Del Villaggio Gone?

Passing Broad Street this evening, I noticed the Italian restaurant Del Villaggio was worringly dark, so I went close to find this notice.



Closed until further notice.

Both Del Villaggio restaurants and Del Villaggio trattoria were closed.

Sounds very bad, especially in this season when the restaurants should be heaving with Christmas parties.


I had a dinner in Cafe Ikon. I expected it to be full, but it wasn't. It was busy, but not full.

It could be so just by chance, but under the current economic climate, it was rather worrying.

New Entry: Jojolapa

Uploaded a review of the lunch I had last week in Jojolapa Nepalese restaraunt.

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/jojolapa_en.html



Food was brilliant, especially the Nepalese dumplings called Momo. I would return only to eat momo again.

And I wrote also extended the version of Cafe Ikon review.

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/ikon_en.html

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Yesterday I revisited Han Dynasty, one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Birmingham. Very unfortunately they served me a lukewarm dish. It is a clime in East Asia not to serve hot food hot. Otherwise, it tasted good and rice was the best among these I have eaten for a long time in Chinese restaurants.


I wish a very good week for everyone.

Strolling and shopping in city centre

It was cold and dump yesterday.

I did not want to go out, but as my flat is very cold during the day time (I have central heating in the morning and in the evening only) and as I was running out of milk, I eventually went out.

On normal Saturdays I go to shop in Cape Hill, but as I am leaving for Greece in 10 days, it was unwise to buy too much food (besides, I have some plans to eat out in these days). Consequently I just went for a quick shopping in city centre.

I slightly regretted my decision seeing so many people there doing Christmas shopping. I don't like crowded places.

But, I could not resist going to see the last days of Woolworth's.

It is a historical moment in which the scenery of British high streets will change forever. Well, it might be an exaggeration. But it is still a symbolic moment of this period which will be rememberd in history as "Global Recession".

The one in the photo is the Pallasades branch of Woolworth's. There were lots of people and some of the shelves were already empty. Many of the things are getting fixed rate discount (like "20% off anything from this section"), so you might find some bargain.

But, I escaped in 5 minutes. Too many people.

Fortunately the Open Market was not too crowded, for it was still around 3 o'clock and it was very cold.

I bought some vegetables that looked to be in season.

Broccoli shoots.



I am not sure of the name. They are similar to purple sprouts, except that these are green. 3 or 4 packet of these were for £1 depending on stalls. I suppose they can be boiled like broccoli or stir-fried like Chinese Gailan. If you boild these with spaghetti in salted water, they make immediately one plate added with olive oil and Parmiggiano cheese. Fast food.

Also in season seemed are Savoy cabbages, 1 costs from 50p to 60p.



This cabbage does not exist in Japan and first I did not understand how could I eat such a hard cabbage. Apart from the tendre core, the leaves are quite tough, so they needed to be cooked until soft, more than 15 min in boiling water. As it is so hard, it can withstand long cooking like minestrone. The outer leaves are hardest, but if you cut them very small or thin, they are sill edible and I guess rich in minerals and vitamin judging from the colour.

I met savoy cabbage earlier in the week in Turners.



Just boiled cabbage, but only the inner leaves. They were soft and paler in colour.


Then I went to Marks and Spencer's to buy milk. As I wrote about my organic milk obsession several days before, I buy milk only from certain shops.

The pricing in M&S is beyond my comprehension. Some of the items are double or three times higher than the supermarkets/discounters I usually go. The broccoli shoots as above cost in M&S 99p a packet. I guess it is ok to buy ready-made foods here, as they look quite different from the ones I see in other supermarkets, but I would not buy veggies and meats here, as green grocers and butchers give me better deal (and I am not speaking only about the price).

And the cashiers were SO slow. I really missed ALDI/LIDL, even Tesco's and Asda. The woman at the till was nice and smiley, but it did not make me forget the 10 minutes waiting time in a very short queue (3 or 4 people, and only 1 of them had a basketful, the others only 3 or 4 items).

M&S FOODS business model baffled me.

Turner's again

Yesterday I returned to Turner's in Harborne for Christmas lunch, alone.

I discovred that I enjoy eating alone in good restaurants. To me, savouring is just like appreciating paintings or music: if you cannot find a good companion with similar taste, you'd fare better enjoying alone, because, otherwise, they will ruin your enjoyment with irrelevant - no matter how interesting - conversations distracting you from the art or music. I do go to social meals, but in these occasions, I don't expect to be able to concentrate on food. In such occasions where and what I eat have secondary importance.

Well, Turners.

I had a £20 per 3 course Christmas lunch, not because I wanted to feel Christmassy, but because there was no usual 3 course for £17.50 deal. Although it cost extra £2.50, having got an amuse-bouche and a very elaborate main course, I am totally satisfied and not in the least feel ripped off.

I am not sure if I am going to write a review on this meal, as I have just written and published one. And maybe there are people who don't want to see what they will get before actually eating it (different from usual lunch menu that changes everyday, the Christmas lunch menu stays the same for December). I might show the dishes on this blog later in the year, after Christmas.

What I love about Turner's is that there is no compromise in ingredients and in cooking. Even if Mr. Turner use cheaper ingredients and spend less time in preparing dishes, I don't think most of the people will notice. But he wouldn't. There is no trick at all. I feel that I am given all that he can do for the money I give, or, rather, more than I can expect for what I pay.

I already placed next reservation in January and am very much looking forward to that.

Ikon Cafe

Today, I went to Ikon Cafe for the first time. If you do not know, Ikon Cafe is a spanish tapas restaurant in Ikon Gallery in Brindley Place.



I had some business in the area and needed to finish lunch within 50 min. 50 min is a delicate time. It is too long for a quick sandwich break but too short for a proper lunch in a restaurant. I mean, we can finish eating 2 course in 50 min, but we have to leave a large margin of time in case they cannot serve us as promptly as we wish.

For this reason, I ordered a sandwich (bocadillo) from cold tapas menu thinking that it should not take much time to prepare it in the almost deserted restaurant (there were some other people, but they were there for coffee).

I was wrong. It took about 15 min to prepare. It was partly because there was a problem in the kitchen (so I was informed later) and partly because the sandwich wasn't to be served cold but should be warmed up, even though it was on the cold tapas menu.

Although I was slightly annoyed by that, I am most pleased to say it was well worth the wait. It was the most beautiful sandwich I have seen for a long time. My order was Serrano ham and Manchego Cheese sandwich. I was afraid that it was served only with ham and cheese, but actually it contained also salad leaves and sliced tomato. The most remarkable thing was the bread. It was focaccia style bread scented with fresh Rosemary, visibly made from continental flour. I was most happy to have found such a nice bread in Birmingham.



It was also enormous, and when I finish a half, I ran out of time and took away the second half.

The service was not very good (one of the waiters knowingly ignored two customers waiting to be served: it is most annoying) and the place isn't very comfortable (rather cold and not very good chairs), but the sandwich was very nice. It would be nice if I can try tapas dishes sometime.