Food and drink, restaurants in Birmingham & West Midlands

PUB GRUB: Toby Carvery, Robin Hood, Stratford Road, Hall Green B28 9ES Dec 03 2010

IDON’T know about you, but £99.90 sounds to me like an astronomical amount of money to spend having a meal out.Read

PUB GRUB: Beefeater, The Plough, Solihull B90 4EP Nov 26 2010

LIKE a football manager whose team let’s him down every week, we’ve been on a bit of a bad run recently.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Food House, Frankfurt Market. Nov 26 2010

MY SERVER dropped half a sausage on the floor as she dealt with the customer ahead of me and gave him a fresh one.Read

Cheap as Chips: Beeches, 269 Beeches Road, Great Barr B42 2QS. Tel 0121 366 6480. Nov 19 2010

YOU always assume that chip shop staff will be kept nice and warm in winter.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Stella's, 5 Garretts Green Lane, Birmingham\nB26 2HR\n\n Nov 12 2010

GIVEN this corner shop’s commanding position, it’s important to look good for the sake of Yardley’s local residential area.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Andy's Fazeley Fish Bar, 17-19 Coleshill St, Fazeley B78 3RB. Tel 01827 284 940 Nov 05 2010

CHIP eaters are like elephants – we never forget.Read

PUB GRUB ON TOUR: The Lamb & Flag, Rhayader, Powys LD6 5BU - hand for Elan Valley tours! Nov 05 2010

REGULAR readers will note how I’ve struggled to find a decent meal recently at three pubs in Knowle, Harborne and Sutton Coldfield.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Happy Sole, 14 Bridge Street, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire DY13 8UX. Tel 01299 827607 Oct 29 2010

THE delays at the bottleneck T-junction between Stourport and Kidderminster must frustrate motorists every day.Read

PUB GRUB: The White Horse, Whitehouse Common Road, Sutton Coldfield, B75 6HD. Tel 0121 378 0149. Oct 22 2010

WEEK three of my autumnal journey into despair.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Mirpur Fish & Chips, Bordesley Green East, Stechford B33 8QB Oct 22 2010

HAVE you ever realised that your ears can tell you exactly what sort of chips you are going to get?Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Stirchley Kebab House, 1262 Pershore Road, Stirchley B30 2XU. Tel - 0121 433 3069. Oct 15 2010

THIS is the sort of kebab house that has to keep the local neighbours satisfied in order to survive and thrive.Read

PUB GRUB: The Old House At Home, 193 Lordswood Road, Harborne, Birmingham B17 8QP. Tel 0121 427 8756 Oct 15 2010

IT’S ONE of life’s great mysteries why this attractive pub in leafy Harborne never seems to live up to its outstanding potential.Read

Punjabi Haveli review Oct 08 2010

NOT long ago the premises now occupied by Punjabi Haveli were Liaison – a fine-dining restaurant of real quality.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: The Moby Dick Fish Bar, 87 Turves Green, Birmingham B31 4AH\nTel 0121 477 5332 Oct 08 2010

AN ESTEEMED colleague from Harborne had no idea where Turves Green was until I told him about my latest fine chips find.Read

The Black Boy, Warwick Road, Knowle. B93 OEB. Tel 01564 772655. Oct 08 2010

PERHAPS it was appropriate that The Black Boy was under what a no-nonsense meteorologist would call a big, black cloud when we arrived.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Atlantis Fish Bar, Birmingham Road, Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield. Oct 01 2010

PERHAPS Oscar Wilde knew of only one Atlantis buried under the sea, but I’ve now dived into two in the West Midlands alone by following his maxim: “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”Read

Pub Grub: The Peacock Inn, Icknield Street, Forhill, Kings Norton B38 OEH. Tel 01564 823232. Oct 01 2010

JUST eight miles out of central Birmingham, you’ll find this pub is right in the middle of a beautifully-rural nowhere.Read

PUB GRUB: Wylde Green, Birmingham Road, Wylde Road, Sutton Coldfield B72 1DH. Tel 0121 373 1340, website: www.hardyshouse.co.uk Sep 24 2010

PUB offers can be a real pain sometimes – especially when you find you’ve arrived at the wrong time to take good advantage.Read

CHEAP AS CHIPS: Ben's Fish & Chips, 1 Station Road, Northfield B31 3TE Tel 0121 476 1170 Sep 24 2010

THE newly-completed tiled surfaces and stainless steel range in this chippy gave an impression of real quality the moment I walked into this shop at lunchtime.Read