There aren’t many meals that are truly memorable and stay with you beyond what you might consider normal. But a handful are so mind-bogglingly brilliant you can still taste and even smell the food weeks later. This was one of those. A tasting menu so inventive it left its mark.

Firstly, the restaurant has had a bit of a glow up – it was great before, but we reckon the black and white graffiti might have put some people off. It’s managed to retain its edginess thanks to art by local artist Harry Houdini (not his real name…) who went to school with Kray (founder and chef patron). It’s now brighter and more colourful, probably broadening the restaurant’s appeal.

We kicked things off downstairs with a cocktail and a nibble that made us wonder why the heck we’d never eaten charred reindeer moss before, then popped upstairs to sample the tasting menu. The open kitchen is exposing, but during service, Kray, Mani and Ben made it seem utterly effortless which clearly, it’s not. The processes involved in creating each dish must be the result of an incredible amount of work ahead of service, so hat’s off. Even the butter that accompanied the most pillowy of Japanese milk buns was crafted into a helter skelter shape flavoured with intense mushroom/truffle flavours that blew us away. The level of detail was insane.

We’ve not enough space here to describe each dish and I’m not sure we could do the menu justice anyway, so we’ve gone for our top three. Please appreciate that choosing just three was akin to Sophie’s Choice and resulted in some intense debate.

First up, compressed melon with Iberico ham – simple right? Who hasn’t rustled up a plate of melon chunks with some decent ham and called it dinner? Well, this wasn’t that. A neat package of the most intensely flavoured melon imaginable tightly wrapped in top notch Iberico ham was out of this world. It was absolutely bamboozling and brilliant.

Next, set savoury miso custard with caviar, salt and vinegar pop corn and chicken jus. We’re not chefs, so have no idea how or why this works, but trust us it does. The flavours just pop – the richness of the custard, the saltiness of the caviar, the intensity of the chicken jus and then the zing of salt and vinegar pop corn just works and must be the result of many hours/days/weeks of experimenting and honing. Then a katsu scallop dish blew our socks off. The scallop was, as you’d expect perfectly cooked. Sliced into three it was served with a heady katsu sauce that was beautifully spiced and so moreish we could’ve licked the plate clean.

We don’t want you to go away with the impression this is slick and soulless because it’s far from that. Yes, the food is knock-out and up there with the best, but it’s also a restaurant with a big heart personified by its name. 670 Grams was the weight of Kray and Sacha’s (also head chef) daughter who was born prematurely. There’s nostalgia on the menu too. A dish called Tea and Toast that recreates the first thing you eat and drink in hospital after giving birth is like nectar.

There’s also a local aspect to lots of what the restaurant does. For instance, Digbeth honey is used to brush the top of the milk buns giving them a wonderful sticky glaze, plus there’s a brilliant dish based on the flavours of Cadbury’s fruit and nut. They even use the scraps from Midlands Press down the road to make their own wine. There’s just so much to love about this place. It’s not cheap, but it is very, very special.