Fall in love at restaurants across the West Midlands
Last year, Valentine’s Day was celebrated from the comfort of our own homes with takeaways, meal kits or in our own kitchen.
Now, on the day dedicated to love, restaurant doors are open across the West Midlands, ready to fuel us with aphrodisiacs.
Here’s a list of places with special Valentine’s Day dining experiences for you to surprise your significant other.
Dessert at The Belfry
The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield is offering a romantic candlelit seven-course dinner and live music in its Ryder Grill on the 14th of February.
For £79 per couple, the extensive menu includes dishes such as herb-crusted north sea halibut. Noisette of English, shoulder bolognaise and roast cauliflower steak served with pickled shallots that can be paired with wines, champagne and cocktails.
For those who want to extend their visit, they can follow dinner with a stay at The Belfry, with prices starting from £99.
Hawkstone Hall
Another feast awaits at Shrewbury’s Hawkstone Hall & Gardens. The Grade I listed 18th-century mansion sources much of its produce from its own kitchen garden.
It’s offering a seven-course taster menu for £90 each and features dishes such as lobster, ravioli, smoked duck and beef fillet.
Guests can also book an overnight stay and explore the 88-acre grounds in wellies hired from reception, or hire a bike to go in search of the four resident llamas. If they prefer to stay inside, guests can book a private screening in the onsite cinema, arrange an in-room Elemist treatment or visit the gym equipped with Peleton bikes.
Bedroom at Hawstone Hall
They can book the Valentine’s package for £400 per couple which includes a stay with breakfast, the seven-course taster menu, a glass of fizz on arrival, a bottle of chilled prosecco in the room with some homemade truffles.
Lichfield’s The Boat Inn is another restaurant offering a tasting menu. For £125, customers can enjoy a six-course tasting menu that features roast scallops, oxtail agnolotti, cod loin and Cotswold lamb fillet.
Opening in 2017, The Boat Inn is Lichfield’s only restaurant to hold 3 AA rosettes. Chef and owner Liam Dillon carried an extensive refurbishment in 2020 which now has an expanded chef’s table with a new conservatory roof and bar.
The Boat Inn, Lichfield
Finishing touches are now being made to Dillon’s aquaponics system which will allow the team to have fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs all through the year, with a view to becoming organic where possible.
Michelin starred, The Cross at Kenilworth is opening especially for Valentine’s Day.
A special tasting menu curated by Adam Bennett, the chef director includes ravioli of hand-dived, scallops, fillet of Hereford beef and crispy duck egg for £130 each. A wine flight can also be included for £105 per person as well.
The Cross at Kenilworth
Boasting three AA rosettes The Cross is housed in a Grade II listed 19th-century inn. It has been restored to retain original features alongside contemporary touches. The main dining room is a former school room that leads into a bar, which was previously a butcher’s shop.
Owner Andreas Antona also runs Simpsons in Edgbaston.
A Valentine’s lunch and dinner menu await at this Michelin-starred grade-II listed Georgian restaurant. For £95pp the lunch menu presents cured salmon, BBQ lobster and roe deer and for £145pp, the dinner menu adds to lunchtime with a tasting experience.
Also created specifically for Valentines Day are cocktails named Rhubarb Kiss, Cupid and Sweetheart.
