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Winner of Taste of Birmingham best new restaurant 2006. Crustacea Bar and two private dining rooms. |
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| Address |
54 Cornwall Street, Birmingham West Midlands
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| Postcode |
B3 2DE Map |
| Tel |
0121 2002323 |
| Fax |
0121 2002090 |
| Website |
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| Email |
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Full Restaurant Listing |
| An expansive 845 words from World Nomad on Monday, July 11, 2011
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| Food: |
Value |
Service: |
Decor: |
Rating: |
Cost/head: |
Suits: |
| 9/10 |
: 8/10 |
9/10 |
8/10 |
86% |
£40 |
not specified |
Classic. Just finished writing this and Chris pops a belter on to the Forum! He’s going to love this...and I haven’t changed a word below since his post!
Popped into Birmingham on Friday night as she wanted to see Bridesmaids at the Electric. Don’t bother, what a load of cr4p. Quite how Matt Lucas was meant to fit in I’m still not sure and poor, poor Chris O’Dowd just looked shell-shocked throughout. Amazingly appalling film. And another moan. Serious concern that so many people are allowed to take the mick by walking in 1 minute after the film starts so they can plonk down in the unbooked sofas at £6.80 instead of £12.40. Not just that, but then deciding 10 minutes in that they’d quite like to move to an even better sofa, then 20 minutes in, popping out for refreshments that they daren’t have delivered to the sofa cos they ain’t meant to be there! Electric needs to get a grip on this otherwise there’s more people like me who aren’t going to bother taking up the premium offer.
So, hungry and with a desperate need to invigorate the start of the weekend, we discussed the dining options. We were tempted by a Tweet from Loves that a table had become unexpectedly available due to cancellation, but, having yet to visit Loves I wasn’t ready to risk being disappointed twice in one evening. Don’t suppose we would have been for one minute, but was feeling particularly fragile and anything could’ve tipped me over...so decided on ‘dependable’, and ‘dependable’ in my mind was Opus.
Knew we’d get a walk-in, knew it would be pricey (reassuringly so), knew we’d get good service in a calm environment, knew the wine would be great and knew we’d probably get a good, wholesome, properly cooked, beautifully presented dinner. What we didn’t know was that David Colcombe wasn’t at the pass that evening as he was attending an awards do for one of his team, or that it was Brad’s penultimate service before departing for pastures new after god knows how many years of exemplary FOH service. Or that there was a table of 20plus in the private dining room who would all demand their dinner being delivered at the same time. So every potential for an almighty calamity of an evening to help ruin my weekend further.
Not so. If I discount the most superb meal at Bentley’s in March, this was without doubt the best cooking and the most enjoyable meal I’ve had all year; served with a smile and great precision. First of all we enjoyed a glass of Champagne with the management’s compliments while we looked through the menu. As well as the main menu there’s now a very good value Market menu which is served all week and up to 7pm on a Saturday (prices escape me but dare say it’s promoted on the website). Several dishes jumped out of the main menu so, we felt compelled to go à la carte.
We took a very nice table for four for two in the middle/centre of the room with good vision of all around so we could keep an eye on any dodgy guests. Busy dining room and a nice families/friends/stylish couples mix. Great bread as usual...stand out was a very tasty tomato jobby. And then, second freebie of the night (the weekend was starting to look up now) the prettiest plate of scallop, belly pork, squid and samphire...sensational, and free! Starters were Quail in a summer broth and Goat’s cheese soufflé; mains, fillet of Beef and a superbly cooked fillet of Veal; side of broad beans/peas/stuff. Desserts were panna cotta and egg custard tart. Super bottle of wine...and that was about it. All as we (the Royal we, not the BP ‘we’) have come to expect from Opus. A brief but very confident menu starring great quality, seasonal stuff with a few old favourites (shame they don’t do movies). Very excellent service delivering sensibly portioned food which has been perfectly prepped, cooked and presented by a kitchen that, even when the main man can’t be there, operates flawlessly delivering a level of quality and consistency he and his customers can depend on. Raynor thought it was boring. I think Opus delivers quality you can rely on (I don’t subscribe to that being boring) and I’m getting a bit fussy about where my disposable income gets spent these days.
All the best to Brad and our thanks for looking after us so well on many occasions at Opus. Looking forward to meeting his successor but it strikes me that the management model at Opus is that strong and resilient that they’ll have him (her) knocked into shape in no time ensuring that excellent service continues to complement an excellent kitchen.
So, discounting the first two hours of my weekend, you’ll all be glad it turned out well in the end.
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| REVIEWS
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| WORLD NOMAD |
| REVIEWS |
| No.of reviews: |
33 |
| Average Rating: |
77% |
| Highest Rating: |
100% |
| Lowest Rating: |
12% |
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