Award: One Michelin star, three AA Rosettes
Visit: 4 June 2025, lunch for two
Price: **
Website: https://www.adamsrestaurant.co.uk/
Review
Adam’s was opened in 2013 by Adam Stokes and his wife Natasha. The original venue was in Bennetts Hill, before the team moved to bigger premises in New Oxford House, Birmingham City Centre in January 2016. Now the restaurant covers three floors, with the thirty cover dining room on the ground floor, as well as a private dining room available for up to eighteen guests, and a chefs table in the kitchen. The restaurant and bar decor reflects the building’s art deco heritage. Adam Stokes is owner / executive chef, and head chef is Adam Wilson.
Check out my earlier reviews for Adam’s here:
A la carte and tasting menus are served lunch and dinner. There was a lunch menu with three or five courses (£60 or £85), a seven course tasting menu (£139), a five course tasting menu (£109), or a la carte menu (£89). There is an extensive wine list with over 400 labels, and wine pairings are available – Option 1 was £95 and Option 2 was £145 per head. Corkage was also available at £45 for still wine and £55 for sparkling. We chose the seven course tasting menu, and the excellent Stargazer Riesling, from Tasmania’s Derwent Valley.
To start the lunch we were served three canapes. There was a roast lamb dinner in a breadcrumbed ball, which encompassed all the flavours of a lamb dinner, even with a touch of mint sauce. This was very good, with excellent flavours. There was a potato crisp with seaweed dust that was used to scoop up an espuma topped with a shaving of black Summer truffle. Finally there was a tart with tuna tartar, apple blossom gel and apple blossom vinegar. All of these were good, especially the lamb dinner.
There were two sourdough breads served. Both the white and multigrain had excellent texture and crispy crust. These were served with a choice of Jersey cream, beef fat and long pepper butter, or Lincolnshire whipped butter with sea salt on top. There was also a ginger and Bovril-flavoured brioche roll, glazed with Bovril, which was slightly sweet. The roll was unusual and very enjoyable.
The first course was red mullet, served with Isle of White heritage tomatoes, borage, Oscietra caviar, and some gold leaf for decoration, with a sauce of clarified tomato essence, sanbaizu (a vinegar, mirin, and soy sauce dressing), and Chardonnay vinegar. The mullet was perfectly cooked and the tomatoes had very good flavours with a very refreshing tomato essence.
Next was a La Bresse squab pigeon breast, with oabika (an amber coloured cocoa fruit concentrate, made from 100% cocoa fruit pulp), peanuts, and a black kosho sauce, served with a pigeon offal croustade with pigeon heart shaved over it. This was another very tasty course. The pigeon melted in the mouth and the peanut accompaniment complimented it perfectly. The crispy offal croustade was outstanding.
Our next course was a veal sweetbread, with toasted quinoa, horseradish gel, a lovage sauce, and an Ajoblanco (a Spanish cold soup made with bread, crushed almonds, garlic, water, and olive oil). The sweetbread was perfectly cooked, slightly crispy on the outside, and soft and melting inside. The sweetbread glaze had Asian influences, and this worked very well.
Wild turbot was served with a crab sauce, an artichoke stuffed with crab meat with Oscietra caviar on top, asparagus puree, and a red pepper condiment. The turbot was carefully cooked and had good flavour, and the crab sauce was a perfect accompaniment. This was another very enjoyable course.
The main course was salt marsh lamb, served with a wild garlic puree, chickpea and onion jelly, a morel mushroom stuffed with duck liver mousse and morteau smoked sausage, burnt onion tuilles, and a lamb sauce. On the side, there was a ramekin of ragu made from the lamb sweetbread and morteau sausage, topped with lamb fat. The lamb was extremely tender, and the stuffed mushroom and the ragu had excellent flavours. This was a very good lamb dish.
The pre-dessert was lavender parfait coated in white chocolate, finger lime, vanilla, namelaka (a velvety, slightly firm style of ganache), pecan candy, with citrus sugar sprinkled on top. It was served on a stick, like a chocolate ice cream. This was an unusual pre-dessert with great textures and flavours.
The dessert was raspberries, raspberry sorbet, pistachio cookies, yoghurt, raspberry sauce, and lemon verbena. This was a great combination that highlighted the flavours of the raspberries very well.
Finally we were served two petit fours. There was a Portuguese custard tart, called a Pasteis de nata, that had a flaky crust and sweet custard filling, and another with a coconut crumble base, lime marshmallow centre, and a chocolate ganache top. Both of these were very enjoyable.
Service throughout the meal was very good. Our waitress was very friendly and took the time to explain the dishes to me. This was a very enjoyable lunch with great food. Adam’s is definitely a venue you should consider if you are planning a meal in Birmingham.
The Menus:
The 7-course tasting menu:
The lunch menu:
The 5-course tasting menu:
The Food:
The Bar:
