This Week I’ve Mostly Been...

This week I’ve mostly been a complete and utter fatty, I should really know better by now.

Review: Hickory’s Smokehouse, Castle Bromwich

Earlier in the year I paid a visit to Hickory's Smokehouse, in Castle Bromwich, and to be honest I was quite impressed. Walking into the place the smell of smoking and grilling meat hits you instantly and within seconds my mouth was watering. We hadn’t booked a table and, with it being fairly busy, we had a slight wait, this wasn't unexpected and thanks to the layout of the restaurant it wasn’t too bad. The restaurant has been separated into two main areas, a larger eating area and a smaller bar area, we walked over to the bar, found ourselves a couple of stools and ordered drinks. The bar has a decent selection of good quality beers, ciders, spirits and soft drinks to keep you ticking over while you wait, in fact I’d go as far as saying the selection was better than a lot of pubs I’ve visited as of late.

After waiting for about 40 minutes a member of staff collected us from the bar, took us to our table, spent a few minutes explaining the menu and left us to our deliberations. As there was 2 of us, and it being the first time either of us had visited, we went for the Smokehouse Platter to get a little taste of a bit of everything and, as it turned out, we were in for quite the treat. The platter came with several types of ribs, smoked beef sausage, beef brisket, pulled pork and beans, fries, slaw and pickles, we split everything down the middle and shared it out onto two plates. All the meat was absolutely gorgeous, so much time and effort had clearly been put into preparing, smoking and cooking each different cut that I honestly can’t fault a thing with any of them, even the pork and beans was absolutely amazing and I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending any of the meats we tried. The pickles and slaw were decent, they made a fairly good side and a reasonable counter point to the meat, though I would have personally preferred frickles or mac n’ cheese. Unfortunately they were slightly let down by the fries, they weren’t great, they were somewhat tasteless and greasy. They seemed like run of the mill frozen fries to me, the likes of which you’d expect to find in a chain pub, this is something that I found disappointing in a place that clearly puts so much effort into other aspects of their food and, seeing as the fries come with virtually every meal, I expected them to be better.

Overall I really do recommend this place, it’s a great place to eat with decent decor, a good atmosphere, a good menu and, for the most part, excellent quality food. Obviously some improvements could be made, but I left feeling full and happy with my menu choice.

Review: Tasty Plaice, Grand Central Birmingham

On Sunday afternoon I happened to be in Birmingham town centre, in Grand Central, waiting on a train home. Since I hadn't eaten anything all day, I decided to get some food and try out one of the many eateries in and around the local vicinity. Unfortunately the place I was really interested in hasn't opened yet so, as it had been several months since the last time I had takeaway fish and chips, I settled on Tasty Plaice.

Whilst I do have to compliment them on their service, it was fast, friendly and fairly efficient, the food itself was definitely disappointing. The first thing I noticed was that, despite being quite busy and assumingly having a high turnover, a lot of the food appeared to have been sat in the heated display for some time. This is never a good thing, it points to poor management, high food wastage and generally means that everything will be over cooked.

Ignoring my initial misgivings, and hoping the food in the display was only there for display purposes, I decided to go for haddock, chips and curry sauce. The chips themselves were black country style, meaning they're battered, and whilst this isn't inherently a bad thing, when done well black country chips are absolutely lovely, these were not good. They were cold, greasy and tasteless, they had clearly been being kept warm for quite some time as any crispness was long gone and it left them unpleasantly soggy. The curry was the only hot thing on the meal, unfortunately warmth was all it had going for it, it was watery and almost completely tasteless. The fish, the thing I had been looking forward to most, was by far the biggest disappointment. Happily the fish did not come out of display, however, when I cut into it, it was a very small, thin piece of fish coated in a lot of heavy batter, which was both soggy from standing and hard from being overcooked. The batter was so cold, hard and greasy that it was almost inedible, I ended up cutting a large proportion of the batter off and throwing it away. Inside the fish hadn't fared much better, it was almost cold and very dry. The fish had so little of the flavour that you would normally associate with fresh, fried haddock that I honestly couldn't have told what type of fish I was eating, it just tasted old.

Needless to say I won't be making a return visit and, as much as I liked the service, I won't be able to recommend this place to anyone. It definitely was not worth the nearly £7 it cost me for one of the worst portions of fish and chips I've had in a long time, I've had much better fish and chips at half this price.

Review: The Balti Garden, Castle Bromwich

Now this place was neither particularly good, nor was it particularly bad, it was just mediocre. I visited with pretty high expectations, having had it highly recommended by several local people, and I think this might be partially the reason why I found it somewhat lacking. Had I gone in just on a whim, not expecting good things, I think I would have had a better experience.

I went in with several people from the local area and we where literally the only customers in the place which, as it turned out, was probably a bit of a sign. Unfortunately the quietness meant that the waiter was super attentive, something which I found to be quite annoying. I do not need someone leaning over me so they can fill my glass with water from the carafe in the centre of the table, nor do I need them to rearrange the cutlery that I've just moved out of the way so I can have more space. Despite being slightly space invadery the service was good, the order was taken quickly and efficiently (even though one of our group ordered something that wasn't on the menu). The staff were friendly and polite and the food was cooked and delivered to the table quickly, as ordered, piping hot and all at the same time.

So far so good, unfortunately this is were it derailed ever so slightly. The food, whilst obviously freshly cooked, wasn't of the best quality. This isn't always an issue with Indian food, cheap meats and vegetables that have been well seasoned and cooked correctly will often make some of the best curries. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, I had a tandoori lamb biryani and it left a lot to be desired. The meat wasn't particularly well seasoned, it was cut into tiny pieces, meaning it had cooked too fast, and was somewhat chewy. The sauce and the rice weren't very flavourful and both seemed to be quite greasy.

Baring in mind this place was highly recommended, I left feeling a little let down and somewhat disappointed. I genuinely wanted it to be better, the restaurant itself was clean and seemed well looked after, the staff were attentive and friendly, it was the food itself that let it all down.

Review: The Forge, Derby

The Forge Bar & Gourmet Grill
1-6 Blacksmiths Yard, Sadler Gate, Derby DE1 3PD

The restaurant itself is a little hidden away so wasn't overly busy for a Friday night. Inside it's clean, bright and nicely laid out with a good number of tables for a fairly small place. The menu isn't overly priced and has a a fairly wide variety of items, including a couple of vegetarian options. The beer menu is impressive, though don't be surprised if they don't have your first or even second choice of drink.

After ordering, the food was brought out to the table fairly quickly. The food itself was of good quality, the chips were all clearly hand cut and nicely seasoned, the burgers looked to be hand made, had a really nice flavour and a decent texture. I personally prefer my burgers a little pink in the middle and although the burger wasn't pink, it wasn't overcooked either.

I'd personally recommend The Forge as a nice place to get a decent quality, not overly expensive meal and would happily visit again.