Visit: 24 February 2023, dinner for eight people
Price: **
Website: https://www.the-oyster-club.co.uk/
The Review:
I returned to the Oyster Club in Birmingham for dinner. See my previous reviews for restaurant pictures and details The Oyster Club by Adam Stokes June 2019 and The Oyster Club by Adam Stokes December 2019
The menu mostly focused on fish, as you would expect, but there were a few non-fish dishes available, such as steak and chips, lamb rump, or roast pumpkin and feta salad. There was a selection of oysters and caviars. The oysters were served fresh or dressed, and the tempura oyster was a favourite choice for anybody not sure about eating them. There was a Snack Menu, with dishes such as tempura king prawns, smoked cod’s roe and ox cheek croquettes, priced from £4.50 to £12.50. The Small Plates menu included dishes such as shellfish bisque, charred red prawns and roast pumpkin and feta salad, priced at £16.50 to £19.50. The Fish Plates menu included dishes such as hake, Dover sole and lobster, priced at £24.50 up to £70 for a whole lobster. Then there was a Large Plates menu, with dishes such as fish pie, lamb rump, and fish and chips, priced between £18 and £39 for s fillet steak. There was also a small selection of desserts.
The wine list had a selection of champagnes, twenty-five different red wines (priced from £22 to £95), five fine red wines (priced from £210 to £1135), over thirty different white wines (priced from £30 to £82 per bottle), and eight fine white wines (from £115 to £605). Cocktails and a wide selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were also available.
We ordered a number of different starer courses from the oyster menu, snack and small plates. These included from the Oyster Menu, three tempura oysters with wasabi mayonnaise (£12.50), from the Snack Menu, smoked cod’s roe on sourdough with sage (£9.50), smoked cheddar and truffle gougeres (£9.50), and the tempura king prawns with a sriracha dipping sauce (a Thai spicy sauce made from red jalapeños, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and salt) (£11.50). From the Small Plates Menu, we tried the shellfish bisque with a saffron rouille (£16.50), the classic steak tartare with Arlington white egg yolk, and sourdough breadcrumbs (£19.50), and the pollack crudo with avocado, grapefruit, salmon row and coriander (£19.50).
For main courses we ordered from the Fish Plates Menu, the half lobster with a bearnaise sauce (£40), the half lobster with tagliolini (£40), and the Dover sole meuniere, capers, lemon, parsley and brown butter (£45). From the Large Plates Menu, the fish pie with egg and leek (£28), and the beer battered fish with mushy peas, tartare sauce and triple cooked chips. We also ordered side dishes of triple cooked chips (£5.50) and honey roasted carrots (£4.50).
From the dessert menu we ordered the apple tart tatin for two people, with vanilla ice cream (£24), which was exceptional, the dark chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice cream (£12), and the lemon tart with candied lemon and crème fraiche (£11.50).
The food was very good, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Our waiter was very attentive, knowledgeable and helpful. This is still one of the great restaurants in Birmingham centre, and one that I look forward to returning to soon.
The Menus:
The Dessert menu:
The Food:
The People:
The new Head Chef is Stuart Langdell, appointed following Rosanna Moseley going on maternity leave recently.
After leaving the Staffordshire regiment following a major injury, Stuart applied for a job at Marco Pierre White’s The Yew Tree Inn, Newbury, Berkshire in 2010 as a commis chef position
Then he worked as a demi chef de partie at Simpson’s in Birmingham. After a year at Simpsons, Stuart then set up the Pear Tree in Whitely, Wiltshire with Marco Pierre White, becoming head chef.
In 2015, Stuart joined the Cross at Kenilworth as sous chef, then moved on as head chef at the Duncombe Arms in Derbyshire, where he was awarded 2AA rosettes and a Plate Michelin recommendation.
In 2020, he joined Purecraft Bar & Kitchen as Head Chef. Then, in 2022, Stuart joined the Oyster Club as head chef.