670 Grams
Birmingham, West Midlands
If eating while squeezed into a monochrome graffiti-themed space with pumping rap music is not your idea of a good time, then Kray Treadwell’s ‘absolutely unique’ vision of what constitutes a night out is not for you. Occupying a two-floor shop unit in Digbeth’s Custard Factory (a refurb of the old Bird’s plant), it’s a tight fit with a tiny kitchen-bar on the mezzanine floor, just big enough for Treadwell and his deputy. As for the food, time spent at Michael O’Hare’s The Man Behind the Curtain is an influence, but the young chef is clearly finding his own voice. 'Almost everything I ate from the 17 bites/servings of food was delicious,’ noted one visitor. Ingredients are reimagined and reinvigorated, whether a light and crisp lobster doughnut with black sesame and a dot of wasabi served, challengingly, on a ceramic tongue, or a grilled stick of pineapple, hot and lacquered with kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce), or a delicately spiced rice bhaji with cured salmon tartare and a ‘full of flavour’ smoked tomato consommé. Less daring, and more elemental, is a refreshing langoustine tartare with scallop (blowtorched to send a little pulse of heat into the mix) with caviar and a soy-honey consommé cut with coriander oil – nothing fussy about it, just excellent cooking. Or there’s the ‘half-time balti pie’, a tiny one-bite tart inspired by pies served at local football matches, but filled with truffle and foie gras and given heft with a hit of warming chilli. To conclude, a chocolate crémeux with candied orange, a light olive-oil sponge, and a whipped white chocolate and honey cream is impressively rendered, though pieces of puffy pork scratching seem like an odd idea. With just three whites, three reds and a rosé – all of them fruit-first easy drinkers at £45 a bottle or £12.50 a glass – the one-size-fits-all wine list lags some distance behind the food.
Dining Information:
Counter seating, Family friendly, Credit card required, Deposit required, Pre-payment required
The Custard Factory, 4 Gibb Street, Birmingham, West Midlands B9 4AU
07985 637139
