Elizabeth’s achievements are even more impressive when you learn that she’s dealing with her own challenges that mean her life is complicated. Having always been into music and movement as a child, Elizabeth was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) while still at primary school which meant that physical activity including dance had to stop. EDS is a joint hypermobility syndrome that causes fatigue, pain and dislocations meaning Elizabeth had to rely on mobility aids initially and now uses a wheelchair.

Having benefitted from community projects as a youngster that made her realise music was a viable career path, Elizabeth says: “Over time I wanted to impact others in the same way. I want to see equal opportunity to be creative and to be included. I’m fortunate to be where I am because organisations took a chance on me and I’m keen to do that for others.”

Elizabeth launched her workshops during lockdown, so they were online at first which proved popular not least because the online space appeals to a lot of people for whom access to venues is a problem. However, once lockdown was eased and in-person workshops were an option, Elizabeth found the prospect daunting as she’d never delivered a face-to-face session. To add to the pressure, Elizabeth has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) which affects her socially.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

While it’s not easy, Elizabeth has overcome the awkwardness to deliver inspiring workshops that make a big impact on young budding musicians’ lives. In fact, Elizabeth says that her biggest success is the young people she’s worked with. She explains: The thought of how their lives have changed and improved is something that keeps me motivated.”

Elizabeth’s ambitions include making more of her own music but also to keep working towards inclusivity, equity and open mindedness. She says: “How music is made and who is making it currently is such a narrow viewpoint.” She wants people thinking more about access too.

“There are big challenges with grass roots events and venues. There are literally venues a disabled person cannot get into and outdoor events on grass are impossible in a wheelchair. It’s improving slowly.” Elizabeth hopes that one day everyone will be included in the creative space both physically and emotionally.

Ten years on, the place still had the warm local restaurant vibe we enjoyed first time around and crucially, the food we sampled was universally delicious.

Let’s face it, Harbonites are not short of places to eat with oodles of restaurants on their doorstep, but Henry Wong is one of the OGs – an institution that locals of multiple generations think of fondly. We were invited to sample the menu so obviously we obliged – rat up a drainpipe springs to mind.

The joy of Chinese food is over ordering as is our wont and sharing lots of different dishes. We went classic with a stonking pork Yuk Sung. There’s something special about the cool crunch of lettuce teamed with warm, soft pork that works and this was an excellent version.

Then duck pancakes – we’re nothing if not predictable. We’ve eaten a lot of average duck pancakes in our time and this wasn’t one of them. Attention to detail even down to the slick presentation with edible flowers and carefully shredded moreish duck was spot on. The hoisin sauce was just sweet enough and didn’t tip over into sickly territory which is rarer than it should be.

Sweet and sour chicken was fresh and tangy with plenty of vegetables. Crispy shredded beef was sticky, sweet and spicy – a heady trio, while our favourite dish (i.e. the one we fought over) was king prawn with garlic and chilli. The prawns were tender and seriously tasty with a hefty punch of the hot stuff. Finally, the crisp pork belly was unctuous and melt in the mouth tender – everything it should be.

We were a party of four and this amount of food plus steamed rice, noodles and prawn crackers felt about right – although bear in mind we’re a hungry bunch. The restaurant has changed hands, but we found it just as great in terms of atmosphere, service and food as it was 10 years ago. We probably won’t leave it so long ’til next time.

Did you always want to be a chef?

No is the basic answer. I was brought up in restaurants as my dad was a chef, so we always lived above them. Dad was always working so I had a poor upbringing in that respect, but it gave me a good insight into how restaurants work. It wasn’t until I was 20 that I became interested in cooking. I had a misspent youth after leaving school and in a desperate bid to get me into a proper job, my dad rang around all the restaurants in the area. I ended up working at the Plough and Harrow on the Hagley Road, which was kind of like the Simpson’s of its time.

How would you describe your cooking?

Very natural, very seasonal and free flowing. We buy good ingredients and treat them simply. There’s nothing in the menu that wouldn’t be in season – we like creating natural marriages. We don’t put things together to look good, we put them together because they taste good. We don’t go singing and shouting about ourselves – it’s about quality and it shines through. We’re not the cheapest restaurant in the area but people will always buy quality.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?

I love the thought of cooking something beautiful and the reaction from customers enjoying what I do. I also enjoy nurturing young talent and bringing through promising young chefs is really what it is all about. It’s very important to me that they are given the opportunity and the right avenues if they have the potential and are good enough.

Which chefs do you admire?

I admire any chef that can hold their own in the kitchen and spend 18 hours a day working. I’d say I admire the profession. Alain Ducasse is obviously legendary and Simon Rogan from L’Enclume is an inspiration. I really love his approach to food, his simplicity on the plate. He’s been successful without losing his true goal whilst training some incredibly talented chefs.

How would you sum up the food scene in Brum?

There’s a wealth of restaurants and eateries in the city and there’s so much diversity on offer, from the Balti to Michelin stars and there’s award-winning street food, too. It’s a great place.

What do you cook for yourself at home?

Very simple stuff. We eat a lot of salad and when the kids were younger, we’d make pizza and lots of pasta. It’s so important with a family to bring them up with a healthy diet full of fresh foods. One of the good sides of the job is that I was able to take them to school, pick them up and have dinner with them.

What is your favourite comfort food?

I do 90 per cent of the cooking at home so I find food comforting when the family like it too. I do a chicken, leek and smoked bacon pie which pleases everyone as it’s enjoyable and comforting.

Lili-Rose Hunt isn’t your average A-Level student. As an amateur golfer who’s been picked for the women’s national squad, she’s also working toward her exams next year while planning a gap year like no other. She won’t be finding herself on a beach in Costa Rica – not that there’s anything wrong with that – she’ll be pushing her game playing as much as she can working towards becoming professional because make no mistake about it, for Lili-Rose this is her future.

If after the gap year Lili wants to step back into academia, she’ll look to the US where the two aren’t mutually exclusive. She says: “There are more opportunities to play in the US. They’re constantly playing golf.” Lili-Rose is currently in upper sixth at Bromsgrove School where her teachers have been ‘very accommodating’ allowing her time off for competitions and being understanding about fitting work around her schedule. It makes what could have been an overwhelming situation manageable.

NATIONAL CALL UP

Lili-Rose picked up a golf club for the first time at the age of six at school. She took to it straight away and encouraged by her golf-loving dad started playing. By the age of nine Lilli-Rose was competing. The competitions were initially small before she advanced to larger more prestigious tournaments within just a few years. While still in Prep School, Lili-Rose was crowned the IAPS U13 National Golf Champion and now, aged 16, competes regularly at a high level. Her achievements are too many to list but knowing that she’s now part of the women’s national squad will tell you all you need to know.

Being picked for the squad takes Lili-Rose’s game up a notch and has given her access to a team of support staff. She attends a training camp once a month at Woodall Spa Golf Club where she has access to a fitness and strength trainer as well as a nutritionist and psychologist. The team element of the sport is enjoyable. Lili-Rose says there’s a really good team spirit: “It’s great to finish your round and then cheer on the other girls.”

She loves the solo game with the team element adding an extra dimension. What is it about golf that she loves? She accepts it’s a bit of an odd concept saying: “I find it mesmerising. I know it’s just hitting a tiny white ball but it’s addictive always striving to do better.”

MEET YOUR HEROES

Lili-Rose’s hero is one of the best golfers in history, Sweden’s Annika Sörenstam. Annika won 90 international tournaments making her the most successful female golfer of all time. She won every award and broke every record possible in women’s golf. Since retiring in 2008, Annika has been committed to giving back through her foundation which supports young golfers.

Lili-Rose was invited to the Annika Invitational Competition in Sweden earlier in the year where she was lucky enough to meet her hero. She said: “I had a session with Annika and I really enjoyed it. I like her work ethic plus she was so inspirational while on tour not least the lowest round of 59!” Lili Rose’s referring to Annika posting an incredible score of 59 at the Moon Valley Country Club in 2001 – still the only woman to have done so and in the company of only a handful of male golfers having ever achieved a sub-60 score. Not a bad role model for a budding champion like Lili-Rose.

When we say single-minded, we mean it. It’s fried chicken and a handful of incredible sides and that’s it. Simple? Well, sort of except it must take a truckload of vision, precision and skill to make something seemingly simple so memorably marvellous.

This marvellousness, packaged up in a small, dark dining room accented with neon was filled with the sounds of Depeche Mode and Joy Division. We might have been the oldest people in the place and certainly the least pierced, but what of it? It was a joyful experience despite the literal darkness.

The friend and I bit into a Buffalo wing at the same time and both our eyebrows shot skyward. Don’t expect the sort of sweet skinny wings you might be used to as these bore no resemblance. They were deeply delicious and meaty with a pleasing sharpness. We ordered six of the little fellas between two of us – you should go for nine.

Onto the burgers and the friend went with a no-nonsense Bonehead original which came with garlic mayo, lettuce and gherkins served in a soft toasted bun. All the burgers are made using thigh, not breast, meat resulting in peak juiciness encased in the crunchiest coating we’ve ever eaten. I went with one of the specials, the Bavarian – Bonehead fried chicken with sauerkraut, mustard mayo, curry ketchup and smoked cheese. The subtle curry flavour, tart sauerkraut and smokiness of the cheese combined to make the already tasty chicken sing.

Wash your top-notch chicken down with a jar or two from the impressive craft beer menu packed with both boozy and non-alcoholic variations. We slurped a zero per cent alcohol Speigl recommended by our waiter which was bang on the money.

If you’re not a meat eater, check out the cauli wings and/or cauli burger plus all of the sides are veggie – we recommend the waffle fries, all crisp and fluffy dusted with punchy Bonehead seasoning dunked in garlic mayo.

The restaurant is walk-in only – we had no problem getting a table as a duo, but a large group might be a different story. Perhaps check with the restaurant for quieter times if you’re a group, but honestly, if you must wait a while, do it. It is totally worth it!

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

I started my career as a tree surgeon, but made the change to work in the pre-hospital environment with Surrey Ambulance Service in 2001, where I had my technician and paramedic training. I moved to the Midlands in 2008 and joined West Midlands Ambulance Service. From 2013, I have been fortunate enough to work with Midlands Air Ambulance Charity which is something I am exceptionally proud of. The charity has supported me in my training and qualifications to become a critical care paramedic, which means my colleagues and I are able to perform more advanced treatment to patients in critical need.

IT’S WHAT I DO

I work as a critical care paramedic on the charity’s fleet of air ambulance helicopters and critical care cars, responding to some of the most traumatic and life-threatening incidents in our area. I am also part of the Patient Liaison or Aftercare team. My colleague Kerry and I contact and engage with patients, their families and loved ones, and on occasion bystanders at incidents. We are there to offer support, answer any questions they may have, offer signposting to other services or just be a listening ear. It’s a really rewarding role and one we are passionate about at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

My ambition is to continue to provide the best possible pre-hospital care to our patients when they need us most and assist with the further development of the patient liaison service, engaging with as many people as we can. I firmly believe that we have a bigger part to play in the long-term recovery and rehabilitation of our patients and their families.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

I am immensely proud to work for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity and I feel that working as a critical care paramedic is my biggest professional success to date. Winning an award from the charity for our patient liaison work was a big, but very nice, surprise. Personally, being married to my wife Karina for nearly 20 years and having our two children, Carrie and Patrick, makes me proud every day in the way that they are growing into young adults.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

I should have tried harder in school – I’m a slow starter (some still agree!). But once I joined the ambulance service, I found something I was really interested in and studying became easier. I love being able to practically apply the theory.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

As a family we love getting a train into Birmingham city centre and spending the day there with a mixture of shopping, getting food at independent restaurants and perhaps the cinema or theatre. It’s convenient and easy to get around with lots of variety.

DOWNTIME

I’m an avid fan of anything two wheels, so getting out on my motorbike or cycling is a great way to unwind. I also love to watch my children in theatre and dance productions.

ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD…

If you or a loved one has been treated by our team at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, we would like to hear from you and support your on-going recovering. So, do please get in touch via patientliaison@midlandsairambulance.com

Comic Rachel Baker has been shortlisted for the Birmingham Comedy Festival’s Breaking Talent Award which recognises the best new and emerging comedic talent from across the West Midlands and she’s ‘overjoyed’. Naturally, we nabbed Rachel for a chat ahead of the awards where the shortlisted acts will perform in front of judges, including Jo Enright, at the Glee Club.
Growing up, Rachel says her big inspirations were Caroline Aherne in The Royal Family, Victoria Wood and Julie Walters. Rachel describes her own brand of comedy as ‘hectic in a controlled way’ and says: “If I have a thought, I say it. I go off script and I suppose it’s a bit cheeky. I’m quite physical taking inspiration from character comics and I’ve been likened to Jennifer Saunders in Ab Fab.” Rachel occasionally does a character called Gwen aged 47 who is runs a multi-level marketing scheme and has a boyfriend aged 23. It sounds a hoot.

FINDING FUNNINESS

Audience interaction is a given. She says: “I like finding the funniness in the room. I’ve done lots of new material nights in Birmingham which are fun. The audience is not expecting it to be perfect and I like the feedback and chatting to them. Each gig is different. I’ve just started getting more paid gigs so obviously the material is more honed.”
Mainly gigging in and around Brum until now, work is beginning to come from further afield although Rachel says she might need to learn to drive pronto as the train is cripplingly expensive. The day job at Mac arts is one she loves. Rachel said: “The programme is eclectic and it’s such a nice hub in Birmingham. Sometimes I’m in the cinema, sometimes the art gallery and sometimes helping kids after school.” It might also provide material as she says she has some funny interactions. “People are just funny day-to-day aren’t they? It’s fascinating to think about what’s funny.”

SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY

Of the Birmingham scene she says it’s a ‘really nice community’ with many friendly and inclusive spaces popping up. Barbara Nice, aka comic Janice Connolly, has been particularly supportive. Rachel says: “She’s built a community and championed women particularly. The first gig I did in front of her I got such brilliant feedback.” Nice’s the Hare of The Dog night at the Hare and Hounds is a favourite of Rachel. She says: “It’s brilliant and joyful. There’s lots of dancing and improv and largely return audiences.”
This year’s Comedy Festival will be Rachel’s first time performing at Glee and she says: “I’m really looking forward to it but also a bit scared and intimidated. A friend said to me ‘it’s a great opportunity, just have loads of fun with it’ which I will. Sometimes I’ve performed to an audience of three or four which is fun, but it will be a treat to be in a lovely venue like this.” In terms of the future, Rachel says: “Definitely I would like comedy not to be a hobby.”

Tell us about your cooking

I would describe my style as ‘fusion cuisine’. This is a cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions that originate from different countries, regions or cultures. As a Malaysian, I grew up in a multi-cultural country where the food reflects the multi-ethnic make-up of the population. During my time in Malaysia, I realised that food is a beautiful way to connect people from different cultures and origin. This influenced my decision to become a chef focusing on fusion cuisine.

How did you become a chef?

I was inspired by my mother to become a chef. I loved the innovative way that she cooked when creating new dishes – blending different cuisines, experimenting with new ingredients, spices and techniques to create dishes that are not limited by traditional dishes. Every Malaysian’s home must have its own unique dishes created by the mother which you can’t get anywhere else.

What do you eat at home?

As a Malaysian-born Chinese, I can’t live without rice. Rice with different dishes is my daily diet

Who’s the best chef in the world and why?

Gordon Ramsay. His passion, work ethic and self-confidence has no doubt inspired the world. He is not only a chef, but also a leader, a mentor – many of his protegés have gone on to shine on their own and very brightly.

Is the customer always, right?

No, but no matter if the customer is technically right or wrong, always listen to the customer feedback and concerns and make sure they feel heard. Every complaint is an opportunity to collect valuable feedback.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

All types of snacks. In Malaysia, even the snacks are multi-cultural!

Food heaven and food hell?

My food heaven is anything with seafood. Food hell can be anything prepared by a chef that has lost passion for cooking.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Ant eggs. They taste a little bit sour and have a creamy and nutty flavour.

Share a cooking tip

The secret technique to roast the crispy pork belly is to apply a layer of white vinegar on the pork skin to enhance its crispiness. The critical part is to ensure the honey roasted pork is thoroughly marinated by repeatedly ‘bathing’ the roast pork using the honey glaze every 15 minutes and returning to the oven.

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

Our house roasted crispy pork belly and honey roast pork.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I would have loved to play badminton for a living. I still try to play as often as possible. Even though I did not become a badminton coach, my son did!

The Black Swan, once a cosy pub with a massive car park, has been given an extensive makeover. The result is a large rear extension housing a beautiful dining room, plus a garden area carved out of what was once parking. There’s still parking out back but on a less invasive scale. The cosy pub out front remains and was packed with character and punters when we visited. The dining room’s easy, relaxed and cool with a French bistro vibe overlooking a patio with colourful parasols.

Our waiter was utterly charming, smiley and knowledgeable. We didn’t need much persuading to dive into a carafe of rose – the perfect amount for two at lunch or as our waiter suggested, perfect if your preferences differ enabling you to indulge in one of each flavour. We didn’t but it’s a good point.

We expected the menu to be comforting pub classics and there’s certainly an element of that, but it’s much more inventive than pub grub. For instance, a starter of perfectly oozing burrata with sweet tomatoes and a punchy lovage and basil pesto was served with a shot of essence of tomato to be sipped alongside the food – it was intense and enhanced the dish. Simple but effective.
Then there was beetroot done three ways – candied, roasted and worked into a sweet gel served alongside cubes of deep fried goat’s cheese in breadcrumbs, guacamole and balsamic cream. It sounds a bit confused when written down like that, but tasted brilliant and looked pretty.

Our main courses were a bit more ‘pubby’ in terms of size as well theme, but still delicious such as tender, rich short rib of beef with dauphinoise potatoes, greens and a tasty gravy and a flavour packed fishcake topped with a soft poached egg and a lovely buttery sauce with welcome tartness from capers. Desserts are not our thing, but a pistachio souffle winked vigorously. The waiter gave us a tip and suggested switching the accompanying chocolate ice cream with the honeycomb variety and it was superb.

So enjoyable was lunch, we left Henley feeling envious of the locals. For context, we have a tired pub at the end of our road which is nothing like the Black Swan so we’ve caught ourselves day-dreaming of a similar overhaul. There’s no sign of it so far, but we live in hope.

Laura Bryan is back in her home town starring as the lead in the Alexandra’s Stage Experience production of Bring It On. Each summer The theatre invites rising stars from across the region to audition for a week-long run of a hit musical as part of their youth theatre production programme, Stage Experience.
The established programme has been running for 18 years, giving countless youngsters valuable experience of a professional set-up. Last year it was Fame which Laura was part of (pictured). This year it’s Jeff Whitty and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Bring It On, in which she plays Campbell – competitive queen bee, people pleaser and squad captain at Truman High School.

FRENETIC FORTNIGHT

We caught up with Laura before the show opened and she was itching to get started. Since the show has cheerleading at its heart, of which Laura has no experience, the two-week rehearsal might be needed and possibly painful! Having said that Laura has always danced – ballet, jazz and contemporary – and has done a bit of gymnastics, so she reckons she’ll be okay. Two weeks isn’t long to polish a show as complex as Bring It On, but Laura recognises it’s a great opportunity.
Growing up in Dorridge meant that Laura had Brum’s theatres on her doorstep and from an early age indulged her passion for musical theatre. Having been a regular at the Alexandra as a child, it’s a dream performing on the stage.
Dancing since she was just three-years-old and singing for seven years, Laura joined Birmingham’s School of Theatre Excellence (SOTE) and carried on classes online with them through lockdown followed by two years boarding at Tring Park School for Performing Arts. Going from lockdown to boarding school and being away from family seems like quite a leap, but Laura says she didn’t overthink it and just threw herself into it making the most of the opportunity.
She has performed with the D-Day Juniors, most recently appearing as a guest act on Britain’s Got Talent and has always grabbed opportunities to be part of musical productions inside and out of school, including playing the lead role in Legally Blonde Junior.

BRIMMING BRUMMIES

Of the Alexandra’s programme, Simon Creed, theatre director, says: “The West Midlands is a melting pot of theatrical talent and Stage Experience forms a hugely important part of the Alex’s calendar.” Successful applicants like Laura work alongside industry professionals including directors, choreographers and technical teams, to bring a full-scale production to audiences in just two weeks. For those who have an interest in working behind the scenes, in lighting, sound, wardrobe, stage management and more, there are a number of technical placements available.
As you’d expect, in a city brimming with such talent, the focus on youth programmes at Birmingham’s theatres generally is impressive with all the major venues excelling. For instance, the Hippodrome runs a Musical Theatre Youth Company for youngsters aged between 11 and 18 years meeting every Saturday while the Rep runs a Young Rep programme for budding actors aged 7 to 18 years. There is a charge for both but bursaries are available.

FUTURE GOALS

Laura considers the opportunity that Stage Experience has given her a crucial part of her development. The programme is billed as a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience except Laura’s done it twice! As well as gaining experience in a professional setting, the intensity of the production and short lead time means she’s forged firm friendships too.
The talented teen hopes to build on the experience and enjoy an exciting career like her heroes, including Carrie Hope Fletcher famed for playing Éponine and Fantine in Les Miserables and Samantha Barks whose career took off after coming third in the BBC’s I’d Do Anything and who went on to star as Elsa in Frozen.

Image credit: Picture by Ossie Goldhill

Tell us about your cooking

I always dreamed of working in three Michelin-starred restaurants but came to terms with the fact it wasn’t making my heart happy. It taught me so much, but food that gives you a hug and seasonal, quality ingredients that you don’t have to mess around with, makes me happy.

How did you become a chef?

I did well at school but remember teachers being disappointed about my career choice, saying I was going to waste all my hard work. To prove them wrong, I started my training at University College Birmingham. My first job was in a sports bar flipping burgers and steaks 300 times a night – at least it taught me how to cook a steak, wash up fast and listen in service. I worked in a big hotel under head chef Charlotte Foster, who I’ll always be grateful for, before landing a job at Harvey Nichols and then going to work in Yorkshire and being asked to join the junior culinary team for England. The run-through kitchen was in Birmingham, where Leo Kattou of Simpsons restaurant offered me a job. Chef Luke Tipping, Andreas Antona, Leo and everyone who worked there are real influences.

What do you eat at home?

After an 18-hour shift, it’s either beans on toast with the plastic sausages and the most mature cheddar going, or a plate of momma’s finest pasta that still gets left in the microwave for me!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Besides my Nonna, it’s Italian three Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura. The guy is a legend. Best in Brum? If I really have to go there, the pizza chef at Otto’s has my heart. The sous chef nick-named ‘Cheese’ at Purnells cooks meat and fish like I’ve never seen – and he even texts me the greatest dish ideas at 3am!

Share a cooking tip

There’s power in resting meat, and fish and garlic is queen. Also, experiment. It’s okay to close the recipe book and do what you feel is right.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Mom’s amazing picnics. We’d make a den in the garden and enjoy the best charcuterie, cheeses, scotch eggs and even those horrific processed sea food sticks! And dad would make the biggest Cadbury’s hot chocolate with a custard cream.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is spaghetti vongole and a wedge of tiramisu or a Greek souvlaki, Greek salad, and a chunk of watermelon. As for hell, I am a drama queen with spice, so anything hot and spicy is no-go.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Alex Claridge from the Wilderness restaurant gave me ants on my ice cream… delicious in all honesty!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A glass blower. I think it’s incredible and if cheffing all goes pete-tong, maybe I’ll give it a shot.

Give us a nice, easy recipe our readers can make at home using some of those lingering items in the store cupboard

Everyone’s got dried pasta, a bit of cheese and a pepper grinder. Cacio Pepe is one of my favourite dishes. Boil your pasta, drain and save two ladles of the water. Emulsify Parmesan off the heat to make a creamy sauce. Add as much pepper as you want. If you’ve got a lemon, grate and squeeze that in there and go and pour yourself a glass of Amerone.

It turns out our worries were needless because aside from the logo on the signage and menus, you wouldn’t know the difference. The place hasn’t lost any of its charm – if you picked up the restaurant and popped it back down in Barcelona’s Gothic quarter, it would slot right in and no doubt it would be packed every night.

MOUTH-WATERING

It’s small, so expect a bit of a squeeze but the kind you’d relish if you were on a city break somewhere more exotic than Brum. Despite two lively chefs working from an open kitchen the size of a small car, the food is brilliant. It’s not fancy but it is delicious. Simple sounding dishes like bread with olive oil and tomato are elevated to mouth-watering and that’s some skill.
We cooed over plate after plate of food such as oozing, crisp cheese croquetas, perfectly charred padron peppers, juicy garlicky prawns, punchy patatas bravas and a rich flavour packed cassoulet of chickpeas. Dishes range from £2 for smoked anchovies to £9 for a more substantial plate and we recommend three to four dishes per person. In truth we could have grazed the afternoon away working our way through the entire menu, but work got in the way…
Perhaps the drinks menu could do with a bit of attention – in fact the place has a ‘bring your own’ vibe that we can’t really explain as it’s not, so please don’t rock up with a couple of bottles under your arm! It’s the kind of place we’d lap up if we were on holiday and it’s on our bloomin’ doorstep. Whether you pop in and grab a stool by the floor to ceiling windows or hunker down in a cosy corner, you’re in for a treat. Use it or lose it Brummies – this little foodie addition should be a keeper.

Image credit: Apollo by Richard Battye

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

I was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire and attended the Royal Ballet School at age 14. After five years, I graduated and joined Birmingham Royal Ballet working through the ranks from artist to principal dancer. Working closely with Sir David Bintley and Carlos Acosta has been incredibly valuable as well as collaborating with a fine team of creatives that walk through the company doors each year. After 12 blessed seasons I’m moving to Ballet Zürich to build onto everything I’ve learnt from my time at BRB

IT’S WHAT I DO

As a principal dancer I dance the leading roles on many occasions, partnering the wonderful ballerinas and being a strong voice and ambassador for the company. From my first day up until now I’ve been given rewarding opportunities from dining with, dancing for and meeting Royalty to segments on Sunday Brunch and CBeebies. It’s hard being a performer as it’s physically challenging and mentally testing however being able to transport an audience and bring an emotion to a performance is satisfying on many levels.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

I’ve always just wanted to be the best version of myself both in the studio, on stage and in my personal life. A dancer’s career is short but so is life, so I try to take the opportunities presented to me and saviour the experience. My ambition is to keep good health, work hard in all areas and to be happy.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

To date it’s probably becoming a principal dancer in a company that I love. It’s taken a lot of hard work with a good team around me, but it’s been an adventure which not everyone gets to experience. Every day I feel thankful to see where I am from where I was. I never thought this boy from Bradford would ever meet the King and Queen!

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

Not say ‘yes’ to everything. There came a point where I stretched myself with work so much that I had no ‘me’ time. I hardly saw family or friends and I was close to burning out. I’ve learnt to think wisely about what I commit my time to.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

When I arrived in Birmingham in 2011 my first impression was excitement. My first job and I was moving to the second city where there was such a buzz for culture and art. What has quickly become my favourite thing is the number of venues where you can watch shows, etc… one night at the Hippodrome, the other the Alex, then Symphony Hall onto the arena then the 02 venues. There’s so much on the doorstep. Sometimes I struggle to just have a night at home.

DOWNTIME

I love cooking, baking and making pasta. Spa days always go down well, as does afternoon tea and lots of walking around Birmingham. And good music – I’m a huge fan of Classic FM and Smooth Chill.

FINALLY…

There’s much I will miss when I leave Birmingham as I’ve spent all of my 20s here. Lots of memories wrapped up in this wonderful city and many people who’ve made it special. Birmingham and BRB will always be my spiritual home.

Jasmine Gardosi is more than a poet – her debut show combines the art form with beatbox and Celtic dub step as she explores themes around gender identity. Commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre, Dancing To The Music You Hate pulls apart the boundaries of gender and musical genres as Jasmine breaks open the binary with boldness and humour. She says: “You don’t have to be trans or gender-questioning to see or enjoy the show – this is for anyone else who’s also wrestled with self-expression and societal expectations of gender. ie. Everyone.”
The show was shortlisted for the Saboteur Awards Best Spoken Word Show in 2022 and 2023, went on to become Verve Poetry Festival’s best-selling event of 2022 and sold out Symphony Hall’s show at the Jennifer Blackwell Space earlier this year. The show’s titular track was adapted by conductor Jules Buckley and performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra for BBC Four’s Inside Classical: A Birmingham Celebration. Jasmine’s poet laureate predecessor, Casey Bailey describes the show as ‘the most important piece of art I can remember seeing’. High praise.

ROLLERCOASTER

Jasmine’s work has appeared on BBC Four, Sky Arts, Button Poetry and across BBC Radio, while her poem about the pandemic filmed on a rollercoaster was broadcast across the pond on PBS. She has worked with the National Trust, the Poetry Society and the National Literacy Trust and was previously Poet in Residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Winner of numerous prizes, including the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry and Outstanding International Entry in Button Poetry’s Video Contest, Jasmine is also a festival regular, with appearances at Glastonbury, WOMAD and Shambala.
Being the city’s poet laureate is a role Jasmine feels privileged to hold. It’s opened doors and given her a platform. Happy to be Birmingham’s first openly queer poet laureate, Jasmine continues to champion LGBTQ+ communities. She explores identity and sexuality and invites people to do the same. The application process for poet laureate is lengthy and competitive and Jasmine was rejected four times before being appointed. She accepts she wasn’t ready previously and learned a lot from the process and from the feedback she received from the judges. She would urge anyone who’s contemplating applying to go for it. Even the mere process is enriching.

THRIVING

Through poetry, Jasmine has found her voice. She says: “There was a time in my life I thought my voice was not valid. Every voice is valid. Always.” In part, due to Birmingham’s thriving open mic scene, Jasmine found her tribe and a way to express herself. “When I was 21, I was a bit lost – I didn’t know what to do. I used to think writing in isolation was the way, but why? It’s like writing poetry in a vacuum. The open mic scene was/is safe and community driven.”
She didn’t perform the first or even the second time she went to open mic nights, but plucked up the courage on the third visit and is still doing it today. “You’re at the mercy of the audience performing lines written in your room, but it hit home. I felt understood and that’s beautiful.”
Jasmine still does open mic nights, so if you pop down to the likes of Hit The Ode at the Victoria or one of the many of other venues across Brum, you might just hear her trying out new work. It turns out Birmingham does poetry and spoken word seriously well, so if you’re curious go along. There’s no pressure to perform, but you might just find your people and your voice.

Well, the restaurant is a stunner. Someone has worked hard on the interiors, no doubt thrown a lot of money at it, and it shows. There’s a fabulous bar area with stylish scalloped edge seating and striking floor to ceiling windows.

However, while we love this city almost as much as our own children, it’s not pretty by day from this vantage point – just lots of grey rooftops. But as the sun goes down and the golden hour kicks in, it absolutely makes sense and after dark , with Brum twinkling below, it’s even better.

The food on the other hand is a winner any time of the day or night. From a menu full of French classics and some dishes with a modern take, we ate like royalty. The absolute star of the show was a starter that sounded simple, looked a million dollars and tasted incredible – dressed Brixham crab with avocado, apple, sourdough and sunflower seeds. The crab was rich and salty, the apple sweet and zingy and the whole thing together was the best start to dinner we could have hoped for.

Chicken ballotine with leeks, pomme purée, mushroom and truffle jus was knockout delicious. Succulent chicken, a great sauce, earthy flavours and perfect pomme purée – what’s not to love? It was a hefty serving, but we managed. A dessert of chocolate madeleine, hazelnut, whipped pannacotta and salted caramel ice cream hit the spot too – think intense praline flavour with a hint of salt. It also looked pretty as a picture. The cheese was a bit of a drab end to dinner. It felt like it had been chucked on to a plate fresh from the fridge so rather than oozing, the soft cheeses were hard. The tawny port was welcome though.

Our visit was for a special occasion and despite our moaning about the grey rooftops, we’d do it all again. It’s pretty expensive – on a par with Brum’s top restaurants – but it’s a bit different and the food and service are excellent. Our advice if you want to make the most of being up high is to go for dinner just as the sun sets.

Actor, singer, drummer and writer Alex Cardall has added puppetry to his CV for Disney’s gorgeous stage adaptation of Winnie the Pooh which is coming to the Hippodrome later this month following a record-breaking premiere in New York. Theatre aimed at younger audiences might seem like an easy gig, but not so. It has a unique pressure says Alex: “It might be the kids’ first time in a theatre particularly given the backdrop of the pandemic, so it feels special and important.”

Feedback from audiences has been overwhelmingly positive and Alex is looking forward to bringing the show to his hometown. The production features life-sized puppetry of A A Milne’s classic characters set in the Hundred Acre Wood and includes the Sherman Brothers’ Grammy award-winning music. Alex says being part of it is ‘a real joy’.

Alex’s previous work includes playing Daniel in BFI and Bueno Film’s Cha Cha Club, developing and starring in Metta Theatre’s eco-rock musical, Housefire and performing in the Australian Shakespeare Company’s production of Wind in the Willows. Most recently, Alex played Andy Williams in The Osmonds musical – a part that took him right back to his childhood home listening to and playing music with his dad. Alex’s father died in 2017 so he never got to see his son perform as Andy Williams.

PROPER MUSIC

His father was a trumpeter with the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra and Alex was surrounded by what his dad called ‘proper music’ at home – big band mainly, so lots of Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams as well as Level 42 and Gloria Estefan. Alex would bash along on the pots and pans in the kitchen before taking up actual drumming and following in his father’s footsteps joining the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra, aged 15. He toured with the orchestra as a drummer and vocalist for three years, giving him the opportunity to perform to packed out concert halls and world class jazz festivals.

Always into music and drama at school, Alex then attended Birmingham Ormiston Academy in the sixth form, followed by studying musical theatre at ArtsEd in London where he graduated with first class honours and won the Rising Star award. He also won the Stephen Sondheim Society Performer of the Year in 2018.

PAPER BOY

During the pandemic, Alex came home to stay with his mum in Knowle. From there he took part in an online series with Pitlochry Festival Theatre creating videos and initiatives as well as working as a drum and singing teacher with London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and delivering newspapers which inspired him to write a Victoria Wood-style song called Delivering Papers With My Mum which Alex is developing into a full scale production.

The song is largely about his experience during the pandemic and the weird uncertainty of that time and ultimately reconnecting with his mum. Alex says: “It was nice and bloody awful at the same time. It’s about self-reflection and coming to the conclusion that we’re doing alright. There’s a guilt involved with having a positive outcome from the pandemic as so many other people had a really tough time.”

Alex’s next step is to come back to Brum and workshop the play, check it works, fine tune it and secure funding, plus he’d love to get into film and TV, too.

Tell us about your cooking

My style is loose, I like to be relaxed in my kitchen. I like to feel at one with my equipment, obviously I am closest to the grill as I have been cooking on a parilla for a number of years.

How did you become a chef?

Back home, I had a different line of work and I used to work at my family’s seafood restaurant during the weekends. This influenced me greatly and made me fall in love with fresh ingredients and coal fired cooking. My uncle was my biggest inspiration. We used to go out fishing together at night and we would catch squid, lobster, octopus, sea bass, sardines, prawns and small swordfish. We would then prepare, cook and serve these fresh on the very same day. Since then, I followed my passion for cooking and have been at Fiesta del Asado for almost a decade.

What do you eat at home?

I BBQ a lot at home when the weather is good. When it’s not, there’s nothing better for me than a good salad with some grilled lamb and olives. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I don’t take too much notice of others, for me it’s my relationship with my team and the dishes I cook that I concentrate on. What others do is not my concern.

Share a cooking tip

Always rest your proteins after cooking, whether meat, fish or shellfish, and use a good quality finishing salt. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Greek salad with grilled halloumi and souvlaki. These take me back to my childhood and remind me of family holidays where my Mum would cook traditional food. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is the Fiesta empanadas, while hell is lentils. Instead of ‘eat your greens’, for me it was ‘eat your lentils’. I never enjoyed the earthy flavour or texture of these. 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

That would be buffalo. A couple of years ago we were travelling back home from Wales and stopped off at a farm shop. Here I noticed buffalo at the butchers and picked some up to cook at home on the BBQ. Whilst cooked to perfection, the flavour was not to my liking. The buffalo had a sweet, earthy taste and whilst it was lean, the flavour wasn’t as strong as beef. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Rich!  

TRY ARIS’S’S RECIPE FOR PIZZA DOUGH

Aris says: “In my opinion this is the best pizza dough in the world. It’s not my recipe and I can’t remember where I got it but it’s amazing and I have been using it for years. 

First you need to make the poolish pizza dough – and the ingredients for this are:

• 200g of water

• 5g of honey

• 5g of yeast

• 200g of OO flour

Mix by hand for 15 minutes, leave out for 15 minutes uncovered, then cover and leave out for 1 hour.

Then refrigerate for 16 to 20 hours. 

To complete the dough:

First, place the poolish in a bowl and add 300g of Manitoba flour. Then mix 300g of water with 20g of salt. Add 200g of OO flour to the poolish and Manitoba then combine with the salted water until all is used and mix by hand until the dough starts to even out. Oil it lightly and rest for 15 minutes then fold until a ball forms, being careful not to over-work the dough. 

To cook:

Split the dough into two, 270g balls depending on size required. Evenly flatten the dough by pressing the air towards the edge, when you get to the edge press down to seal the air in.

Don’t use too much flour as it burns, then place it on a sheet of baking paper. Using something flat, scoop it up and place straight onto a hot tray in a preheated oven that’s as hot as possible. 

For the tomato sauce:

Simply place 400g of good tinned whole Italian plum tomatoes in a bowl with salt, ripped basil and olive oil.

Twenty-five years ago this summer what has become the world’s biggest Par 3 golf tournament teed up in its beautiful new location in Warwickshire. Since the first ball was struck, the glorious short course at Nailcote Hall has seen some of golfing’s greats grace its greens, as well as a galaxy of stars from the world of sport, entertainment and the arts.

This year’s Farmfoods Par 3 British Championship will see the professional players competing for a record 150,000 Euro prize. At the same time, a pro-am will as always inject some extra fun and games and provide additional entertainment to the thousands of golf-loving spectators expected turn out and watch the event over its four days from 8 to 11 August.

Rick Cressman, owner of Nailcote Hall and the driving force behind the championship’s success, said: “I am truly proud of the event, it has been a real labour of love. If you would have told me 25 years ago that we would have pros and celebrities from around the world playing here at Nailcote, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

STAR-STUDDED

Golfing stars who have taken part include legends such as Ryder Cup captains Tony Jacklin, Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance, fellow Majors winners Dame Laura Davies, Paul Lawrie and Danny Willett, as well as the likes of young superstars such as Charley Hull. Celebrities have included Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton, Nigel Mansell, Mike Tindall, Jonny Bairstow and Jasper Carrott. Among the championship’s keenest supporters was Strictly Come Dancing’s legendary judge, the late, great Len Goodman who could always be counted on to cut a dashing figure in the golfing fashion stakes!

Rick explained that the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship is much like the Masters Par 3 with it being played in a relaxed yet competitive atmosphere. However, it holds a very special place in the history of British golf and was played long before it became tradition in the Masters. The championship had its origins in the old Short Course Professional Championship which was played at the Palace Hotel, Torquay from 1933 to 1973. Sid Mouland, who won at Torquay in the 1960s, was the inspiration behind the tournament’s resurgence. Rick said: “Sid was the professional attached to Nailcote Hall before his son Mark inherited his position and he would regale me with tales of the old Championship at the Palace Hotel. Once Sid thought that Nailcote Hall was in good enough shape to take over the championship, the rest, as they say, is history…”

GROW THE GAME

Rick added: “Par 3 golf is the sport that gives everyone the opportunity to play. We try hard to make sure people can see that golf isn’t exclusively the territory for the pros. You hear so much talk about growing the game and that’s what we have always tried to do by showing people who come to our course that golf is about the art of the short game and putting – it’s not just about whether you can drive the ball miles on a full-size course.

“Tony Jacklin who is a great friend and hosts the event each year has always said that the attraction of the course is all the little fiddly bits that you have to master. We’ve become a major sporting event in the West Midlands over the years which attracts a lot of people and is covered each year by Sky Sports on TV. We’re very proud of what we have achieved here.”

Spectators can expect the full golfing experience at Nailcote, complete with the Tented Village which is the entertainment and social hub of the championship. Visitors can enjoy food and drink, browse the stalls with clothing, golfing equipment and beauty products and test their golfing ability. Players and celebrities take to the village for exclusive Q&A sessions which are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many fans.

Rick said: “Our whole aim is to open up golf to as many people as possible in a competitive yet fun way.”

Tell us about your cooking

It’s innovative and has a strong French foundation. Using fresh local produce and foraging for ingredients is what excites me the most about cooking. For example, using the first Girolle mushrooms of the late summer season in a wild mushroom broth to accompany my slow cooked oxtail bon-bon. 

How did you become a chef?

I actually became a chef by mistake! I came to the UK from Spain when I was 18 and got a job as a kitchen porter. Eventually I got offered an apprenticeship which allowed me to gain experience with prepping and cooking food. I went on to work with the Roux brothers for nine years and spent time in their Michelin-star restaurants in London, Wales, France and the US. I joined the Belfry two years ago.

What do you eat at home?

As a family we eat simple foods – I’m more than happy cooking something like an omelette. Other favourites are fresh pasta and antipasti and cured meats.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

In the world for me, it’s Ferran Adria, a Catalan chef who was the owner at El Bulli, not far from where I grew up near Barcelona. Although El Bulli is no longer a restaurant, Ferran has opened his own cookery school. The best Birmingham chef is Tom Shepherd. Just four months after opening his restaurant, Upstairs by Tom Shepherd, he received a Michelin star which is an amazing achievement.

Share a cooking tip

Make sure you check your ‘mise en place’ (that’s pre-prepare all your ingredients, have them out and make sure you have worked out all of your timings before you start). This will help to keep everything on track and make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable. Secondly, taste, taste, taste! People don’t do this enough when cooking.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Growing up in Spain my favourite food was a dish called Arroz a la Cubana. It’s a simple dish of boiled rice, two fried eggs and tomato sauce made from canned tomatoes, onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is an aged Iberico ham with fresh tomatoes. Hell has to be liver – the texture and smell massively puts me off! 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

That would be tripe. I can categorically say that the texture is not for me. I’ve also tried a fisheye – the worst bit is when you bite into it and it explodes! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

When I was younger, I used to play for the academy at FC Barcelona and if I carried on playing, who knows where I would be now. I’m not talking about the next Messi, but I would have enjoyed playing semi-professionally!

TRY JAVIER’S CHICKEN SUPREME RECIPE

An impressive dish that you can make home with ingredients that you’ll probably have at the back of the cupboard is a Chicken Supreme. Pair this with fire roasted almonds, sweet potato mash, braised baby gem lettuce and a smoked garlic jus and you’ve got a dinner party style dish. You can find an easy recipe to follow below.

For 2 People

1 Whole Chicken (Corn fed)

•              Butcher the chicken by separating the breasts and wings from the carcass and keep a side (you can ask your butcher to do this for you and ask him to give you the bones for making the sauce)

•              Season the breast with salt and cook skin side down in a pan until golden, flip it over and colour it slightly on the other side. Roast in the oven together with the chicken wings for 20 minutes. Until it reaches a temperature of 75C.

20g Smoked Almonds Nibbed (you can substitute for Flaked Almonds)

•              Toast the almonds lightly until golden and set aside.

Braised Baby Gem

•              1 baby gem lettuce

•              30g unsalted butter

•              15g shallots (finely chopped)

•              1 carrot (small diced)

•              1 celery stick (small diced)

•              1 garlic clove (minced)

•              1 sprig of thyme

•              500ml chicken stock

•              Salt to taste

Wash the lettuce to remove dirt and cut in half lengthwise. Sweat down the prepared vegetables then add the butter and chicken stock. Add the baby gem and cover with tin foil. Bake in the oven @180C for 15 minutes. Once ready spoon the veg on top and keep warm.

Sweet Potato Mash

•              1 large sweet potato

•              30g soft unsalted butter

•              2g Maldon salt

Bake the sweet potato in the oven @180c until soft. Let it cool down slightly and peel off the skin. Mash or blend in a food processor with the soft butter and salt until smooth.

Spinach Puree

•              100g baby leaf spinach (washed)

•              50ml double cream

•              Pinch of grated nutmeg

•              Salt to taste

Cook the spinach in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. Bring the cream to the boil and thicken until it coats the back of the spoon, add the nutmeg and drained spinach. Cook for 2 minutes and blend well. Keep warm.

Smoked Garlic Jus

•              1 chicken carcass or 500g of chicken bones

•              1 head of smoked garlic

•              2 shallots

•              1 carrot

•              1 stick of celery

•              2 sprigs of thyme

•              30g tomato puree

•              50ml brandy

•              5ml sherry vinegar

•              2l water

Roast the bones in the oven until golden brown together with the smoked garlic. Roughly chop all the vegetables and caramelise in a pan until golden. Add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes. Deglaze with brandy and reduce until evaporated. Add the bones and cover with water. Cook for at least 4 hours. Strain the liquid and reduce by 1/8 to intensify the flavour. Add the sherry vinegar and season to taste.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

UB40 have had such a long, successful career that it means we have toured every continent and country, several times. We’ve toured Europe, east and west, which includes Russia – we were one of the first bands to tour there back in 1986, way before the raising of the Iron Curtain. It constantly amazes me that our music has travelled so far. We can go to somewhere like, say, Samoa, and 20,000 people turn up to see us. Just last year, we sold-out the famous Hollywood Bowl and we also played to 100,000 people on a Spanish beach. It’s amazing that we are still going strong after 45 years in the music business. 

IT’S WHAT I DO

As a drummer in the band it’s my job to keep the music moving in a straight line. Reggae music requires a lot of discipline. I have to refrain from too much embellishment because I don’t want too much clutter in the music. We are a big band, so I have to make sure I leave enough space for the other musicians to do their thing. 

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

The band has been so successful that many of our dreams and ambitious have already been fulfilled. Personally, musically I’m still ambitious to make the perfect record and the perfect live show. There are always things that I wish I could do again. Nothing is ever 100 per cent perfect. 

BIGGEST SUCCESS

There aren’t many things that the band haven’t already achieved. We’ve never played mainland China, which I would love to do. For me personally it’s about family. I got together with my wife before the band started, so having four grown-up daughters, all with long-term partners, and grandchildren, all well-adjusted and happy in their lives, gives me an immense feeling of satisfaction.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

If I met my younger self, I would say ‘carry on what you’re doing, it will work out fine, so don’t change’.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

Being born and raised in inner-city B’ham was an enormous privilege. It was a melting pot of Asian, black, Arab, Irish and working-class English. You could sit on your doorstep and see the four corners of the world go by. The coming together of different cultures has inspired creativity and has also had a profound effect on my personal life. My wife’s father came to Britain from the Caribbean in the Windrush convoy and her mother is from Ireland. Which makes it a very Brummie family.

DOWNTIME

Family and friends are number one on the list. My youngest daughter and her husband live with my wife and myself and they’ve gifted me a beautiful grandson who’s not quite two-years-old yet and who I love spending time with. I do have a couple of ‘hobbies’ – I’m politically-minded and very left-wing and I’m also a bit of a film buff. I love cult movies and foreign films, particularly Japanese and South Korean cult movies. When the band are touring we get through a lot of movies on those long journeys in the tour bus.

Tucked around the corner from the RBSA gallery, Lasan is as gorgeous as we remember. Big mirrors, banquet seating and dreamy lighting make for a chic comfortable brasserie vibe.

The food is the main event and right up our street. We shared a platter to start which we highly recommend. It included morsels of deliciousness like clay oven chicken – succulent and nicely spiced along with perfectly cooked cubes of mahi salmon; meaty, charred sarson prawn and tender chunks of Bihari beef kebab that melted in the mouth. An accompanying zingy salad with punchy pickled cucumber worked a treat as did the duo of chutney – mint and red pepper. There’s a veggie version too which looks awesome.

At our indecisive best, everything about the menu appealed so we were happy to be led by our waiter. He made some great choices. Sikandari lamb shank was marinated in Kashmiri spices then slow roasted and shredded. Tender and smoky, the lamb was served with a brilliant dhal makhani and fresh raita. It was a hefty dish given we’d just devoured a platter and we probably could have shared, but it was seriously good. Methi chicken was pan fried served on a moreish bhuna with spinach and fenugreek – a complex warming sauce that we found best mopped up with a perfect naan.

Not something we’d normally order, we then threw in a curve ball with Gobi Angari – tandoor roasted cauliflower sauteed with nigella scented onion masala and can confirm never has a vegetable tasted so brilliant.

The food isn’t too hot – it’s more complex than that in a wonderfully warming way. We won’t be ditching Dishoom as we’re suckers for the black daal, but we will be eating at Lasan a heck of a lot more. There’s room in our life for both. Go.

At just nine-years-old, the young Vincent Darby opened for Flo Rida at Brum’s O2 Academy after a record producer watched him perform his version of Alicia Keys’s single Fallin’ on YouTube – he’d been singing regularly since he was five. From there he joined creative and performing arts academy, BOA, has performed at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekender, released his debut EP, Still Here We Are, recorded around the globe and has just dropped his new single, We Could Be.

Showcased in his home-town at the Rainbow, Digbeth in February and out now, We Could Be is produced by French DJ and producer Blundetto and combines funk, new wave and synth-pop. There’s a chilled-out confidence about the single that’s mature and easy which makes for an enjoyable listen. Inspired by the work of artists like The Weeknd, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics and Prince, the single is Vincent’s first release since his celebrated debut EP Still Here We Are. That EP attracted a lot of support from BBC Radio 1 from the get-go, culminating in his performance at the Big Weekender, and was selected by BBC 1Xtra as their track of the week.

SPRINGBOARD

Recorded at Shaggy’s Big Yard Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, the EP was a highly successful springboard to his career with stand-out tracks such as Get Away and avant-garde jam Baby Oh I. Vincent said at the time: “Still Here We Are came from a place of not quite understanding the ‘situation-ship’ that I was in; a story about how something can be so good, but also so bad.”

Since the EP, Vincent’s been busy writing and recording in Jamaica, Toronto and Zimbabwe as well as the UK and says he’s found a new lease of life. Covid put a spanner in the works and slowed things down, but he’s had time to reflect. He says: “I’ve really grown since I last dropped music, the whole world has. Without being too philosophical, today’s not the same as yesterday, we grow. I think as an artist it’s important to show growth”.

The lyrics of new single, We Could Be, detail an intention to repair and rebuild a tumultuous relationship elevated by Vincent’s euphoric and virtuosic vocals. Skillfully switching between breathy notes and piercing falsetto he sings sentimental phrases like, ‘There will be a compromise, because lonely is no friend of mine’. The video, directed by Eric Yealand who has worked with the likes of Wiz Khalifa is slick and unfussy, putting Vincent and his lyrics firmly centre stage.

OLD SOUL

Vincent is a proud descendant of Jamaican grandparents, who as members of the Windrush Generation migrated to the UK after the second world war, working as a bus conductor and a nurse. Heavily influenced by his music loving grandfather, who was a hospital radio DJ and vinyl collector, Vincent was exposed to the sounds of Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass, Beres Hammond, Dennis Brown and Richie Spice.

Vincent’s on the move again currently treating the people of Toronto to a his soulful sound and there’ll be more touring on the cards. Keen to get his sound out to the wider music world

Veejay Lingiah knows all about the problems facing students who speak English as an additional language (EAL). As the child of two parents who immigrated into the UK, he was the only non-white student in his primary classroom. He remembers clearly how challenging that made school life and as he grew older he vowed to do something about it and to provide a way to help others.

Today, the UK welcomes more than 200,000 immigrants a year from a huge spread of countries and with an equally large range of languages spoken. However, with the majority of schooling in the UK being taught predominantly in English, EAL children are at a huge disadvantage in the classroom if their English language development is not properly supported and encouraged.

That’s where Veejay and his team at Birmingham-based FlashAcademy come in, providing students from all backgrounds with a digital platform that allows them to learn English and celebrate their home languages at the same time. FlashAcademy is an education technology company that reduces marking, supports independent learning and provides hundreds of free paper-based resources to save teachers time. The online language-learning tool allows schools across the country to help EAL students with their language skills and to interact with their classmates. Clear and accurate reporting on progress allows pupils to demonstrate their learning and identifies when a pupil has mastered the necessary skills.

PIONEERING

Founded in 2012 as FlashSticks using pre-printed language Post-it Notes, the company later evolved to FlashAcademy, a move away from the physical to a new digital solution to the EAL challenge. In September 2017, Claire Evans, then deputy head at Anderton Park School, Balsall Heath, sat down with Veejay and became the first school to pioneer the use of the online platform to support EAL pupils with their language development.

In November 2022, FlashAcademy partnered with its 1,000th school – and at the time of writing that had grown to more than 1,100 and rising fast! The small team at FlashAcademy has also grown over the years to a dedicated group of 40-plus passionate language-learning professionals.

Co-founder and CEO, Veejay, said: “We set out with a purpose to help as many EAL students as possible. Over the years, one school has somehow turned into 1,000 schools, and we’ve been able to provide language support to thousands more children than ever before. We’re really excited and optimistic about being able to help even more in the future, because it feels like we’re still just getting started and there are so many more schools and students left for us to help.”

The potential is indeed huge. There are more than 30,000 schools in the UK with primary schools having one in five EAL pupils and secondary schools with one in six. Veejay said: “Our platform works on any device, phones, iPads and so on. The whole aim is to try to accelerate the pace at which pupils can get English and to unlock the language barrier. So many EAL kids are treated as if they are behind in learning when it isn’t their fault.” This was particularly critical during the pandemic when all homework was being sent to pupils at home, and that homework was in English.

GLOBAL NEED

The need for greater help for students has only accelerated with growing numbers of immigrants coming from all parts of the globe. Veejay explained: “People are being displaced from around the world and as a result what used to be a city-based problem in the UK is now an issue all over the country, so all schools in all areas face the challenges of EAL students.” FlashAcademy teaches English across 48 languages and is so flexible that it is possible to have multiple pupils from different countries learning together under one teacher in one class.

It’s not just children whose language learning has been accelerated by the app. FlashAcademy has expanded to provide language education for adult (ESOL) students, alongside supporting international schools overseas. The platform has even become affiliated with a number of Strategic Migrant Partnerships, helping migrants such as those coming across from Hong Kong to develop their English language skills. And Staffordshire County Council partnered with the app to provide language and education assistance for Ukrainian refugees living in the county under the Homes For Ukraine scheme.

However, the addition of super chef Leo Kattou to the kitchen and a more cohesive menu running from day to night tempted us back.

The place is still shrouded in scaffolding which isn’t a restaurateurs dream, but once inside it’s a little haven of loveliness – the lighting is winning, everyone/thing looks gorgeous, the staff are charming and while the restaurant’s small, the team has made it work beautifully.

It’s our first visit since Leo joined on the back of a long and successful stint at Simpsons, and while he isn’t trying to turn Laghi’s into the Michelin-starred Birmingham icon, the food is brilliant. For instance, oozing creamy burrata with caramelised fennel, toasted pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil. Shredded pork in a crisp coating topped with sweet matchsticks of pear, bitter chicory and a punchy mustardy sauce.

Or, how about rich carbonara with plenty of salty nuggets of bacon running through topped with oodles of grated cheese. Perfect cod with a crunchy hazelnut and truffle pesto crust served with earthy roasted Jerusalem artichokes and finally, a pork chop – unfathomably succulent, packed with flavour and served with a cep sauce so great we’d buy it by the bottle and slurp it through a straw on the daily. I couldn’t tell you about puds because we’d really had our fill by then, but I can recommend a fiery little digestiv called Willy Chilly which will send you off into the night with a warm fuzzy glow.

If it’s a neighbourhood restaurant that owner, Luca and the team were after, they’ve nailed it. It’s the sort of place you really want on your patch, preferably within walking distance from home. We’ve heard some criticism of it being pricey but, honestly, I think for the quality, the service and the experience, it’s reasonable. We went the whole hog and scrimped on nothing, but it’s the kind of place you can pop in and enjoy a delicious plate of food and a bottle of wine and leave just as happy.

Our knee jerk reaction on social media as we left the restaurant was ‘a proper neighbourhood restaurant with a big heart’ and we stand by that in the sober light of day. It’s superb.

Titled, Why Are We Stuck in Hospital? a new exhibition which runs at Ikon Gallery for two weeks responds to a project carried out by the School of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham in partnership with rights-based organisation, Changing Our Lives. The research raises awareness of the thousands of vulnerable people locked in hospital settings with no planned departure date and no hope of getting one.

On the back of the research, the two organisations put their heads together to choose an artist who could create something impactful and appropriate to highlight the plight of these people buried from view. Cue Foka Wolf. Don’t expect the usual humour as the situation is far from amusing, so it’s a bit of a departure for the artist – who keeps his real name and identity a closely guarded secret.

NO VOICE

I wasn’t aware of the scale of the problem and nor was he. We’ve listened to politicians of all flavours proclaiming they’ve a plan to fix social care, but generally that’s in the context of freeing up bed-blocking in NHS hospitals – that’s bad enough, but they’ve not touched on the desperate plight of more than 2,000 vulnerable people trapped in a dehumanising system.

A glance at the Changing Our Lives website shines a light on the people who are capable of independent living but instead are trapped for years, sometimes decades, ‘living’ in locked wards, voiceless and sometimes sedated if they kick up a fuss. And then there are success stories for the people who’ve navigated their way out with help from organisations like Changing Our Lives and go on to enjoy full, contented lives.

It’s touched a nerve with Foka Wolf. He says: “It really opened my eyes. I hadn’t heard of the charity or the cause. This was an opportunity to be the voice for them.”  He doesn’t usually work in a gallery setting so he’s in new territory and a bit nervous. “I just want to give a fair representation of what the charity wanted. It’s important. It had to be more serious. The emphasis is on a live installation which runs for two weeks. Part of the exhibition is in the Bank Vaults but it’s mostly centred at IKON.”

It’s the worthlessness of the people in the system that’s most shocking. They’re invisible and it seems nobody is fighting their corner although the artist says the University research has the power to force change. “That’s why it was important to create something impactful. The work is quite literal and needed to be some sort of spectacle.” The exhibition opens on 7 March to coincide with the publication of policy guidelines based on the experiences of people with learning disabilities, their families and frontline staff.

THE STREET

Although he’s embraced this project, Foka Wolf is not ready to move his usual work from the street to gallery space just yet. What began as a hobby 15 years ago to break up the 12-hour days working on building sites, has become a full-time career. He started creating small parody classified ads and sticking them to lamp posts around the city.

Then, an 8ft x 4ft poster lampooning 4×4 drivers suggesting penis enlargements went viral and his notoriety grew. He’s never got into any trouble although he has been caught in the act a couple of times, which is why he chooses to remain anonymous.

“I like it that way. I deal with stuff on social media and that’s fine, but I don’t want that in my real life. I like a peaceful life.”

At just 13 years of age, Ella Evenson produces art that she’s able to sell through a social enterprise called Art Rabble – an organisation specialising in selling artwork by artists with disabilities. Ella has Mosaic Down’s Syndrome – a rare type which means things can take longer for her to complete, but she’s brimming with positivity.

She says: “I was born with a diagnosis of Mosaic Down’s Syndrome. It makes me determined. I started painting in my summer holidays in 2019 at our kitchen table and now I have my own art studio. I have a big table and all my art materials in there. The other week I put mummy’s old radio in my art studio, so now I listen to music when I paint.”

BOLD STYLE

Ella had her first exhibition in 2020 in the Art Rooms in Kings Heath which she describes as ‘a really great experience’. Her work is uplifting and optimistic using bold colours that raise a smile. Ella experiments with new techniques and styles using acrylics, watercolours and alcohol inks and enjoys abstract art, looking particularly to Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning for inspiration.

She says: “My favourite painting is abstract painting because I love using different tools to create with like a sponge, tin foil, a plastic knife or fork. It’s really fun experimenting and exploring with paints and objects I have at home.”

Ella gets her ideas from what she sees on trips and holidays painting ‘abstract flowers, plants, trees, birds and the seaside’. Ella’s mum is a big support. “Mummy always encourages me to paint because it relaxes me. I am calm and happy,” says Ella.  She also says that Lisa Lim, founder of Art Rabble is encouraging ‘because she believes in me’ as well as Cristina Bowman from a group called Diffability. Ella says: “Cristina reached out to me and now I do online art workshops for children with special needs. I love painting with them.”

Ella’s also spurred on by people buying her work and has sold many commissions around the world. She says: “My clients in the UK and internationally encourage me because they believe in me. It’s everyone encouraging me, believing in me! I love my colourful paintings being in homes around the world!”

FUTURE AMBITION

Ella is the youngest artist sold through Art Rabble. She’s had a real confidence boost from selling her work and feels good about the donations she’s been able to make to Down’s Syndrome Awareness month and the Australian Bush Fire Appeal thanks to the sales. She says: “This was great because my paintings helped others.”

Currently Ella juggles painting with school, generally creating after completing homework on a Tuesday and Sunday morning. In the future, she would like to make a career of it. She says: “I would like to keep painting when I’m an adult. I would like to paint like I am now and have an online shop, do art workshops and children’s art parties. I would love to design T-shirts and have my designs on clothes!” The big-hearted artist also says: “I love being with people and I think I would also like to work in a nursery, doing art with little children or in a care home, doing art with elderly people. I also like the idea of working in a supermarket.”

Tell us about your cooking

My style is innovative and contemporary. I have a vast knowledge of traditional Indian cooking methods and recipes and bring an exciting fusion in marrying authentic Indian cuisine with contemporary plating that’s on trend. 

How did you become a chef?

I have always had a passion about great food from a young age and was encouraged to follow this by my family. I pursued my hobby and instantly knew – when I enrolled for an internship at the Oberoi Hotel Group – that I was born for hospitality! You have to be cut from a certain type of cloth to succeed in this sector, and especially a vibrant kitchen. I rapidly grew through the ranks and have had the pleasure of catering for many celebrities, government officials and VIPs in my career. 

What do you eat at home?

I am obsessed with Indian cuisine but enjoy exploring and broadening my knowledge on world cuisine. I particularly like Thai and Italian and will experiment at home from time to time. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

There are many great chefs in the world, but Gaggan Anand, for me, is the best among the modern Indian cuisine sector. As for Birmingham, I haven’t been here long as I arrived from UAE in summer of last year, but working very closely with executive chef Rashpal Sunner here at Five Rivers, I understand why he has been so highly acclaimed in the Birmingham scene. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

No brainer… Nihari Gosht, served on the bone, which will be a new addition and feature on our new a la carte menu – a must try! 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is black daal because it’s wholesome, flavoursome, affordable and reminds me of my childhood and home comforts. As for hell, when I came to this country I discovered beans on toast – it’s so plain! But if you spice it up with masala I might be willing to give it another go… 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

When in Paris, I had to try snails. They were well marinated in a fresh garlic puree. Very unusual for me, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Tough question! I really can’t imagine life doing anything else, although I do enjoy travelling – so maybe a pilot? I am very lucky that I can share my passion and love for food and travel while doing it. This is my fourth country where I can showcase my culinary style after India, Qatar and the UAE.

Described by an industry expert as the ‘Harvard of Animation’, Sheridan College in Canada is highly competitive. For Branchett Sun, whose hero is Walt Disney and whose dream is to direct film at the likes of Disney and Pixar, she’s undeterred by the odds of getting in.

There are 6,000 applicants for only 200 places and between 10 and 20 open to international students like Branchett. The application process is intense with a portfolio split into eight sections including storyboarding, 2D and 3D animation among other skills which Branchett has been working on in her own time.

Branchett visited Sheridan College aged just 10 as part of a touring production of Oliver Twist. She remembers staying in one of the dormitories and being wowed by an art wall on which students doodled. She recalls: “I spent hours staring at it hoping that one day my signature would be on there.” She also recalls everyone being so friendly which left a positive mark.

MANGA STYLE

Branchett is prepared to apply more than once if her first attempt is unsuccessful. She knows of a teacher in Canada who applied five times before being accepted, so she’s pragmatic about the process. Supportive teachers at Edgbaston High School for Girls (EHS), where she has studied since 2018, have helped Branchett to balance her A-Level studies with working on her portfolio enabling success in both.

While Branchett enjoys working with traditional materials including oil painting as part of her A-Level course, her passion lies outside of that as she creates manga style characters and storyboards. Luckily EHS has the technology and facilities to allow Branchett to use industry standard software like After Effects and Procreate for her portfolio work.

As if that wasn’t enough, Branchett also has an Etsy shop selling her creations. She says: “I’ve always loved Disney and like to redraw characters in my own style. I amassed a lot of followers on social media and decided to open an Etsy shop where I can sell my work.” Branchett also had a stand at Comic Con this year selling her wares to attendees.

MUSIC MAKER

As well as Branchett’s artistic talent, she has a couple of impressive musical strings to her bow that can only enhance her ability as a film maker. She plays piano to Grade 7 and sings in the CBSO Birmingham City Youth Chorus and says most directors would play at least one instrument.

Often when interviewing youngsters for our Young, Gifted and Brummie series we hope that with hard work and a bit of luck, they’ll go on to achieve their dreams, but we’re not sure Branchett needs our luck. She’s as steely as she is talented and we’ve no doubt she’ll be credited with directing many brilliant films in the future.

You might not know 2G Design & Build, but the chances are you’ve enjoyed its work. The team at the interior design and construction company has worked on many top Brummie restaurants including Carter’s of Moseley, The Wilderness, Land, Chakana and Loki among others.

The company doesn’t exclusively focus on hospitality, but its portfolio is currently weighted towards restaurants and bars. We caught up with one half of the husband-and-wife team behind the business, Nick Jones on the cusp of opening a second office in London.

Hospitality is in Nick’s blood. His parents ran restaurants and he worked as a chef at Opus in his youth. He says: “I came to cheffing late at 27 and couldn’t really earn enough money.” Nick went back to university to gain a masters in construction – he also has a degree in psychology and a WSET level 3 qualification. Catherine – the other half of the dynamic duo – studied interior design at KLC School of Design and Central St Martins as well as building a successful career in the wine industry, so together they’ve a lot to bring to the table.

GETTING THE BUZZ

Nick says: “I knew how to lay out a bar/restaurant. Growing up dad was in construction and mum ran the restaurants. In some ways, a project feels like a service. You get that buzz as you work towards getting it ready.” Opening a restaurant of their own is not on the cards for Catherine and Nick despite their skills seemingly well suited to it. Nick explains: “I like being involved on a design/construction level – you get the excitement levels, but I also want to spend time with the kids.”

The focus has been on independents so far. Nick says: “It’s the challenge of doing something different. With a chain, once you’ve done the first, the rest is a bit design by numbers. We have done chains – we’ve completed three Lokis for example but they’re all very different.” The dream client is one with a clear idea of what they want. Nick says: “It helps channel our ideas and makes it better for them.”

The restaurants they’ve completed are all very different – while the focus is always quality and creating strong lasting spaces, the designs are inventive and uniquely tailored to the client’s needs. Nick and Catherine have built up a trusted and established team of 20 who share their vision and commitment to quality.

There’s a core team of designers and project managers along with tradesmen as well as some trusted sub-contractors. A new designer has just been recruited to start this month which has been a lengthy process. Nick says: “It’s important to pick the right person.” Their reputation means clients now seek 2G out in contrast to the early days when the couple had to go out and sell themselves.

CAPITAL CHALLENGE

Word of mouth has spread beyond Brum with the company picking up work in Lichfield and Derby for instance. “Birmingham is a small community and once we’d done a couple of projects well, more work followed.” The London office means a bit more selling themselves although a body of impressive work helps. Catherine worked in London for years and has a network there, so she’ll be spending more time in the capital than Nick. He says: “It’s exciting and quite stressful. It’s important we can handle the extra capacity while keeping the quality. We don’t want to go too big too soon.”

Recent challenges have been plentiful, not least a global pandemic and rising costs. “People are cautious. Bills, food, energy costs have all gone up as well as inflation, but more than that the hospitality industry is struggling to recruit and retain staff. A lot of people left the industry during Covid and didn’t come back.” Staff retention as well as customer experience is a consideration for 2G when designing a restaurant.

Nick explains: “Good design is more than just about the customer. The better laid out a place is, the happier the staff which impacts on customer experience. If you go to a restaurant and the experience isn’t brilliant and you just can’t put your finger on why, the chances are the staff aren’t happy. You might not go back even if everything else was spot on.”

AWARDS SUCCESS

Covid meant that work on site stopped for three months but the design work continued. They worked through the pandemic on a large job on a heritage building in the Jewellery Quarter as well as two Lokis and Tropea in Harborne. Costs in a lot of areas of the business have gone up ranging from tradespeople day rates to plasterboard and timber which they’re hoping will level out soon.

Listed buildings present a challenge that Nick welcomes. “There are more things to consider like planners and conservationists. I enjoy mixing modern and traditional and putting old things back.” The Joint Works in the JQ is a great example of mixing old and new which has prompted industry accolades. The scheme made it to the final two projects in the Fit Out of the Year category at the Insider Awards.

Nick says: “The awards are a big thing in construction. There were multi-million-pound businesses and projects in the room with us. To be in the same arena as those people was great. It’s a different level that might lead to bigger projects.”

Tell us about your cooking

I would describe it as quite unique as I’m Asian and most of my cooking style has an Asian influence and obviously a Western influence as well. I like to bring together different types of cooking techniques from various cultures.

How did you become a chef?

I was trained in Malaysia where I did a diploma for two years. I then arrived in the UK to study for my degree which took three years and since then I’ve trained at Simpsons. Ever since I was young, I was influenced quite a lot by Jamie Oliver – as a chef he’s known world-wide, including in Malaysia.  I like that his cooking style is homely, comfort food which inspired me especially as a young kid not knowing how or what to cook. Looking at his dishes reminds me of how much I liked cooking back then as a child.

What do you eat when at home?

I eat a lot of Asian food at home and occasionally Western. Even though I’ve been here for three years, I still miss my Asian dishes which tend to centre around rice.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

There’s so many good chefs that it’s hard to say who’s the best in the world but a chef who does inspire me is a French pastry chef called Cédric Grolet whose desserts have his own unique style.

The best chef in Birmingham has to be Luke Tipping – he has inspired and influenced me a lot when it comes to Western cooking.

Share a cooking tip

Try not to burn anything! When it comes to cooking rice there is a certain ratio you need to get right, as in Asia we cook without using weighing scales

What was your favourite food as a kid?

It was almost like a soup which featured pork cooked in Chinese herbs and spices. It isn’t something you find in the UK but it’s a very heart-warming soup that I still like to cook at home.

Food heaven and food hell?

My food heaven is street food. My food hell is food that is not cooked properly.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I’m not a big fan of raw seafood or insects, which are used in a lot of South East Asian dishes. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

If I wasn’t a chef, I would be working in the finance industry.

There are challenges to creating an identity at Emporio Artari, more so than Lucarelli given it’s essentially in a shopping centre. However, they’ve made the best of it with privacy screens and a well-positioned bar, so it feels like you’re entering a restaurant rather than the atrium of a mall, and the buzz of Touchwood actually added to the lively vibe. The bar’s a thing of beauty and the crockery and accessories add personality.

The restaurant serves cicchetti (small plates), sharing platters, panini, pasta and on weekdays, an Italian afternoon tea which we sampled. Cocktails are a big thing, so we went for the bellini version rather than mere tea. Sandwiches aren’t the neatly sliced cucumber fingers you might expect from an average afternoon tea, but more inventive open sandwiches with punchy flavours such as mozzarella, tomato tapenade and olive – we could have snaffled a whole plate of these.

Parmesan mousse, ham and honey mustard are salty in the very the best of ways and moreish. Butternut squash pate and truffle pecorino cheese are smooth, balanced, sweet and earthy all at the same time. While smoked salmon, stracchino cheese and rocket were very good too, roasted mushroom, Asiago cheese and smoked ham was less so with one left on the plate – there’s always one.

Sweet treats were plentiful and pretty as a picture. There was a lemon mousse cake, strawberry and pistachio parfait, Amaretto and white chocolate soft sponge and a torta cappuccino. They all tasted great, but among the soft moussey textures we craved a bit of crunch. That came in the form of an absolutely knock out Aragostina, a crisp pastry shell with Amarena cherry and Chantilly cream – the top pick of the sweets. There was also a traditional scone with jam and cream that felt a bit surplus to requirements.

Afternoon tea is £25 per person which feels like a steal, the bellini version is £34.50 and Champagne afternoon tea is £35. As a convenient and indulgent pit-stop to break up a shopping trip, we reckon you can’t beat it.

Image credit – Abbie Barton

Chris Cleverley’s music has been described as ‘dream folk’ and ‘lo-fi folk’ and we’re not afraid to admit, we had to Google it before we chatted to him and we’re still not sure what it is. Forgetting the genre as we don’t think Chris slots easily into one box, his music is contemporary, mainly acoustic, gently melodic, ethereal, honest, sometimes raw often tackling some of society’s major issues – the climate crisis, displacement, the pervasive effects of AI and social media.

It’s not a heavy listen though – it’s beautiful. The album, Broadcast the Secret Verse launched last month at a shindig in Chris’s old stomping ground, the Hare and Hounds and kicked off his nine-date Secret Verses tour.

GRITTY AND WHOLESOME

As well as the grittier themes, there are more wholesome topics like connecting with nature and other people, so it’s nicely balanced. The new album is more experimental than previous work blending acoustic with electronics and influenced by some of Chris’s heroes, indie greats like Elliott Smith, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens. Singles from the album, Chlorophyll and Still Life have received national radio play and positive reviews already, so early signs are good.

Lockdown had a big impact on Chris and helped him to focus on what was important to him. He recalls: “Up to February 2020 I was a bit disillusioned and began questioning my music. By March/April I was forced to take a step back. I reconnected with my instrument and re-evaluated my work and what I wanted to say. It was an opportunity to really decide.”

Chris wrote 60 per cent of the album during lockdown benefitting from the clarity and headspace that time gave him. Chris has independently released the album which means he maintains creative control – he has a booking agent and a publisher but isn’t signed to a record label. While he can see the benefits of a label, he says it would have to be someone who really gets him and his ethos, so maybe in the future if that person comes along.

NO DOG EAT DOG

Not from a particularly musical family, Chris had no connections in the industry, so he’s done this the hard way. He took on various uninspiring jobs after graduating in history to enable him to gig in the evenings, rising through the ranks of the Birmingham songwriting scene. By 2014, Chris started to think this could be something more than casual gigging and potentially a career, so he began performing further afield in cities across the UK.

He worked at building up industry contacts and managed to get a few reviews in the mainstream press like the Telegraph and the Times. He says: “I wasn’t quite making a living, so I quit my job and went for it full-time.” Chris describes the Birmingham scene as “incredible, diverse and eclectic”, citing venues such as the Hare and Hounds, Night Owl and Mama Roux as particularly good. He says: “there’s no dog eat dog situation in the city. It’s very supportive.”

Chris’s Secret Verses tour, funded by Help Musicians, the UK’s artistic support programme, recreates the album in its entirety with a high-profile five-piece band featuring John Patrick Elliott (the Little Unsaid), John Parker (Nizlopi), Graham Coe (the Jellyman’s Daughter) and Kathy Pilkinton (Said The Maiden) and his ultimate ambition is to take his music further to Europe and the US and to collaborate with artists a few notches up from where he’s currently at.

Iqbal Khan’s triumphant directorship of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony is his ‘biggest success’ to date and certainly the most high profile. More than a billion people across the globe watched the spectacle which Iqbal describes as the ‘ultimate celebration of communities’ that represented the city so brilliantly.

He describes the experience as ‘stressful but a privilege’ as the city has a massive story to tell and that was his dilemma – how to tell the story. He explains: “It’s the youngest, punkest city in Europe. I wanted to change the way this place was seen and represent its communities properly.”

Of everyone’s favourite bovine (sorry Bullring) he adds: “The bull was an incredible piece of engineering and I suppose it was inevitable that people would care about it and take ownership of it. It was never conceived to be around this long, so we’ve had to get extra funding to make changes to keep him long term.” By the way, he could tell me where the bull will reappear, but he’d have to kill me so understandably I didn’t push it.

With just 18 months to pull the show together featuring 2,500 performers, a global pandemic in the run-up and tough restrictions that meant it was a challenge. Meetings were virtual, supply chains were affected, people came down with Covid periodically, but it all came together. There was a hiccup when the bull malfunctioned during the rehearsal which was akin to him ‘having a stroke’ but thankfully he performed on the night.

NEW WORK

Last month, Tartuffe at the Rep – where Iqbal is associate director – was also a triumph. Reviews of his adaptation of the Moliere comedy from the 1600s were glowing. Bringing the play to modern-day Pakistani community around Stratford Road was inventive, funny and fresh. The ambitious scale and range of work at the Rep gets Iqbal excited.

His role means he does a number of projects at the Rep while also having freedom to do other things. So, it’s a win-win. Interpreting classics, making work for audiences, broadening theatre’s appeal reaching younger people and developing Birmingham nationally is Iqbal’s goal. And bringing opera to the masses. He says: “I love opera and want to do a lot more. There’s always this perception that it’s elitist, but it shouldn’t be.”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing. Twenty years ago when Iqbal was starting out in theatre as an actor from an ethnic minority, he felt a pressure to give people what they wanted rather than who he was and what he wanted to do. He recalls: “The parts I wanted were classical which alienated agents as they just thought it was not practical. Thankfully, the world has changed and performers who want to, can. There are an enormous number of opportunities now.”

URGENT STORIES

Clearly Covid was tough for any sort of live performance with crippling lockdowns enforced on venues and Iqbal thinks it highlighted the importance of theatre. “It really showed us how fragile the industry is. It’s so important – there’s a holistic human need as well as an economic need.” He also feels it’s necessary to tell urgent stories of alliance in response to Brexit. He says: “It was a defensive decision that came from people feeling vulnerable. We were sort of turning in on ourselves.”

Born and bred in Brum, Iqbal lived away for 30 years. Of the city he says: “It’s not the Birmingham that I grew up in. I enjoy the joyous confusion of the city – its optimism and innocence. During the last 10 to 15 years the pace of change has been exponential, and the spirit is thrilling.”

Tell us about your cooking

My style of cooking is very much ingredient led. The way I like to cook is to take the best produce we can find, respect it and let it do the talking. What excites me is the quality and variety of produce that we get in at Orelle. My menu has been designed to showcase the best of British produce and celebrate the stories behind locally sourced ingredients. 

How did you become a chef?

I became a chef when I was 16 after going to catering college, but I knew it was what I wanted to do from the age of five. Both of my grandmothers were a strong influence on me. One was a baker, and I spent a lot of time with her, the other was a very proud lady who would always host dinner parties, and I would run around her feet and get in the way! I’ve worked at some incredible restaurants including The Alice in Oxford and Jason Atherton’s Michelin-starred Pollen Street Social in London and The Clocktower in New York, and I’m excited to be bringing my own menu to Orelle. 

What do you eat at home?

On my days off I like to cook simple food that my partner likes to eat, which is usually classic British dishes. We love a good pie, and if I’m off on a Sunday it has to be a roast dinner! 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Chef Daniel Humm is a huge inspiration, not only has he won three Michelin stars at his restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York, but he has achieved this with an entirely plant-based menu, showcasing huge creativity. He is also widely respected for his charity work. Birmingham’s reputation for good food is continuing to go from strength to strength. I’ve recently moved to the city so I’m excited to be able to try more of our fantastic restaurants. 

Share a cooking tip

Over lockdown I really got into growing my own produce and I would encourage anyone to try the same – the flavour and enjoyment you get from picking and cooking fresh ingredients from your own garden is incredible. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My parents both had busy jobs so growing up I literally lived on frozen meals. My all-time favourite was chicken nuggets, chips and beans. 

Food heaven and food hell?

I’m surrounded by food heaven every day but my number one has to be freshly baked bread. For food hell, that’s a difficult one as I eat pretty much everything, but I would have to say steamed cabbage! 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

I tried scorpion on holiday in Egypt when I was about 13 – it really didn’t have a great flavour and was a bit bland! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

Going back to my love for produce, I would say a farmer. That stems from the enjoyment I got from growing produce over lockdown, I got a new-found respect for it.

TRY CHRIS’S DELICIOUS CHICKPEA PANISSE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 85g Chickpea Flour
• 35g extra virgin olive oil
• 350ml tap water
• Salt to taste

Method:

-              Boil the water and the butter together, pour half the water and butter mix into the chickpea flour and mix to a smooth paste

-              Pour the paste into the remaining water and cook for 4-5 minutes medium heat

-              Pour into baking tray lined with cling film and refrigerate until set

-              Punch out with a round cutter and deep fry for 2-4 minutes until golden brown

The unique talent development programme, the B:Music Jazzlines Commission, is in its third year and gives two Birmingham-based jazz musicians an opportunity to produce new projects showcasing their work. This year, it’s baritone saxophonist Alicia Gardener-Trejo and guitarist Steve Saunders along with their chosen collaborators. We had a chat with Steve a couple of weeks before his work premiered.

Steve’s chosen collaborator is Asger Nissen, a Danish alto saxophonist based in Berlin, which is where they met. In the third year of his course at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Steve spent a life-changing four months at the Jazz Insitut Berlin. He says: “I went through the Erasmus scheme and it was such a special place. The standard at the school was really high and students had such strong identities and voices.”

TRANSFORMATIVE YEAR

He adds: “I was so much younger than the musicians in Berlin and felt a bit out of my depth. European players tend to start studying when they’re older – they’re not in any rush and find their voice grows at a different rate. Here it’s easy to get swept along with the A-level then university route potentially robbing people of self-discovery. It was the most transformative year of my life.” Steve and Asger kept in touch and the commission seemed a great opportunity to reconnect.

The project will be a bass-less trio featuring the great Jeff Williams on drums. Steve explains: “This project is a chance for us to explore bringing contemporary classical influences into an improvised context while being firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, with a master drummer who couldn’t be more connected to the history of jazz. I’m incredibly excited to be able to create this project and bring it to Symphony Hall. Everything sounds massive at Symphony Hall. For the audience the music sounds like it’s right next to them and crystal clear.”

JAZZ JOURNEY

Steve’s route to jazz was fairly lengthy and came about because he really relishes a challenge. Surrounded by music at home – his dad played organ and his older brother played piano – when Steve’s year 3 teacher asked pupils if they wanted to play guitar he jumped at the chance. “I loved it and got really obsessed. I got an electric guitar at one stage and a small battery powered amp. I used to walk around the house playing. My brother was the same.”

Steve’s brother had a radio in his room which was firmly tuned into Kerrang and the duo listened to a lot of rock. Steve started playing drums as well as guitar and worked his way through the grades. Steve liked to challenge himself and wanted to find the hardest thing to learn. When studying for grade 8 guitar he found the scales hard and asked the teacher when you might use these scales. His teacher said jazz which was like laying down the gauntlet to Steve. “I hated jazz at first. I was used to rock music so big bands from the forties just felt like old music. Then I found things I liked. John Schofield for example who plays jazz but from a rock background and that was my gateway in.”

WORLD CLASS

When Steve’s school in Redditch announced they wouldn’t be running an A-level music course because he was the only student who had signed up, he had to find an alternative. He stayed at his sixth form but studied A-level music on a Wednesday evening at the Conservatoire. “It was amazing. The class was me and two other musicians who are still friends.” The teacher was world class and ‘blew Steve’s mind’.

He regularly found himself running for the last train home to Redditch because the class had run over by hours as they were just talking and playing. Steve started doing the Saturday jazz classes at B:Music too which sealed the deal. “The freedom of the music responding to each other was the perfect balance. It’s a serious discipline which I suppose fit the desire to be challenged. It was hard work but super fun.” Teachers such as Percy Pursglove meant the Saturday jazz ensemble was like getting a world class education.

Beyond the Jazzlines Commission which is his focus right now, Steve plans to stay in Birmingham writing, composing and playing as well as leading large projects. “I like the pace of Birmingham – the space and time that the city offers plus the community is so strong here.”

If it wasn’t documented or filmed, you’d think Aaron Twitchen was a fantasist. Largely thanks to his strategy of saying ‘Yes’ to everything, along with a big injection of talent and energy, he has an eclectic CV.

A comedy gig while swinging 20 metres in the air on silks you say? No problem for Aaron. In his show, Curtains at Edinburgh Festival in 2017 he did just that – and he’s done it a few times since. We asked him if stand-up isn’t scary enough without the jeopardy of breaking a few limbs? Aaron explains: “Everyone assumes stand-up is scary, but people don’t understand how arrogant and self-obsessed comedians are! I just like talking about myself.” Aaron’s not sure whether it was the best, worst or stupidest idea he’s had, but he’s still looking for ways to combine silks with stand-up.

WANGING ON

Aaron is about to perform at Birmingham Comedy Festival which kicks off this month, but no circus stuff is planned. Or is it? When we spoke, he wasn’t sure which material he’d be performing, so who knows. He says he has loads of material, but he’s not 100 per cent decided and moots the idea of hanging the material on the wall of the venue and asking audience members to chuck a dart at it to decide which he’ll perform. We think he’s joking, but the organisers might want to check their insurance! Aaron says: “Basically it will be me just wanging on.”

Thanks to his yes mentality, Aaron ended up in an acting and writing workshop with Brum’s Barbara Nice which we imagine was hysterical and also landed a job in physical theatre as a circus performer by telling a little, well quite big actually, lie.

He says: “I did that thing in an audition where if someone asks you if you can do random things, just say yes. So, I said I had circus skills. I got the job and had six weeks to learn.” It turns out Birmingham is practically the capital of circus skills training – there’s Circus Mash in King’s Heath, Rogue Play in Digbeth, Diamonds, and so on. Who knew? It all came good and he’s a natural although he does confess, almost as though it’s a negative, that he is disciplined, so you can bet he put in the hard graft too.

ON THE ROAD

Weirdly, a skill from his childhood got Aaron through the toughest part of stand-up – the travelling. Aaron remembers: “As a county long distance runner I travelled the country and the biggest hurdle to stand-up in the beginning is the travelling. I was used to it. Schlepping four hours up the motorway to perform to 10 people and travel back again isn’t the dream.” It was fun though. Aaron says there was a bunch of comedians in Brum starting out together and they used to bundle in a car and head to Bristol for comedy night on a Thursday and he made some great mates.

When Covid lockdowns stopped live performance, stand-up came to a screeching halt. Aaron found he quite liked the glacial pace of life although no circus training for four months wasn’t great. “I spent a few months hanging from door frames and setting up equipment in a tree.” Lockdown also gave Aaron an opportunity to launch a podcast, Matter of Pride: A Comedy Education of Gay History which breaks down some of the modern issues affecting queer culture in a well-informed, thoughtful series with enough comedy to keep it typically light and bright.

Aaron’s long-term ambition is to ‘keep being funny’ – a decent goal for a comedian! Go see.

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking style could be known as any or all of these: rustic, country house, hearty and wholesome. Developing recipes for our menus is very exciting, although waiting to see how our customers receive these creations can be a tense time. If the dish works and is complimented that’s fantastic – if not, then it is removed from the menu.

How did you become a chef?

While I was at secondary school, I had several part-time jobs – an early morning milk round boy, a green grocer’s boy and a butcher boy. I met a friend who had a part-time job at Jonathans Restaurant and I was introduced to one of the two Jonathans, the owners. They were looking for a washer-up and that quickly became another of my part-time jobs!

While working there, Jonathan Bedford suggested that I become a chef. There weren’t any vacancies at the time but I was offered a part-time waiter position instead and I loved it. When I left school, I was offered a trainee chef position at Jonathans – I was trained on the job and at Halesowen college, and by the age of 17, I was promoted to joint head chef. Years later I moved on to work and live overseas – I worked in the US, France, Corsica and the Channel Islands. 

What do you eat at home?

It’s a very basic diet as I still spend lots of hours working at the restaurants. My staple food loves are ancient grain breads with cheese and homemade chutney, vegetable stews and casseroles and, when I have a little more time at home, I love cooking Indian foods. My weak spot is puddings though – fresh fruit crumble is just irresistible! 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

That’s a difficult question to answer as it depends on so many different aspects. The chef I respect the most is Marco Pierre White. He really knows his stuff from the type of cookware to use, utensils, ovens, storage preferences, fast cook, slow cook… 

Share a cooking tip

Let your food cook down as they do in Caribbean cookery. Over a low heat, stir a little and allow your chopped onions, garlic, fresh herbs and spices to really get to know one another in that pot. This can be the base to a curry, a hot pot, a stew or a pie filling, and remember to add lots and lots of love to it. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My mom’s stews with bread and her Yorkshire puddings on Sundays. 

Food heaven and food hell?

My heaven is organic, well-prepared and lightly cooked vegetables au natural. My hell is fast processed foods filled with sugars and salts. 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

When I was working at Jonathans, Jon Bedford gave me some raw pigeon breast to try and I wasn’t impressed. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?        

I’d probably be an antiques dealer working and living in Paris.  

PAUL’S NICE AND EASY BIRYANI RISOTTO 

This is Paul’s go-to recipe is for a biryani / risotto:

•             Use a heavy bottomed saucepan and put in one large onion and four cloves of garlic roughly chopped, plus three carrots scrubbed or peeled and sliced

•             Begin to slowly fry this in two tablespoons of cooking oil on a low heat, then add one can of tomatoes chopped or whole, stir in well and leave to simmer for five minutes (stirring every now and then)

•             Put any of your favourite herbs in, about one teaspoon full, and if you like chicken, slice two chicken breasts and add to the pan

•             If you prefer not to include meat, use a peeled and sliced butternut squash instead, but stir and fry on a slightly higher heat, then add one measure, say a teacup, of washed rice

•             Keep stirring and frying, then add two measures, say two teacups of cold water

•             Stir everything well, turn up the heat and bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a simmer

•             Finally, add two crushed vegetable stock cubes, stir again, put a lid on the saucepan and leave to simmer for approx 25 minutes

•             You’ll need to then season to taste. Bon appetite!

This year, for the first time, Birmingham Royal Ballet offered a student in residence position open to musicians from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire that included opportunities such as playing with the Birmingham Sinfonia – the orchestra of BRB as well sitting in on rehearsals and performances mentored by the orchestra’s principal conductor, Paul Murphy and members of the orchestra. We caught up with the scheme’s inaugural student, cellist Lucy Samuels.

Picked from hundreds of students at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Lucy was genuinely surprised to be selected and utterly delighted. It has been a year of opportunity and growth that Lucy has relished. The audition process was in two rounds – first an internal audition at the Conservatoire in front of a panel of teachers who chose one student from each instrument to go through to round two which was in front of Birmingham Symphonia’s principal conductor and one of the musicians.

EXCITING YEAR

Lucy says she hadn’t even expected to be chosen to represent her instrument let alone be selected to take on the role. She says: “This year has been an exciting time to be involved as the programme is so varied and exciting. In some years, there would be a long run of the same production, but this year, not so.” She adds: “I get to play with a proper orchestra at a much higher level than I’m used to and to meet some brilliant professionals. I’d never considered a career in an orchestra before leaning towards becoming a freelance musician alongside teaching, but now I know it’s possible.”

Lucy has been lucky enough to watch some of the productions and sit in on ballet rehearsals and as someone who trained in dance from age three to her mid-teens, that has been thrilling. “I’d actually never watched a fully staged ballet before so I’m very lucky.” Lucy can see that ballet is a good way of broadening classical music’s appeal too. She explains: “The visual storytelling is family oriented. There are so many little girls dressed up in tutus. You wouldn’t get that at a classical concert.”

Lucy’s taking a masters part time which allows enough space to devote to the Symphonia but also to outreach programmes and teaching which is hugely important to her. “I wouldn’t have got into music without teachers coming into my school and I want to give that back. Outreach programmes break down barriers. The Conservatoire is doing lots of good work and is keen to show that it’s a hub for music making rather than an elitist organisation – which it absolutely isn’t.”

BREAKING BARRIERS

Lucy is involved in providing music education to people who might have barriers ordinarily – such as financial or social. She says: “We ask the kids what they want to do – it could be beats, producing, working in a band and we introduce them to instruments.” Lucy is also involved in an ensemble that makes orchestra relevant for young people, playing Billie Eilish and Disney for instance. She says the cello isn’t that visible in pop other than perhaps Clean Bandit, so it’s great to introduce young people to it.

Unlike lots of musicians, Lucy didn’t start with something small and manageable like the recorder or violin. She went straight for the cello aged seven thanks to music education services in her area that came into her primary school. She took to it straight away and was excited to play. “I genuinely loved playing – obviously I put in the hard work too, but I was just so excited about it.”

Despite growing up near Reading, Lucy calls Birmingham home now and is passionate about banging the drum for the city. She says: “The arts can be London-centric and people think that to be successful you have to move there. I don’t buy it. We have amazing theatre and arts generally. It’s definitely home for me.”

The arts scene in Brum is a lot richer with Tyriq in it. Born and raised here, the talented multi-instrumentalist recently worked with the composer of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony and even bagged a part in the epic event too. He worked with The REP on Casey Bailey’s play Grimeboy, created music for their production of Twelfth Night and appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he played Oberon. Recently, he has composed for three films as well as writing, composing and editing his own two-hour film, Rootworks which can be seen on YouTube.

FOUR MINUTE WORK

Unlimited by genre, Tyriq has worked across classical, jazz, hip-hop and contemporary among others and now, along with nineteen other young composers, he’s been chosen by the CBSO to be part of its Sounds New initiative which will see the resulting works performed by the orchestra at Symphony Hall next year. Each composer will write a four-minute work for the full orchestra which will be conducted by Clark Rundell. The commissions were made possible by support from The John Feeney Charitable Trust, which has supported new music for the CBSO since 1955. It’s not the first time Tyriq has worked with the CBSO.  He is a former Youth Ambassador and worked with fellow ambassadors in 2020 putting together a concert called, CBSO: A Vision for the Future.

HOME TOWN BOY

Tyriq graduated from the University of Huddersfield in 2021 with a First Class BMus music degree and it was never in doubt that he’d come back to his home town. Of Birmingham Tyriq says: “It’s a dream. There’s so much musical talent in this city and people that I want to work with.”

Like most children, Tyriq started playing recorder in year 3, but unlike most people he progressed to clarinet, piano and bassoon reaching grade 8. He says he was naturally good at recorder, but it took a bit longer to get to grips with the clarinet. Although his parents didn’t play instruments to a high level, music was always a feature at home. Tyriq’s dad would compile lists of music and they’d sit down together to listen and then discuss them,  but not in a pushy way – it was pure enjoyment and appreciation and something that Tyriq relished.

TOP TEACHERS

At secondary school Tyriq veered away from music for a while as he embraced acting and filming but eventually found his love for music again. He says: “The teachers guided me back to music!” He credits the teachers at George Satton Academy for encouraging creativity and exposing pupils to many different types of arts through outings and concerts – the CBSO being one – as well as the availability of instruments to try at school. Tyriq says: “It helps wire the brain to be more open and encourages young people to be collaborative.”

He’s perplexed about the squeeze on the arts in schools and the murmurings of cutting arts degrees. “The idea that music and the arts aren’t valuable is just not true. Music contributes so much to the economy. Aside from financial gain, it benefits young people hugely by helping them to express themselves creatively. We’d be a very narrow society without the arts.”

Two-hour film Rootworks was a lesson for Tyriq in how not to get too hung up about perfection. It was literally Tyriq doing everything, even the things he’d never done before, and he’s pleased with the results. “That project opened my eyes. It’s important to enjoy the process and let go of that feeling of perfection. It was daunting, but it taught me a lot.”

Tell us about your cooking

My food takes a lot of influence from my travels. I spent five years living and travelling around Asia, so it has a big influence on my dishes. I try not to complicate things, making the most of the ingredients I can source.

How did you become a chef?

I’d always been interested in food from a young age. My interest increased from trying foods from different countries and watching cookery shows on TV. I don’t have any professional training, everything I’ve learnt has come from watching others and teaching myself.

What do you eat at home?

Mostly Asian-influenced food if I’m cooking, but I try to go out and try different restaurants as much as I can.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

So many to choose from… I admire what René Redzepi (of Noma in Copenhagen) has been doing over the years to develop so many new ideas and techniques in cookery. As for Birmingham, I think Brad Carter’s food is top notch and he’s become a great ambassador for food in the city.

How is your restaurant adapting to the current crisis?

When we closed the second time, we started making and delivering meals around the city and further afield – we had a couple of orders going to Scotland and one to Northern Ireland! We decided to move to a smaller site, making use of the downtime to refurbish that. It turned out to be the best thing we could have done.

Share a cooking tip

Make sure you have everything ready before you start cooking (mise en place, as the French say). it will make everything go a lot smoother.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Fish finger sandwiches.

Food heaven and food hell?

Not a massive fan of livers or kidneys and I really can’t stomach durian. Apart from those, I pretty much love to eat everything else.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

In South Korea, I had a dish called sannakji which is basically raw octopus, except it is cut still alive onto you plate and it continues to wriggle around for a good 10 minutes. Not easy to pick up with chopsticks either!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

I began studying sound engineering and production at university before dropping out to work as a chef, so probably something to do with music.

The interiors are right up our street with high ceilings, bistro type furniture, great lighting and cool colour combos. Outside, planters are colourful despite the drought and when we arrived, a local florist was dropping off fresh flowers for the tables. Attention to detail. Everyone we met seemed to love their job brimming with enthusiasm, knowledge and joy.

The wine list is extensive featuring 200+. In the interest of sampling a few without getting giddy, we opted for a Pink Punk Wine Paddle showcasing three roses including a slightly sparkling wine made in East London with a Croatina grape from Lombardy, the Romanian ‘Har’ and an Australian Riverland Nero D’avola. The white version also known as the Acid Hound Wine Paddle featured an Aussie Clare Valley Reisling (our favourite), a Loire sauvignon called The Holy Snail and a Pilota from the Basque Country. Each paddle includes 50 ml of each, so it’s a great way to sample a few wines before you invest in a bottle.

Wine is clearly big, yet food is not an afterthought. There are small plates and bar snacks, sharing plates and more substantial mains. We chose three small plates between two plus a couple of mains. First up, Neal’s Yard cheese croquettes arrived looking a bit meh, but, and it’s a big but (there’s a song in there somewhere), the little balls of rich, comforting, deliciousness were worth fighting the other half for. Possibly the cheesiest thing we’ve ever eaten. A salad of fennel, cantaloupe, radish and cucumber with a lime and soy dressing was a refreshing, zingy contrast to the croquettes and worked a treat. Creamy smoked burrata served with a sharp tomato and caper salad was a joy although beware the croutons if you value your teeth. Juicy cod with a crisp skin was served with a generous mound of sweet peperonata and a punchy anchovy dressing while pork tenderloin with chickpea puree, salsa verde and blackened hispi cabbage hit the spot too.

Although Vinoteca is a chain – there are six sites in London – it doesn’t have a chain feel. Pizza Express this is not. Apparently, owners Charlie and Brett know every employee’s name and the evident joy, enthusiasm and attention to detail filters down from the pair. Honestly, we could have stayed all day. For clarity, our trip was gifted without any pressure to gush.

If you don’t like fancy, it’s probably not for you. If you do like fancy, stick around. From start to finish – and we finished so late we probably outstayed our welcome – we were charmed. Credit to the staff who were still happy (on the outside at least) as we quaffed another Calvados. On the inside they were no doubt planning dinner service and hoping this was the last.

We hate the term fine dining – it sounds pompous, and Adam’s is not pompous. It’s classy, inventive, warm, special. Once inside and beyond the bar area, it doesn’t feel like Brum. You could be anywhere. To be clear, we obviously love Birmingham but there’s something a bit magical about Adam’s décor that’s transformative. That sounds knobby, but we’re not sorry.

We’ve sampled enough tasting menus to know that we prefer ordering our own food, so one of us ate from the set lunch menu and one from a la carte. We criticised one of the nibbles last time we visited, but not this time. The preamble to lunch was a hit. The signature beetroot and goat’s cheese macarons are a regular for a reason. They hit you with flavour then dissolve on your tongue like magic. There was a wondrous ox tongue nibble that was too good to start analysing plus a mussel with a punchy pickled cucumber sauce that was truly delicious.

From here on in with a slug of Burgundy in our brains, we probably should have been making notes, but we were having too much fun, so we’re picking our stand-out dishes among a collection of gorgeousness. Number one and it doesn’t sound stand out, but trust us, was lightly salted cod with mushroom, artichoke ad dashi broth. This was packed with flavour and we could have slurped the dashi broth on its own – sharp, salty, sweet all at the same time, I guess that’s balance, something you can’t put your finger on. Just sheer enjoyment.

Next was goosnargh duck breast and liver with granola, beetroot and blackberry. Again, this was about balance, rich tender meat, sweet granola, sharp blackberries. Really clever. There was an incredible chicken dish plus a leek parcel with black truffle, hazelnut and custard that blew our socks off. The cheese board was immense and pudd was a triumph. Our only gripe and we’ve said it before, we urge restaurants to pick a new name for whipped pork fat. Can’t touch the stuff. It’s like calling butter churned bovine breast milk or similar.

The wine list is quite punchy price-wise, but we found a very good Rully premier cru at the more sensible end of the list and we can wholeheartedly recommend the Calvados. Go.

Ruby Maxine’s first children’s book, The Bee’s Knees launched in April and it’s selling well – the first batch sold out quickly and the feedback from parents and teachers has been strong. Ruby has been writing for as long as she can remember, but like lots of people it took a redundancy to give her the push to go for her dreams.

Self-publishing is no mean feat. The publishing process is complex, but Ruby was adamant she wanted to take it on in its entirety and she’s pleased she did. Written and illustrated by Ruby, on the surface The Bee’s Knees is a fun book for children aged six to eight years but it goes deeper than that. The book gently explores themes such as the power of perspective, fostering a kind inner voice, self-esteem and empowerment. The main character, Lulu Bee who turns negative feelings into a journey of self-love, inner peace and confidence thanks to a little help from a friend.

NATURAL BEAUTY

Set in Moseley Bog, it’s a very Brummie affair celebrating the beauty of the bog through gorgeous illustrations of its features including the tree tunnels, green bog pond and buttercup meadow. A Brummie through and through, Ruby was keen to showcase the city’s natural beauty and green spaces. She’s eco-conscious, so the books and packaging are made from recycled materials in the UK with one per cent of the profits donated to the World Wildlife Fund. Ruby found her ethical approach didn’t sit pretty with Amazon who print on demand to their own specifications. When we spoke, Ruby had withdrawn the book from the platform because she wasn’t pleased with the quality or the eco-credentials saying, ‘it was nowhere near recycled’.

Another one per cent from the book is donated to mental health charity Mind which is close to Ruby’s heart. She says: “I wrote this story, drawing from personal experience and mental health advice I’ve been given over the years, to help children and parents who encounter stress or anxiety.” She adds: “When we as adults discover issues that are beyond our control it can be so unsettling. It’s a feeling that children will be discovering for the first time.” Techniques for self-care that Ruby has learnt feature throughout the story.

BOOK WORM

Growing up in Brum, Ruby was picked up by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Dance Track programme enabling her to train with professional dancers through her youth. She even appeared on an episode of Brum. Ruby’s always been a book worm. She says: “As a child I relied on books a lot for peace and escapism and just to feel safer in my own skin. I want to create that too, make more of those safe spaces and help kids figure out how to be happy people in a difficult world.”

Making writing and illustrating books her career is Ruby’s goal. She says: “Inspiring youngsters and making art that people enjoy. I’ve worked harder on this book than I’ve ever worked on anything and I just dream of it resonating and being embraced. I hope that my creations can be another cool thing to have come out of this very special part of the world.”

Tell us about your cooking

Having grown up in the black country, I used to have a lot of wholesome home cooked meals and that’s what I bring to my menus. Simple, great food with the best quality ingredients. Food that makes you feel warm and happy inside. 

How did you become a chef?

I started training in 2001 and I’ve never looked back. I have worked in all sorts of kitchens from pubs to hotels and even in a teepee! My biggest influence is my grandfather who was a chef in the army – as a child I used to read his recipe books and I was fascinated. He is the reason I wanted to be a chef. 

What do you eat at home?

My partner and I like eating Asian-inspired food, so a stir fry or rice dish is always a winner.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I like and respect too many chefs for me to say who the best in the world is! The best in Brum though for me is Brad Carter. His passion for British produce and a mixture of new and classical techniques is top notch.

How is your restaurant adapting to the current crisis?

Opening a new restaurant/cafe during this difficult time does have its hurdles to overcome but it’s all worth it to be able to provide great food in an iconic venue such as Symphony Hall.

Share a cooking tip

My tip is simple. BUTTER! Butter makes everything better!

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Sausage and mash with onion gravy. It doesn’t get better than that on a cold winter evening. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven would be a beautifully cooked ribeye steak. Hell would be anything with banana!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

That would be deep-fried crickets!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

I’d love to have been a farmer. I do love a flat cap!

LEE’S RECIPE FOR DELICIOUS IRISH SODA BREAD

Ingredients 

• 250g plain white flour
• 250g plain wholemeal flour
• 100g porridge oats
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1tsp salt
• 25g butter (cut up into pieces)
• 500ml buttermilk

Method

Preheat oven to 180c, dust a baking sheet with flour, mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl, then rub in the butter, add your buttermilk, and mix together quickly. Bring the dough together using your hands and shape it into a flat round loaf.

Place the loaf on to your baking sheet and score a deep cross on the top of the loaf using a knife.

Bake for 35mins or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it.

Leave the loaf to cool and cover with a clean tea towel. This helps to keep the crust soft.

Once cooled, serve with lots and lots of salted butter!

Despite the destruction caused by lockdown and the obvious trauma of the pandemic there are positive stories that have emerged. Not least people rethinking their careers and going it alone on projects and businesses they might have only dreamed about before. Gypsy Brew was one of them, born out of a chance conversation during lockdown that is now thriving.

Craft beer is what Gypsy Brew is about and as well as brewing, they’ve now launched a no-nonsense bar serving a brilliant collection of drinks and snacks called The Garrity in Barnt Green. We caught up with one of Gypsy Brew’s founders, Gary Meads who it seems was always destined for hospitality. He was born in the Coach and Horses, an 18th century coaching inn near Withall, grew up there which he says was ‘brilliant with unlimited Vimto and crisps’, tried to leave to forge an alternative career then bought the pub from his father and still runs it today.

During lockdown when the Coach and Horses was shut, Gary started brewing real ale and doing take-out delivery. Gary’s regular barber, Al Smith was also shut. (Stick with us this is going somewhere). While chatting to Gary during lockdown, Al revealed he was thinking about brewing a craft beer using a brewery in Gloucester. Gary said to Al: “Why are you doing that you prat? I’ve got a brewery.” Voila. A serendipitous moment that spawned a cracking business that’s now thriving.

CRAFT BEER NUT

Gary wasn’t brewing craft beer before the chat with Al, so they brought in head brewer Rob Walker who’s a ‘craft beer nut’. Gary says: “Although I hadn’t brewed craft beer, it’s the same principles and I had the kit.” They played around with a few recipes and came up with three ‘excellent’ beers they were happy with. The term craft beer is bandied about a lot and it’s very trendy, but what makes a beer a craft beer? It’s essentially a fruity IPA, handmade and natural, so it’s not clear like a mass-produced lager. Gary says: “We don’t add actual fruit, but the hops used have mango and grapefruit tones.”

The biggest hurdle was not being able to sell to pubs as they were shut, so they sold through the website – still do actually. Looking back, what seemed like a negative just gave them time to get it right. They’ve now launched their own bar called The Garrity in Barnt Green. They wanted something small and niche that felt very independent and that’s what they’ve achieved. They’ve teamed up with Midland’s 200 Degrees and Brighton based Bird & Blend to bring snacks and light bites alongside a fantastic drinks menu.

The top tipple in the bar so far is Gypsy Brew’s Garrity Mash. There’s been a slight issue with the food as the bar has the same landlord as the café next door and they’ve put a clause in the lease that restricts The Garrity to serving only cold food, so they don’t compete. Discussions are ongoing so that might change, but the bar is flying nonetheless.

DREAM TEAM

While there’s Al and Jules (Gary says they’re Mr and Mrs Trendy) smashing the branding – the Garrity logo is particularly brilliant – Gary brings his hospitality expertise. Jules has never worked in hospitality but has thrown herself into it too. They’ve recruited a top-quality management team as well as a crew of bright enthusiastic youngsters to bolster the team. In hospitality Gary says ‘you live or die’ by the people ,so getting that right was an absolute priority.

They’re already making noises about expanding and potentially opening more bars, but they’re keen to concentrate on The Garrity before opening a second site. Having said that, Gary has one eye on venues, so we reckon it might not be too long before The Garrity mark II pops up.

The Rothesay Classic Birmingham returns to the Edgbaston Priory Club this month –  and this year marks the 40th anniversary of the top tournament hosted by one of the world’s oldest tennis clubs. The return of the world’s top women tennis stars to Brum is the perfect motivation for the rest of us to step onto the courts too. It’s fun and an awesome way to stay fit and healthy.

Tennis is a great sport to improve all-round health regardless of your ability – experts say it is twice as good for your well-being as cycling, aerobics or swimming. Playing tennis increases aerobic capacities, lowers resting heart rate and blood pressure, boosts metabolic function, increases bone density, lowers body fat, improves muscle tone, strength and flexibility and increases reaction times.

So, playing tennis is just brilliant for body and soul. And here’s some more reasons why…

• The movements used in tennis give the body a great workout, toning and shaping muscles you never knew you had.
• You use your lower body for all that running, stopping and starting, jumping and crouching. And the action of hitting the tennis ball, whether it’s single or double-handed, means that your trunk does a lot of work as well, in particular your shoulders and upper back.
• Singles tennis can burn between 400-600 calories an hour. That’s not bad for a recreational sport that’s both fun and can be played by just about anyone. Playing tennis also has a positive impact on your bones. Exercising regularly can increase your peak bone mass and can slow the rate of bone mass loss over time.
• According to research, bone mass peaks around age 30 and begins to decline after that. You can maximize your bone mass prior to that age through exercise and continuing to exercise after 30 can slow the rate of bone loss. Tennis is well suited to building strong bones.
• Tennis requires the cooperation of the whole body as you move your feet, arms and hands to get into the right position for the racquet to make contact with the ball. You’re then using the torso and legs to provide the power to hit the ball over the net. All these factors come together every time you hit the ball, and each shot takes flexibility, coordination and balance. Flexibility is great because it can give you a wider range of motion, help prevent injuries and even reduce muscle strain.
• And of course, like all exercise, tennis will help boost our mood helping you feel more optimistic, have greater self-esteem and even become less anxious. Learning to play tennis will keep your mind agile and all that fresh air is a great stress reliever!  Playing doubles is also a great way to meet new people and most clubs offer regular social tennis sessions for members and lots of other social tournaments.

A word of warning though! If you’re a tennis beginner, haven’t played in a while, or are taking up exercise after a long time of being inactive, be sensible. Follow our top tips and you’ll have healthy, invigorating – and safe – fun!

SIX TOP TIPS 

1. Make sure you have plenty of fluids on hand and rehydrate regularly.
2. Don’t overdo it. Mix up your physical activity with other low-impact sports.
3. Play at a level according to your age and physical condition.
4. Avoid playing with a pre-existing illness or injury. If in doubt, talk to a doctor.
5. Warm up your muscles and joints before hitting the court.
6. Be careful if the court conditions are wet and especially if the surface is slippery.

Tell us about your cooking

I enjoy cooking different foods, whether it’s Indian or continental for example. Actually, my preferred style probably is continental. When I moved here in 2018, I started to work as a continental chef and began to get my hands on all kinds of foods, European, American… The important thing is the flavour. If there’s a good combination of flavours from the ingredients, then I’m happy. 

How did you become a chef?

It wasn’t planned! When I finished school my father suggested that I do hotel training and step outside the box. No one in my small village had ever done such a thing! I went to hotel school for four years where I trained with Radisson and Marriot hotels – and then I wasn’t sure what to do. I was a bit shy, my English was not that good, so I just wanted to be behind the scenes and thought the kitchen was a place where I could still prove myself but without having to interact much with people. Then when I started to cook, I felt that the kitchen really was for me and I’ve never looked back. 

What do you eat at home?

I was born in Gujarat, so I prefer Gujarati food. I like a touch of sweetness in my food – even if it’s curry, I always need some tamarind and jaggery in there. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I have a list of chefs from when I started out who guided me and taught me everything I needed to know – so for me everyone who I worked with was the best. This is my first job in Birmingham, so for me the best in the city is Darren Rowe, my executive head chef here at Park Regis. He has guided me in continental food and he’s also the one who told me that I should try and do more Indian food too. 

Is the customer always right?

From a business point of view, yes – to some extent! 

Share a cooking tip

Always use fresh ingredients. Also, less is more when it comes to spices. Don’t try to put too many different spices in there. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I love sweet food because I’m a Gujarati. My favourite was probably Shrikhand, which is strained yoghurt with sugar, saffron and cardamom.

Food heaven and food hell?

If you love eating different foods, then food in general is heaven because you can enjoy everything. Food hell…  that’s probably karela, a type of bitter gourd. It’s also probably the most unusual thing I’ve eaten! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

A teacher, maybe of literature. When you’re in your final year of school in India you need to get a certain percentage to become a teacher, but I didn’t make it. And when I didn’t get good marks, my father said I should go for hotel school. 

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The menu is a choosing menu, so it’s designed for everything on it to have a combination of the best flavours and highest quality. To really get the most out of the menu you’ll have to keep coming back to try new dishes the next time!

There’s no way Jakob Myers would have chosen to pursue dance as a hobby as a child. Despite living in a household full of music and playing the violin, it just wasn’t on his radar. However, when Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Dance Track programme rolled into his Moseley school, Jakob’s life took an unexpected turn.

Dance Track has been delivering workshops to primary school pupils in the city for 25 years, identifying young talent and encouraging them to dance. Through the programme, many children who wouldn’t have tried dancing have gone on to forge successful careers which is exactly what happened to Jakob.

He was spotted and invited to attend free weekly dance classes, he was gifted ballet shoes and as part of the programme given the opportunity to look behind the scenes at Birmingham Royal Ballet and attend performances. Jakob can’t put his finger on why he was chosen as one of the 80 budding dancers that year other than perhaps he displayed some natural musicality thanks to his violin playing. We think he might be being modest.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

Jakob took to dance immediately and moved to Elmhurst School of Dance where he studied for eight years as a day pupil and where he began to contemplate dance as a career not just a hobby. He loved his time at Elmhurst, relishing his experience including his first performance in BRB’s Nutcracker at the Hippodrome – his first time performing aside from for friends and family. Undaunted by the experience, he says: “It was a big highlight. It’s very dark in a big auditorium like the Hippodrome which is less nerve-wracking than a smaller venue where you can see the audience’s faces.”

Growing up, ballet was far from ethnically diverse and Jakob didn’t see people who looked like him apart from dance legend and honorary Brummie, Carlos Acosta. He says in lower school he was the only black boy, but that by the time he left Elmhurst that had changed significantly. Jakob describes diversity in ballet as a ‘slow burner’. Schemes like Dance Track which have now been adopted by ballet companies all over the country in various forms remove barriers and boost inclusion enriching the scene for everyone.

GLOBE-TROTTING

During his second year in the sixth form at Elmhurst, Jakob had an injury which meant he couldn’t dance for a year. The time away from dance cemented his love of the art form missing it so much he knew he didn’t want to do anything else. After attending a summer school at Ballet Cymru, the director was so impressed with Jakob that he offered him a spot in the company without even going through the audition process.

There are 500 applicants for just 15 to 20 spots, so Jakob was delighted. Ballet Cymru is a touring company and Jakob has travelled globally performing both classical ballet and more contemporary productions, so last year they toured a contemporary mixed bill as well as Gisele.

Covid restrictions obviously affected rehearsing and performing and ultimately bonding with the rest of the company. Training and creating content at home wasn’t ideal but Jakob turned it into a positive and found it a good time for reflection. Jakob used to consider his dream casting would be a BRB soloist role like the prince in The Nutcracker, but he’s also started to enjoy pieces that feel more intimate. Watch this space…

Tell us about your cooking

I would describe my classic cooking style as both clean and unique. I like to combine unusual flavours to create an unexpected yet tasty dessert. While I always aim to deliver dishes that are both elegant and simple in concept, packing in an explosion of flavour is always a top priority.

How did you become a chef?

I am originally from North Africa and grew up surrounded by spices and different types of mini-pastries. As a child, I was always baking and experimenting with new recipes with my mum but I never thought that one day I would be a pastry chef! I have also always loved watching cooking shows on TV. One of my biggest inspirations and influences has been chefs like Gary Rhodes – he championed classic cooking and flavours.

What do you eat at home?

Anything simple and flavourful!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why?

Marco Pierre White. He’s my personal hero, I love that he has a strong personality in the industry.

How has your restaurant adapted to the current crisis?

Obviously, the pandemic has had a huge impact on our industry and many businesses are now struggling in lots of different ways. However, maintaining a strong team culture and working together while remaining both respectful and disciplined is the key to weathering any storm.

Share a cooking tip

Be organised and plan ahead, even if you’re planning something as simple as frying an egg! Failing to prepare is preparing to fail in the kitchen.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Boiled potatoes with a salt and smoked paprika. It’s a very simple dish but always reminds me of home.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven would be white chocolate and passion fruit. Hell is definitely bread and butter pudding.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Caramelised onion ice cream.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

A personal trainer.

MAKE MUSTAPHA’S DELICIOUS BLUEBERRY AND CINNAMON MUFFINS

Here’s a great, easy recipe for you to make at home using items from your store cupboard.

Ingredients

• • 115g plain flour
• • 15g baking powder
• • Pinch of salt
• • 70g brown sugar
• • 10g ground cinnamon
• • 1 egg
• • 175g whole milk
• • 45g vegetable oil
• • 120g fresh blueberries

Method

Sift the dry ingredients. Once fully mixed, add the wet ingredients and whisk the mixture until fully smooth. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into muffin cases and bake at 175C for 20 to 25 minutes depending on the size of the muffin cases.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

I’ve worked at some of Birmingham’s biggest and best cultural institutions, including Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Royal Ballet and now Birmingham Rep. I also worked on the launch of the Birmingham 2022 Festival – the huge cultural festival that will surround the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The wealth of world-class culture in the city has enabled me to forge a career working on exciting projects and productions – one highlight has to be touring to Japan with Birmingham Royal Ballet and taking the name of the company and Birmingham to the other side of the world! During my time at Birmingham Hippodrome I was involved in some brilliantly crazy PR stunts such as creating living windows in the Bullring with the cast of Kinky Boots, feeding camels at West Midland Safari Park with the cast of Joseph and doing some indoor skydiving with the cast of Peter Pan!

IT’S WHAT I DO

I am head of communications at Birmingham Rep, the city’s only producing theatre and the longest-established of Britain’s building-based theatre companies. In the same theatre building as my office, the huge stage sets are built, costumes are made and new productions rehearsed. It is my responsibility to oversee the PR and communications to spread the word about the wonderful work here both on and off stage.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

Birmingham to grow more and more as a national and international powerhouse for culture, with the Rep being at the forefront. I would love to see more of the brilliant work devised here transfer into London’s West End, on to Broadway and beyond.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

It may sound a cheesy, but it’s the fact that I get to spend my working day in a theatre with a diverse range of colleagues with a huge variety of skills. I grew up going to the Hippodrome and the Rep with my parents, excitement would keep me awake the night before! Now, I have the pleasure of working in those environments.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

Be confident in what you want to achieve and don’t be afraid to speak up. I believe in conversing with others to solve a problem. However, if something isn’t working for you – change it. We only live once and we have the right to enjoy every day.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

As mentioned, my first visits to Birmingham were to go to the theatre – I remember seeing The Wind in The Willows at the Rep and being totally mesmerised. It’s something I haven’t been able to get out my head ever since. We have amazing cultural institutions in our city, not just theatres but the likes of IKON and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and even the RSC just down the road.

DOWNTIME

I spend most of my free time at the theatre, locally and travelling into the West End. I also love treating myself to a meal at Harborne Kitchen or Simpsons. I also recently had an incredible meal at Chakana in Moseley.

Tell us about your cooking

My approach is to keep things very simple. I like to use good quality ingredients and treat them with respect to produce the best flavours. 

How did you become a chef?

Having a Greek heritage, I’ve always been around food. When I was young, we sat down as a family at mealtimes. Food was such a big part of family life but I didn’t want to work in our fish and chip shop forever. I told my dad that I wanted to be a chef but he played some reverse psychology by saying that I should stick to cooking fish and chips. Little did I know that he’d already spoken to his friend Andreas Antona about giving me an opportunity at Simpsons.

I joined Simpsons on work experience in 2009 and started working there weekends. I was also studying at catering college and working part-time during the week at both the fish and chip shop and Andreas’ restaurant in Kenilworth, Beef. 

What do you eat at home?

I rarely eat at home as I tend to eat out a lot. When I do have the time what I cook depends on what mood I’m in. It will either be a Sunday roast on any day of the week, or a Greek barbecue – I love a BBQ. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

The best chef in the world is Daniel Humm from 11 Madison Park. I love his food philosophy and people should take note of his mantra “Make it Nice’ because it holds a lot of truth in its meaning. We’re lucky to have many brilliant chefs in Birmingham, but for me the best has to be Luke Tipping. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be where I am now. I also have a huge amount of respect for Matt Cheal, who taught me so much during his time at Simpsons. 

Is the customer always right?

Yes, but there are occasions when we need to bite our tongue and agree to disagree! 

Share a cooking tip

When it comes to cooking meat or a roast bird, cook it low and slow to retain and increase flavour and make the meat more tender. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

It’s as much for the experience as the food itself. I always remember eating octopus and grilled fish in a beach restaurant in Cyprus during a family holiday. I’ve tried cooking octopus since and it tasted good but it just wasn’t the same as back in Cyprus. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven would have to be octopus and hell would be anything from the squash family (butternut squash, pumpkin and sweet potato) and oysters. 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

At a Greek wedding in Cyprus the family tradition was to serve sheep’s brain inside its head. I looked, tasted and said ‘no thanks’! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

Easy, I’d be a golfer. I’ve played golf since I was four and if I could play every day I would. I still like to play two rounds on my days off when possible. I won several golf awards including a Young Masters when I was young.

Interior Design Masters is back and if you haven’t watched, here’s what to expect – stress, emotion, lols, designer chat, but mainly emotion and stress. The premise of the show is that 10 budding interior designers compete in numerous design challenges judged by Michelle Ogundehin and a guest judge each week all hosted by Alan Carr.

Obviously, Carr brings joyous camp and all the welcome funnies. This series, there were two Brummies on the starting blocks. We picked one to interview, Richard O’Gorman aka @househomo and some might say we backed the wrong horse as unfortunately Richard left on the very first show. We would say Design Masters missed a trick.

We’ve interviewed a lot of people over the last nine years and Richard might just be the nicest. He bought a house in Birmingham just before lockdown and was furloughed from his job as a model booker soon after so took the opportunity to decorate his home. He says: “I was looking at three months off work and I thought I’ll never get this opportunity again. No excuses.” Richard set up an Instagram account mainly to show friends what was happening with the house as due to restrictions no one could visit in person. He had never picked up a paintbrush before and an art teacher at school told him to give up art. Inspirational!

PLAYFUL SHAPES

Richard’s idea of decorating his house might be wildly different to yours or ours – you won’t find a hint of magnolia or Farrow and Ball Railings here. His speciality has become mural art encompassing wonderfully playful shapes and colours creating an utterly joyful vibe. Instagram agrees and his following grew quickly. So much so, that when his furlough was up and he subsequently lost his job, he decided to focus on Instagram full time. It was his little sister who persuaded him to go for it. Richard says: “She’s my guiding light and she said, ‘look you’ve got something good going on here, just ride the wave’ and I’m glad I did.”

After the end of the first series of Design Masters, Richard’s friends and followers urged him to go for it. He actually didn’t have a TV and hadn’t seen the show but quickly caught up. Filmed in June 2021 in scorching temperatures, the process was actually much quicker than you might imagine with one week to source and two days for installation which was intense. Given it took Richard five weeks to do his dining room (pictured), it was a big ask!

Working in twos, Richard was paired with Molly who he describes as a ‘perfect fit’. He says: “She walked in in that blue dress and beret and I thought ‘this is my kind of girl’.” Sadly, the judges didn’t think their rooms were as successful as some of the others and they found their places in jeopardy. Ultimately it was Richard who left the show. The guest judge in week one was the lovely Matthew Williamson. He sought out Richard after the decision and sat him down for a chat and gave him some great advice.

Not originally from the city, when Richard moved here he knew no one other than friends of his ex, but we’re proud to say he was given a big Brummie welcome. He says: “I moved here with no friends and found a family in the Gay Village- such a supportive bunch of people.”

Fellow Brummie Abi is still in the running on Design Masters as we write, so we’re throwing our support behind her. Go Abi!

We had such a long chat with award-winning film maker and photographer Paul Stringer we could fill the entire magazine with Paul-related stuff but that would be a bit daft, so here’s three pages of Paul. His first exhibition is open now at the Hippodrome. Titled, The City That Spoke to Me it’s a celebration of poetry, poets and in particular the Birmingham scene. There are 13 portraits in total. Six are of poets that have inspired Paul and six more are of poets that inspired them. The thirteenth portrait of the late Leon Priestnall isn’t taken by Paul, but he felt he couldn’t run this sort of celebration of poetry without including the ‘heartbeat’ of Birmingham’s poetry scene.

NEW PERSPECTIVE

To be clear, Paul isn’t a poet. He’s written one poem which he performed once and it was so terrifying he’s never done it again choosing instead to stay behind the lens. Is he affected by poetry though? Absolutely yes. Being exposed to new perspectives through poetry has been life changing.

He says: “It’s so impactful. Poetry nights are safe spaces – safe enough to share things. I’ve been to events where people have shared devastating trauma through poetry and it just takes one person in the room to say ‘oh yeah that happened to me too’ to have an enormous impact. It’s unbelievable and an unquantifiable consequence. I just wanted to document and celebrate that scene.”

Paul studied film at university but when his father bought him a DSLR camera as a graduation present, he started taking photos. He began photographing dogs and children setting up a couple of hay bales at events armed with his trusty camera and a cheap printer. He has supportive parents who he lived with while he started out and who provided encouragement as well as a roof and a camera.

MIND BUZZING

Paul has done a varied bunch of work. He answered a call out from Beatfreeks in the organisation’s early days for a videographer and photographer. Indeed, Paul’s first experience of poetry was at a Beatfreeks Poetry Jam in a coffee shop in Brum and it peaked his interest and got his ‘mind buzzing’. He’s also worked as a photojournalist and freelance film maker – he documented Jeremy Corbyn’s election campaign as well as numerous protests. He spent time in Calais documenting the plight of refugees but has since questioned how ethical that is. As much as he accepts those stories need to be told, Paul’s uncomfortable about photographing vulnerable people and using those images. He explained: “I just think although it’s well intentioned, would I want to be photographed in that moment? There are hundreds of journalists who come down, stay for 1 or 2 days then go home and sell the images. It just doesn’t feel right.”

THRIVING SCENE

Paul’s also working on a documentary film called Hidden Philosophers documenting the open mic poetry scene in the UK and its impact on society. Paul says the Birmingham scene is particularly communal, rich and open. We’ve heard this before from poets we’ve interviewed previously like Spoz, Casey Bailey and Benjamin Zephaniah. The Midlands and Birmingham in particular is inclusive and thriving.

Paul reckons the creative industries are probably Birmingham’s biggest export. He says: “We have such rich creative and cultural scenes that are also inclusive. For instance, the Hippodrome which is a globally recognised theatre yet through its Young Advocate Programme it opens its doors to inspire and give Brum’s young people opportunities. The Rep has the Foundry scheme which is similarly inclusive for young people whatever your background. It’s phenomenal.”

Rachel Ollerenshaw has faced battles and heartbreak most of us can’t comprehend so a drop of Covid wasn’t about to cause her any problem – beyond being stuck in her bedroom self-isolating for a few days! And Rachel being Rachel, she used the enforced incarceration to good effect, working on her ongoing mission to help some of the UK’s sickest children.

As co-founder with husband Tim of the Warwickshire-based charity Molly Olly’s Wishes, Rachel and her small team have made a big impact on young lives to the tune of more than £3million raised in the past 10 years. That money has provided much-needed support to more than 16,000 children across the country, with more than 13,000 of the charity’s much-loved Olly books and toys reaching youngsters at over 70 hospitals.

“It’s true, we could never have imagined we would get to where we are now when we launched 10 years ago,” said Rachel, speaking from her personal, home ‘isolation cell’. The past two years with social restrictions and lockdowns have proved challenging, but through it all Rachel says helping terminally-ill children has never been more important. “Fund-raising has been a stretch because so much of what we do depends on being face-to-face and until recently that has not been possible. But I’m pleased to say that we found ways around the problem by being creative and now we’ve started going out again to the various networking groups and so on.”

PUNCHING BIG

Rachel and Tim set up the charity not long after their daughter Molly died, aged eight, from a rare kidney cancer after a five-year battle. As a small charity of only three staff and eight regular volunteers, it certainly punches above its weight, emotionally supporting children between 0 and 18 who have life-threatening illnesses. Key to this help is Olly The Brave, a therapeutic soft toy lion and award-winning books, as well as donating Wishes to children who are facing unimaginable challenges.

When we spoke to Rachel, the charity was about to undergo a bit of a rebranding with a slight name change from Molly Olly’s Wishes to just Molly Ollys (the apostrophe has been dropped as well as the Wishes). “Helping children realise their wishes is and always will be very important but what we do now as a charity covers a great deal more,” explained Rachel. In fact, more than 2,500 Wishes have been granted all over the UK since the charity began.

Each Wish the charity donates is unique to each child and there have been many weird and wonderful ones. One teenage boy who was a big fan of police interceptors asked to be arrested by police as his Wish. Rachel said: “We helped organise a 16th birthday party for him and the police turned up and arrested him in front of all his friends and family which he was delighted about.”

PROUD MOMENT

The average value of a Wish is £500. “We don’t do Florida holidays or that kind of thing,” Rachel explained, “rather things like shopping vouchers, a day’s out experience, some kind of entertainment event, or just something personal that gives the child a boost when they really need it.”

One of the charity’s proudest achievements has been funding a consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for three years. After demonstrating the effectiveness of the role and significantly changing the experience for all those who have benefitted from the service, it is now being funded centrally by the NHS.

Rachel said: “While working with Birmingham Children’s Hospital we learned that there was no consultant in paediatric palliative medicine for the area… the position just did not exist. There are only around 20 in the whole of the UK. We live in Warwickshire where there is one and so we knew the benefits and importance when we nursed Molly at home. We decided we would raise the funds and directly pay for a palliative consultant for Birmingham to help provide the best care for children with palliative care needs. It is fabulous to see what a real difference this role has made and is making to children’s lives.”

Due to that success, the hospital has taken on another palliative consultant and they have the opportunity to become a training hospital in the future, subject to funding. Also at the hospital, Magnolia House opened in February 2017 after the charity worked with health professionals to create and furnish the building at a cost of £45,000, providing a safe, non-clinical and comforting space where medical teams and families can have important discussions about diagnosis, treatment and end-of-life care.

GROWING PLACES

Supporting children and their families emotionally and financially is the key purpose of Molly Ollys and the charity’s motto – which still rings true 10 years after it started – is ‘making the dark days brighter.’ Over the years, Olly The Brave soft toy lion has helped support thousands of children, normalising the effects of chemotherapy and comforting them when they were afraid. Olly has his own Hickman line and a detachable mane in different colours. “This helps children to feel ok when they lose their hair and if it grows back differently, they can put a fun one on Olly,” said Rachel.

“Our 10-year anniversary is a good time to look at what we are doing and seeing what we need to do better and to grow and help more children and families,” added Rachel. “We are looking at expanding and adding to the Olly The Brave range and to support and increase the number of palliative carers across the UK.”

One visible sign of the ‘freshen up’ will be on the roads with a fleet of 40-foot trailers operated by Redditch food distribution company Oakland International carrying the new Molly Ollys branding loud and proud!

Small plates (petiscos) are where it’s at with three per person recommended. Sticking to three was a challenge which we failed joyfully. Nuno, our waiter, was fantastic steering us in some directions we might not have headed, not least the cured beef croquette. If we worked here we’d be snaffling a dozen a day no question. Crisp on the outside, silky and smoky inside served with a lightly spiced aioli. Brilliant.

A prawn rissol was a bit like an empanada filled with delicately spiced prawns served with a Sumaar sauce which is like a souped-up aioli as well as a zingy herby dip. It was a cracker. Iberico vindaloo pork ribs were falling off the bone, melt in the mouth tender with, as you can imagine, a hotly spiced coating. Really super.

Keralan squid was perfection served with a curry leaf and mustard seed masala to dip the crunchy little morsels into. Chicken mappas was the only curry we sampled. On the bone, so still moist, the chicken was perfect with a complex spiced coconut milk green chilli sauce that screamed ‘drink me’. We didn’t order rice, opting for a tomato naan instead so mopped up the remains of the sauce with that. The naan wasn’t the big blistered beast you might get in a curry house – more a refined flatbread.

Word to the wise – we ordered a crunchy slaw (cabbage koshimbir) as one of our petiscos, however since all the small plates were served with a mound of the good stuff, we really didn’t need to order it separately.

A nod to the mixologist who’s got exciting plans for the drinks menu and who served up a couple of cracking mocktails – a zingy fresh Limao Spritz and a creamy coconutty Tropic Like It’s Hot.

There’s nothing else quite like it in the city.  Don’t expect a curry house nor is it Dishoom. The food is more interesting somehow and with a £15-for-three-petiscos deal for weekday lunch, it is a steal. We were kindly sent a gift card by the restaurant, but had we been paying, our bill would have been £68 which included two mocktails, seven small plates, two desserts and two pots of peppermint tea. That felt seriously reasonable given the level of the food and service.

Tell us about your cooking

There are two key things for me in my cooking. Seasons are important and freshness is important. Simple methods are what Italian food is known for, but to achieve great Italian food you must have the very best, freshest ingredients. My style is very regional as ‘Italian food’ actually doesn’t really exist in Italy. 

How did you become a chef?

I started learning to cook when I was very young as a small boy with my mum. I loved to watch and learn and help my mum cook and once I was old enough, I went to catering college in Pescara, a city which is on the Adriatic Sea. After my studies were complete, I then went to France and Munich to work. I came to England in 1978 and opened my first restaurant in 1986. My influences are from Southern Italy where I grew up in fishing village – hence my love affair with fish. 

What do you eat at home?

I love to sit round with the family and my kids, and I like my wife to cook – ideally on a Sunday. We eat a lot of fish and sea food. My kids favourite though is my macaroni cheese. They love to tuck into that!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

That’s difficult as I have met so many. But for me it is my mentor Luca Parosi, a Sicilian chef who cooked French food. He was the most talented person I have met in my life. He inspired me to carry on in this business at 18, and I learned so many techniques from him. In Birmingham, I think Glynn Purnell is an exciting chef. 

How has your restaurant been adapting to the current crisis?

Training and service is so important, service is more important than ever. We must give diners a good time when they decide to venture out. They are not going out so much now, so when they do we must give them the best experience possible.

Share a cooking tip

Always put pasta to sauce, never sauce to pasta.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I am the youngest of nine children, so food was scarce and we didn’t get a chance to have a favourite. However, I will never forget the gnocchi my mother made. It was so good I am planning to introduce that in Lucarelli.

Food heaven and food hell? 

My heaven is shellfish or lobster thermidore. Hell for me is tripe. 

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Insects in a restaurant in China. That was interesting! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?       

An actor.

Starting out as an actor while the world is in the grip of a pandemic is not the best idea, but if that’s how life pans out, what can you do but crack on? Darryl’s introduction to a TV set was wearing a mask, keeping your distance and regularly hand sanitising. He says: “It was weird, but fun.” Over the last couple of years Darryl has filmed A Christmas Number One, Mammoth for BBC1, This Sceptred Isle for Sky Atlantic and the third series of Band of Brothers. Not bad.

Darryl was never a drama school kid growing up and aside from teaching himself street dance and a secondary school teacher introducing him to contemporary dance, he wasn’t really used to the stage. However, he was interested enough to consider Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) as an option for his A-Level studies and talented enough to bag a place.

FREE SPIRITED

BOA specialises in performing arts alongside an academic curriculum and is the only school of its kind in the Midlands and as such it’s competitive. Darryl’s route in was slightly different to the other year 12 starters. For one reason or another he wasn’t able to make the group audition, so had to go in on his own and workshop with existing BOA students which was a bit nerve-racking.

Darryl’s specialism was acting, but he found being around other creative people specialising in perhaps music or dance really beneficial. He explains: “It was a free-spirited school. My best friends specialised in music and we were able to create together and learn from each other. It’s a beautiful thing. I love meeting different people just as passionate as me.”

Darryl signed up to an agent while at BOA which he says wasn’t the norm, but the teachers were supportive and helped him prepare for auditions. Not sure about going on to drama school after BOA, Darryl was keen to get started on his career. However, he took some advice from his teachers and applied to a handful of schools. He was offered a place at Drama Studios London, so he upped sticks and moved to the capital.

THEATRE SCENE

Having said that Darryl doesn’t believe you have to be in London to get ahead in the acting world and admits the “cost of living is ridiculous”. Having filmed BBC1 comedy, Mammoth in Wales he was really impressed with the studio facilities and the projects being made there. He says: “Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham are all doing great things too. The theatre scene in Birmingham in particular is something to be really proud of.”

While Darryl’s natural home is TV and film, he loves a bit of theatre too. “I do love screen but the thing with theatre is you just throw yourself in to it with a one shot mentality. You put your faith in rehearsals and practice but something new could happen at any point. It’s daunting, so you need to channel that.” Darryl’s focus is the type of work he wants to make. He says: “I want to make impactful work that has a deep meaning ultimately.”

Covid has scuppered coming home to Brum as regularly as he’d like, but Darryl makes the trip as often as he can. Just before Christmas he went back to BOA to do an alumni talk to the current students and was blown away. He says: “Seeing the students with so much potential and full of hunger and burning questions was so nice. They’re just as hungry and hard working as I was. It was a pleasure.”

The new menu, available from 6.30pm Sunday to Thursday, is short with three options for each course, but oh so sweet. Wild mushroom with a crisp potato rosti, a perfectly runny quail’s egg generously showered in grated truffle all brought together in a rich creamy sauce was absolutely gorgeous – just a winning, classic combination. Wafer thin delicate smoked salmon was super, but on balance we’d have preferred something other than rye bread. I’m sure if we’d asked for different bread, the staff would have been obliging – they were faultless as always, but it really wasn’t a biggie.

Blackened cod is a constant at The Ivy. It’s so popular that with every menu change, it apparently stays. A chunky piece of cod was cooked beautifully with a salty soy flavour served with a punchy chilli and yuzu mayonnaise, zingy citrus pickled fennel and grilled broccoli. The combination of strong flavours had the potential to be a mess, but it was actually brilliant.

A side of baked sweet potato with harissa coconut yoghurt, mint and coriander didn’t sound like a dish that would blow our socks off – we ordered more out of intrigue than desire, but it was utterly brilliant. We’d have been delighted with a plateful. A sirloin steak was perfectly cooked served with crunchy thick cut chips and a flavour packed bearnaise. A classic done well.

Desserts were seriously showy. We’ve had some terrible melting chocolate bombes over the years made with what tastes like cheap chocolate, but The Ivy version was a long way from that. The chocolate tasted quality, honeycomb added a sweet crunch and a light, milk foam topped off a cracking pud. An apple tarte fine was theatre – thin crisp pastry topped with finely sliced apple and vanilla ice cream was flambéd at the table with calvados. What’s not to love?

The only thing about the menu that didn’t wow were the CBD infused drinks. They weren’t bad at all, just not as appealing as the food. We’d recommend going off the regular menu for liquid refreshment. The set menu (two courses £28.95, three courses £34.95) is available until 10 February.

Ryan describes himself as a normal guy from Brum. Hardly! Appearances in the Archers, Line of Duty, Doctors, Bfi short films among other projects – not to mention co-founding an electronic music platform ­– is not our idea of normal. Ryan has also been picked as one of only 11 budding writers out of 750 applicants for the Sky Comedy Rep scheme – a partnership between Birmingham Rep and Sky Studios to discover and nurture new regional comedy talent from across the UK.

Ryan cut it fine, applying to the scheme just the day before the deadline. The application process entailed the submission of a one-act play set around the simple premise of a meeting on a park bench. The successful writers are at the business end of a six-month paid programme of workshops and mentoring to develop their stories ready for performance at the three-day Sky Comedy Rep Festival at the Rep.

EXCEPTIONAL

Anil Gupta, creative director of comedy at Sky Studios, said: “We were overwhelmed by the response to this scheme and the strength of talent we saw in the applications. We have found 11 truly exceptional writers who hail from all over the UK, and whose unique voices tap into the humour of where they are from. They have exciting futures ahead of them and Sky Studios are proud to be helping them on their path.” Mentors include Simon Blackwell, Danny Brocklehurst, Guz Khan, Meera Syal and Holly Walsh, among other big names. The patron of Sky Comedy Rep is Julie Walters.

Ryan’s story, Boys Who Cry, will be directed by Iqbal Khan and is set in Birmingham which was important to him and features four mates who’ve been friends since childhood. It’s about growing up, changing, moving away, coming home and the sort of shorthand way of communicating you only really have with lifelong friends or siblings. As the festival gets closer, Ryan is nervous but excited to see his work come alive and he’s been thrilled with the process and learned loads from his mentors. It’s a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Ryan’s first foray into acting was at a TV workshop at Mac mentored by Ross Simpson. Now living in London, Ryan loves coming home. On the difference between the two cities in terms of work, he says: “There’s a glass ceiling in Birmingham almost. You have to go out and forge opportunities. In London there’s more going on, so it enables you to dip your toes into different things.”

In March last year, Ryan starred in independent film Demon which premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in the US. Directed by a school friend of Ryan, fellow Brummie George Louis Bartlett and co-written by Theo Macdonald, Demon tells the story of Ralph played by Ryan who flees London after an unpaid train fine comes back to haunt him and hides out in a forest motel which soon becomes a weird purgatory. The film’s small budget meant employing some creative filming techniques as well as being shot in black and white giving it a cool, edgy vibe. Also starring Jemma Redgrave, the Millennial Noir project was a no-brainer for Ryan.

ONE TO WATCH

When the pandemic struck, Ryan began writing and successfully had a short story called Safari commissioned for BBC Arts. Set in Brum, the drama highlights how race and class can be gatekeepers for understanding culture and is based on situations Ryan experienced growing up. You can find it on BBC Sounds.

It feels like there’s so much to come from Ryan both writing and acting and probably beyond. He’s determined and resourceful as well as obviously talented, so he feels fresh, exciting and definitely one of our Young, Gifted and Brummie interviewees to watch.

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking style is modern British. I think I only use a couple of ingredients that are not grown in the UK. This is very important to me. It would be very easy to use imported fruit and vegetables, but this country has amazing produce which needs to be championed!

How did you become a chef?

I think my love of cooking comes right back to the days watching my nana cook when I was younger. Seeing what she did and how good her food tasted planted the seed of cooking in my head. I first wanted to join the RAF as a pilot when leaving school but changed my mind after visiting an open day at the cooking college in Birmingham. I enrolled and fell in love. From there I’ve never looked back. I trained at world-renowned restaurants including Marcus Wareing, La Becasse, Five Fields and Story, as well as stints at Noma, Eleven Madison Park & Quay. I recently competed in Series 16 of TV’s Great British Menu 2021, representing the Central region. I have been chef-owner of the Michelin-recommended and 3 AA Rosette restaurant, the Boat Inn, in Lichfield since 2017.

What do you eat at home?

I love really simple fish dishes or a ‘one pot wonder’. If it’s after work and I’m won out and tired it’s usually something like peanut butter on toast or cheese!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

That’s a tough one as there are so many chefs to choose from and so many different styles – so I’m going to skip giving you a name for either of those questions if that’s OK! It’s impossible to single anyone out as there are so many brilliant chefs around these days.

How has your restaurant adapted to the pandemic crisis?

We set up a Heat at Home packaged meal box. That was easy to bring together and also quite cost affective. We also turned the restaurant into a fried chicken takeaway which was a big hit and lots of fun. We also took the opportunity to do extensive work on the restaurant and the grounds during the closed period. We now have our own chickens which we get all our eggs from, a polytunnel for growing small amounts of produce and had the chance to change the dining space too.

Share a cooking tip

Don’t be scared to eat British pork that is not cooked well done. Single muscle pink pork isn’t a problem and hasn’t been a problem since the late 70s. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Potato faces. No, really, truthfully… I loved them! 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is shellfish, and I’m not very fussy which. Hell is avocados, hate them with a passion!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Grasshopper & grub garum while I was blending it to a paste at Noma. It was delicious! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A racing driver or something in motorsport.

From the outside it’s understated, but inside the cavernous interior packs a punch. Formally the Tramshed, the Rolling Mill is two 19th century industrial barns joined together, totalling nearly 8,000 sq ft and is all exposed beams and original brickwork, big rustic wooden tables and cosy curved booths. There’s a cool sociable hawker centre vibe with a pizza oven and open kitchen.

We found loads on the menu that winked at us and after much agonising plumped for pork belly bites from the small plate menu to start as well as halloumi with gremolata. The pork belly was everything we wanted. It was crisp and flavoursome with hot sriracha mayo served in a skillet with seared spring onions and peppers. The halloumi was perfect, gremolata was punchy and salad leaves pimped up with a zingy citrus dressing.

Chicken pie is my speciality (an adapted Delia turkey en croute recipe if you’re interested) so I felt compelled to give TRM version a whirl. Served in an individual pie dish it remained hotter than the sun for some time, but once cool enough to tuck into it was great. Crispy puff pastry, creamy sauce with mushrooms, plenty of chicken and handful of herbs, it was very good. The star of the plate however was a pile of crunchy triple cooked chips. The pie was served with a cute jug of gravy. If we’re being hyper critical, the gravy could have been a bit thicker for our taste.

A burger for the other half was succulent, smothered in cheese with a delicious punchy sauce served with a crunchy slaw, a monster pickle which came my way and a hefty portion of herby fries. While the fries were fine, they weren’t a patch on the triple cooked chips. We’d recommend swapping. Pud was a shared hazelnut and dark chocolate tart with rum and raisin ice cream. Greg Wallace would have had a field day with this beauty. Lip-smackingly good and definitely enough for two.

Sunday lunch also looks cracking as does breakfast. You can walk-in or book, just go. You’ll thank us.

You might know Owen De Visser from ArtsBrum, the organisation that promotes and supports local artists, or from Birmingham Open Studios, or even his Open Mic night in Moseley. He’s a busy chap. Having had enough of rejigging the spare room for photo-shoots at home, Owen has bitten the bullet and opened a gallery and photographic studio on the bourgeoning Greenfield Crescent with neighbours such as Loki Wine, Kin and the much-anticipated, Chapter restaurant.

His original timing turned out to be less than sparkling as Covid struck just as he was about to sign the lease. Thankfully, landlords Calthorpe Estates were thoroughly understanding and put plans on hold without financial penalty. Finally open, Owen is cock-a-hoop, but it hasn’t been a straight-forward path.

A degree in Music Tech proved to be not what Owen had expected and not something he wanted to pursue, so he left. However, there was a silver lining. Part of his studies included photo editing which he enjoyed – so with a trusty digital SLR camera Owen began snapping in his spare time while working in retail. When some friends asked Owen to capture their special day, it proved to be the beginning of something a bit special.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Owen remembers: “I had a basic camera with two lenses. I learnt that weddings are largely about controlling people. I enjoyed it and more opportunities followed.” Owen’s mother is an artist and his father an author, so a creative life feels natural. Of his upbringing, Owen says: “I was raised to believe that I can be successful in anything I want to be, as long as I have passion and believe in myself.”

That belief was tested a bit after he was made redundant from two retail jobs. Owen decided to take control and grab the opportunity to do something he loved and ODV Photography was born. He turned to the Prince’s Trust Start Up business scheme which was a massive help. As well as financial support, Owen received training in how to run a business with weeks of formal tuition. Owen ran the business from home using the spare room as a studio for years, but it wasn’t the best use of his time.

He says: “I’d have to pull everything out of the spare room to see a client and then put it back together. It definitely wasn’t time efficient.” Owen photographs a wide range of subjects including events and weddings, commercial work, corporate headshots, interiors, family portraits, promo shots – again – he’s busy!

SUPPORT LOCAL

Realising there wasn’t much of a spotlight on artists in Birmingham at the time, Owen sought to change that through Birmingham Arts (ArtsBrum) which pushed art and artists in the city. He created an online shop and co-hosted events. He also founded Brum Open Studios where people can visit artists in their studios and see them work. Doing these things alongside ODV Photography meant he had three different in-boxes to tackle which didn’t really make sense, so now with Lux he’s combined everything into one.

He has 2,000 artists on his books – not all from Birmingham. Lux stocks mainly British artists and lots of local creatives plus a few from Europe. They tend to be emerging or mid-career artists and they can’t be in another gallery in the area, so it’s not work people have seen elsewhere. There’s a mix of media including jewellery from Jewellery Quarter.

Owen’s not in competition with other galleries in the city – he’s collaborative and is keen to see a thriving arts scene – more galleries not less to benefit everyone. He does feel residents of Brum could do more to support art though. He says: “London has hundreds of galleries, but not so in Birmingham. In a city with so many great creatives and different pockets each with a unique style and identity, we could probably do better.”

Tell us about your cooking

Modern fresh British is my style of cooking. It’s important to be passionate and positive in this line of work and I love working with the finest local sourced ingredients that Britain has to offer – from the veg in Worcestershire and Evesham, fresh fish from Brixham Fish Market or delicious Cornish lamb.

How did you become a chef?

I don’t have a formal catering education as I started out as a pot washer in a hotel to earn some money. I was always in the kitchen with the chefs helping out when I could, then one day I was offered a position as commis chef. So, I have learned everything I know on the job. I don’t have one particular chef as an influence as I like to take ideas and put them together to come up with something of my own.

What do you eat at home?

A nice roast dinner, a Bolognese or even my wife’s jacket potatoes ­– she does the best potatoes! Everybody thinks that a chef would be eating a top restaurant dinner even at home, but this is not always the case as I spend most of my time behind a stove at work. But I do really enjoy cooking with produce straight out of my allotment that my young son and I work together. We’re also raising quail (fresh quail eggs in the morning – you can’t beat that).

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

If I had to choose a best chef then it would have to be Michael Caines as I had the pleasure to work alongside him, watching him prepare and produce the finest of foods. Michael is an inspiration as he only has one arm but always gives it his all to show his staff that anything can be accomplished when you put your mind to it. Best chef in Birmingham?  Well, they all excel in their own way, but they can only be as good as the team behind them that help to make it happen.

Share a cooking tip

If you are ever slow-cooking a piece of meat then always allow it to cool down in the braising liquor so it doesn’t steam dry. Steam is moisture and it will affect the end product.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

It would have to be a nice roast dinner with all the trimmings that we had every Sunday. I mean who doesn’t like a roast dinner!

Food heaven and food hell?

Hell for me would have to be things like liver and onion or anything offal unless you use a lot of butter, eggs, reduce port, madeira, thyme and garlic and make a nice parfait out of it! Heaven is spring-time when we have some nice fresh lamb, wild garlic and asparagus finished with roast Jersey royal potatoes, all in rich red wine sauce.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

That’d be snake! It was very early in my journey to become a chef, but I remember it having a fish- like texture, a very strong meat taste and a touch of iron in the flavour.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I would be in the engineering industry as I went to college and I did mechanical engineering and I did boat building engineering.

As you’d expect from the lovely people behind Aluna and Siamais, cocktails are a very good idea at Lulu Wild with or without booze. The Hainan Cooler (without) is one of the most refreshing things we’ve ever tasted, full of mint, watermelon and zingy lime, while the China Rose (prosecco, gin and citrus) hit the spot very nicely.

The menu is a cracker. There are small plates, brunch, Christmas set feasts as well as the lunch/dinner menus. We consulted our fantastic waiter, Uri for his recommendations. Rather than the couple of dim sum dishes to start that we’d planned, he recommended the Wild Platter of dumplings for maximum sampling. He was right.

The platter included four steamed and four fried dim sum with accompanying black vinegar and soy sauce and was ideal for two people. The meat (pork, chicken) and seafood (prawn, scallop) versions were flavour-packed and moreish, while the mushroom ones were a bit more timid on the taste front. The steamed dim sum were incredibly pretty, a couple with pastel pink and green skins, however, the colourful skins were a bit thicker than the non-coloured dumplings making them a bit heavy.

A sweet and sour pork dish with tart pomegranate and sweet pineapple was excellent and accompanied by lots of ‘oohing’ as was a punchy Sanpei chicken with sweet basil, spring onion, a warm hit of chilli and Shaoxing wine. We scooped up every last dribble of sauce from both dishes with jasmine rice. Really delicious.

Despite the pastry chef not being in the kitchen on the day we visited, the chef rustled up a gorgeous mango mousse-like dessert with grapefruit and an intense mango sorbet on the side. It was the perfect zingy palate cleanser.

We left feeling like Lulu Wild definitely lives up to its bouji vibe – an all-rounder with substance as well as style and a fantastic addition to Brum.

Tell us about your cooking

There is an implicit simplicity with good food – I like to work with nature, following the seasons and using great produce to bring my ideas to life. My style comes from a mix of my life experiences. I trained for five years at Le Manoir with Raymond Blanc. I’ve travelled to Scandinavia, where the culture is all about foraging for beautiful freshness. I also worked in the Basque region of Spain, cooking over fire and tasting some of the most beautiful food imaginable. Working in a beautiful kitchen with a fantastic team is what excites me and that’s what we have at Adam’s.

How did you become a chef?

I wasn’t always passionate about food as a child – I was more interested in sports and physical activity. I did enjoy being at school but didn’t want to go to university. When school finished and it was time to look at what I could do next. I always enjoyed eating food and watching Ready, Steady, Cook with my mom so thought I’d give cooking a go. As soon as I stepped into my first kitchen, I really loved it and I’ve just kept learning ever since.

What do you eat at home and what was your favourite food as a kid?

My mom would make a homemade meal for the family every day when I was growing up. I’ve travelled all over the world but when I go back home to Warwickshire, that’s what I crave. A nice cottage pie or a stew are among my favourite dishes even now.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I’ve worked with some amazing chefs across so many different styles of cuisine. I don’t put one on a higher pedestal than another, so I’d have to play it safe and say my mom is the best chef in the world for me! Obviously, Adam Stokes is a fantastic chef and someone whose food I greatly admire. I am relatively new to Birmingham so I am excited to meet some of the talented chefs across the city! 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven for me is all about my days off in the Basque country. Myself and the team would use the money we’d saved through the week and go out to get a whole grilled turbot, caught on the day and cooked over coals, slowly and beautifully. Served on a beach in San Sebastián with a fresh tomato salad on the side, it felt like heaven! Hell for me revolves around kidneys! I appreciate being resourceful and not being wasteful with food but that’s one thing I just can’t eat. 

Share a cooking tip

There is a real amount of skill in putting together a really well-cooked breakfast – making sure the bacon is crispy and getting the sausages just right. Eggs are a big one too. Poaching an egg is relatively simple but so worth doing right. I think if you take the time to learn how to do each element of a traditional cooked breakfast properly, you will acquire skills that help you in other areas.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I’d love to say I’d be a footballer, ever since I was old enough to kick a ball I loved it. If I wasn’t doing that it would be something sport related.

Mexican street food has seen a resurgence in in popularity over the last few years which has seen a number of pretty ordinary eateries popping up trying to cash in on the fad. So how do you sort out the wheat from the chaff? Well social media has gone mad for one compact Jewellery Quarter restaurant, so we thought we’d better pop along and see what the fuss was all about.

Tierra Tacos has been masterminded by the people behind Tiger Bites Pig so expectations were high.  Firstly, it’s probably worth noting that it was so compact, we managed to walk past the restaurant twice, such is its modesty. But my goodness we’re glad we persevered. Once inside, the modesty continued. Pale green tiles, the odd plant, simple furniture and paper menus are the order of the day.

The menu is mouth-watering. We could have grazed our way through most of it given an afternoon off, but deadlines schmeadlines… you know how it is! We ordered a couple of small plates and two versions of tacos. Scorched Padron peppers with chipotle sea salt were a great start and things got even better from there. I’ve never rated black beans, but it turns out I’ve just not done them right. Tierra’s frijoles were smoky, rich, slow cooked and topped with crumbled Lancashire cheese and bags of coriander served with a bowl of totopos (tortilla chips) to scoop up the black stuff. Superb.

Onto the tacos all of them hand pressed corn tortillas with various inventive toppings. The pork carnitas hit the spot – succulent slow roast pork served with red cabbage, pickled onions, caramelised mezcal pineapple, pumpkin seeds and coriander. That sounds like a lot of ingredients that might be fighting with one another, but the flavours were balanced brilliantly. Beef barbacoa – oak smoked brisket with diced onion, pickled white cabbage and coriander again tasted superb. A word to the wise – if you don’t like coriander, it’s probably worth mentioning. We love it, so it wasn’t an issue, but there was a fair bit.

We were bowled over by the food, but the price delighted too. One portion of tacos – you get two per portion – costs £7. Our entire lunch bill for two including a couple of beers was just over £30. You’d be hard pushed to enjoy even an average meal for that, let alone one as brilliant and accomplished as this. It might look casual, but someone has thought through every tiny detail. Go.

The uncertainty surrounding the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics made the road to Tokyo fraught for all athletes hoping to compete, but for Becky Redfern there was an added dimension. After winning gold at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019, Tokyo was her next goal. Having won silver in Rio in the SS13 100m breaststroke, Becky was keen to make the Games and hoped to go one better.

It turns out that when Becky won the World Championship, she was pregnant which meant Tokyo was no longer an option. The timing wouldn’t have worked. Then due to Covid, the Games were postponed with the rearranged date giving Becky 14 months between giving birth to competing. It would take a monumental effort, but Becky and coach Mark Stowe at Worcester Swimming Club were up for the challenge. There was a dissertation to write too as Becky was due to complete her degree in 2020, so no pressure…

PADDLING POOL

Becky was diagnosed with degenerative eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa as a small child and now has severely impaired visual fields with no peripheral vision and poor frontal vision, hence the SS13 category status. With pools closed during lockdown Becky started training in a hot tub in the garden. It wasn’t exactly ideal, but better than nothing and with the tension of a bungee rope tied around the waist and the resistance that created, it became the most effective way for swimmers to keep up pool time during those months, elite or otherwise. Social media was awash with videos of swimmers training in oversized paddling pools. It was all very 2020.

Once pools opened and training was back on, Becky could be seen ploughing up and down the water putting in the hard yards with a steely determination and with Mark pacing the poolside coaching. Once she’d qualified for Tokyo – an amazing feat, Worcester SC rallied around firstly crowd funding to help get Becky there and then by ensuring training sessions were super clean and Covid safe. Masks, hand sanitiser, no access to changing rooms, strict entrance and exit policies were all in place. Covid officers in hi-vis jackets kept the process running smoothly and swimmers kept their distance. A positive Covid test would have been a crushing blow to Becky’s effort as Tokyo grew closer which thankfully, she didn’t have to face.

FAST FINISH

The time difference meant the final was in the middle of the night. Friends and family set the alarm and watched nervously. Becky stormed the first 50 metres establishing a lead early on, but in the final 25 metres German Elena Krawzow began to attack and just pipped Becky to the wall in the last few strokes. Becky’s time of 1:14.10 was her fastest over the distance since Rio and she was visibly delighted.

After a tough couple of years mentally and physically, it was a beautiful moment. Becky’s turnaround has been described as ‘miraculous’ and while it is an extraordinary achievement, miraculous seems to negate the massive amount of hard graft and commitment. We feel a Hollywood blockbuster coming on…

As boss of global signage company Hollywood Monster, Tim Andrews, receives hundreds of random emails every day. “If they’re spam or email addresses I don’t recognise, I just delete them,” he says. Which is exactly what he did when one with an address starting with the prefix BD21 dropped into his inbox.

A few hours later, Tim was searching through his bin when as chance would have it he clicked on the message – and discovered it was the Cabinet Office informing him that he was to receive an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and would he please complete the attached form as his acceptance!

“I don’t know what would have happened had I not come across that email again,” says Tim. “Maybe it would have been a bit like losing your lottery ticket and I would have lost the MBE?” Tim was awarded the Honour for his services to local charity LoveBrum which has a mission to raise awareness, support and make cash awards to Birmingham’s unsung local volunteers and causes.

The MBE was a bright spot in what has been an otherwise difficult 2021 for Tim as he has met the challenges to his business from the pandemic. Ironically, it should be a time of celebration for Hollywood Monster as it marks 30 years since Tim and his late father set up the business from the loft of the family home.

HIGH PROFILE CLIENTS

“I always wanted to have my own business,” says Tim. “And always wanted to go into some kind of printing. We started doing signage for building contractors. Back then, we used to have to physically paint signs. Then as the technology developed, it moved to vinyl and then digital printing. We are more of a digital printer now, having invested more than £4million in a state-of-the-art digital printer. We can produce anything from an exhibition stand to a huge wrap around a major construction site.”

High profile clients include the likes of Aston Villa and Birmingham City football clubs, McDonalds fast food restaurants, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, ProLogis Developments, IM Properties and Centrick Properties. During the pandemic, Hollywood Monster adapted by taking on projects such as signage for social distancing and the multi-coloured banners used to cover seating in football stadia. “They were all short-term projects,” said Tim, “not repeat work as we would normally hope to get.” Just keeping things ticking over has felt like an achievement in itself.

With exhibition and events as one of the core pillars of the business, Tim has had to take some tough decisions to streamline the business and get it leaner and fitter to capitalise on the much-awaited ‘bounce back’. “The rebound is beginning to happen,” he said when we spoke in late August. “But I believe that it is going to take at least two, maybe three, years to get back to the level we were at before Covid. The only thing you can say is that we are in a healthier state as we have had to take a long, hard look at our overheads.” Like everyone, Tim just hopes the worst is over – another lockdown would likely spell the end of not just his business but hundreds of others.

The charity sector has been hit especially hard during the pandemic with hard-pressed businesses being forced to rein back their support. This has made the role of LoveBrum, which Tim co-founded in 2014, all the more vital in trying to help ‘hidden gem’ community projects and volunteers keep going. “The idea for LoveBrum came out of a seven-countries-in-seven-days charity bike ride which I took part in,” said Tim. “We met up after talking about what the charity world looked like and what Birmingham needed. It felt like Birmingham lacked a bit of civic pride compared to other cities.”

REBUILDING PRIDE

Tim said the best way to help the city get that pride back was to help showcase the incredible people who run the huge number of small charities and organisations. “For years as I grew up, I was always being ridiculed by people because I’m from Birmingham,” he said. “It’s nowhere near as bad now as it was, but it’s still not where it needs to be. Maybe people have a down on the city because of the football teams! We want LoveBrum to help people celebrate our great city.”

All of LoveBrum’s giving is raised from membership fees and fund-raising, with 100 per cent of what is raised going to the good causes. Costs such as overheads and admin come from corporate sponsorship, and Tim says LoveBrum is always in desperate need of more support in that direction. LoveBrum picks three different causes each month, with the 7,000 members deciding which cause receives the most money.

Tim has raised well over £750,000 for local causes by organising and hosting charity events. “To receive a royal honour for my involvement with LoveBrum was a massive surprise,” said Tim. “When I received, deleted and retrieved the email, I thought it was a wind-up. I got my two lads, who know a thing or two about this kind of thing, to check it out for me – and I was amazed when they said it was genuine.”

Corey Weekes is a writer and actor who trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts on a DADA scholarship. He’s worked in TV – Coronation Street and Doctors among others – as well as the West End and is about to open Rapsody at Coventry Belgrade theatre as writer and artistic director. Coming from a background of financial hardship that could have hampered Corey’s dreams, he was lucky to have had a chance meeting with an experienced actor who offered to mentor and coach him for free. Recognising that not all budding actors are as fortunate, Corey decided he wanted to help change things for young kids like him and give them a foothold in an industry that is notoriously tough to crack without connections and/or money. Like many actors, Corey hasn’t had an acting job since the pandemic began and has thrown himself into helping talented youngsters get ahead.

ACTING UP

Corey launched the Vision Centre for Actors last year, initially offering acting lessons at a hugely reduced rate (£5 per lesson) which still proved a struggle for some. Now, thanks to a partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome and youth community interest group Bouncing Statistics – and with funding from the National Lottery and Arts Council England – Corey is offering a programme of free tuition, workshops and mentorship to talented 16 to 30-year-olds suffering from financial hardship.

Corey explains his motivation: “When I initially wanted to get into acting, I had all the passion and drive to learn but unfortunately none of the money to afford the classes on offer in Birmingham. I was lucky enough to be blessed with mentorship of a great teacher in Philip Hedley, but I couldn’t help wondering how many young people give up on their dreams because they aren’t so fortunate. I started Vision to provide hope to young people from humble beginnings that they can make their dreams materialise.”

Vision will take a cohort of 32 actors over the next year with auditions being held at the beginning of this month. They’ll enjoy access to free workshops with drama schools thanks to links with organisations like ALRA, LAMDA and RCSSD, there’ll be talks and workshops with industry professionals like casting directors and agents and they’ll leave Vision with show reels and headshots.

WELL-BEING

As well as honing acting skills and boosting opportunities, Corey is keen to prioritise well-being and good mental health, so there’ll be a big focus on that too with coaching from Bouncing Statistics. He is keen to make sure students understand the reality of the industry and are resilient. He says: “There’s down time when you’re an actor and we need to give youngsters the foundations to survive and find fulfilment in other ways too.”

The funding for Vision was crucial and a lengthy process. Corey brought a bid writer on board as the application was 68 pages which meant a lot of late nights and stress and thankfully it was successfully. He said: “This was only made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Arts Council England and we are so grateful. New research has found that only 27 per cent of actors come from a working-class background. It’s time young people from underprivileged backgrounds can truly be able to follow their dreams. Financial strain should not make anyone’s aspirations feel unreachable and that’s what we look to change here at Vision.”

Tell us about your cooking

Burgers! It’s what we do. It’s casual, relaxed eating, but don’t expect a filthy burger. We’re all about ingredients and quality. We use local suppliers where we can, so the buns are from Garrett’s Green and the beef is from Aubrey Allen. We smoke our own brisket, we make our own mayonnaise and bacon jam. Everything’s made from scratch and you can now find us at The Flapper. The ethos and the passion of the people behind the pub really appealed to us. It’s small, family run and I just thought that when so many people care about what they do, it can’t fail. They care about the bar, I care about the food and it all works. 

How did you become a chef?

I was working in a restaurant in Ireland while studying, but the course wasn’t great. Back home, it’s fairly remote and not very foodie, so I moved to Birmingham to study Culinary Arts Management at BCU. Then in 2009, I worked at Marcus Wareing. Life in a kitchen was a bit different in 2009 – it’s all a bit more PC now, but then it was pretty god-damn rough. I wouldn’t change it though. It set me up well and gave me a hard skin. I went back to uni to finish my studies, but realised the books were not for me. I just wanted to be in a kitchen. In 2011, I worked at Purnell’s before moving back to Marcus followed by a stint with Sat Bains. I then worked on private yachts which was amazing. We travelled SE Asia, Sri Lanka, the Komodo Islands and thankfully had enough down-time to go out and experience the food which was incredible. 

What do you eat at home?

I BBQ even in the winter, but not on the grill. I wrap stuff up and put it in the coals using them as a cooking vessel. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Bjorn Frantzen of Frantzen in Stockholm and sister restaurant, Zen in Singapore. The food’s incredible, but it’s not just about that. It’s the whole experience. In Birmingham, it has to be Glynn Purnell. 

Is the customer always right?

Sometimes, not always. It depends how they conduct themselves. If they’re rude they’re immediately wrong. 

Share a cooking tip

Always work tidy. It changes the end product and makes you feel more organised and in control. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

My mum’s roast dinner. Every Sunday growing up surrounded by family and friends. It’s what food’s all about. It was roast beef.

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven is pork belly. I tried it aged 19 at Marcus Wareing and I thought, ‘holy shit this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten’. We didn’t eat pork belly growing up, we were a bit sheltered from a food point of view, not very adventurous.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Lamb’s brain in Sri Lanka, which was okay, and pig’s intestines in Thailand which was not appetising.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A carpenter or an architect. I was training to be a carpenter at 16 before I fell into cooking. 

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The OG Stack which is a dry aged beef patty, smoked bbq brisket, cheese, pickled red onion, lettuce and Stackz burger sauce in a brioche bun.

If Elizabeth Conway isn’t a familiar face by next year we’ll be very surprised. Currently a freelance sports journalist and presenter, Elizabeth is brimming with energy, bags of talent and joy for her craft and to say we reckon she’s the next Gabby Logan is bang-on for this proud Brummie.

Even at secondary school Elizabeth had that rare thing of knowing what she wanted to do with her life. She says: “I loved writing and chatting to people and I also loved sport, so sports journalism was the obvious choice.” She’s not too shabby a sports woman either, decent at hockey and cricket as well as county level table tennis among others.

At the University of Birmingham studying Spanish and English, Elizabeth joined various societies and got involved with student radio and TV. She also spent a year in Madrid where she covered the Champions League Final and translated and interpreted for Spanish stars and the media.

SPANISH TIKTOK

When Covid stopped play in 2020 and there were no events to report on, Elizabeth trained to be a Spanish teacher and also started a TikTok account, @spanishandsport teaching her followers the language. She amassed more than 70,000 followers and her engaging videos have reached six million views and counting. She never lost sight of her ultimate goal though and thankfully once sport returned Elizabeth was back following her dreams recognising Spanish as a massive bonus in terms of being able to cover global events.

Elizabeth was selected as one of the top 100 young journalists in the world to represent Great Britain at the Thomson Reuters Future News Worldwide conference in 2019, she’s a freelance BBC sport journalist, a presenter and journalist for GiveMeSport Women and a proud member of BCOMS (Black Collective of Media in Sport) working toward greater diversity in sports media.

RISING ROLE

Most recently was selected to join the Hundred Rising – a bunch of talented young journalists picked to cover the ECB’s new Hundred tournament. Elizabeth co-hosts the Edgbaston fixtures, out in the crowd interviewing fans. The scheme also means accessing workshops with the likes of Vic Hope and Radzi Chinyanganya. Elizabeth says: “Vic’s a linguist like me and Radzi had a similar start to me through an open talent search. I learnt so much.”

The Commonwealth Games would be an obvious time to shine for Elizabeth and hopefully the Hundred Rising will be a springboard to that. She feels media is becoming less London-centric as demonstrated by the use of local talent by the ECB. She explains: “In the past it might have been difficult for someone like me relying on travelling to London and all the financial commitments that go with that. With the BBC branching out regionally and the Commonwealth Games in my hometown in 2022, it feels like the start of something.”

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

I am a former footballer who made over 450 appearances for Crystal Palace, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Crewe, Rochdale, Barnsley and Notts County. I was capped nine times for England. I was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2003 and given just three months to live. Thanks to treatment from Cure Leukaemia co-founder professor Charlie Craddock CBE and a transplant from my sister Kay, I went into remission in early 2005 and rode my first Tour de France challenge later that year. After that challenge I was honoured to receive the Helen Rollason award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Since 2005, I have dedicated my life to raising funds to save the lives of blood cancer patients and in July 2021 completed my fifth Tour de France challenge. Our Tour 21 team of 18 amateur cyclists had raised over £1million for Cure Leukaemia by the time we arrived in Paris. I was very proud to be awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for my services to charity.

IT’S WHAT I DO

I am a proud patron of Cure Leukaemia which has its roots here in the Midlands. I am heavily involved in driving the charity forward, raising awareness of the brilliant work it supports and searching for new opportunities for funding. My driving force will always be patients and those that lost their battles back when I was fighting for my life.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

Since my cancer battle my ambitions have been very simple; to live as full and as happy a life as possible while also playing a part in eradicating blood cancer. I will not stop doing what I can to ensure we have effective treatments for all forms of the disease.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

Many would expect I would choose a match from my footballing days but my proudest moment has to be riding into Paris this summer and seeing our fund-raising tick over the £1million mark.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

After being diagnosed with blood cancer it makes you re-evaluate what is important. My priorities became my family, looking after myself and the planet and making a lasting difference for others.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

I was born in Manchester and everyone up there likes to make a lot of noise about the fact they are the Second City. Sorry, but Birmingham IS the Second City and it just gets on with it without all the noise! It is growing every year and is every inch a major UK city with huge businesses now making it their home.

DOWNTIME

Spending time with my family at home in Worcestershire is a big part of how I unwind. I love seeing the world and I hope we can travel to Japan later this year.

FINALLY…

I said before this year’s Tour event that it would be my last – but someone said they would ride next year but only if I did it as well and he agreed to raise £100,000 for Cure Leukaemia. So, I think I will be back in the saddle next summer and perhaps this time we could aim for £2million…

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking is all about clean, fresh, honest food. I believe good ingredients from great suppliers is the key and I don’t like to ‘play’ around with them too much to produce fantastic food. I am privileged to work with great ingredients and I love it when a dish comes together, but what most excites me is seeing others enjoy my food.

The most important thing about my cooking has to be that it doesn’t just look good but each mouthful tastes amazing; respecting each element of the dish to provide that ‘wow’ factor. I’ve got dishes I’ve been cooking for years that I still tweak all the time. Every dish is a work in progress. So much passion and time and effort goes into every one of them.

How did you become a chef?

My love affair with food began aged just 16 when I took on a part-time job as a kitchen porter. I went on to learn new skills while working with chefs at independent restaurants where I also perfected my favourite English modern and classical French cooking styles.

What do you eat at home?

As a rule, we eat as family but on the occasions when Claudia and I eat together we love to enjoy dishes from our own menus. We don’t serve dishes to our customers that we don’t enjoy and haven’t been taste-tested by us.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

The best chef in the world for me must be Anthony Bourdain, not only the food that he produced but from reading Kitchen Confidential he produced such honestly about his love for food and a chef’s way of life. The best of chef in Brum is a hard one as there are so many, but I love to eat at the Wilderness and at Simpsons.

How is your restaurant adapting to the current crisis?

We have been so lucky during the pandemic as our business lends itself to being flexible as we bring the restaurant to you at home. We have been restricted but haven’t had to stop for long throughout the last 18 months. We have so many loyal customers and new opportunities have grown organically through this wonderful network we have created.

Share a cooking tip

Food doesn’t need to be complicated to be amazing. It is all about using good produce and don’t play around with it too much. Simplicity is key.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

A loving memory for me as a child must be having fish and chips on holiday with my foster family; nothing better than sitting on the beach together.

Food heaven and food hell?

Food hell has to be kidneys and liver! My food heaven is most definitely medallions of beef fillet with rocket, parmesan and fresh truffles, with a side of skinny chips and Dijon mayonnaise.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Dried crickets, mealworms and ants have to be three of the most unusual things I have eaten… surprisingly they were better than I had imagined!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I would love to be part of the sporting world. My biggest passion (after food) is football and I support Liverpool FC.

The first time we interviewed Lady Sanity was three years ago, shortly before she blew people away performing for a global audience of more than one billion at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The rapper was among the Brum stars who featured as the Games torch was passed from Australia’s Gold Coast to Birmingham 2022. Today, we are talking again – and weirdly the sporting theme continues as the singer prepares to make her first major, post-pandemic public appearance to a live audience this month.

Sanity will play to thousands of cricket fans at Edgbaston Stadium, and many hundreds of thousands more on Sky TV and BBC on 23 July as part of the launch of the first matches in the new Hundred competition. Cricket and rapping might seem odd bedfellows but Sanity said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be singing in front of a big crowd. I’ve been waiting to perform in public for over 18 months since the virus and lockdowns struck. Now I can’t wait to get on stage again.”

HIGH-OCTANE

The Hundred brings together high-octane music and sporting entertainment to a younger, more vibrant audience which Sanity says is the perfect platform to get back to performing live. “I’ve spent the pandemic pretty much at home, working from my own little studio,” she says. “It’s been a strange one, looking at lots of different avenues. Lots of online stuff and being creative in lots of other ways. Before the pandemic, I had been trying to get out of spending so much time in my own space. I’d done some studio and writing sessions with different producers like Delirious, Emmavie, BlueLabBeats and Dj Zinc. Lockdown stopped all that. I’m used to being performing and meeting new people so it was hard not being able to do that.

Edgbaston will be my first big-scale show in all that time. I’ve really missed the live interaction, so I’m proper excited to be playing to what will be a full capacity crowd of 30,000 people.”

Sanity is promising a ‘high-energy’ set for the hometown fans which will include L.O.V.E her recent new release which she says is a heartfelt and insightful piece that explores the truest meaning of the feeling. The track which has a soulful and warm vibe and evocative lyrics sees Sanity joined by singer Jay Alexzander.

POWERING UP

Post Edgbaston, Sanity has a few other live dates lined up, including the MADE Festival at Sandwell Valley Country Park at the end of this month and a festival in Belgium postponed because of the pandemic until September. But she says her focus over the coming months is to “buckle down and work on some more new music” with the help of Power Up, a new initiative providing funding to empower black musicians. She reckons this will take about a year or so as she is starting to work more with a live band, which takes more time.

“The guys in the band – they’re all from Birmingham except one guy who is from Kidderminster – I met for the first time at the Commonwealth Games,” Sanity adds. “Writing more music, working with a live band means I can make music that builds around my voice. Before, it was the reverse and I had to make my voice fit around the music.”

It’s all part of the development of a performer who was earmarked as a rising star on the UK rap scene after being spotted by BBC Introducing in 2015. She subsequently rocked at Glastonbury and won a clutch of industry awards. She’s always been fiercely proud of being a Brummie and the city has featured in some of her music. She’s a real hometown girl and says the past year or so has not just been tough professionally but also personally.

“I’ve lost a few people in the pandemic, some older relatives. It’s been a hard one, but I’m trying to look to the positives. I’ve been able to keep in touch with my family during the worst period with Zoom meets. And now at last I can see all my music friends.”

Tell us about your cooking

The food I cook is Modern Mexican and traditional Texas BBQ. I draw inspiration from my travels to Texas and their style of bringing in the Mexican garnishes and tortilla to add vibrancy to my food. I specialise in heritage and rare breed meats, so the Texas way of cooking appeals to me as it is simply salt, pepper and oak letting the meat shine through. It’s crucial to me to work with small farms who select meat to my exact spec and to support our amazing produce which I strongly believe is the best in the world! 

How did you become a chef?

I taught myself how to cook after being made redundant from a factory job eight years ago. At the time, Jamie Oliver was a big influence as he made cooking accessible to home cooks with shows like his American Road Trip. Around the same time, I was going to the Notting Hill Carnival (I was and still am heavily into reggae and hip hop) and seeing the families on the corner cooking with their jerk pans, with clouds of wood smoke and aroma billowing across the street blew me away and sparked an interest into exploring BBQ.

What do you eat at home?

It all depends on how long I’ve been at work that day. I’ve always loved to cook Indian and Caribbean food. At this time of year simple grilled fish and tomato salads are a fave moving into braises and ragus when autumn hits. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

It’s hard but if I had to pick one it would be Sean Brock from Virginia, US. His passion and obsession over ingredients blew me away. He goes above and beyond to source heritage ingredients and only works with the best produce so his style of cooking influences me every day! In Birmingham, I think I’d have to say Glynn Purnell. He is a great ambassador for our city and has always supported me when I’ve seen him. I like how he stick to his guns and stays true to himself as a Brummie chef!

Is the customer always, right?

Of course, me and my team will always go above and beyond to make sure every aspect of the customer’s experience with us is incredible, but sometimes expectations and attitude can be beyond realistic. I will always try my best but I believe you simply can’t please everyone, all of the time! 

Share a cooking tip

Seasoning! I eat so much food that’s just a pinch of salt away from being amazing. Also, use the best produce you can, cook with respect and let the ingredients do the talking.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Ha ha that’s a funny one! I was famous for going camping with a crate of beer and a tin of all-day breakfast. My mom’s always cooked lovely pasta dishes with rich tomato sauces that I loved!

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is slow cooked food like a ragu or Ossobuco alla Milanese. It warms my soul and is so satisfying. Hell is a hard one as I like most things. Dusty old bulgur wheat or dry couscous dishes make me weep with boredom and I hate raisins or pomegranate in savoury dishes!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Maybe calves’ testicles in Texas. They thought I’d hate them or be weird about it, but they were lovely!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

In another life I’d have gone more into my music. I was a grade five trumpet player in high school until I discovered hip hop, cider and girls. I’m also massively into interior design and gardening believe it or not.

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The Achiote pork steak with heritage tomato, watermelon and nasturtium. It’s grilled over beautiful ash charcoal and ticks all the boxes as a perfect summer dish.

One year on from George Floyd’s death, BIMM student and songwriter, Mar!k released a song he penned in response to the brutal murder titled George Floyd’s Song. Powerful, slow-burning and atmospheric, Mar!k asserts, “If you look like me you’re oppressed,” before echoing George’s final words as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes: “I can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe, somebody help me!”

Released to mark the one-year anniversary of George’s death, Mar!k actually wrote the song last year just after the murder and says: “I made this track as a response to the racism I see every day around me. He wasn’t the first unarmed black man to be killed by a police officer in broad daylight, but George Floyd’s death was a catalyst for change at a time when the world was finally able to watch and listen.”

DEFINING FACTOR

He adds: “Whether it’s on TV, online on social media or in the outside world, racism is a problem that needs to be addressed in America as well as the UK. I’m not an activist or a freedom fighter. I’m just a 19-year-old teenager who doesn’t want to grow up in a world where the colour of my skin is a defining factor of someone’s initial perception.” Of Chauvin’s conviction, Mar!k says: “It’s like one step up a 200-storey building with no lift. It’s a start, but there’s a long way to go.”

Mar!k also delivered a powerful speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in Leicester highlighting the disparities of racism in the UK. The response to his speech was instant and members of the audience were so inspired they requested a recording of it which he has made available in the second half of his two-part release, simply named George.

Musical from an early age, Mar!k learned his craft at church events, school performances and song writing camps. While song writing is his strength he also plays guitar and bass. Later forming a rap collective, he studied music production, threw himself into freestyling and beat-making, and explored other genres, including reggae, gospel, soca.

ECLECTIC BUNCH

Mar!k’s musical influences are an eclectic bunch ranging from UB40 to Black Sabbath.  He says: “I’m a bit all over the place! I Like to keep it broad. My mum’s into R&B so there’s that too.” Now a first year student at music college BIMM, Mar!k can’t wait to get back into face-to-face classes and collaborate with fellow students. He says: “Due to the pandemic, there are people on my course that I’ve never actually met. I just know them via a screen through their Zoom name.”

Mar!k has missed performing live this year and says: “I’ve done a few live streams, but it’s not the same. I can’t wait to do more shows and festivals.” In terms of ambitions Mar!k isn’t holding back: “As well as performing on huge stages and selling out festivals I’d like to be at the Grammys, winning awards for songs I’ve written not necessarily performed. That would be very cool.”

Trained at the city’s Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) Devon has always loved performing, but says he was late bloomer in dance terms. While taking GCSE drama and musical theatre Devon says he thought he ought to take some dance lessons so he wasn’t confused by the dance element.

Starting with tap and jazz, Devon loved it immediately. He says: “I liked the freedom and the chance to explore my body. I was never into sports, but dance gave me the opportunity to be strong, plus I was allowed to be myself.”

Amateur theatre outside school as well as extra-curricular dance exposed Devon to different people with the same passion. “It really opened my eyes.” Training at BOA isn’t one dimensional. Once you’ve chosen a specialism you look at all aspects of that genre, so for instance digital tech as well as performing. Devon enjoyed this aspect and began to realise that dance was so much more. Although Devon won a place at Bird College in London he realised after six months that it wasn’t really for him – it was quite narrow in terms of goals.

SUSSING THE OPTIONS

The pandemic hit and he decided to come back home to the Midlands and suss out his options. Before leaving Bird, Devon bagged himself a place at the prestigious Rambert, but still felt it wasn’t quite right. He’s spent time reflecting on what he wants to do, what makes him happy and began to feel he didn’t need an institution.

After deciding on a freelance route, Devon began networking around Birmingham e-mailing lots of people and was offered a creative internship with John Orton. Then he successfully applied to BIDF to be part of the Brum Pro Class Steering Group helping drive schedules and from there was picked to be part of Beyond Borders which is also part of BIDF.

A major project, Beyond Borders will be the World Premiere of a region-wide youth participation and digital project which Devon’s thrilled to be part of, creating lots of digital pieces with youth groups and dance companies. He’s also been offered a Midlands Made Short Commission to create a solo project. Devon says that although he’s keeping his options as broad as possible he isn’t sure whether he’ll continue performing and is leaning towards participation and outreach.

REGIONAL STRENGTHS

He is testament to the fact that London isn’t the centre of the arts universe and he’s had some amazing experiences already. The strength of arts in our region is palpable and BIDF produced by Birmingham-based dance house, DanceXchange reflect that.

Clearly the summer edition has needed to be adapted to fit the current restrictions, but there’ll still be the same brilliantly joyful tone. Digital platform, BIDF TV will provide the virtual venue for the festival put together in collaboration with ZOO, the company behind the online presentations at last year’s Edinburgh Festival. It will be hosting screendance performances, new film commissions and more. There’s so much to celebrate. We’ll be following it closely and looking out for Devon’s work in particular.

When we visited, Covid restrictions meant takeaway was the only option which killed the vibe a bit. We wanted a table laden with delicious meze but settled for balancing boxes of the good stuff on our knees parked up by Digbeth Funfair. Classy. Despite the dashboard picnic, the food tasted great. There are plenty of meze dishes to play with featuring all the usual suspects including a winning tzatziki. Then there are three options: The Box, The Wrap and The Salad Box.

We ordered The Box (£9). You get a sizeable box filled with Greek salad plus an absolute gem of a minted slaw, skin on fries, superb freshly cooked flat bread and a choice of protein including souvlaki, kalamari, beef kofta, a spiced sausage with leeks and veggie options halloumi, falafel or courgette and feta balls. We tried the pork souvlaki which was pretty good and added a portion of courgette and feta balls on the side which proved absolutely the star of the show. Crispy crumbed balls filled with gooey, salty creamy feta. We argued over the last one and normally we’re reasonably polite.

We also tried The Wrap filled with moreish rich lamb kleftiko and the same trimmings as The Box. In truth we can’t see much difference between The Box and The Salad Box, so didn’t duplicate. The wrap was awesome but like The Box it came with an unnecessary handful of fries. Having said that, the halloumi fries were delicious served with a mayo dip that had a subtle hint of curry flavour running through it. Really good.

By the time you read this, restrictions should have been lifted and you’ll be able to eat inside which will make a big difference here. It’s the kind of hearty flavoursome food ideal for sharing that’s best enjoyed round a table with a crowd. Our advice would be to ditch the fries and order extra courgette and feta balls – lots of them!

Tell us about your cooking

Naturally, I lean on my Italian heritage with my cooking. It is really important to me to always use the best, fresh ingredients and to respect the traditional Italian way of cooking. We personally select and import the highest quality Italian ingredients – it’s what really sets Lucarelli apart.

How did you become a chef?

I was formally trained at IPRA (Institute of Professional, Regional Hospitality) for five years. I was determined to become a chef from the age of five. Luckily my parents understood my ambitions and supported me in pursuing this.

What do you eat at home?

My fiancée is actually vegan so she has introduced me to a whole new world of food. You can see that influence on the menu for Lucarelli, for example our deep-fried Avocado Fries. I would like to say I always have time to cook from scratch, but sometimes you can’t beat a quick cheese sandwich on fresh white bread!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I would have to say my dad, Mario. He inspired me to become who I am. Throughout the lockdown period he has been sending me photos of new dishes and ideas, and I can’t wait to go back to Italy to try some of them! My favourite celebrity chef has always been Gordon Ramsay, and it’s a dream of mine to cook with him one day. Don’t worry, there’s not as much swearing in my kitchen though! As for Brum, can I say myself? Just joking, I’m too fickle to just pick one, as it really does depend on what kind of food I’m craving at the time. I think that’s the great thing about Birmingham, we have so many different types of wonderful food, from fine dining to street food, and more. There are always new and exciting restaurants and chefs to keep the food scene buzzing.

Is the customer always, right?

I don’t think it’s about being right or not, but at Lucarelli we always say: “May all who enter as guests leave as friends.”

Share a cooking tip

I have two tips for cooking pasta. Always salt the water as soon as it starts boiling and drain the pasta one minute before the suggested cooking time to ensure it is the perfect al dente finish.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

It’s exactly the same favourite that I have now – pizza! You can’t beat a perfectly prepared Margherita pizza with high quality mozzarella cooked in a woodfired oven drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and topped with fresh basil.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is easy. I’m an absolute cheese monster. For me the best cheese in the world is Fontina, which is from my hometown of Aosta Valley. It’s smooth and nutty and really packs a flavour punch. My food hell would be cinnamon, it’s the only flavour in the world I really don’t like and I have no idea why.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

During my studies we tried some weird and wonderful things, I remember trying cow’s brain and being surprised at how strong the metallic flavour was.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Firstly, I would definitely have a few less friends. I’ve met so many interesting people through my love of food. If I wasn’t a chef, I would probably be a film critic as movies are my other big passion. I’m an Avengers nerd at heart!

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

I would have to suggest starting with our Trio Bruschetta, my favourite of the three is the classic tomato with plenty of garlic. Next up would be Risotto Fontina e Salsiccia, followed by Carré D’Agnello Arrosto, which is oven-baked rack of lamb served with rosemary roast potatoes. For dessert it would have to be the Italian classic tiramisu served with an espresso. Is that too much food? Never!

Apparently, according to the people who know about these things, an extra three million of us have taken up gardening during the pandemic, and as a someone who admits to being “obsessed with gardening” Alys Fowler sees that as a silver lining to what otherwise has been a very black cloud.

The broadcaster and writer, probably best known as a presenter of BBC Gardener’s World, says she wants as many of those people as possible to carry on planting, pruning and cultivating when life begins to return to how it used to be. “The upswell of interest in gardens over the past 12 months is a result of the fact that people haven’t been able to go anywhere or do the things they used to do,” says Alys. “I really, really hope that as many as possible stick with it and continue to love gardening as much as I do.”

The adopted Brummie, who moved to the city 15 years ago to join the Gardeners’ World team at the Beeb, has passed on her expertise in a number of best-selling books, such as The Thrifty Gardener, The Edible Garden, The Thrifty Forager, Abundance and The Modern Herbal. Now, she is turning her attention to young gardeners with her first book for children. KEW: Grow, Forage and Make – Fun Things To Do With Plants is aimed at children aged between five and nine with activities in that can take anything from less than an hour to a whole weekend. Beautifully illustrated by Heidi Griffiths, it’s a really involving book, full of ideas for kids to do on their own but also with parents and other family members.

NEON BEETROOT

“I’ve had quote strong ideas about wanting to do a children’s gardening book, a book that is about expanding their experiences,” Alys explains. “Traditional children’s books about gardening can be ludicrous. It’s important to understand the attention span for a child is very short unless you can really involve them. All kids love being outside and are inherently curious, so they can learn about all sorts of things in the book – from growing their own air plants to foraging for edible flowers. They don’t even need a garden or any fancy equipment – a homemade pot and watering can, seeds from the kitchen cupboard and a sunny windowsill will do.”

With Alys’s expert guidance kids can grow their own avocado tree, make wildflower seed paper, forage for tasty roots to add to favourite recipes and even grow neon pink beetroot in the dark! Alys’s own background is the perfect example of the fascination of young minds with the great outdoors, plants and flowers. Originally from rural Hampshire, Alys’s father was a doctor while her mother had various businesses – including keeping chickens and training gun dogs. Her love of gardening inspired daughter Alys who went on to study at the Royal Horticultural Society and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew where she developed her interest in more organic and accessible landscape gardening. She also studied on a scholarship at New York’s Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

ALLOT’ GOING ON

After beginning work as a gardening journalist, she became a researcher for Gardeners’ World before being head gardener at the BBC’s garden at Berryfield in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a regular presenter on the popular weekly TV show. Alys published her first book, The Thrifty Gardener: How to Create a Stylish Garden for Next to Nothing in 2007. She continues to write regularly as a contributor to the Guardian.

Alys welcomes the big surge in popularity of gardening. “People come to gardening for many different reasons,” she said. “More people are using our parks too – I see that in my own part of Birmingham.” Alys has her own allotment in Highbury Park and was straining to get back to the environment she loves best. “It feels like it’s been a very long, hard winter,” she said. “I can’t wait to get back to the allotment once I have finished speaking to you!”

Hint taken, Alys…

FLOATING POND: Alys is excited to be involved in two special local projects – working with Grand Union Gallery in Fazeley Street and the Canal and River Trust to create a floating pond in the canal, as well as a project at Coventry City of Culture’s festival site.

Last year’s winner of The Voice, Blessing Annatoria has been singing for as long as she can remember. Born in Zimbabwe she says music was just part of the culture: “Without instruments we would just use our hands and voices.” Blessing’s family moved to Dudley when she was six-years-old and while it might be very different culturally, the singing never stopped.

Both of Blessing’s parents are pastors, so church has always been a big part of family life and her new album, Count My Blessings which is out now is packed with feel-good gospel vibes. The first single, I Smile is an optimistic and joyful interpretation of the Kirk Franklin original and everything we need right now.

Blessing’s plan was never to enter The Voice. The producers contacted her and encouraged her to go for it having spotted her potential on social media. She remembers the first audition: “It was the scariest thing ever. I just had that one time to make it perfect.” Blessing dealt with the nerves by focusing on her family. “Each time I felt nervous I would look at my family and realise I had no reason to be.”

MENTOR MURS

While judges Meghan Trainor, Will.i.am and Sir Tom Jones hovered above their big red buttons, canny Olly Murs took the plunge. Blessing may have preferred Meghan as a mentor if asked before the show, but she says Olly was incredibly supportive and when the series ground to a halt due to Covid-19, he was still available, checking in with her regularly.

A seven-month break in filming left Blessing wondering whether the show would ever restart. She explains: “People would ask me in the street when the show would be back and I just didn’t know.” Thankfully the show did resume and in November 2020 after a storming final performance, Blessing was crowned winner and actually the break meant that she was able to gradually come to terms with the limelight. Although, it sounds like Blessing’s parents do a fantastic job keeping her grounded. “They help me and guide me and make sure I don’t lose my identity.”

DEBUT ALBUM

After the show, Blessing set about writing and recording her debut album remotely with award-winning producer and songwriter Rupert Christie, who has worked with Jessie J, U2, Coldplay and Lou Reed among many others. The result, Count My Blessings is a mixture of 14 songs, including some Blessing performed on The Voice reimagined as well as original material. The Voice fans will enjoy the beautiful version of Blessing’s winning song Angels by Robbie Williams, an emotional rendition of Westlife’s Flying Without Wings as well as Mariah Carey’s Without You, the track which secured Blessing her place in the final. Blessing co-wrote the rich soulful title track, Count My Blessings which encourages the listener to spread kindness and help one another.

NEW TWIST

There are three hymns on the album that have been given a contemporary twist reflecting Blessing’s upbringing singing in church. How Great Thou Art which Blessing describes as her family’s song is particularly uplifting. She says: “During this time of hardship and struggle, I wanted to release an album of encouragement and joy. I want people to feel uplifted and I really hope the songs and hymns will give people strength to pick themselves up and be happy again.”

Blessing was back on The Voice stage performing her new single I Smile on her nineteenth birthday at this year’s final looking and sounding every inch the star. The track features a remotely recorded choir led by Kingdom Choir’s Wayne Hernandez who is best known for performing at the wedding of Harry and Meghan and who has worked with stars such as Jay Z.

When we caught up with Blessing we were still in lockdown, but she’s planning to get back to performing live and spreading her infectious joy and optimism as soon as she can.

Tell us about your cooking

My style is not to over-complicate things. I like to let the ingredients do the talking and treat them with respect. I love working on desserts and anything pastry – they are always my favourite dishes to develop when the new menus come around. Right now it’s so important to support local businesses as much as we can. We do that by using a local baker for all of our breads. For meats we buy from Pat’s Butchers in Four Oaks. They have been fantastic and a huge support to us right from the beginning.

How did you become a chef?

It all started with my Nan. I used to do loads of baking with her.  That’s where my love for pastry came from. Then growing up, my mum was general manager of a hotel in Kenilworth so I started working in the kitchen to make some money. I loved the buzz in the kitchen and knew that’s what I wanted to do. I did a year’s training at Turners and learned so much from Richard and his team which gave me a solid foundation that took me to Hotel du Vin and Andersons before arriving here at Cornerstone.

What do you eat at home?

It depends on what mood I am in. As soon as the sun comes out, I enjoy cooking in the garden and I especially love cooking with my four-year-old daughter Bella, seeing her get involved whether it’s baking some cakes or making a spaghetti bolognese for dinner. My go-to dish at home is mac ‘n’ cheese, which I love.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I am inspired by chefs just wanting to do

it properly, no cutting corners. Marco Pierre White was the first chef I saw doing it that way, he has massively influenced the whole food scene with some of best chefs in the world having done their time with him. In terms of Birmingham, I couldn’t answer that, there are too many good chefs to pick from now. One to watch, though, is Liam Dillon at the Boat Inn. I love his style of cooking.

Share a cooking tip

Easy answer…. butter. Everything tastes better with a load of butter in it.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Ice Cream. I just love it. Still do today. Also, proper Staffordshire oatcakes. If I ever see them anywhere I will always buy some.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven would have to be croque madame – back in the day when I worked at Hotel du Vin they were just perfect. Honestly, I do not have a food hell, there really isn’t anything I would say no to.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Frog legs, snails, kangaroo, crocodile, mealworms, ants… to name a few, all of which I really enjoyed!

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I love the outdoors, going hiking, taking my tent. I will camp anywhere. I am really happy when doing that, so I guess something in the outdoors. Or a carpenter. I love being practical and building things especially working with wood. 

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

Pork cheeks, cauliflower puree, Dauphi

noise potatoes , black pudding crumb, roasted apple and cider sauce. It’s a hearty dish but not heavy – which I think is just right for a springtime plate of food.

Tell us about your food

The restaurant scene in Birmingham is great and outside London, better than any city, but if you want to eat fantastic food without paying £120 for a tasting menu, well, there’s a bit of a gap. It’s the middle ground that’s lacking. We’re offering an affordable experience that’s a bit different and customers are happy. I want people my age to be able to come here and eat great food affordably. My style is quite unique. Flavour obviously comes first, but presentation is really important. I like to build the colours up on the plate. There are no swipes across white crockery. It’s a bit different. It’s food that people like to eat and there are no unusual ingredients for the hell of it. 

How did you become a chef?

I started washing pots at the Asquith in Edgbaston under Glynn Purnell when I was 15. I did that for a year then Jason Eaves took on the Asquith and I started doing more and more. Initially I just worked weekends then started going after school too and got more into it. My family didn’t really get cheffing. They couldn’t understand why I was working 70 hours a week for £600. They work traditional nine-to-five jobs. It was only when I was on TV they understood! 

What do you eat at home?

Takeaways! Peri chicken with wraps and loads of sauces from Peri Lick on Coventry Road. 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Best in the world is Albert Adria from El Bulli. Everyone credits Heston Blumenthal with transforming cooking and pushing it to another level, but it was Adria. In Brum, it’s got to be Glynn Purnell for all that he’s achieved. It’s harder to be consistent once you’re well known, but he’s managed it. 

How is your restaurant adapting to the pandemic?

We’re in a better position than a lot of restaurants. The pandemic delayed our opening last year from June to August which meant we had time to ensure every detail was absolutely perfect. Also, the restaurant is small, so rent and staffing bills are minimal. If you’re a 40-seat restaurant this is crippling. We aren’t entitled to grants or loans because we don’t have 12 months trading behind us, but we have benefited from the furlough scheme which has been great. We’ve also started doing At-Home boxes. We’ve done six so far and they’ve all sold out. We’re using it as opportunity to play around with menus. Each box has been different. To win the Young Chef of the Year award was a nice thing to happen in lockdown too. I had no expectations this year. Michelin gave me the nod four days before the announcement. Awards aren’t everything, but it’s just a nice thing to have. 

Share a cooking tip

Don’t worry if your vegetables aren’t chopped the same. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Mini chocolate Weetabix. I think it’s because I was only allowed it at certain times, so it made me love it more. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Food heaven is grade 5 wagyu beef and food hell is white asparagus – it tastes even more like piss than the green stuff. 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A footballer. You’ve got to dream.

Sam Olive launched Wine Freedom five years ago inspired by the idea of building a disruptive, inclusive and authentic wine business. The company supplies natural, organic wine to bars and restaurants across the UK, including local Michelin-starred eateries such as Carters and Simpsons.

Late last year, in what turned out to be an all-too-brief break between national lockdowns, Wine Freedom opened its first wine bar at Floodgate Street, Digbeth in what Sam describes as the ‘perfect location’ – a disused warehouse which also became home to a wine shop and tastings sessions. The restrictions have put the bar into semi-mothballs for now, though the off-licence section is still operating in line with the guidelines.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic to the food and drink industry, Sam is optimistic as we see light finally emerging at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel. “I’ve always believed in being flexible to respond to changes in business,” he says. “And that has helped to stand us in good stead during this period.

EDUCATION KEY

“We took the decision to go-ahead with the opening of the bar despite the problems we would encounter and in the period before lockdown we were very encouraged and pleased with how it was going. It’s important to realise that we are not just a bar. Wine education and tastings are also key to what we aim to do.”

Last month, Wine Freedom launched a subscription service, House Wine. Available across the UK, the service delivers freshly bottled natural wine on a weekly or monthly basis and is designed to bring wine-lovers ‘closer to the vineyard’. Subscribers can drink and enjoy handmade, organic and sustainable wine at home.

Bottled from kegs, House Wine launched with four wines – Secateurs Chenin Blanc, Triennes Rose, Beaujolais ‘Kanon Keg’ and an orange wine, Frisach Lo Pateret. New wines will be introduced on a monthly basis.

Sam said: “Key kegs are a more stable vessel for transporting wine, minimising contact with oxygen for maximum freshness with little or no need for preservatives.” Being 100 per cent recyclable, Wine Freedom uses a state of the art greenline dispensing system with compressed air, removing the need for gas canisters. The wines are vegan and represent better value with a saving of roughly 20 pent for each bottle.

SUPER FRESH

Sam said: “House Wine is all about super fresh wine that brings people as close to the vineyard experience as possible. All our keg wines are made by small independent wineries and are handmade, organic and natural. In simple terms House Wine is fresher, cleaner and greener – while also being convenient.”

When Sam founded Wine Freedom, he says the plan was always to make it a multi-channel business. His background in the wine trade had been extensive before making the decision to start out on his own. Originally a graduate in interior architecture, Sam got into the drinks business after serving in a wine bar in Bristol. After joining a management training scheme and working in a number of Majestic wine stores, he then spent time working in vineyards in Australia and New Zealand before returning to the UK as an adviser for fine wines in part of the Laithwaites group. A job at Bibendum Wine saw him selling to restaurants and after identifying a gap in the market for natural organic wines he set up Wine Freedom. The move coincided with a general shift in consumer buying habits to better quality wines.

As well as the new House Wine initiative, Sam is also introducing Orange Wednesday, a monthly subscription service for those who enjoy orange wine – a type of wine made from white wine grapes where the grape skins are not removed – which is part of the overall plan to expand a suite of tailored customers offerings. More video footage on the company’s website and social media including interviews with producers and food and wine match-ups is also in the pipeline.

THE WINE MILKMAN

On the website, customers can order mixed cases, each wine bottled by Wine Freedom from the keg, and delivered within a 10-mile radius. They’ll even collect and recycle the used bottles. “We’re like your milkman, but with wine!” said Sam. On that point, and as an aside, Wine Freedom tried to introduce a scheme to help the NHS. “My wife works in A&E and other family members are also in the NHS,” said Sam. “We decided that for every bottle a customer put out for collection, to encourage recycling, we would donate £1 to the NHS. But told us they couldn’t take donations from us as we are in the booze business!”

With family so involved in the pandemic fight, Sam says he is erring on the side of caution with regards to a return to ‘normality’ in business. “I believe it will be June or July before we really start to see things changing and from a business perspective, we’ll be focussing hard on just getting things back to where they were pre-Covid although, of course, we have plenty of plans moving forward.”

The wine bar is ready and waiting to welcome back customers after a highly successful launch. “I guess you could say we got to test the bar for seven weeks between the lockdowns. We were able to give our customers a little taste of what is to come. We did lots of tastings and it all worked a treat.”

We all know live theatre has been crippled by lockdown rules and there’s no straight-forward route to normality, at the time of writing at any rate. Inventive outdoor performances are the only way currently and Birmingham Stage Company – the clever sticks behind Horrible Histories – have put together a super drive-in show that ticks all of the social distancing rules.

Matthew Gordon, who plays Joe Spud is delighted to get back on stage after being part of the initial run that began in September 2019 and was halted abruptly when the first lockdown hit. Having graduated from ARLA North in Wigan, Matthew stayed in Manchester for a time, but is now back on home turf in the Midlands. He says despite Billionaire Boy being cut short, he’s been lucky during lockdown picking up parts in productions like BBC’s Doctors among other TV work, but he can’t wait to get back on stage.

IN THE BUBBLE

Adhering to the strict rules of performing sounds a bit intense, mind you. Matthew says: “We all isolate beforehand and then form a working bubble, so essentially we’ll be living together on a tour bus. It is intense, but it’s essential so we can rehearse and perform as needed. We have to be in one another’s space to get the energy.”

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Billionaire Boy tells the story of Matthew’s character, Joe Spud who is 12 years old and the richest boy in the country. He has his own sports car, £100,000-a-week pocket money and two crocodiles as pets, but what Joe really wants is a friend. When he decides to leave his posh school and start at the local comprehensive, things don’t go as planned and life becomes a bit of a rollercoaster as Joe tries find the one thing money can’t buy.

Matthew was playing Derek in Tom Gates, also produced by Birmingham Stage Company, when he was asked to audition for Joe. Matthew says: “We can all imagine what we’d do if we had loads of money but all Joe wants is companionship and friendship.” Having originally been offered the part in May 2019, Matthew says it’s great to be back playing Joe.

PARKING PREMIERES

Car Park Party launched in summer 2020 with Horrible Histories Barmy Britain followed by Car Park Panto performing Horrible Christmas to 40,000 family members in their cars across the UK. The concept is simple, the audience drive their cars into a designated spot, two metres apart of course. There’s a big screen on the stage as well as the live action to ensure maximum visibility for everyone and audio is listened to via car radios on an FM frequency – simple, but clever.

Neal Foster of Birmingham Stage Company and director of Billionaire Boy said: “It was wonderful to be part of a magical enterprise in 2020 bringing live theatre to families desperate for the joy and connection theatre provides, so we are delighted to be presenting our production of one of David Walliams’ most popular stories which began its national tour in 2019 and was abruptly halted by Covid. The show’s actors are thrilled with the opportunity to return to a new stage with a story that demonstrates the importance of friends and family at this critical time for the world”.

Meet Noah Bear. He may be small, but he’s very special. He was conceived by Singing Medicine, an inspiring local group of professional and amateur singers who visit children in hospital, and then imagined and created by Joanna Harrison, the brilliant animator behind The Snowman. As well as being great to cuddle, Noah also plays the choir’s signature song, Music Inside, when his jacket is pressed, and the hope is that every sick child in Birmingham Children’s Hospital should have their own Noah – providing comfort and encouraging them to sing and play.

Singing Medicine has visited the hospital weekly for 16 years to sing with children and help combat feelings of isolation, as well as supporting improvement to patients’ mental health and wellbeing. The current pandemic has placed restrictions on hospital visits and the team have had to implement a new digital approach to keep their much-needed support in place. Interactive videos have allowed the team to keep engaging with the children as well as increasing the reach of their work beyond the West Midlands. Across the country children can sing and play with Noah Bear engaging in his series of short films and lullabies.

LIFTING SPIRITS

Rebecca Ledgard heads Singing Medicine and is director of education for Ex Cathedra, the Birmingham-based leading British choir and music ensemble. “There are 21 singers in the Singing Medicine team and in normal times eight at any one time would go in pairs from ward to ward at the children’s hospital, singing to the children in every ward,” explained Rebecca.

“Depending on how they are, they interact with us and will tell us what they’d like us to sing and will join in as it becomes not just about the music but also playing and lifting their spirits. Parents appreciate it too and will get involved. We have had instances where we have grown so close to children that in the most serious and saddest cases we have been asked to sing so that our music is the last thing they hear before life support is switched off. It becomes very emotional for everyone but we know that in that ultimate moment we are able to offer help and solace through music.”

Singing Medicine was formed from Ex Cathedra’s Singing Playgrounds project for primary schools. “One of Ex Cathedra’s choir, Sally Spencer, who was involved in Singing Playgrounds was, and still is, a nurse at Birmingham Children’s Hospital,” said Rebecca. “She said, ‘The children I work with need this too!’. We began to explore how we could include the children in the hospital in the Symphony Hall Singing Playgrounds workshops and soon decided actually we should create a special project where we took the singing play to them in their hospital beds.”

BEHIND THE SCENES

Prior to the pandemic, each child session in the hospital’s 20-plus wards would last around 20 minutes. Rebecca explained that the team does a lot of research and behind the scenes work to find out what each child likes and what parents and nurses believe is appropriate for them in their situation. “We think singing and singing-play is really important. Sally describes singing in Ex Cathedra choir as her own singing medicine. We are all really passionate that all children should play and develop through singing and have the chance to enjoy singing,” said Rebecca.

Health experts agree that singing reduces cortisol (stress) and feel-good hormones are released. It’s the body’s natural pain killer and all areas of the brain are stimulated. The deeper breathing required in singing helps healing and fights infection. “When we started Singing Medicine we just wanted not to leave out children in hospital from our education and participation work, but we soon realised how enormously beneficial it was for them for being distracted, soothed and calmed, or stimulated and having fun, and being able to use their imaginations and make decisions through the singing games we create,” said Rebecca. “Singing to the children not only brings joy to them, but also to us. There’s a real buzz in the team when we go to the hospital. It’s that feeling that we are doing something that really means something.

“One of the last sessions before lockdown was a little boy sat in his leather jacket on his bed. He was very sick. He was from Syria and neither of us spoke each other’s language, although I attempted thank you at the end. We played a singing game and played some percussion and we laughed together too. He grinned and waved when we left. This is just one of many special moments which mean so much.”

CREATING A BEAR

The idea of creating Noah Bear came after one of Singing Medicine’s charitable funders pulled out at a week’s notice as a result of the economic squeeze caused by Covid-19. Rebecca said: “For years we dreamed of having a singing teddy to leave with the children when we left them but this seemed an impossibility. During lockdown Joanna Harrison imagined and drew us a bear. Vada Recording Studios helped us with the recording to put inside and Louis Kennedy offered to make the singing bear in support of Singing Medicine. Noah Bear has been a real boost to us – we have also felt the impact of these difficult times – and he has inspired our creativity. He now even has his own YouTube playlist of singing games for little children.”

And Rebecca added: “You know what would be my dream? For someone to buy 500 Noah Bears to gift to every child in the hospital. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!”

FACTFILE 

• Singing Medicine is a project delivered by Ex Cathedra which started in 2004.

• Since it began, the team has delivered more than 40,000 Singing Medicine sessions at bedsides to sick children in hospitals.

• It has won an NHS Health and Social Care Award and most recently an award from the Royal Society for Public Health for outstanding contribution to the field of arts and health.

• As well as its home hospital, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the project has been delivered at Great Ormond Street, John Radcliffe, Warwick and Heartlands hospitals, as well as travelling to Auckland and Singapore.

• Ex Cathedra is based in Birmingham and is a leading UK choir. Founded by artistic director Jeffrey Skidmore OBE, it is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

I began my career working for Carlton TV in Birmingham and got my first job at the BBC as a broadcast assistant for BBC Radio 4 at the Pebble Mill studios – when we still used tapes to record the programmes! After deciding I wanted to become a reporter, I spent six years in BBC local radio learning my trade, starting in Worcester, becoming a political reporter in Stoke-on-Trent before moving to Radio WM in 2012. I joined BBC Midlands Today as the main breakfast and lunch presenter in 2013, which meant two years of 4am starts and lots of under-eye concealer. In 2015, I became a national correspondent for BBC news in London, then a political reporter at BBC Westminster before moving to BBC Newsnight in 2019. I was also full-time presenter on BBC London’s Sunday Politics programme before being drawn home to relaunch Politics Midlands at the start of 2020.

IT’S WHAT I DO

As the BBC’s political editor in the region, I deal with lots of politicians, locally and nationally. I may be challenging them a lot of the time, but against perceptions I find most are hardworking and in it because they want to make a difference. The nature of the job is always changing, so no one day is ever the same. I could be filming on location, live in the studio or interviewing the PM. Politics affects almost every aspect of our lives and it’s my job to help people to understand what’s going on and challenge those who make the decisions. 

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

My ambition for the Midlands is that it gets the recognition it deserves. There is so much to be proud of, but I think sometimes we’re not as noisy or as confident as the North-West, which has done a fantastic job of re-branding itself over the last decade.

BIGGEST SUCCESS

Gosh, that’s hard. House training our puppy during the first lockdown? I’m usually most proud of the work where I feel we’ve made a difference or drawn attention to a subject that otherwise would have gone under the radar. I’m proud of my colleagues and the way we work together in some tough conditions over the last year.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

Always check. Names, figures, facts, whatever it is! Anytime you think ‘oh yeah I’m sure I know that’, you’re bound to be wrong. Accuracy is so important for trust, and that’s vital in my job.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BRUM

I grew up in Staffordshire, but my mum’s a Brummie and so I always thought of it as the big exciting city where we went for special shopping trips or days out. I remember getting the bus into Birmingham city centre with my grandma as a child, and being awed by the size of everything. It’s been home for many years now, and I love it.

DOWNTIME

These days I enjoy walking the doggo and spending time with friends, when allowed! There’s a lot to be said for a flat white and a walk. I like to cook. My husband and I are both foodies, so under normal circumstances we love eating out and Birmingham has a fantastic food scene. If we’re pushing the boat out we love Carters in Moseley.

Talented Acocks Green basketball player Alasan Njie-Morgan is living his sporting dream after receiving a scholarship to the US last year. Having learned his craft at Nechells-based club Birmingham Rockets, 14-year-old Alasan has made the journey across the pond to take up his place at the well-connected Phelps Prep School in Pennsylvania where he’s getting to grips with boarding and the American system. We caught up with him last month while back home in Brum for Christmas.

Birmingham Rockets’ links to Houston-based coach Donte Mathis made Alasan’s move possible with some Covid-related complications of course. Ordinarily, Donte attends the Rockets’ International Summer Camp where he would have been able to see Alasan in action in the flesh. But with the camp postponed thanks to the pandemic, a highlights tape sent to the coach was the next best thing and the lucrative offer came in on that basis. Phelps School has a reputation for developing high-level basketball players and Alasan will spend four years there prepping for the next step.

ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE

It’s a big move, but Alasan seems incredibly mature. His mum, Sai had planned to travel with him and stay for six weeks to settle him in, but a change in travel policy at the eleventh hour meant Alasan had to go it alone which was possibly harder for her than him. Sai says: “I’m so happy for Alasan, but I do miss him too.”

Sai recognises the difference Alasan’s achievements have made to youngsters at Rockets and feels the players are working harder having seen what’s possible with commitment. The club, mainly based at Nechells Wellbeing Centre, has a thriving junior programme involving 800 young players a week – and while Alasan never set out to be a role model, he says he sees the difference in them too.

Rockets managing director Rob Palmer says: “Alasan is an incredible young man – a model student and an outstanding basketball player. At 14 he has the world at his feet yet he remains well-grounded and focussed on the work he has ahead of him. His commitment, willingness to learn and ability to develop his natural talent has seen him progress so well.”

HARD GRAFT

Having started playing basketball for fun at Rockets aged just nine, Alasan knew by 11 that he wanted to do something with basketball long term and he put in the hard work. With the support of his family, who made significant sacrifices, he was able to travel all over the UK to compete at the weekends sometimes staying overnight.

Now on a path that takes him closer to his goals, Alasan is embracing it, has settled well and says the schoolwork is easier than his old school Ninestiles Academy in Acocks Green where fellow pupils and teachers are so proud of him. Sport’s a great way of fitting in and Alasan says: “I can’t complain – there are only seven boys in my class plus the team has helped me to fit in really quickly.”

He’s only just begun his basketball career in the US but Alasan is focused on the next step already, building towards a scholarship to college in the US, so he’s playing as much as he can with the same grit and commitment he honed here in Brum. Phelps School has great basketball connections in the US, so the future is looking bright for this Birmingham export.

We’ve tried to support as many as we can since spring and this month it’s former head chef of Adam’s, Tom Shepherd.

Although Tom’s planning to open his own restaurant it’s been delayed due to Covid-19, so in the meantime he’s producing At Home boxes partnered with Sauce Supper Club which has been so successful it will continue into the new year.

One thing we’ve noticed with all the boxes we’ve tried is that concise instructions matter and these were the clearest we’ve had. The starter – confit turkey terrine pressed with pistachios and sage stuffing – literally involved taking it out of the fridge 45 minutes before serving and plating up with all the accompaniments.

Rich, tender and packed with Christmas flavours, the terrine was excellent, cranberry ketchup was punchy and a salad of green beans and crunchy sprouts with a truffle vinaigrette provided a bit of bite and added freshness. Mini loaves warmed through in the oven were the perfect wing man to the terrine, although we’ll admit we swapped the whipped Marmite butter provided for good old Lurpak. Heathens.

Up next was slow cooked rib of beef, smoked potato puree, swede fondant, hispi cabbage with chestnut butter and honey glazed carrot. There was a bit more faffing with this, but not much at all. A quick searing for the beef and root veggies in a pan plus a 10-minute blast in the oven with the cabbage. Sauce on the hob and potato puree in the microwave and voila.

The beef was tender and falling apart, the veggies were tip-top and the sauce was superb. If we’re being picky, the smoked potato puree was so intensely smoky it was a bit much for our taste, but that’s personal. Sticky toffee pudding was an absolute dream. Served with rum soaked raisins, butterscotch sauce and clotted cream ice cream it was seriously melt in the mouth moreish.

No one’s pretending it’s the same as going out, but it is the very next best thing. Apart from the food being superb, it encourages you to wheel out the best china, splash out on a beautiful bottle of wine (or two) and make an effort.

No doubt you’ve seen the seven-foot mural sprayed by Digbeth’s own Panda, aka David Brown, in the Zellig car park which signalled the launch of the second series of BBC Three show The Rap Game UK. Filmed in Birmingham, the show sees six unsigned MCs take part in a much cooler, less showbiz version of The X Factor – not sure the contestants will like that comparison, but it’s accurate.

Six artists are competing for a record deal in a series of challenges while being judged/mentored by big names in the industry – it’s not a startling leap. You get the gist.

What is different to the Syco juggernaut is how exposed the contestants are in terms of performance. There’s no fancy-pants staging or a gaggle of dancers to hide behind, it’s just one person and their voice (and okay, the odd orchestra) and it’s seriously impressive when it goes well and utterly toe curling when it doesn’t. There really is nowhere to hide.

RAP LEGENDS

Each week, the artists are set two challenges in which they are asked to step up and show that they have got the hardest bars, the song writing props and the stage presence to cut it in the music industry. Hosted by 1Xtra’s DJ Target along with rap legends Krept and Konan whose record label will sign the winner, there are guest judges along the way including Wretch 32 who have wowed the contestants.

One of this year’s hopefuls is Ddroid – a young MC from Brum who is relishing the opportunity and buzzing that the series is filmed in his home town. He was previously part of successful duo, Wavy Gang, but is going it alone and loving the Rap Game process. He describes his style as ‘melodic rap’. On the decision to apply for series two, he says: “Series 1 was cool. And it was set in Brum! It’s the rapper’s dream – living in a penthouse, spitting your bars, get feedback, come out the backend doing great. Who doesn’t want that?” He’s committed to learning through the process. He explains: “I want to learn the technical stuff – the cons, the pros of the industry. The competition goes in depth into the different aspects of the music industry as a whole. It’s gonna be a learning curve. It’s all about what I can take from it – it could mean a lot for me.”

ALLY PALLY

In one episode, tasked with revealing something personal about himself through his lyrics, Ddroid blew away the judges, including guest Rapman, with a narrative about being sectioned with depression. While some contestants seem uptight, Ddroid is just embracing the opportunity. He says: “I’m just here for the experience. It’s been great so far. I ain’t got no complaints.”

He might be enjoying the experience, but he’s ambitious too and says: “In five years’ time selling out the Ally Pally! Maybe a number one album. Maybe even a Grammy. A solid home-grown name. I wanna be known as Ddroid who came off The Rap Game UK.”

At the time of writing, filming had to be paused briefly due to Covid-19, but is back minus Shogan who is in quarantine. Fingers crossed for the rest of the series. Check it out on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.

We’ve tried going out, but we’re almost always disappointed because we are such creatures of habit. Cue cries of ‘it’s just not the same’ which is both flattering and slightly annoying because let’s face it, the mighty roast is a bit of a faff.

We all have a different idea of what makes the perfect roast and generally, it seems largely based on nostalgia rather than brilliant cooking. Each family has its own take on the classic meal whether that’s thick gravy you can stand your spoon up in versus more of a jus or cauliflower cheese versus leeks. It’s personal, but in the middle of the second lockdown we branched out and ordered one of Aktar Islam’s roasts.

Pick up day was a Thursday (nationwide delivery is available too), so the main challenge was waiting until Sunday while a beautiful looking piece of beef (Argentinian sirloin) and all the trimmings lay temptingly in the fridge. There was a loaf in the package, which felt a bit random. We warmed it through in the oven and snaffled it immediately with hefty slabs of butter and cheese. Delicious.

We’ve prepared a few at home meals in 2020 and this was one of the easiest. There were a couple of typos, such as stages repeated in the instructions, but with half a brain, you’ll work it out. Everything was vac packed and all accompaniments literally needed decanting and heating up. The beef needed minimal faffing – searing in a very hot skillet pan and transferring to the oven for 10 minutes gave us rare tender meat. Roasties had been pre-cooked, so they just needed a blast in the oven which resulted in crisp, fluffy, damn near perfect tatties.

The highlight was probably the truffled cauliflower cheese which came with a garlic-packed crunchy crumb to sprinkle on top which took it to the next level. The carrots were buttery and flavour-packed and probably some of the best we’ve eaten. The creamed cabbage didn’t go down too well. The mustardy flavour was nice, but it was just a bit crunchy and slaw-like which was too much of a leap for us. Yorkies were as big as saucers and perfect vehicles for the rich moreish bone marrow and Malbec gravy. Portions were really generous. One kilo of beef meant we had plenty left over for sandwiches the next day.

Would we do it again? Yes probably. At £60 with more than enough food for four it was pretty reasonable. If you bought a top notch cut of beef plus all the ingredients to cook at home from scratch, you’d be hard pushed to do it for less and more than that, the effort required and mess generated was practically none.

Suzanne Virdee is known to millions as the face of TV news. The Solihull-born journalist who grew up in Edgbaston has covered many of the major local, national and international news stories during her time as a presenter, first with BBC and now with ITV. But, we wonder, is there more to reading the news than… well… just reading the news? Do any of the stories go deeper than merely being words to read off the autocue? For Suzanne, the answer is a big, firm “Yes!”

Five years ago, she went to cover an event set up by police to work with teenage gangs looking into the causes of street violence and how to reduce it. What Suzanne found surprising, intriguing and concerning was the police’s description of the relationship between violent young males and teenage girls who seemed to feel the need to attach themselves to the gang culture.

BLIND LOYALTY

Suzanne wanted to know more about the relationships that create such apparently blind loyalty – and what she discovered led her to write about the growing perils of social media pressure and cyber-bullying facing young girls, and how they should confront it in a book entitled A Girl’s Guide To Being Fabulous!

That was then, and this is now… because Suzanne has just released her second book, A Girl’s Guide To Being Awesome. The new book is billed as empowering girls not to just survive their teen years but to thrive by tackling all the tricky topics that growing up in the 21st Century brings – including how to deal with the 24/7 noise of social media, the impact of easily accessible online porn, relationships, body image and self-esteem, plus how to cope with the pressure of school work and working out what you want to achieve in life. “My book is a girl’s personal cheerleader – because it informs, inspires, and boosts confidence,” said Suzanne. “My message to all girls is that it doesn’t matter where you are now, it’s where you’re going that counts.”

OPPORTUNITY BRUM

Suzanne’s own journey has seen her progress from working on local papers at 18 to regional dailies and radio before a long period working at BBC News with the likes of Nick Owen and then onto ITV London and national news programmes. She lives in Redditch with her professional photographer husband Andrew and says she feels “privileged” that Birmingham has given many opportunities during her career, allowing her to meet everyone from Prime Ministers to pop stars as well as the public at large.

Of her books, she says: “The first one was self-published, but the new one has been produced by a proper publisher and the content is more interactive for the times. When I did the first book people wouldn’t talk much about the pressures on young girls, now everyone is more aware of it. Lots of things have come out in the past few years that had been hidden for so long – like the sexual assaults going on in our schools.”

LITTLE MIX

The huge rise in vicious trolling and cyber bullying on social media is well reported in the media these days and is particularly highlighted when the targets are high-profile celebrities such as Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson, who admitted on a recent TV documentary that fat-shaming from online trolls had made her want to die. Suzanne said: “Jesy talked about how she was bombarded on social media which had gotten to her to the point of desperation. She also explained how she had learned that she had to just block them.

“I love social media, but it’s about working out how it affects you as an individual. If girls are fearful, then just don’t look at it. If you feel you are addicted to it, don’t be. It’s so easy for young girls to get sucked into what they should be like when they see so many gorgeous-looking people on social media.”

Suzanne is talking to safe-guarding organisations such as Cherished Birmingham as well as reaching out to councils to get her book into the hands of vulnerable teenage girls and says she would also love to see her guide turned into a series of TV films or podcasts.

Birmingham is the youngest city in Europe with 40 per cent of the population under 25 and Suzanne said: “I want our next generation of girls to feel as happy here as I did growing up and inspired too to achieve their dreams.” To become awesome, in fact…

We reckon if anyone can boost the coolness of poetry, it’s Casey Bailey. Teacher, rapper, song writer, playwright, champion of Brum, he’s no one trick poetry pony. The recently-appointed Poet Laureate is keen to get poetry out to the masses, making it more accessible and pulling down barriers. Casey explains: “People from lower socio-economic groups and sadly black people feel restricted and just not part of literature. Poetry nights tend to be on the third floor of a café inaccessible to anyone with disabilities.” Casey is determined to change this.

In essence, the Poet Laureate appointment is an extension of what Casey already does. As well as writing and performing, he’s an assistant head teacher in a secondary school and has been instrumental in pulling pupils into poetry as well as pushing the safeguarding, pastoral and behaviour agendas in the school. Casey created an extra-curricular group called Baileys Rap and Poetry Club whose members are predominantly boys disengaged from literature. The club takes in different writing techniques and has generally peaked the pupils’ interest.

DEPRIVATION

Casey was born and raised in Nechells and observed the effects of deprivation first-hand, so he knows a bit about what some youngsters are up against and is committed to breaking the cycle. The media narrative towards the end of the summer which portrayed teachers as not wanting to teach doesn’t sit pretty or ring true with Casey. “That, followed by a backlash against the arts is really sad. There’s a lack of appreciation of the arts and artists find that they need to justify themselves.”

His own introduction to poetry at school left Casey cold and his route in was via music and his days as a young MC ‘spitting bars in bedroom studios’ and at underground raves. Writing music is still something Casey does for himself as well as penning songs for other people. Expect a new EP by the end of 2020. There’s also a play, Grime Boy due to open at Birmingham REP and the Belgrade in Coventry as soon as the restrictions on live performances are lifted. The play tells the story of an inner city teen growing up in Birmingham in the mid-2000s full of ambition to be the greatest grime MC.

WORKSHOP

The play was spawned at a 12-week workshop designed to develop the presentation of spoken word poetry in theatre. Titled Poetic Theatre Makers, the workshop was the first of its kind in the UK and was produced by Apples and Snakes in collaboration with Birmingham REP. Casey was also selected to be member of Bush Theatre’s Emerging Writers Group which supports writers over a period of time encouraging work on full length plays.

In terms of ambition, Casey says he doesn’t look beyond where he is, “it’s more about continuity and relevance to myself and other people”. Never tempted to move to London to chase the breaks, Casey says: “We sometimes look outside ourselves for reasons why something isn’t working. Yes, the breaks are bigger in London, but they’re fewer and it’s more saturated.” In any case, Casey says the poetry/spoken word scene in Brum is thriving – or it was pre-pandemic.

If you haven’t already, we urge you to have a listen to Dear Birmingham or Midlander or The Ballad of The Peaky Blinders on YouTube. They’re goose bump-inducing magnificent…

Tell us about your cooking

My style of food is derived from many corners of the world, bringing together multiple different flavours to create a unique fusion. I’m always excited by the idea of learning new things and showcasing new techniques and skills to make people happy.

How did you become a chef?

I trained in Spain in a small restaurant after I had finished secondary school but also had a passion to cook for my younger sister and learn new recipes to make for her. I left for the army for five years and then came to the UK where I worked at El Barracho and began to train more in food with the head chef at the time, Nacho Castells.

What do you eat when at home?

I love to eat and create Italian food which I share with my family as we are all very close. My wife Pamela is Argentinian and also loves to cook traditional Argentinian dishes.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Joan Roca is my favourite chef because he started in his family business and has worked his way up, constantly involving his family with his success. In Birmingham, I admire Leo Kattou from Simpsons restaurant. He also started working with food from a young age, taking his skills and knowledge to further his career, while also being a good person.

Is the customer always right?

You always try your very best to satisfy your customers. Nothing is more important to me than making people happy with my food.

Share a cooking tip

To cook with love, passion and enjoy what you are doing.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I have great memories of my father cooking lamb and the house would smell strongly of the wonderful aroma – although it was a dish my mother didn’t enjoy…

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven would be a luxury kitchen, so I can have all the resources to create and experiment. I don’t dislike anything in the food world, but it’s best to keep me away from peanuts and prawns to prevent an allergic reaction!

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Cow tongue, which is a traditional Argentinian dish. It was tasty but the texture was very strange! Sea urchin straight from the sea also has an extremely strong flavor.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Still in the army, as this was my other passion. But if I could start over, I would love to be a vet.

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The Colombian Arepas. It’s fantastic and allows me to showcase my heritage.

How are you adapting to the Covid-19 restrictions?

We are going to be offering more deals for two to encourage households to still dine together. We always maintain the safety of those around us, including our guests and staff.

Who doesn’t like chocolate in their life? But there’s chocolate, and there’s chocolate – as Steve Russell and Giles Atwell are quick to point out. The duo with more than 30 years collective experience in chocolate started their new Birmingham-based business, Russell & Atwell, with a simple question: “Why are we still eating long-life chocolate if everything tastes better fresh?”

Of course, fresh chocolates can be bought at specialist boutiques, but you’re likely to pay a small fortune for one tiny piece made with Himalayan Goji Berries and other exotic flavours. Steve said: “We set ourselves the ambitious challenge of making restaurant quality chocolates for supermarket prices.” Restaurant quality means chocolate made with fresh, high quality and sustainable ingredients. Supermarket prices have been achieved by selling direct to customers – so, no spending on fancy boutiques or advertising campaigns. Last month saw the launch of three new lines from Russell & Atwell, with more promised on the way.

WORLD CLASS

Both men have backgrounds covered in chocolate! Steve was the global head of chocolate recipe design for Cadbury/Mondelez and Godiva (basically the Willy Wonka). Giles was on the commercial side, as marketing director of chocolate in Brazil, global head of candy at Mondelez.

“We knew of each other at Mondelez but met working on Godiva together where Giles was leading taking Godiva from boutiques into supermarkets around the world and I was leading the development of the chocolate recipes,” said Steve. “We hit it off immediately and the rest is history!” Founding Russell & Atwell has allowed both men to realise their life-long dream of creating the ultimate chocolate experience.

They set out by making hundreds of prototypes in search of their perfect chocolate recipe. Steve said: “We discovered unsurprisingly that the fresh products always tasted a whole lot better. It sounds simple but the chocolate bar was invented at the start of the 20th century and fridges didn’t appear in most people’s homes until the 1950s. So, for years chocolates have been ‘long life’.

“We went back to basics, building our recipes from scratch around five key ingredients. Shedloads of sustainable cocoa, a dollop of fresh organic cream and butter from the Cotswolds, just enough sugar, a drizzle of British wildflower honey and a pinch of Dorset sea salt.”

Russell and Atwell chose an artisan small-batch UK manufacturer to produce their chocolate. Steve said: “We picked them because of their expertise in making high quality chocolate and also a family connection – they were Giles’s grandfather’s very first customer when he started a chocolate company in 1921.”

NEW CATEGORY

Giles added: “Starting a business is never easy, especially it in the middle of a pandemic! We’ve strived to keep all our costs, beyond the chocolates, as low as possible. We’ve got this far by entirely self-funding. Moving forward we are selling direct to consumers, longer-term we’d like to appear in cafes, delis and quality food retailers. Our ambition is to create a new ‘fresh chilled chocolate’ category, but we know that this will take a while!”

The guys know only too well what a competitive market they are in. “We’ll never out-spend the big guys,” said Giles. “We prefer to let our product do the talking, so we will try to get as many samples into people’s homes as possible (challenging during Covid)! We are also relying on ‘word of mouth’ – this has really helped us with our Kickstarter campaign where we were fully-funded in 48 hours and the world’s No1 Food Project”

Crowd funding on Kickstarter provided the support to scale-up to the first 10,000 chocolate batch. Russell & Atwell is now developing a new salted caramel flavour in time for Christmas. Better watch those waistlines guys! “I think Steve and I both carry a bit of timber, from trying a lot of chocolate over the years,” says Giles, “but we equally also try to stay in-shape!”

Tell us about your cooking

The priority is always fresh and local. We launched Sticky Fig six years ago just as street food was becoming a big thing which we embraced, then we moved into weddings and festivals as well as film crew catering. We’ve met some fabulous people. We’re also on our third series of catering for Great British Menu, which is being filmed in Stratford-upon-Avon, feeding the likes of Tom Aikens and the country’s finest home economists. It’s quite the endorsement. 

How did you become a chef?

I’ve been working in food since I was 14. I started in a bakery. It’s always been about food for me. We grew up on a sort of small holding with loads of animals – cattle, ducks, etc – and my parents were hippies really. We were a bit feral! My aunty was behind Berkswell cheese and I used to drink the milk. I was a head chef for someone else for 13 years working 90 hours a week before going it alone. Now I work hard, but if I want to take time off to go and do something I can. 

How did you adapt to the restrictions around Covid-19?

Initially it looked like a whole summer gone. Weddings, festivals, events all gone. It was horrible getting calls from brides and grooms. Thankfully most of them have moved their weddings to next year. Luckily, we had the Revival trailer already, so we started doing pop-ups. The first was the Swan at Chaddesley Corbett which got us rolling again and it built up to five days a week in different villages in the area. It could be fish and chips, really good burgers – we make our own buns, pizza, brownies. We also started doing picnic boxes for delivery which worked well, so much so that we’re planning Christmas hampers. 

What do you eat when at home?

We’re very lucky, we get to eat leftovers! 

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I’d probably say David Everitt-Matthias at Le Champignon Sauvage. If he’s not cooking, the restaurant doesn’t open and I like that. I think there are a lot of Michelin-starred chefs who don’t actually cook in their kitchen and that’s not for me. In Birmingham, Harborne Kitchen is top of my list. 

Is the customer always right?

Yes. It has to be like that. We’re built on reputation, so yes always. 

Share a cooking tip

Don’t overcook eggs. 

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Meringue or a Sunday roast at home. 

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is a really good chin of beef cooked on the bone with plenty of fat. Hell is any kind of processed food. KFC would be pretty hellish.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

A few weeks ago in Borough Market there was a long queue for one of the stalls, so I thought I’d join it. I ended up eating sea urchins – I won’t be doing that again! 

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

Poor…

Our favourite pocket rocket is back on the BGT stage wowing judges with a moving performance to Elton John’s Can You Feel the Love? Ashley Banjo’s socks were blown right off as Yakub flipped and spun his way through a confident and touching performance. Yakub’s ‘buzzing to be back’ and managing to keep his nerves in check. He says: “I’m so excited. It’s the biggest and best thing I have ever done in my life.”

You might remember Yakub initially took to the Britain’s Got Talent stage in Brum with an explosive routine that left the judges agog. Aged just 10-years-old at the time, Yakub’s high energy moves to the Lion King’s He Lives in You lit up the Hippodrome. Four unquestioning nods from the judges were met with a quiet ‘thank you’ before Yakub headed off stage to hug his proud foster carer, Juliet.

It was Juliet who nurtured Yakub’s talent enrolling him at Mezzo Dance Company in Harborne and Stratford shortly after fostering him and his sister. Before then, Yakub had never danced in an official setting, but Juliet thought the siblings would benefit from the focus dance requires as well as building friendships and ultimately having fun. It turns out Yakub is naturally gifted and took to it straight away.

STANDING OVATION

Despite having only a couple of lessons a week, Yakub trains non-stop at home on the tumble track in the garden. Juliet says that, taking into account the time Yakub trains at home, he probably racks up around 12 hours. Having never danced in front of anything like the 4,000-strong crowd, Yakub’s nerves got the better of him in his dummy run at the initial BGT audition, but he rose to the occasion in his actual performance and nailed it receiving a standing ovation. Obviously Yakub’s dance teachers are incredibly proud of him. Teacher, Adam says: “Yakub has always had that spark – he just needed to believe in himself a bit more. To have such an amazing talent at only 10 years of age is incredible.  It is so rewarding for us to see one of our dancers do so well. We really believe in him and believe that he can go all the way in this competition. He deserves it. He is the hardest working little lad.”

Having had to persuade social services that it was a good idea for Yakub to enter the competition, Juliet was keen for BGT to be a positive experience whatever happened and thankfully it was. She says that everyone on the show has been lovely and particularly Ant and Dec are brilliant with Yakub backstage, so she can breathe a big sigh of relief.

CONFIDENCE BOOST

After his semi-final performance, judge Ashley Banjo told Yakub: “You have everything apart from one thing – a little bit of self-belief.” Juliet thinks BGT has made a massive difference to Yakub’s confidence. She says: “Yakub has had an amazing BGT journey so far and making the semi-final has completely boosted his confidence and he’ll give it his all!”

In his first audition, Yakub was asked by Alesha Dixon if he thought he could win the competition to which he quickly replied, ‘no’, but we reckon he’s got every chance and we’ll be cheering him on virtually from the edge of our sofa no doubt with leaky eyes!

Tell us about your cooking

I set up XO Patisserie to offer Birmingham a range of Petit Gateaux, macarons, eclairs and celebration cakes. With my experience I am keen to bring something really special and along the lines of the amazing cakes presented in the famous patisseries of Paris and London. Flavour is absolutely key and I like to give classic combinations a twist. For instance, I add blackcurrant to peanut butter jelly to balance the sweetness. While flavour comes first, each creation needs to look eye-catching. I like to entice people to want to eat each piece and then the flavour takes over.

How did you become a chef?

My uncle inspired my interest in food. I would work alongside him in the kitchen and he would teach me skills such as chopping vegetables from the age of about six. I studied catering at the College of Food in Birmingham where I qualified with NVQ Levels 1, 2 and 3. That’s where I fell in love with pastry work. I’m lucky to have had many chefs influence my career. These days I follow pastry chefs on social media and I find Amaury Guichon particularly inspiring.

What do you eat when at home?

I’ve been living with my parents since lockdown. Mum is vegetarian so I tend to eat vegetable-based food at home. They taste just as good as meat dishes – especially mum’s lentil dishes.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

For me that would be Amaury Guichon. Closer to home, I’d have to say Stu Deeley – his food is an explosion of flavours.

How are you adapting to the current crisis?

I launched XO Patisserie during the lockdown so my business adapted to the crisis at the outset. I was lucky to have been offered the opportunity to have my cakes delivered by Andreas Antona of Simpsons and the Cross, Kenilworth. Since the lockdown has been eased, I’ve been supplying various cafes and restaurants.

Share a cooking tip

To avoid caramel crystalising during preparation add a couple of drops of lemon. And using light soft brown sugar in cakes instead of caster sugar gives a softer consistency.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

Chocolate cake and custard.

Food heaven and food hell?

Despite loving vegetarian food, I’d have to say heaven is fried chicken. I can’t think of anything I’ve eaten that would be my hell…

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Dehydrated crickets – they had a slightly malty flavour and added texture to the dish.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A carpenter as it’s a creative job where I could create and sculpt, much as I do with my showpieces.

Rupinder Kaur’s celebrated debut poetry collection Rooh, which means soul in Panjabi, was released when she was only 22 years old. Published by Verve Poetry Press, it’s a collection that pulls down borders combining English and Panjabi cultures using words from Panjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English. Rupinder began her route into poetry through spoken word in Brum and doesn’t shy away from often-avoided dinner party chat tackling religion, politics, gender inequality and regularly questioning orthodox views head-on. Mentored by poet Rachel Long and awarded a grant by the Arts Council, Rupinder is now working on her second collection which promises to be just as striking as Rooh.

Although Rupinder says some of her old work makes her cringe, those days of discovering her style and evolving through events and spoken word must have been exciting too. Rupinder reckons Birmingham’s spoken word scene is as good as any and thinks moving to London to find your voice and pursue a creative career isn’t necessary anymore. She is a perfect example. Rupinder has founded Azaad arts which explores traditional and contemporary arts in South Asia and in Birmingham.

FREE EXPRESSION

Azaad means free and reflects Rupinder’s belief that artists should be able to express themselves without censorship. Rupinder is working on a project titled Sada Chidiyan da Chamba, which means Our Temporary Nest of Birds, exploring Panjabi wedding folk songs through the female narrative and earlier this year was named one of the BBC’s new creatives – the broadcaster’s talent development scheme offering commissioning opportunities to emerging creatives.

In terms of South Asian culture, it’s a great time to be in Birmingham. The city’s Transforming Narratives project seems a natural fit for Rupinder’s exploration of the region’s culture. The three-year project, managed by Culture Central and supported by Arts Council England and the British Council, aims to establish Birmingham as a global centre for contemporary Pakistani and Bangladeshi arts. The project spans visual arts, music, dance, theatre and combined arts and uses digital technology to link artists and creative organisations.

Rupinder’s involvement in the project is through Gully Zine which she created with friends and fellow creatives Nafeesa Hamid and Kamil Mahmood. Gully creates multidisciplinary zines giving a voice to South Asian artists linking up creatives in Bangladesh and Pakistan and ‘offering diaspora communities in Birmingham a vivid reality instead of an imagined homeland’.

Rupinder had planned to travel to Pakistan to take up an artist’s residency to explore the culture from a female perspective but unfortunately coronavirus scuppered that and she’s not sure when it will happen now. There’s a script recording scheduled this month as part of the BBC new creative scheme and the second collection of poetry to finish among other projects, so Rupinder’s pretty busy!

We’ve all been there. Turning up for a job interview hoping to make a good impression and look the part. It’s a fact that most interviewees feel anything but confident as they prepare to face the ‘moment of truth’, even if outwardly they look ice cool and ready to go. The lack of confidence is magnified if you haven’t worked in a while or if you’ve suddenly lost what you thought was a secure job through no fault of your own by redundancy. You can multiply these fears many times over if you’re so strapped for cash that you can’t even afford to buy that outfit you need for your interview.

The good news is that help is at hand. Suited for Success is an award-winning, not-for-profit organisation that does what it says on the tin by providing job-seekers in Birmingham and the West Midlands with the clothing and styling they need to impress at their interviews. As Suited for Success has developed it has grown from much more than a free out-fitters.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

The charity now provides full bespoke coaching and preparation for the jobless using a wide network of experts in different strands of business and industry who act as advisers and mentors. This expertise is particularly valuable to those who have to re-skill for new jobs with new challenges.

Suited for Success is run by managing director Patricia White, who herself decided to pursue a different path in life when she quit her journalist job after 10 years at the BBC. “I decided that I really wanted to work in the community and make a difference,” she explains. “I started off by running a food bank in Birmingham and I began to see that beyond help with food, many people needed help in getting back into work but they didn’t have the resources to do so.”

At around the same time a group of young professionals from some of Birmingham’s leading businesses had got together with the idea of giving back to the community. When they heard about Patricia’s successful foodbank project they approached her to see if they could work together to help the city’s unemployed. Patricia started Suited for Success in Ladywood in 2015 and the charity has since provided hundreds of men and women with free high-quality interview clothes, styling and interview preparation skills. Lightly worn suits and smart workwear is donated by professionals in corporate companies, law firms, banks, offices and businesses across the city.

FRONTLINE SUPPORT

The only criteria Suited for Success insists on is that those they help with clothing are currently unemployed and have confirmation of a guaranteed job interview. “All our clients are given a one-to-one appointment to receive interview coaching and are dressed and styled by our volunteers ready to give a great first impression in their job interview,” said Patricia.

Suited for Success operates with a variety of frontline support agencies that work with unemployed men and women of all ages and backgrounds who are experiencing significant personal barriers and complex issues to gaining employment. To further its mission to support unemployed people who are the furthest away from employment, the charity has developed several work strands as part of its More Than Just a Suit programme with a focus on working with the ex-forces, ex-offenders and back-to-work mums.

Patricia also facilitates training workshops supporting third sector organisations, charities and churches to set-up job clubs and employability projects in their local communities and regularly speaks at events, workshops and presentations about the work at Suited for Success and the social challenges of unemployment.

ROYAL RECOGNITION

The charity’s role in helping the city’s unemployed was recognised by the Queen in October 2019 with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK. In July this year, Suited for Success was also crowned winners of the Excellence in the Third Sector in the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Awards. Patricia said: “It is lovely to win these awards but the most important aspect is that the profile they give puts us out there and brings us to the attention of more and more businesses who can help.”

Pre-lockdown Suited for Success was giving bespoke help to about 40 people every week. Patricia is expecting that number to double to nearer to 100 a week from this month as the full impact of the pandemic on jobs becomes clear. Around one-third of UK firms have reported that they will be making substantial redundancies as they get to grips with surviving through the pandemic.

The picture is mirrored in the West Midlands where Patricia said: “We have been experiencing the calm before the storm. We are having conversations with lots of businesses in the city to help support those who will be out of work. I’ve been talking with the likes of Barclays, HS2 and PWc as well as many other companies.

“We know we are going to get really busy from this month once the sticking plaster of the furlough schemes is removed. Many people who never thought they would see this kind of crisis are going to need help navigating their way through it. Together with our partners in business we will help them in every way we can to get back into work and get their life back on track.”

Two days before lockdown Phil Innes was in Tenerife doing what he does best, sourcing and tasting wine. “When I returned it was chaos, no one knew what was going on,” he says. The founder of Birmingham wine merchant Loki Wine found himself thrust into the same position as thousands of other businesses: “It was sudden and confused, we had to try and work out in a completely new environment what we thought we could do – and then just see what happened!”

While nothing could replace the buzz – or the revenue – from Phil’s wine bars, lockdown did indeed throw up opportunities which moving forward the business will look to develop further. It goes without saying that online took off. Not unexpected with pretty much everything closed down, but the increase in the volume of sales was “massive” and a surprise, says Phil. “It’s an area which we definitely will pay an even greater focus on in the business moving forward,” he adds.

VIRTUAL SUCCESS

What really caught him out though was the popularity in virtual wine tasting which he floated instead of the tradition sessions which Loki runs so successfully. The virtual group started out with just under 80 couples online and within four weeks had increased to more than 250 couples. “Having 500 people in one tasting was amazing,” said Phil. “We had plenty of couples with children who would normally struggle to make wine tasting but who were able to join us online from the comfort of their own homes and relax and really enjoy the experience.”

Like many businesses, Loki furloughed staff during lockdown with only a couple remaining to work online. As we spoke Phil was starting to bring back staff in readiness of re-opening. “There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We’re making a couple of changes. With online being a large chunk of business now, we’re running that out of our Edgbaston operation which will open up first. Then a couple of weeks later, we’ll re-open at Great Western Arcade which will be purely a bar.

NEW REALITY

“We’re expecting people will gradually come back – they’ll be a bit nervous at first because of the virus. We will be putting in place all the necessary safety conditions, like social distancing and so on. While being fantastic, home delivery doesn’t replace shops and bars but we’ve adapted really well and it has shown us a new reality that’s great moving forward.”

Before the pandemic, the business was looking to expand to a third site and Phil says that’s still very much the plan. “We want to be a social place where people come to meet and enjoy wine,” he said. “The online side has given us a new dimension and which is really positive but I want to expand further once we have found the right location. We have several places in mind.”

Phil who developed his knowledge of wine while working for the likes of Wine Rack and Oddbins set up Loki Wine in 2012 after a chance visit to a Florence wine bar while on a break. He spotted a wine sampling machine which at the time was a rare sight in the UK and decided to introduce them as a major feature to wine lovers here in Brum. Loki Wine has since gone on to win more awards than any other merchant in the UK.

VIBRANT AND DIVERSE

He said: “ I worked my way up in one of the bleakest, dogma-dominated industries. Loki purposefully flies in the face of industry tradition by encouraging people to try, sample and discover before purchasing. I am also keen that Loki stays a young collective, which means that the wines on tasting will stay interesting, vibrant and diverse in flavour-profile and budget. All our staff love wine, and they love sharing their opinions and recommendations with the wonderful, inquisitive folk that walk in.”

Phil says that in addition to online sales and wine tastings, the lockdown has given consumers the chance to spend more time exploring different buying options away from the supermarkets and large national chain wine merchants. “In our business, and in many others, the pandemic has seen many people identify the great independents who offer a different level of choice and customer service,” he explained.

Phil is now looking forward, not back, to the new norm and the gradual return of life as we knew it. “Whatever happens, we don’t want to see business having to lockdown again,” he said. “We take a third of our income in the traditional pre-Christmas time of November and December. It would be desperate for bars and restaurants if that period was taken away from us. As it stands right now, we’re looking ahead with huge optimism from what has been a really tough time for everyone.”

For the record, we miss Simpsons a lot. Any occasion, any excuse and you’ll find us enthusiastically tearing into a warm tapenade roll. We missed out on the sell out first week of their At Home service, but got in quick for week two choosing the classic menu. There’s a lighter summer menu and a veggie option too.

The menu was three-courses plus the beloved tapenade rolls which we promised our children they could have – a decision we regretted it immediately. Word to the wise – you can order extra.

First up was halloumi, heritage tomatoes and green salad with a tomato dressing. All the prep had been done by the chefs in the kitchen i.e. Heritage tomatoes had been freed from their skin and the tomato dressing was a punchy, tangy little number that we wouldn’t have known how to create at home. Aside from grilling the halloumi, it was an assembly job and totally delicious. The ingredients were ones we use at home all the time, never achieving these results and I guess that’s the point.

Next up to the pass (our battered worktop) was lamb shank, cracked wheat with pine nuts, mint and pomegranate seeds, sauce and broccoli. The lamb shank came pre-cooked and was a doddle to reheat in the oven. Cracked wheat, broccoli and sauce all needed a gentle reheat. The lamb was so tender it fell off the bone, the cracked wheat which never normally gets us salivating was actually full of flavour with zingy mint and bursts of sweet pomegranate. Broccoli was broccoli. We eat it everyday and can’t get too excited about it. The rich lamb sauce with chucks of apricot on the other hand was incredible. We also followed the chef’s tip on the instruction card which was to brush the lamb with honey. Lovely.

Luckily, dessert was a simple assembly job again as we’d had a couple of drinks! Meringue, vanilla cream and strawberries in a light fruity elderflower and strawberry coulis. What’s not to love?

Would we do it again? Absolutely. Apart from anything else it felt like an occasion. We wheeled out the best china, lit some candles and got into a going out mind set. We felt a bit of pressure – not because it’s difficult, it’s not – but because we didn’t want to mess it up. We advise watching head chef, Leo’s how to video. It’s not like being in a restaurant – there’s washing up for a start – but it was obviously miles better than anything we could rustle up at home and made for a really fun special evening. In lockdown, that’s winning.

Cost: Three courses from £39 pp.

When: Order on Monday morning for delivery the following Fri/Sat.

From bags made entirely out of recycled material to the softest organic tees stitched in factories that guarantee a living wage, local brand Punks and Chancers seems to have captured the mood of the city where quality, ethics and independence are king. If you follow Punks and Chancers on Instagram you’ll know a lot already. If you don’t, well, where have you been? Sharing snapshots of family life, new launches, a bucketload of love for Brum and feel good collaborations, there’s much to celebrate.

Zoe describes Punks and Chancers as: “A fun bus travelling at speed strewing bold garments and accessories in its wake. It’s an imperfectly formed small team of one which I run with a DIY punk ethic that’s embedded into my daily life.”

CORPORATE ARSE

Working life hasn’t always been so feel good mind you. There was a time pre-Punks and Chancers when Zoe worked as a fashion buyer for high street stores which she describes as ‘bloody awful’. She says: “If anyone’s reading this and thinks, ‘ooh that sounds exciting’ it’s not. It’s a corporate arse.”

Zoe then set up a small interiors company making hand-stitched lighting. She was commissioned by some top interior designers and worked on incredible projects, including one on a yacht moored in Monaco. She designed collaborative ranges for Toast and Anthropologie and taught lampshade-making at the weekend. Zoe recalls: “For several years, I really loved it, but after eight years I began to find the work less enticing and I wanted a change. I’m a big believer in changing stuff up when you get the itch.”

Zoe started Punks and Chancers small to minimise risks. She explains: “It freed me up to be able to think. Financial constraints are the enemy of creativity. I wanted to use my skills in product design, sewing, fabric knowledgeable and I knew I needed to build a brand that could be embedded in my life, so that my life could cross over into my work and vice-versa.”

ECO CREDENTIALS

Company ethics have always been top of the agenda. As well as being organic and stitched in Fairwear factories, the tees are screen printed with eco-inks in Birmingham and all packaging is recyclable – zero plastic is used. Zoe says: “We don’t bang on about our sustainability as much as we should really; we think it’s just the way things should be anyway.”

Instagram has been incredibly important in getting the brand out, but not all social media has been valuable. Zoe says: “I love Instagram which I find inclusive and positive. I can’t be arsed with Facebook due to finding it the exact opposite. I have a Twitter account which I’d like to use more but honestly, there are only so many hours in the day!”

Rewarding collaborations with local charities have been among the highlights of the first two years. The No Bab tee – a collaboration with The Wilderness – raised £2,000 for SIFA Fireside which provides crucial support for the city’s homeless. A collaborative tee with local independent shopkeepers, the Hedge raised more than £1,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital as well as ongoing projects raising funds for Action for Refugees and University Hospital Birmingham.

COMING SOON

Having settled in Birmingham 13 years ago, Zoe loves how the city has developed its independent scene over the past few years and says: “As a relative newbie, I feel privileged to be a part of it and to have been embraced by it.” Zoe developed a soft spot for Brum spending most weekends here as a teen shopping vintage in the rag market and being turned away from clubs for wearing the wrong shoes and says: “To see other people realise what a beauty Birmingham is, is a thing to behold. I’m very proud of my city.”

There’s much in the pipeline to get excited about over the next few months. Zoe says: “New stuff comes all the time. When I feel it, it happens! There’s something on its way in an awesome colour for summer as well as a new yoga range due out in the next couple of months.” It’s also Punks and Chancers second birthday in the first week of July of which Zoe says: “Last year we celebrated spectacularly for a week so this year should be good. Keep your eyes on Instagram!”

We have all had to adapt to a new way of living. Working from home, educating little ones, not being able to see friends and family and only leaving the house for essential journeys, were among just some of the challenges. It also meant we had to find new ways to keep fit.

Here, critical care paramedic for Midlands Air Ambulance, Aidan Brown, gives you some tips on exercises to try at home that can help you keep fit and healthy.

Aidan says: “The MAAC aircrew are required to maintain a high level of fitness as on occasion we have to run a distance from a safe helicopter landing site to where the patient is, sometimes tackling difficult terrain or scaling fences for example, and this is while carrying 15kg lifesaving equipment bags. So I adapted what I do in the gym to my back garden and have found some great exercises you can do at home, too.”

TAKE 10 WITH AIDAN 

Aidan’s routine is a great way to stay fit and the set-up is simple – do each of the five exercises for one minute, then repeat, totalling a 10-minute workout.

PRESS-UP

There are many variants of the press-up but the most important thing to remember is to make sure you keep you back in line and your bottom down.

TRICEPS DIP

Place your hands on a chair with your feet about shoulder width apart on the ground. Bend your arms to around 90 degrees and push back up to the start position. The closer your knees are to your bottom, the easier the exercise. Do it at a level that suits you, while maintaining good technique.

HIGH KNEES

This is an explosive exercise which can really get your heart rate up. Run on the spot as fast as you can, attempting to bring your knees up to 90 degrees. It really helps to swing your arms.

HALF BURPEES

This is a great full body movement. From standing, touch the floor with your hands shoulder width apart, jump your feet back to get yourself into the plank position with straight arms. Then, jump your feet back to your hands. Get into the squat position and powerfully jump as high as you can.

POWER STAR JUMP

Another full body exercise, which really burns the calories! From standing, squat until you touch the floor, then jump as high as you can, performing an explosive star jump. When you land, go back to the squat position to start again.

Eating out is a no-no and takeaways are a distant memory… we’re all having to get creative in the kitchen right now. You may not think you’re a great cook, but needs must. And one brilliant way to make your meals ‘sing’ is to spice things up a bit.

We know from experience that most kitchens will have a shelf where the spices are stored. Chances are there are quite a few that have been pushed to the back and almost forgotten. Now’s the time to bring them out, or restock at the supermarket, and try something different. Your family will thank you for your efforts!

Not all of us are clued up on which spices are which and how best to use them. So, we asked spice kit brand Spicentice.com to put together a beginners’ guide to all things spicy. Here’s their flavour profiles of 13 common spices and advice on how best to use them in the kitchen to transform a dish.

The experts say that cumin carries a smoky and earthy flavour that’s best used in Mexican cuisine, but oregano’s peppery and aromatic qualities are great in Mediterranean, Greek, Italian, Mexican and Cuban cooking. And while sweet and pungent nutmeg is most often used in baked goods, it can also be added to savoury dishes for a warm note.

Ketan Varu from Spicentice.com said: “Many home cooks are wary about experimenting purely because they’re unsure how a particular spice is going to affect the dish. Spices can transform a meal by adding a range of flavours, from a hint of sweetness to a kick of heat – not to mention, many also boast fantastic health benefits which will help boost your immune system. Now’s a great time to take the plunge and spice up your home cooking.”

SPICE AND EASY

1. Cardamom

This warm, aromatic spice is widely used in Indian cuisine. It’s also great in baked goods when used in combination with spices like clove and cinnamon.

2. Cayenne Pepper

Made from dried and ground red chilli peppers, Cayenne Pepper adds a sweet heat to soups, braises, and spice mixes.

3. Cinnamon

Found in almost every world cuisine, cinnamon serves double duty as spice in both sweet and savoury dishes. It has a very unique flavour and is extremely aromatic. Cinnamon goes well with apples, beef, chocolate, in curries, stews and spicy dishes.

4. Cumin

Smoky and earthy, cumin is used in a lot of south-western US and Mexican cuisine, as well as North African, Middle Eastern, and Indian dishes. It can be found ground or as whole seeds, and is great in curries, soups, stews, and spice rubs, or with beans.

5. Fenugreek

Although this herb smells like maple syrup while cooking, it has a rather bitter, burnt sugar flavour. It’s found in a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern dishes and the ground seeds are often used in curry powder, spice blends, dry rubs and even tea blends. Fresh and dried fenugreek leaves can be used to finish dishes like sauces, curries, vegetable dishes and soups.

6. Garlic Powder

Garlic powder is made from dehydrated garlic cloves and can be used to give dishes a sweeter, softer garlic flavour.

7. Ginger

With a spicy, zesty bite, ginger can be found fresh in root form or ground and dried. Fresh ginger is great in stir-fries and marinades or grated into cookies and muffins, while ground ginger works well in curry powders, spice mixes and in general baking.

8. Nutmeg

Sweet and pungent, nutmeg is often used in baked goods but it also adds a warm note to savoury dishes. It’s often used with cheese sauces, too.

9. Oregano

Used primarily in Mediterranean, Greek, Italian, Mexican and Cuban cooking, oregano is amazing fresh but is just as good if you use a good quantity of dried. It’s peppery, aromatic, and earthy and is great with vegetables, in beef stew, in sauces, with meat and fish and with beans.

10. Paprika

Paprika can be sweet, hot or smoky, but most often adds a sweet note to dishes, as well as a brilliant red colour. You can also get a spicier version which is often labelled ‘hot paprika’. Use it in stews, spice blends, and goulash, or as part of a dry rub for roast potatoes. It’s also a great way to add a kick to burgers. Just sprinkle some on the raw meat or across the top when on the grill.

11. Rosemary

Strong and piney, rosemary is great with eggs, beans and potatoes, as well as grilled meats. Fresh rosemary is also good for adding to soup and stew, or you can stuff poultry with a few sprigs during cooking. Many people also use it during grilling – when laid in coals it gives a great flavour to meat and vegetables.

12. Saffron

Saffron is the most expensive of spices and has a very subtle but distinct flavour that adds bitterness to food that, when used in dishes with lots of sweet or acidic flavours, balances out perfectly. It is used mostly with fish and rice and is a key ingredient in paella.

13. Turmeric

Sometimes used more for its yellow colour than its flavour, turmeric has a very mild woodsy flavour. It is used in many curry powders for colour and flavour.

Tell us about your cooking

My cooking style is influenced by my life’s journey and travels. I lived in Madrid for a while and spent time in the incredible kitchen of Sergi Arola. This opened my mind to a whole different style of cooking, working with amazing ingredients and different flavours and made me the chef I am today. The buzz of seeing people enjoying my food never leaves me. I love cooking dishes people recognise but I always add a twist.

How did you become a chef?

I left school at 16 to work on a farm in Lancashire. It was here I learned to make Mrs Kirkham’s famous cheese. One day, they took me to a food festival where I got asked to cover a bread stall while the owners were doing a cookery demo. I sold all the bread and a chef from North Wales asked me to go and work for him. After two years, I moved back to Lancashire and cooked with some excellent chefs like Warrick Dodds and Marc Guilbert. Then I spread my wings and cooked in Spain in some amazing restaurants.

What do you eat when at home?

My wife is Spanish, so we try and eat Spanish and Mediterranean food quite often to keep her happy! I love it too.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I have to say that Gordon Ramsay influenced me a great deal. Growing up at the time, he was everywhere and his cookbooks played a big part of my study of cooking. I also admire Tom Kerridge whose food is fantastic and yet very down to earth. I can’t wait for our slot at his Pub in the Park event in Warwick in June. Best in Brum? I’ve only lived in the area for a short time but of course Glynn Purnell’s reputation precedes him.

Is the customer always right?

Theoretically no, but in essence yes. At our pub, we want everyone to have the best experience they can so we do everything we can to make them as happy as possible.

Share a cooking tip

Keep things simple, taste and season as you go. It’s amazing how much a difference a pinch or two of salt can make to a dish.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I think chilli con carne was probably my favourite.

Food heaven and food hell?

Heaven is a nice fish like turbot, a good steak or a selection of cured meats with a glass of wine. Hell is sprouts and parsnips.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

At the time, I thought it was either snails or frogs’ legs. But nowadays, they are not really unusual anymore.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I’d develop my Spanish to a better standard and teach it.

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The Brixham hand-picked potted crab, topped with lobster glazed butter.

Nat Sweeney is one eighth of the dance group Brothers of Dance that made it through to the semi-finals of TV’s Greatest Dancer on Team Cheryl. While the group was put together by choreographer Dane Bates cherry-picking dancers from across the country, Nat is from right here in Brum and studies at Elmhurst School of Dance in Edgbaston.

We’ve watched the group’s moving first audition which left the judges agog and the audience voting en masse approximately 15 times and counting. Not that we’re experts, but it’s just a gorgeous piece of dance – athletic, strong, soft and touching all rolled into three beautiful minutes. (Nat’s the one in the red jumper in case you didn’t know!)

Also, amazingly it was the first time the group had performed together. Obviously, they’d trained together, but never performed. Nat says: “I was taking classes with Dane outside of Elmhurst and he messaged a few of his students and it all came together. It was really fun.” Dane says he selected the boys because they are all incredible dancers and that from the very first rehearsal they had a ‘unique connection’. The group’s versatility is staggering encompassing contemporary, ballet, jazz, commercial and acro.

UP IN THE AIR

As a male, Nat isn’t used to being lifted but on Greatest Dancer he had to get used to often being the one in the air. He said: “Being a boy I’ve never been lifted. I was usually the one lifting a girl, so it was totally new to me. At first, I was scared. I thought I was going to get dropped and I nearly was a few times!”

While Nat doesn’t get nervous, once on Team Cheryl the challenges were really testing with only a couple of days to hone each routine. “Dancing with the other boys was so energetic and we just bounced off each other,” he said. “I’m sad it’s over, but I’ve made friends for life.” He’s full of praise for Cheryl too who he says was the ‘sweetest and really involved’.

As a young child it’ll come as no surprise that Nat was a keen gymnast before he focused on dance. The first time he auditioned for anything was to bag his place at Elmhurst. He remembers: “I didn’t have the right shoes and hadn’t really done ballet before.” The school saw past the dodgy shoes, appreciating his talent and potential and has been instrumental in Nat’s development. He credits the school with instilling a work ethic that he’ll take with him through life. He says: “Work hard and always be on time.”

BALLET HERO

The connections the school has with partners such Birmingham Royal Ballet and Birmingham Hippodrome have been crucial, resulting in experiences the students might not have ordinarily. One of Nat’s heroes is BRB dancer Brandon Lawrence. The school is able to attract top talent to work with students such as world-class choreographer Wayne McGregor who Nat enjoyed a workshop with. Juggling dance with academic studies hasn’t been an issue for Nat. He says it’s balanced: “Academic lessons provide a break throughout the day. A time to rest the body.”

Nat describes a run playing Billy Elliot aged 14 and 15 as ‘the best experience of my life’. He relished performing in front of thousands of people every day and says: “I just love dancing and performing.” In terms of what’s next, Nat just says he wants to grab every opportunity with both hands and run with it. If an opportunity proves a mistake he’ll be happy he gave it a whirl and put it down to experience. His ultimate goal is simply to ‘perform forever’.

Vanessa Miller’s love affair with making jewellery began when she enrolled in evening classes at Midlands Arts Centre. By the end of her second session she had already set up a small workshop in the corner of her dad’s garage where she continued to make jewellery until eventually applying to study full-time for an HND in Jewellery and Silversmithing at Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery.

After graduating in 2016, Vanessa hasn’t looked back, setting up her own business and recently being named the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter’s second Jeweller in Residence. The prestigious title means that Vanessa, whose own business is based in the JQ, will work from the museum regularly over the next year. She is creating a new jewellery range on sale exclusively at the museum shop as part of a project which aims to promote local designers.

The competition run by the museum in partnership with the university’s School of Jewellery, asked entrants to design a two-piece jewellery collection inspired by the iconic snake range produced by the historic Smith & Pepper factory, which the museum is built around. Vanessa took inspiration from the Smith & Pepper sketchbooks and reflected some of the classic shapes into her winning designs.

GROWING BUSINESS

She said: “I was thrilled to be named Jeweller in Residence. I’ve never won anything before! My hopes are that it will raise my profile as a jewellery designer maker helping me to grow as a business.” Vanessa says last year was a difficult time for her personally, which makes the Jeweller in Residence award all the more exciting and invigorating for her.

“This year I am getting back on track. I am updating stock in existing galleries and reaching out to new stockists. I want to research and apply for new courses to develop my skills and learn new skills so I can offer something new to my customers. And of course I will be creating two new pieces to add to the snake collection for sale exclusively through the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.”

Designing and making jewellery is more than a business for Vanessa – it’s a passion. She says: “I love it. It’s probably what’s on my mind most if not all of the time. I love that I can design something that I then make come to life through manipulating metals or carving and casting.”