Lifestyle: Restaurant Review – Opus, Birmingham

THE reason I could never be a ‘proper’ restaurant reviewer is that if I dine somewhere and like a particular dish I tend to order it again the next time I visit.

Which is all well and good but it doesn’t give you – dear reader – an idea of the range of a menu at a particular establishment nor whether it is especially good at meat dishes but not so hot on fish, say.

The reason I mention this is that I’m just back from a lunchtime visit to Opus, the eatery in Birmingham’s Cornwall Street which is as close as you can get to a ‘canteen’ for the Colmore Business District.

Not that you get cooking and service of this quality in any canteen I know.

But once again I found myself ordering the Brixham sole (not to be confused with Brixton Soul which was CD I played a lot in the ‘80s).

Most of Opus’s fish seems to come from a supplier in the picturesque Devon fishing town and long may it continue. I started with a tian (no, me neither) of Brixham crab with a vierge (no, me neither) dressing and winter salad (£10.50).

There’s nothing quite like the taste of crab for reminding you of days at the coast and this was a powerful and delicious little starter that made you want more. I could practically hear the seagulls while devouring it.

And more was to come from Brixham with the aforementioned sole, served with sauté potatoes and caper and herb butter (£16.50) I added a side of buttered spinach (£3), squeezed fresh lemon all over the fish and settled down to one of my favourite plates of up-market comfort food. Absolutely delicious.

Luckily for you – in terms of getting an idea what else is on the menu – I wasn’t dining alone and a number of my lunch companions chose the slow cooked shoulder of Cornish lamb with Lyonnaise potatoes and creamed Lincolnshire leeks (£18.50).

They described it as falling away from the bone (the lamb, presumably) and containing just the right amount of fat.

But now I must turn to a thing of beauty – the honey and vanilla crème brulee (£7) I had for afters.

I’m not a big one for puds but as everyone else was going for it I thought it would be churlish not to join in the dessert-fest.

And boy am I glad I did. This creamy and moreish little fellow was the best crème brulee I’ve ever eaten. Cracking through the caramelised topping to get through to the joyous concoction underneath and tasting that wonderfully honey induced vanilla delight was something that left me with a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

A dining companion had the iced rhubarb and custard parfait with rhubarb compote and almond brandy snap (also £7) and was left virtually speechless afterwards.

All he could say was “I love rhubarb” which isn’t a great help when you’re trying to have a news conference.

The wines at Opus are always well chosen in my opinion and we had a bottle of the Dr Renwick Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (£29) and a bottle of Max Reserva Chilean Merlot 2009 (also £29).

I can’t speak for the red but Dr Renwick had prescribed for us a beautifully fruity tipple with all the notes of fresh fruit you would expect from a top quality New Zealand sav blanc.

All in all there was nothing I could fault about this lunch and I think you would be hard pushed to better it anywhere in Birmingham.

The cooking at Opus is exceptionally good and blends brilliantly the innovative with the traditional.

To my mind it’s still top of the tree as far as the business district goes.

But – no offence intended to the Brixham fishermen – I promise to try something different next time.