As I look back on the restaurants I still need to write for 2024, I’m grateful for the six, maybe ten, weeks I’m taking out of life. It’s been good – possibly too good – and I need it off to get ready for suit fittings, a nice holiday, and one or two other big moments for the calendar. I’m quite looking forward to the quiet time; getting back to the boxing gym, living on eggs and water, getting my head down with work and staying out of trouble. That said, my pizza is just about to turn up, so here is a quick countdown of my top ten dishes of the year.
10. Tortellini of ham, Parmesan fondue. Angela’s Trattoria
A happy coincidental dinner atypical of my visits there. I’d seen on social media that they had tortellini en brodo – that brilliant dish of Bologna consisting of ham tortellini in bone broth – turned up at five on the dot and was told that Angela was still rolling the pasta downstairs and that the broth wasn’t ready. What I got was pasta as fresh as you get filled with three cuts of pig in a Parmesan fondue cut with white wine. Glorious. Yes, the parallels with Laghi’s are obvious, but this is more familiar, warmer, and with far more drinkable wines.

9. Black pepper chicken curry. Kolae.
I was in high spirits the afternoon I went to Kolae. StreetSmart was throwing a little bash to celebrate passing one million pound for the homeless and I’d checked into a nice hotel after a visit to Bar Termini. In hindsight it’s not a place to go before a party, the cooking is visceral and unapologetic, a centrepiece to the evening rather than aperitif. My highlight was a frighteningly spicy chicken curry which left beads of sweat on the brow.

8. Tagliolini with black truffle and Parmesan cream. Tropea.
Tropea had an extension this year meaning that they have a tiny unreserved bar area for locals like me to eat bowls of pasta and drink martinis, like we did on New Year’s Eve (review to come). This wasn’t on that occasion but some four weeks earlier, the perfect antidote to a shitty day; silky handmade pasta, heavy cream, cheese, and truffle. It embodies everything they do; simple, seasonal, and outrageously delicious.

7. Duck Massaman. 670g.
The evolution of Kray’s restaurant has been one of the year’s highlights for me. They’ve quietly got better, more serious, more focused. This duck was just sensational; a refined, purposeful dish of stuff that shouldn’t work, yet does brilliantly. They look like they’re having fun at the restaurant and it’s showing on the plates leaving the pass.

6. Scallop, black pudding, Thai green sauce. Smoke.
Smoke is closing. Stu is moving on. A huge hole in the regions hospitality scene is about to open. I’ll leave my thoughts to the upcoming piece on Smoke, but I’ll miss this dish almost as much as I miss my own mother. Balanced and loaded with the flavour, I really hope I get to eat a version of it somewhere new and somewhere soon.

5. Jerk Chicken. Cuubo.
The moment I knew it was going to be great for Cuubo. My favourite new opening of the year opened with a brilliant menu that rarely changed in the first six months of its life, with this – a dish born from UB40 requesting it for a private dinner – kickstarting a wave of new dishes. What I love most is this isn’t a cheffy reinterpretation of jerk, but one that has spice and prowess throughout. I’m so lucky to live 40m away from here.

4. Monkfish with curried carrot and chicken sauce. Upstairs by Tom Shepherd.
There is a detail to Upstairs driven by Tom Shepherd. You just know that nothing ends up on this menu until he’s eaten it fifty times, that every detail is analysed over and over again. It’s the way he is. The way with the restaurant, the aesthetics, right down to him making his own spirits for his cocktails. This dish feels like a lot of work has gone into it. The use of spice is gentle and perfumed, the balance of umami and acidity exact. Spectacular cooking.

3. Lobster with citrus. Chapter One.
A prediction: Ireland is getting its first three star restaurant this year and it’s heading to Chapter One. I could have chosen any number of dishes from this astonishing meal, yet it’s this lobster I return to. It looks like a work of art and tastes every bit as good as that.

2. Pumpkin. Grace and Savour.
Pumpkin. Never in a million years did I think that a dish pretty-much consisting solely of pumpkin would be the second best thing I ate this year. Maybe that’s why it’s here; because it takes an insane level of ability to take something so humble and make it so special. As with everything that comes out of the kitchen here it is detailed and rooted in produce of the absolute highest quality.

1. Scallop, XO, almond korma. Opheem.
Opheem. Two stars and counting. Went four times this year which isn’t enough for a restaurant of this quality. The best thing I ate this year is fastly becoming a future classic at Opheem, maybe more so than the iconic Aloo Tuk. A dish of jumbo-sized scallops, punchy XO, and almond korma. Perfect in its delivery and an outright joy to eat.

That’s me wrapped-up, but as something of a tradition, I’ve allowed my driver/dining companion/future wife Sophie her top ten. It’s arguably better than mine. Maybe she should take over this blog. Please take over this blog.
10. Baked prawns, chilli and garlic oil. Tropea.
9. Lobster Mac’n’cheese. Bob Bob Ricard.
8. Snail mash. Climat.
7. Tuna sandwich. Terre de Salina.
6. Crab flatbread. 670g.
5. Fish burger. Fish Shop.
4. Lobster ravioli. Chez Bruce.
3. Sour Mango Salad. Kolae.
2. Lobster with citrus. Chapter One.
1. Crab crumpet. Opheem.
- 2024,
- 670g,
- Angela’s,
- Birmingham,
- chapter one,
- Cuubo,
- Dublin,
- Grace and savour,
- Hampton Manor,
- lichfield,
- opheem,
- smoke,
- top ten,
- Tropea,
- upstairs,