Londonderry Restaurant Guide

“Another one of Birmingham’s fine suburban restaurants located in the comfortably off area of Harborne” – this “real neighbourhood gem” is “situated in an old butcher’s shop and tiles on the wall depicting a pig date back to the restaurant’s former existence”. You can just opt for a modestly priced modern bistro menu or push the boat out and have eight courses for £100 per person. In either case, all reports acclaim “beautiful food” that’s “deserving of its popularity and reputation”. Top Menu Tip – “Signature Malloreddus, Orkney scallop with chorizo jam and lovely salt aged Herefordshire sirloin with roasted onion and unctuous beef cheek”.

“Simpsons remains the doyen of Birmingham restaurants and Luke Tipping continues to serve menus made up of lovely, often unimpeachable, dishes”, according to fans of this very long-established hotspot, which has been a go-to destination for celebratory Brummies for over 30 years. “To hold a Michelin Star for 26 of those years is an amazing accomplishment, and the kitchen team led by Luke and the wonderful front of house team create a memorable experience not to be forgotten”. Occupying a fine old Georgian house, “the spacious interior with the view of the leafy Edgbaston garden is delightful” and the service is “friendly but with just the right level of formality to ensure the diner feels that he/she is dining somewhere rather special”. “There are menus to suit all pockets” (starting from a lunchtime à la carte for £49.50 per person) but some say “the full ‘Prestige’ tasting menu [for £140 per person] is highly recommended as it usually contains the best dishes and the team are long practiced in delivering many great pleasures to the table”. Not quite all diners are bowled over though. A London visitor found “perfectly executed food, but no wow factor” and a more local long-term fan thought it “not what it was, if still a good night out”. Some slight disruption is maybe to be expected, as the restaurant went on the market in 2025 (no buyer announced as of October) – a number of reporters opine that “even with Andreas retiring, hopefully Luke will continue to lead the kitchen brigade for a few more years” and “carry on reaching the heights of excellence”. Top Menu Tip – “excellent lobster and king prawn raviolo with salsify and lobster and pepper sauce, magnificent roast sirloin pavé with all the usual Sunday lunch accompaniments well prepared and then a perfect soufflé (passion fruit) with Chantilly cream”.

“Excruciatingly atmospheric” is – we think! – meant as a massive compliment to Alex Claridge’s “Goth-black” restaurant with “at times pounding music” in “the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter”, where “he finds new and ever more interesting ways to bring old diners back again and again, as well as to intrigue and excite new visitors who have not previously made their way down the passageway between jewellery shops on Warstone Lane”. ‘Come as you are. Stay weird.’ is the motto and – love it or hate it – “everyone will have to admit that some remarkable food comes out from behind the pass of the very open kitchen and that’s even before they meet the larger-than-life sommelier and GM, the unique Sonal Clare who knows a thing or two about wine”. To give you a flavour, in autumn 2025, you can choose the more limited ‘Control’ menu at £65 per person, ‘Submission’ at £140 per person or the time-limited ‘Requiem’ menu, which includes puddings such as ‘Oh B*ll*cks’ (being a mix of Hojicha, Plum and Honey) all promising ‘Minimalist cooking, maximum flavour’. Top Menu Tip – “Two of the best fish courses of the year: stunning steamed Pollack and razor clam, only superseded by a blockbuster Red Mullet fillet, perfectly charred over hot coals and served with a rich smoked eel veloute”.

2024 Review: This “glitzy post-modern Indian” in the Jewellery Quarter serves “solid accomplished food” in a “stunning dining room”. Now 21 years old, it was an early pioneer of ambitious modern British-Indian cuisine but these days faces “lots of competition” in this field – not least from founding chef Aktar Islam, who left to open Opheem (see also).

“I hate Birmingham… This is worth going to Birmingham for!!!” – “Aktar’s cooking sets the bar for modern British Indian cuisine” nowadays (especially since Michelin gave it a second star in 2024) and – as one of our Top-10 most commented-on restaurants outside London in our annual diners’ poll – all reports on his “smart, chic and spectacularly lit” Jewellery Quarter HQ acclaim it as “an amazing experience from entering the restaurant to the final delicious mouthful”. His food “is a clever take on Indian food as we have come to know it in the UK”, “redefining our expectations” and “taking it to an entirely new level”; and is “enhanced by the distinct style of the matching wine flights of head sommelier Stefan”. “You feel in good hands with the staff” (“such kindness permeates through all that they do”) and “the meal is unrushed” with “small, exquisite dishes served over the course of the evening”. You are advised to choose the five-course menu or ten-course one based on how long you want your meal to last: the former is £140 per person and the latter £185 per person. Top Menu Tip – “The apple macaron with chutney and liver parfait snack is the most amazing thing”.

“Opened by Ben Tesh and his partner Lucy Hanson in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter back in 2017” this small venue perhaps “shuns the razzamatazz of some of the city’s other smart restaurants but just gets on and serves a menu (short- or long- tasting) which is finely judged and made up of clever and unimpeachable dishes”. “Ben quietly prepares his fine and lovely dishes to be served mainly by Lucy in a quiet, friendly and knowledgeable way. All is calm, with the sunlight streaming through the large window; the seating is comfortable, the decor restrained”. Top Menu Tips – “enjoyable signature canapé of chicken liver parfait in a burnt onion crisp, Cornish cod with a punchy lobster head sauce, Wagyu with the texture of butter nicely paired with grilled, marinated endive and ‘yesterday’s sourdough’ cake with caramel and cobnuts with cobnut ice cream”.

This “favourite old-style Indian restaurant in the city centre” has picked up a slew of awards over the years, and has “décor which takes you back to the style of upmarket Indian restaurants” of yore: its 18th-century artefacts, carved stone elephants and 300-year-old doors all part of an impressively plush £2million interior. “There are various menus, including thalis” (or rather ‘bottomless Thali dining’, if you don’t mind a late lunch or very early supper) “and generally there are dishes to suit all tastes” – the latter focussing on northern India with nods to Kenya and Mumbai.

In a large (300+ covers) unit at the foot of a modern block near Birmingham’s town hall, this scion of this all-conquering chain lacks the period interiors that so often characterise the group’s successful spin on the theme of 1940s Bombay, but still inspires high ratings for its ambience nonetheless. But perhaps as a result, ratings in Brum are a fraction more middle-of-the-road than in some other locations, albeit with very consistent feedback that it’s an “efficient” operation, with “a good variety of flavoursome choice at good value prices” (“especially their breakfast/brunch”). Or, perhaps, when it comes to curry, Brummies are just hard to impress?

Nonagenarian singer Asha Bhosle, who was name-checked in Cornershop’s hit ‘Brimful of Asha’, owns this large, “high quality Indian restaurant in central Birmingham” (which also has siblings in Manchester and most countries in the Gulf); and which is “beloved by a roster of celebs, whose pictures adorn the walls”. It inspires a mixed bag of feedback – reports generally agree the food is “interestingly spiced, if somewhat pricey”. Less reliable is the service, which is at times “hopeless”.

“Birmingham’s finest restaurant in a restaurant scene increasingly dominated by mediocre and unimaginative offerings” is, say fans, Adam & Natasha Stokes’s “understated, smart and professional” destination, which is celebrating its tenth year in these three-storey premises (incorporating private dining and chef’s table) in the city-centre. Under chef Adam and the ‘other Adam’, head chef Adam Wilson, it produces “complicated” and accomplished cuisine, be it from the à la carte menu (for £89 per person), the five-course or seven-course dinner menus (for £109 and £139 per person respectively) or cheaper lunch menus (with three or five courses, for £60 or £85 per person). All reports this year again rate it well, but a striking number of basically positive accounts also include drawbacks in our latest annual diners’ poll. One regular feels that “recently, it’s begun to feel too cool and elegant and the impeccable service can be slightly intimidating” creating a more “sterile” ambience. Or that, “the food is very good but less striking than before” (“some dishes risked the fine main ingredients being swamped by the punchier flavours of some of the subsidiary flavours”). Just a rough patch?

2022 Review: Sicilian-born Carlo Distefano founded his now international chain thirty years ago with this Brum institution, creating a template of classic upscale Italian food served with immaculate professionalism in a smart and “romantic atmosphere”. He now has 22 restaurants in England and branches in the Middle East and Bangkok.

Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan was – as of mid 2025 – rumoured to be on the verge of buying a £1 billion stake in Richard Caring’s restaurant empire, of which this famous brasserie chain is the crown jewel. Presumably, he’s more interested in ‘rolling out’ the brand in The Gulf and beyond rather than dropping by for a Salmon Fishcake and ‘Ivy Chocolate Bombe’, but if he’d asked the opinion of our annual diners’ poll, we’re not sure that he’d sign on the dotted line. “How can a restaurant with this heritage produce such uninspired, tick-box food?” is a question merited by its poor ratings, ditto what explains the “very slow and disinterested service”? The answer may be that “you don’t come here for the food, obviously” but for the “gorgeous” interior design and “picturesque” locations that continue to underpin their appeal. Let’s hope for the Sheikh’s sake that the middle classes of the Arab World are as undiscerning as those from the UK!

“Well-cooked seafood in the centre of Birmingham” wins solid (if scant) feedback on this “consistent” outfit, where you can eat in the “quiet and relaxing” downstairs dining area or “smart” Aphrodite’s Bar above. The name is a clue to their speciality (coming either natural or dressed), but there’s also a “good range” of other items (“not all of them fish”), and one reporter who admits “succumbing to the delicious and very reasonably priced Chateaubriand roast Sunday lunch” has no regrets. There’s a pricier older sibling, Adam’s, on Bennetts Hill, if you really want to push the boat out.

Nisha Katona’s Liverpool-based operation has two branches in London (Charlotte Street and Westfield Stratford) offering her “very tasty” Indian street food – “with the occasional hint of raw spice”. The Lancashire-born former barrister launched the business in 2014 and now has 28 outlets around the country, whose “enjoyable, authentic food” is “really great for a chain”.

Veggies should take note of this ‘Modern, Plant-focused, Casual Dining Restaurant’ – a five-year-old venue, within Great Western Arcade in the heart of Birmingham City Centre. Chefs Adrian Luck and Tony Cridland provide tasting menus, all meat-free, of either four courses for £50 per person or six courses for £70 per person, and at lunchtime there’s also an ‘express’ option.

2023 Review: Rectangular pizza cooked in 90 seconds is the draw at this top local pizza pit-stop, which is consistently well-rated: choose a base sauce and cheese and then zhoosh it up with various toppings.

“Brilliant sushi, always creative and beautifully served” is the attraction at this venue that is quite open about not being authentically Japanese – ‘gaijin’ means ‘foreigner’. A tiny 10-seat counter operation when it opened eight years ago, it took over the tattoo parlour next door to add additional table seating, and these days MasterChef: The Professionals 2021 champion Dan Lee (Brummie-born of English/Irish/Cantonese descent) offers what is billed as Birmingham’s first 15-course ‘omakase’ tasting menu.