The Best Restaurants in the Midlands

Hambleton Hall is the best restaurant for food in the Midlands.  The Rutland establishment topped the regional table of The Sunday Times Food List, with an average score of 9.61 out of 10.

The Sunday Times Food List is based on food quality alone and is chosen by 8,000 diners-out from across theUK.  Second in the local list is La Becasse, followed closely by Mr Underhill’s.  Both establishments are in Ludlow.

The Sunday Times Food List for The Midlands

1        Hambleton Hall                    Rutland                        9.61

2        La Becasse                              Ludlow                          9.49

3        Mr Underhill’s                      Ludlow                          9.46

4        Restaurant Sat Bains         Nottingham                9.33

5        Fischers at Baslow Hall     Baslow                          9.33

Karen Robinson, Editor of The Sunday Times Food List, says “We’re delighted for everyone that made the list.  It’s a great achievement as The Food List is the ultimate taste test.  It represents the views of the food-loving public rather than a clique of food critics or anonymous restaurant inspectors telling us where to go and spend our money.”

A spokesperson from Rémy Martin said:  “We are so honoured to be able to support the crème of the British restaurant scene.”

Other interesting statistics from this year’s Sunday Times Food List include:

Half of the top 100 restaurants are outside London(last year it was only 40%)

• The number of Asian eateries in the List has fallen by half
• There are 31 new entries on the list

The List is compiled for The Sunday Times by Harden’s, the only UK company specialising in publishing independent restaurant reviews based on regular surveys of diners-out.  This year more than 8,000 people, including many Sunday Times readers, submitted more than 80,000 restaurant reports. The Sunday Times’ rankings are based solely on the food the restaurant serves, though the ratings for ambience were used in the event of a tie.

Sponsored by Rémy Martin Fine Champagne Cognac, the 32-page supplement is the ultimate league table for food.

The full Sunday Times Food List, listing the top 100 restaurants in Britain, will be published in The Sunday Times on October 30.  This, together with the next 100 rated restaurants, will also appear online on Sunday October 30 (from 0001) at http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/thefoodlist.

Birmingham’s New Dining Experience – Spiceal Street

The city’s newest dining destination, Spiceal Street at Bullring, is to open on Thursday 24^th November.

The new street of restaurants, located in the St Martin’s Square area, is set to shake-up Birmingham’s dining scene as it welcomes two new restaurant brands to the city, ChaoBaby and Browns Bar and Brasserie. Thai banquet-style restaurant, ChaoBaby, adds a new dimension to the dining out experience in the form of exciting live food theatre as diners watch on whilst food is cooked and prepared in the open kitchen.

The second of the new restaurants is the utterly stylish Browns Bar and Brasserie (officially opens 25^th November), which offers a range of signature cocktails and a blend of classic and modern dishes. Both are joined by locally-run handmade burger Co., which opens its flagship restaurant on Spiceal Street, offering shoppers only the finest and freshest ingredients.

A spectacular performance between human and machine at 11am on Thursday 24th November will mark the opening of new dining quarter before ChaoBaby and handmade burger Co. open to the public. The unique performance follows a partnership with Arts Council as part of the Arts Nation initiative, and has been created by Leamington Spa based dance theatre company Motionhouse. Visitors can expect to see three diggers and six dancers unite in a mesmerising dance routine. Dancing with extraordinary grace, the machines carve the space, pivot and wheel their human partners whom they lift, nudge and shift in a poetic display to celebrate the completion of Spiceal Street.

The celebration will continue throughout the day as the new restaurants take to St Martin’s Square to offer visitors the chance to sample their food. There will also be music provided by DJs during the day followed by another atmospheric performance from Motionhouse at 6.30pm.

Tim Walley, General Manager at Bullring, commented: “We’re pleased to announce the opening date for Spiceal Street and we’re sure our visitors are too. As a centre we’re famed for our strong fashion offering and with the addition of Spiceal Street we’re confident that we can say the same about our catering offer too.”

The three new restaurants will sit alongside the existing five eateries in the vicinity, including Nandos and Pizza Hut, which have both been extended as part of the new development, and Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, Jamie’s Italian, which opened during late 2010.

A new water feature, containing poetry co-written by two local poets, Simon Turner and popular spoken word performer, Steve Camden (aka Polarbear), a green wall and a public art commission created by Wolfgang Buttress, will also be unveiled on the day.

 The new dining quarter will open late into the evening allowing visitors to dine after the centre’s shops have closed at the city’s new dining and socialising hotspot.

For further information about Spiceal Street please visit www.spicealstreet.co.uk.

Midlands Foodie Events – October 2011

Apologies for the delay in our monthly events page – its all been a bit hectic here recently.

Nevertheless here is a round up of the foodie events happening in the Midlands during October. If we have missed any out, please email us at midsfoodbloggers@hotmail.co.uk and we will add it to the list.

Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October

The annual East Midlands Food and Drink festival takes place in Melton Mowbray with lots of local producers, live demonstrations and with the Family, Food and Fun Zone there is something for all the family.

Friday 14th to Sunday 23rd October. 

The Birmingham Food Festival hits the city with festival menus, special offers & over 100 food filled events throughout the city.

Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October 

The Flavours of Herefordshire Food Festival return to Hereford Race course with demonstrations by Jean-Christophe Novelli and some local chefs, a food pavilion with over 70 local food and drink producers and a Farmers’ market.

Don’t forget to let us know of any upcoming events in the next few months that would interest our readers.