Lifestyle: Restaurant Review – The Jam House, Birmingham

ONE of these days I’m going to leave a restaurant I’ve just reviewed feeling disappointed with what I’ve just eaten.

Or maybe not.

It could be that my critical faculties are not finely tuned enough to pick apart perfectly good dishes or perhaps it’s that the standard of food available at local restaurants is uniformly high.

Half way through an excellent meal at the Jam House in Birmingham’s St Paul’s Square I asked my dining companion what she thought a national newspaper food reviewer would find fault with. She considered for a moment and answered “lack of innovation”.

I think she’s right given that London food reviewers have been known to dismiss dishes as old hat (pulled pork being one) before they have barely reached the rest of the country.

But if I want innovation I’ll go to, well, Innovation Birmingham Campus. If I go to a restaurant I want good ingredients, skilfully crafted dishes, and a decent choice across meat, fish and vegetarian options.

I want it to taste good and to release endorphins of happiness even when I’ve been presented with a bill.

The Jam House ticks a lot of boxes for me.

Perhaps, best known as a live music venue, its food offering is also hitting the right notes (sorry about that).

Arriving at 7pm on a week night there were a few people around the bar but we were the first to enter the upstairs eating area. However, within half an hour many of the tables were occupied.

We were shown to one of the balcony tables overlooking the stage and indeed we were so early that that night’s act was busy rehearsing on the stage below.

The menu reveals that two courses are on offer for £28 and three for £35 (there is a £5 surcharge for a balcony table on Saturdays).

I’ve eaten here before and I’d love to know where the venue gets its waitresses. I can only assume there is a website called friendlyandhelpfulBrummies.com because they are invariably both of those things.

My dining companion chose the oak smoked salmon, new potato, rocket and saffron aoli to start while I went for the asparagus and pea risottp with poached egg and lemon oil.

Now if there’s one thing I like more than a risotto, it’s a risotto with an egg on the top.

This was a warming and stodgy (in a good way) affair with the egg blending beautifully with the underlying rice and veg. I would have happily eaten it as a main course.

My partner declared her salmon as very fresh, which I’ve noticed is a phrase salad eaters use quite a lot. However, having tried a bit I couldn’t disagree and the new potatoes (dipped in aioli) gave the dish a bit of body and contrasted well with the deliciously oaky fish.

My main course was chump of Spring lamb with a herb crust, confit potato, minted crushed peas, spring baby veg and rosemary red wine jus while my partner selected the pam fried fillet of cod with dauphinoise potato and a fricassee of gem lettuce, bacon and peas.

We also ordered a side of hand cut chips (£2.50).

The fish eater described her cod as boneless, meaty and a good-sized portion. It was light and fresh (that word again) and summery she declared and then raved about the bacon, pea and lettuce fricassee.

But my lamb was something else. It had that deliciously sweet flavour that Spring lamb provides and the thick jus, poured on the meat and served in a jug on the side, complemented it superbly. But it was the flavours in the herb crust that elevated the dish to something special.

With a potato cake and posh mushy peas it was a dish to savour and savour it I did (for all of the five minutes it took me to clear my plate).

Perhaps not surprisingly we had over-ordered and only half of the thick cut chips were polished off.

However, that didn’t stop us being persuaded by our waitress to try the apple and rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream and crème Anglaise. We agreed on a one portion, two spoons basis.

And we were extremely glad we did. My partner described the crumble as “more appley than rhubarbey” but that was a minor quibble as this was a divine dessert.

And the crème Anglaise can be summed up in three words: to die for.

One word of warning: you would need a large appetite to tackle the three courses here as the portions are very generous (especially if you’re planning on hitting the dancefloor later on).

But nobody was forcing us to be greedy and we had no complaints as we waddled out into the still sunny St Paul’s Square.

We had enjoyed more than an elegant sufficiency and all was right with the world.

Details of The Jam House can be found here.