“Rock and Roll fine dining by Alex Claridge.” – The Wilderness, in their own words. 

I cannot recall the last time I had visited Birmingham, which now boasts six Michelin-starred restaurants as well as Michelin Plate winners. The city has always been evolving with different cultures when it comes to the food scene. I’ve had the opportunity to be in Birmingham over the weekend so I made a decision to explore the local restaurants – and this was when I discovered The Wilderness. 

The Wilderness resides on Warstone Lane, tucked away in the Jewellery Quarter – there is a car park just a few minutes’ walk away, there is also on-street parking directly opposite. 

As soon as you walk through the door, you will be impressed with the interior. Everything is black and gold. It’s classy but adds the ‘rock and roll’ element. The kitchen is located directly at the back of the restaurant, it’s open, and guests can see the chefs at work. The angled mirrors gave a futuristic experience. 

There are plenty of skylights on the roof, which creates great lighting for photos. We went for the 6 course tasting menu (£75 per person) with additional supplements to our meal. There was also a longer menu with 8 courses for those who are after a slightly longer dining experience. 

The tasting menu starts with an introductory dish that helped prepare our pallets. 

We had a brief chat with the chefs whilst we waited for our dishes, it was great to be able to do this. The conversation revolved around the type of equipment they used to create the dishes along with the inspirations for each dish.

What we ordered:

• “Gazpacho” – Eel
• Pea with Elderflower – Mint 
• Smoked Salad – Caviar
• Poached Cod with Iberico and XO
• Wagyu with Peppercorn (and Black Australian Truffle)
• Ch-Ch-Changes (banana with peanut butter, yuzu, and miso)
• Milk and Honey
• Bat (Tiramisu Bat with Cherry)
• Hot Lips

Let’s start with the Gazpacho. This dish has eel with hints of strawberry jus and it was presented with a lovely foam. I’m not usually a fan of strawberries, but when it was paired with eel, it made it quite pleasant and kickstarted my appetite before the first course.

The Pea & Elderflower was a refreshing dish where the pea was paired with elderflower. It had an iced yoghurt taste that had a subtle taste of the green peas and a hint of mint. Every mouthful of this dish was an experience. 

The Poached Cod with Iberico and, XO was delicious. No seriously. I hardly order seafood when I dine out because of my own personal reasons. But this poached cod was divine. I loved the soft centre, it was opaque and it flakes easily when I prodded it with the fork. It had a crispy Iberico piece over the top with seaweed pieces followed by XO sauce and a delicious jus.

Possibly my favourite dish, the Wagyu plus Australian Truffles was a mouth watering wagyu beef with an added supplementary Australian Truffles. As we usually say “you can never have too much truffles”. The melt-in-the-mouth feeling was lovely, as the meat was made just right. The mushrooms on the side were a delight but not too overwhelming.

The milk and honey dessert was visually appealing and delicious. Each ‘ball’  had a subtle taste of milk, which is complemented with the honey. I particularly liked the honeycomb tweel that gave a beautiful touch.

Tiramisu Piece was a special dessert that is also very ‘current affairs’. It was a tiramisu piece that was shaped into a bat. We were not provided with cutlery to enjoy this because the intention was a resemblance of Ozzy Osbourne where he bits into a bat piece.

Hot Lips was the last and final treat that ended the experience. Shape of lips, with chocolate truffle filling. These petit fours were so beautifully created, I almost asked for more. But that was a beautiful ending.

Dining at The Wilderness was definitely a new experience to the fine dining I used to experience, it is something I won’t forget. The service was intimate and the atmosphere was lovely. The team at The Wilderness stood by its words of “Rock and Roll fine dining”. 

They also have a magazine that introduces the huge variety of drinks they serve and they are often something you won’t forget. Their menu does change from time to time, so don’t forget to let the team know about any dietary requirements during booking.

Find The Wilderness Restaurant:

The Wilderness Restaurant, 27 Warstone Lane, Birmingham, B18 6JQ