An admission: I don’t like Sunday roast dinners. As far as pointless meals go, it’s up there with the Full English breakfast, and don’t start me on that particular beast. The Sunday roast is a belt around the bicep, two slaps to the forearm, and needle into the vein shot of stoic patroism. It is a relentless onslaught of carbohydrates which only sleep can defeat. It is the dish that Brexit was built upon, the one that we still look at as ours in that typically resolute manner we are known for on these shores. You thinking I’m over-egging this, right? It’s okay, others do too.
Many refuse to listen to my sermon, but I have my reasons. I don’t like them because they are never done right. Honestly — ask yourself — when was the last time you were served a perfect Sunday lunch? It’s a myth: a fallacy. The tangibles are too big; it could be the roasties that go wrong, or the meat is overcooked, or the Yorkshire pudding is too dense, or the vegetables have been boiled to death, or the the vegetables haven’t been cooked enough. Much like my hairline, it is not quite all there. I’ve been dragged all over the country to experience this. Yes, they are the best roast potatoes I have ever tried, but the beef is like leather. And shouldn’t that cauliflower cheese taste of cheese? It goes wrong because all the best things happen in the oven, and each of those best things need different temperatures and times to cook. Some things need to be checked on constantly and others you can’t open the oven door. The Sunday Roast may take 3-4 hours on paper, but in reality it takes a lifetime.
When we go out for Sunday lunch I always try to find somewhere that can appease the both of us. If Claire wants a roast then great, but I would like to eat from the practised bit of the menu if I may, to see what the chef’s vision is instead of what he has been told he must cook on JC’s rest day. I had that intention when we booked in at Baked in Brick on Easter Sunday. I’d sit outside in the sun, underneath the burgeoning olive trees with a cold glass of wine in hand, eating pizza. But the menu was too good not to try out, and far too cheap at £20 for three courses. I could pretend that I was concerned about their prophet margins on this holy day, but I was sitting outside in the sun, underneath a burgeoning olive tree with a cold glass of wine in my hand, ordering suckling pig for lunch.
We take both starters, both of the available meats, and both desserts. We’d had one of the starters before; tomatoes and burrata in a bowl, into which a tomato essence the colour of blushed cheeks was poured. The dish was finished with a few dots of basil oil that immediately forms a relationship with the other liquid. The joys of spring in a bowl. The other starter is aubergine, roasted in the pizza oven until the flesh is spoonable and almost sweet, a pea hummus levelled out a little with ras el hanout, and scattered with the sweet and sour pops of pommegrante. It is balanced and refined; probably not the kind of dish you expect to see in somewhere that primarly markets itself for pizza. It should also be on the menu full time; this is the ideal lunch for one.
Drum roll please. Why does no one ever do a drum roll when I ask? Don’t these people know who I am? Drum roll. The roast is really good. The best I’ve eaten in Birmingham. Maybe not as good as the White Post, which I said was the best Sunday lunch I’ve ever eaten and subsequently went on to win that national title (and people say I know nothing), but not that far off. We cheekily ask for both the suckling pig and rib of beef which they are happy to do. The beef is rare, with that dark crust giving the Malliard reaction too often missing, whilst the suckling pig has that slight gelantinous quality to the meat from layers of fat protected by scorched skin. There is a tart apple puree, a jug of gravy that tastes of animal, and the ultimate in Yorkshire pudding. That pudding is an eruption of oil and batter, light and burnished; as good as a Yorkshire pudding gets. We request seconds. The vegetables on the side include roasted carrots, green beans, roasted mayan gold potatoes (a curious choice, but one that pays off), and monks beard. If I’m being hyper critical the monks beard would have been far nicer with the lamb, and the pedant in me likes to see green beans trimmed. But these are just small pickings. It was really rather good.
Desserts consist of a classic tiramasu and tarte tatin. The former is a generous portion of creamy things that happen to taste lovely, the latter a tiny amount of caramel away from being a very true rendition of a classic. I have a love affair with tarte tatins that goes back way further than this blog, and here it showed skill in getting a good cook on the apples and an ice cream full of honey flavour, if a little soft-set. The bill for all of this with two glasses of wine and a soft drink is £54. Way too cheap. With a second site already in place in Sheffield, rumour has it that Baked in Brick may also be looking for a more central location as a second site. More people with access to food of this quality can only be great for the city.
Regardless of the location A2B will get you there and back
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