Adam's Review

Opened in 2013 and residing in its current location since 2016, Adam's is a renowned fine dining restaurant from chef Adam Stokes, which sits proudly in the heart of Birmingham. Having held a precious Michelin star and three AA rosettes for over a decade (no mean feat in these challenging times), I was looking forward to a top quality meal as I ventured down for lunch with my wife and two young children, on a rainy June Saturday.

As a central venue in a major city there's naturally no dedicated parking (albeit limited on street parking is available), but there are plenty of large pay and display car parks within a short walk of the restaurant (we parked at The Mailbox). The restaurant sits on a pleasant street and looks very neat externally, and those good looks continue inside.

We were the first in the restaurant on arrival; there's a swish bar area at the front where you're able to have an aperitif if you wish, but we opted to go straight through to the smart dining area at the rear. I liked the space a lot; it's not overly luxurious or pretentious by any means, but definitely had a confident air of class with just the right level of formality. And I should say up front that there was no issue at all from any of the staff with our kids; the maitre d in particular was excellent throughout the meal and made a genuine effort to welcome them.

On offer at lunch is a three course carte menu (which we ate from) with a modest three choices per course, the full seven course tasting menu and a slightly reduced five course tasting menu also. There's also a proper three course children's menu too which is always appreciated when eating with young children, albeit it did only have two choices per course.

Drinks wise, as well as the award winning wine list, the drinks list is very thorough too, with many wines available by the glass and a good range of non-alcoholic options and cocktails, which my wife and daughter sampled during the meal. I was perfectly happy with my normal Hendrick's and tonics whilst for my young son, fresh apple juice was the order of the day.

One thing to note is the three course menu is a very set format, in that there is no option with either the carte or the children's menu to just have one or two courses. I can understand that from a planning and revenue point of view, but what was definitely unusual though was requiring the dessert selection up front when ordering. If I could offer a little bit of service advice here, it would be to make customers aware of that when the menu is presented, as instead we were left to unexpectedly pick a dessert on the spot when our waiter returned to take our order.

Lunch began with a selection of nibbles, the most memorable being a delicious little beetroot macaron with duck filling. The nibbles were followed by a very good bread offering including some warm brioche buns which were the highlight, although the sourdough bread was good too (albeit I believe not made in the kitchen). The bread was accompanied by two types of butter including an interesting marmite flavoured dollop which was fortunately (and sensibly) not too strong in marmite flavour. Like all top restaurants, full portions of nibbles and bread were served to both kids; I never take that for granted though and always appreciate the gesture.

Lunch proper began for me with the Orkney scallop served in its shell, sat atop a salty bacon mix and accompanied by some morel mushroom foam. I really enjoyed this; it wasn't the very best scallop dish I've ever had, but the scallop was cooked well and delicious, and the contrast of the rich bacon flavour worked well for me. My wife enjoyed a very pleasant bowl of Isle of Wight tomatoes, served with tofu, olive and basil. My daughter had the grilled cheese on sourdough from the children's menu which was perfectly edible, but my young son didn't fancy either of the starters on offer, but that's more down to him being quite a fussy eater (despite our best efforts).

Our mains did take a little while to come out, but they were certainly worth the wait. My slices of aged beef were cooked perfectly and came with a thick and delicious layer of chicken mousse to boot, as well as a lovely red wine sauce. It was a really accomplished main course that ate well, although the accompanying side plate with a block of crumpet seemed an unnecessary addition. My wife was equally impressed with her monkfish dish and the kids both enjoyed the fish goujons and chips from the children's menu. And as my son had not wanted a starter, they even brought an extra little plate of chips for him without request, which I thought was a very thoughtful gesture.

For dessert, I opted for the chocolate souffle, served with a salted caramel sauce poured through the centre by our waiter. I'll be honest and say I've had better souffles in my time, but it was a very good effort and the accompanying ice cream and tiramisu combination on the side was absolutely delicious. My wife very much enjoyed an accomplished dessert consisting of Gariguette strawberries, a cylinder of caramel mousse and strawberry sorbet, amongst various other elements. Both kids were perfectly happy with the ice cream and sorbet selection from the children's menu.

My wife and I had a cappuccino to finish (and my daughter a hot chocolate); the coffee wasn't great but the accompanying petit fours were very nice indeed, including a chocolate choux bun and a white chocolate and raspberry dome truffle. As with the pre meal canapes, the petit fours were served to all four of us allowing the kids to enjoy them too.

We did have a little bit of difficulty trying to get someone's attention and collect the bill, but after a few minutes it duly arrived (complete with a 12.5% service charge and a £1 charity donation) bringing a very enjoyable lunch to an end. Overall I was very impressed with our meal here; the cooking was of a high standard throughout and the service was excellent too. Despite the high end delivery of the food and corresponding feel of the venue, the child friendly nature of the service was very evident which was great and refreshing to see.

I've found previously in tasting menu focused restaurants that scaling up carte dishes originally devised for a tasting menu (or vice versa) isn't always entirely successful, and I was slightly concerned at first when seeing the same dishes on both menus. But I have to say, the carte portion sizes were perfectly fair and all the dishes worked really well as full size plates, so I have no complaints whatsoever on that front.

Yes, it wasn't a cheap family lunch by any means, but it's far from the most expensive one star restaurant I've eaten at so although I wouldn't class the meal as exceptional value, I thought the pricing was fair (for these post COVID times). We left very happy and as a parting flourish, they even provided a neat little box each of two chocolates to take away (salted caramel and passionfruit truffles), yet another nice touch of class from a meal that was full of such moments.