Top chef prepares to launch Birmingham restaurant

Top chef Aktar Islam is preparing to open the doors to Italian restaurant Legna in Birmingham city centre in November.

Legna, which will employ around 40 people, is the latest venture from Islam’s expanding AI Restaurants, following the group’s Indian restaurant Opheem, which is next to Legna in Summer Row.

The sites are expected to benefit from much stronger footfall once the Paradise development opens up next year

The main menu at the 70-cover restaurant will focus on eight starters and eight main dishes. Legna, which is Italian for firewood, will offer a selection of delicious hot and cold snacks, such as salt cod fritters, cured meats and olives.

Islam fell in love with Italian food when he worked at the former Quod restaurant in Birmingham nearly 20 years ago.

He said: “This is the culmination of a dream for me and I am so excited about welcoming guests to Legna. It truly will be like no other Italian restaurant in the city, both in its vision and its delivery. We’ll stay true to traditional Italian cooking techniques; however, our dishes will have the flair and innovation that diners have experienced at Opheem.”

“Our chefs will focus on a relatively small number of great dishes to ensure customers’ expectations are always matched and hopefully exceeded. Gone are the days of over-long menus. Customers now want authenticity and quality, not overload.

“It was while working with Italian food that I learned about the beautiful simplicity of ingredients like ripe tomatoes, single estate olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar and the finest buffalo mozzarella. Great Italian food is all about letting the ingredients speak for themselves, and this will be the philosophy at Legna.”

Legna occupies the site of the former FSK restaurant, which was operated by Islam as Mi Amore while the long-term plan for Legna was developed.