Eateries

Purnell’s Bistrot & Ginger Bar – review by HungryOwl

On August 31, 2019 by

Purnell’s Bistrot is based in the banking quarter of Birmingham City Centre, this beautifully designed restaurant sits just off Colmore Row. The outside is very unassuming, but inside it is smart, relaxed and modern.

We had a Groupon voucher which meant that the we had restrictions on what we were allowed to order from the menu. The main restriction was that we could only chose a main course that was below £21.50 – on the evening we visited this meant we couldn’t select any meat mains. We asked of we could pay the additional but was told no.

Starters

Ham terrineFattyCat ordered the Ham Terrine with Pea Puree

To the eye it didn’t look very appealing, but FattyCatt said it tasted very good. The portion size was ample too.

What we didn’t photo was the lovely ‘homemade’ bread that was served with the starters.

Posh Scotch Egg

To be honest I struggled to choose a starter none of them jumped out at me screaming eat me. In the end I chose what I thought was safe option…..Posh Scotch Egg with GP Sauce.

The sauce was stunning and I would certain buy this if it was on sale in the supermarket.

The egg was lovely too. meaty – with possibly a hint of bacon mixed in with sausage meat and an almost hard egg. (I really don’t like runny eggs, so this pleased me).

The portion size was great and I would have been happy having the scotch egg with a salad as my main course.

Main Courses

Beer Battered Fish and ChipsFattyCat struggled to select a main course as he has a shellfish and prawn allergy. (This is why we had asked if we could pay the extra for a meat dish).

In the end he went for the beer battered fish with chips, mushy peas and tartar sauce.

Mushy peas were instantly donated to me as he hates them and love them, They were nice, but nothing special.

The fish on the other hand was extraordinary and the tartar sauce was special – I was regretting my choice when I taste this.

I went for the Poached British Cod with chorizo, butter beans and goats cheese.

It was served in a very pretty large bowl. It was heavy dish and filled me up. Definitely one to enjoy on a winter’s evening tucked up in front of the TV.

The cod was meaty and chorizo added a little spice – all perfectly balanced.

 Cod and chorizo

Dessert

 

Summer berry sponge with white choc icecream

 FattyCat saw the word White Chocolate and looked no further.

He ordered Summer Berry Sponge with White Chocolate ice cream. It was a relatively small portion but after the other two courses, it was more than ample.

He kept saying ‘hmmm’ and ‘ahhh’ as he ate so I can only assume it was dreamy.
I ordered badly wanting to try something different. What did I order?

Lavender Panna Cotta (this was amazing) Topped with crushed honey flapjack (just a big NO, too too sweet) with a whiskey gel (I saw it but couldn’t taste it) and finally topped with a berry sorbet (Oh Yes, this was fresh and bitter).

In summary if I had the panna cotta and the sorbet it would have tasted amazing.

But I was horrified that somewhere as nice as Purnell’s served me a dessert in a storage jar – a big personal hate of mine.

I finished my meal with a great cup of coffee.

The food was overall good and the flavours all beautifully balanced – so on this basis worth the Groupon Voucher of £50.

But the service was atrocious. We were seated quick enough, but then service was incredibly slow. We had to ask three times for the dessert menus and waited twenty minutes after asking for the bill. This is not the level of service we expect from this level of restaurant and in a place that warned us we only had the table for two hours.

With so much choice in Birmingham I don’t see us visiting again. Sorry Glynn the food was yummy, but the service was a crying shame.