Lifestyle: Restaurant Review – Amantia, Birmingham
LOCATION, location, location is the property mantra and it’s as true for restaurants as it is for businesses and homeowners.
For eateries in the centre of Birmingham, being slightly off the beaten track can make all the difference between success and failure.
I was thinking about this recently when I lunched at Spanish restaurant Amantia in Birmingham’s Bennett’s Hill.
On the face of it Bennett’s Hill is a good location given that it links New Street and Colmore Row – shoppers and business people – but the bottom end of the street doesn’t tend to be somewhere the business types inhabit and shoppers at this end of New Street may be more likely to pop in for lunch at the likes of Wagamama, Ask Italian or Bodega Cantina than a restaurant of this sophistication.
It’s perhaps telling that Adam’s restaurant, virtually opposite Amantia, is relocating to Waterloo Street which is only five minutes away but is within the business quarter.
There were only a few tables occupied on the lunchtime I visited Amantia and the managing director Marta Retenaga admitted that it would be nice if things were busier.
It’s a big old restaurant, which perhaps doesn’t help because tapas is usually associated with small, cosy, bustling establishments.
And I think it could more to market itself. There is a decent lunchtime offer of two tapas and a drink for £9.95 but I’m not sure many people are aware of it, other than those who pass by the restaurant.
One final point before I get onto the food. Amantia is pushing its proficiency in paella making.
They seem to be made from scratch, which is laudable, but this can take between 25 and 40 minutes which would make it difficult for business people to choose if they’ve only got a limited time for lunch.
They would perhaps do better to look at the tapas part of the menu which is extensive. Alongside the dishes many of us are used to from Spanish holidays – patatas bravas, albondigas (meatballs) and calamari, for example – are a number of less familiar options.
From this latter group my dining companion and I chose croquetas stuffed with salted cod, served with a homemade version of that satisfyingly piquant chilli sauce from the Canary Islands mojo rojo (£5.95) and datiles con bacon – dates filled with fried almonds and wrapped in crispy pancetta (£5.95).
Both were excellent. The croquettes with salted cod were mouth watering little parcels and combined beautifully with the mojo rojo which provided both added flavour and a nice little kick.
The datiles con bacon – a Spanish version of the familiar devils on horseback – were stunning – the merging together of dates, almonds and pancetta being a strong contender for Deal of the Year.
The tapas hit the spot perfectly and fulfilled the criteria of serving up interesting and, sometimes unusual, combinations of flavour in small portions.
We deliberately avoided going overboard on the tapas because we had ordered the paella de pollo y conejo (paella with chicken and rabbit) for two as our main course (£13.95 per person) and we knew this would be very filling.
As we waited for it to be cooked we enjoyed a cold glass of pinot grigio antico casale from Venice (£4.95 for a 175ml glass).
Pinot grigo tends to be my go to white wine if I can’t be bothered to peruse the wine list (or I’m unwilling to take a chance). It’s perhaps an unfashionable wine but I think it gets a bad press as it’s pretty consistent. The one we enjoyed at Amantia was decidedly quaffable.
The paella arrived after about 25 minutes and it was worth the wait. Big chunks of chicken and rabbit nestled in amongst peppers and green beans on a large bed of gorgeous, clammy yellow rice.
I’m a huge fan of paella and this was one of the best I’ve had in quite a while. The best in Birmingham? Might be a close call between here and Bar Estilo in the Mailbox.
What is for sure is that it contributed to one of the best Spanish meals I’ve had this year – which is saying something given I had ten days in Spain in the summer.
Amantia may need to so a bit more to get people through it’s door, but I would suggest that, with food as good as this, once they’ve tried it they will return.
Amantia is at 9-10 Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham, B2 5RS. Tel: 0121 643 3647.
