Planet Goober

Luckily for residents of Harborne and beyond, The Scarlet Pimpernel Travelling French Delicatessen isn’t quiet as elusive.

Every Saturday around lunchtime Cydric Tachdjian pulls up outside and opens the doors on his mobile deli. Behind the counter is a mix of breads, cheeses, meats, olives and whatever else takes his fancy (this week he had a Endive, Cheese and Ham pie).

As I write this, I’m just finishing off the last of some walnut bread and a mixture of cheeses that I bought from him - along with a scotch egg from OHP and a nice glass of organic cider… what better way to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.

To find out if The Scarlet Pimpernel covers your area, or to get his latest catalogue then drop him an email or call him on 0791 2391 421

A great weekend of festivities in Harborne are fast approaching for the 21^st/22^nd of June.
On the Saturday, the the local farmers market combines with the continental market and stalls from some of high streets food stores to bring a (hopefully) great range of local foods for everyone to try at the first ever Harborne Food Festival and then on the Sunday we have the annual Harborne Carnival.

The Human League didn’t help much last time, but I thought I’d give 80’s music another try, and so this time took the advice of The Vapors “Turning Japanese” and so headed to Mount Fuji, the Japanese Bento Café bar for lunch on an overcast bank holiday Monday.

Here’s a warning for you, don’t try and browse the menu in the window, if you stand outside for more than 30 seconds a waitress will rush out and drag you in.

Bento is a style of cooking more like your mum would have done when you were a kid, good honest home cooked meals, except my mum never cooked me anything like this.

I’m very picky when it comes to Chinese/Japanese food, I don’t like fatty meat and I’m not a big fan of some of the sauces so I wimped out and went with Chicken Teriyaki. As you can see above, it arrived in an enamel box, with each section containing a different part of the meal - the pallet cleansing fruit, the most delicious sticky rice, a mini side salad and of course, the chicken which was cooked perfectly with a sweet heavenly sauce.

My friend had the Pork Ginger Stir-fry and, judging by the ferocity that he devoured his, he was just as impressed as I was.

Washing this down was Ramune, a Japanese lemonade for my friend and I had a can of Pocari Sweat, described in the menu as an energy drink you’ll love or hate. I was expecting a liquid Marmite but it was actually just a typical still water sports drink.

No meal is complete without a dessert, and so a portion of pancakes and creme caramel were ordered.

Despite the Japanese Avril Lavigne wannabe piped out thru the ceiling speakers the entire time was an enjoyable experience and I can’t wait to be more adventurous with my next visit… anyone for sushi?

Well, unlike the Human League song where life was cheap on bread and wine, Beirut, the Lebanese take-away wasn’t cheap and it didn’t serve wine.
My first trip to this new addition to Birminghams expanding cultural food option resulted in me turning away in disapointment. I was expecting a nice sit down restaurant, but what I ended up standing outside was a typical looking kebab take-away with a few tables at the back.

I was trying to think where I could pop out to for a quick bite to eat on a Saturday lunchtime, and Beirut was exactly what I was after - there’s a time and a place for everything after all.

We were directed to one of the little tables by a very friendly guy behind the counter who didn’t seem to mind us taking a while to look over the menu - quite lucky really, as there were 25 starters and a dozen main courses to chose from.

Having not eaten Lebanese before, we decided on mixing and matching a couple of starters each to get a good mix of what was on offer.

• Kibbeh Maklieh - deep fried lamb meatballs mixed with crushed wheat & mashed onions
• Sujuk - spicy sausage sautéed in lemon juice, with a garlic mayonaise
• Arayees - Minced lamb cooked with onions, herbs and spices served in Arabic bread
• Halloumi Cheese - grilled with a garlic dip

On reflection, having two lamb dishes was probably a bit much, next time I’ll swap the meatballs for a vegetable dish, and yes there will definately be a next time!

After letting this all go down, we ordered dessert and coffee. The assistant pointed out that the baklava that we had ordered two portions of was actually quite filling, and a single plate was more than enough.

The Lebanese white rose coffee wasn’t exactly what I expected as it came out of a jar of Nescafe, but saying that, it was very rich and frothy and made a nice accompaniment to the sweetness of the baklavas.

Altogether, it cost £30 for two, which might seem a bit steep for a glorified sit down “takeaway”, but that doesn’t take into account how filling and how darn tasty the food was. With plenty of options on the menu, it will take serveral trips to work my way thru the options, and I can’t wait.

Two chain restaurants in succession?!?!? Well, I’m letting myself off as San Carlo as we know it opened their first restaurant here in Birmingham in the early 90’s, so it was time to see if they were as good as they were when I first went a decade ago (with the then very young lady who accompanied me to Purnells not long ago).
This time I was taking someone on their first visit to Birmingham, and so hoped it was as good as I remembered.

The first thing that I noticed was that even though it was the early afternoon, they were still busy. Luckily for us they have recently developed the downstairs into an additional seating area, and despite sitting in what was basically the basement, it still felt light and airy.

We shared a starter, a large plate of calamari fritti in the most delightfully delicate batter. There was no scrimping on the tartar sauce either.

Our main courses were decided by picking the meal we were least likely to normally try.
Well, if you’re going somewhere you don’t normally try, you might as well eat something you don’t normally order!

• Vitello Limone - pork in a zingy zesty lemon sauce
• King Scallops - served in the shell with a rich cheese sauce

We asked the waiter to recommend some side dishes and we weren’t disapointed with the sautéed potato, spinach in garlic and french beans.

It comes to something when the only complaint you have is that there were too many scallops, although maybe had it been a late evening then my appetite would have managed all of them!

Sadly, despite coming quickly enough to clear the dishes away, we had to wait a long time before I was finally able to get a waiter to take our dessert order. I’d like to say they were rushed with other customers, but by now we were the only occupied table. In the past San Carlo did develop a mixed reputation in regards to their staff, although once I had managed to get someones attention they were back on track with their service.
We both settled on icecream based deserts, my guest having a mix of flavours, and I had the tartufo flambé - a chocolate icecream with a white brandy flaming on top to bring out the flavour.

Despite sharing a starter and no wine, it was still £70 for our lunch, but I must admit the food was as good as I remembered, although with Piccolino opening in Brindley Place this weekend, they might need to give their staff a gentle reminder about service.

Rough week at work?
Before you rush home on a Friday night, why not follow my example and take an hour or so to chill out with a free jazz performance at Symphony Hall.

These Rush Hour Blues shows are most Fridays at 5:30pm and typically last an hour or two, but check the website if you’re making a special trip.
Just walk in off the street - no ticket necessary, grab a beer at the bar and enjoy the atmosphere.
The seats go pretty quickly but there is normally standing room at the back or just pop upstairs to find plenty of space.

In July, Cannon Hill Park will be the venue for the greatest picnic Brum will see this year.

As part of Channel4’s food season, Taste of Birmingham returns to the Midlands on 10^th-13^th of July.
With the top chefs from Simpsons, Opus, Lasan and Itihaas cooking up dishes you’ll be able to get a taste of what Birmingham restaurants have to offer, as well as sampling regional produce and listening to local bands from the Jam House.

If it’s anything like previous years it’ll sell out quick, so book your ticket here soon.

There’s a definate “party vibe” at The Arcadian Centre and that feeling extends into the bars and restaurants that look down onto the square.
It’s on this upper level that you’ll find Las Iguanas. Although a national chain, it still manages to bring a decent facsimile of Latin American fun to the table, and even on an overcast Wednesday evening, there were enough people wanting to be transported to Latin America for an our or two that we had quite a wait for a table to become available. This wasn’t too great a hardship though as the caipirinhas available at the bar were excellent - albeit a tad expensive.

For starters we shared a few of the options off the tapas menu

• Pato Taquito - a duck filled tortilla
• Queso Frito - tortilla parcel filled with brie and mango
• Bolinhos - fish and potato fritters with a chili salsa

The main courses were

• Chimichanga - a crisp tortila with spicy chicken, cheese and a chili sauce, covered with soured cream, guacamole and refried beans
• Carne Grilado - a flame grilled chicken fillet with fries.
  My two friends both had this, although they went in opposite directions when it came to how firey they had the seasoning for their steak.

We shared a side order of Patatas Bravas - a dish of potato chunks in a hot salsa.

For dessert, we shared a bowl of Brevas - black figs stuffed with toffee in a sugar cane syrup.

A thoroughly enjoyable meal, and despite my normal avoidance of national chain restaurants, I’ll have no hesitation of going back to Las Iguanas.

It still has a way to go before it reaches the level of Wirral’s (although they do have the benefit of Anne Benson behind them) but when it comes to a home cooked dinner, you can’t beat fresh produce and that’s where the Harborne Farmers Market comes in.

With everything from leeks to honey to ostrich burgers, you can get all you need to cook up a royal feast - and I can whole heartily recommend the hand made sticky toffee puddings! All nicely washed down with some home brewed beer that is available from several of the stalls.
Another bonus is the produce comes in the minimal of packaging, mostly paper bags and any plastic is kept to a bare minimum.

If you’re after some sauces, pastas or pulses to accompany your meal, OHO Organic Stores on the high street can provide all the extras you need - they’re also open until 6pm on weekdays, so you could do what I do, buy a weeks supply of meat and a day or two or veggies from the market, and then pop to OHO midweek to resupply the fruit and veg.

Don’t be put off by what you might think is the high price. My personal treat is a big brunch on a F1 Grand Prix Sunday, and by buying good quality sausage and bacon I actually eat less. It sounds crazy, but one properly made sausage packed with real meat is more substantial than two cheap superstore ownbrand bangers made from goodness knows what. Likewise the bacon, it isn’t 90% water and so doesn’t shrink into some shriveled slice of cardboard. Also, you can take it home and freeze it on the day of purchase. What I do is repack it into batches of two slices+sausage+blackpudding and drop it in the freezer. Then when you wake up, grab a bag, and while that defrosts, stick the coffee on, get out the mushrooms, tomato, duckeggs and a slice of fresh crusty bread and before you know it you’ll be considering extending the kitchens breakfast bar to cope with all the extra friends that pop round on those lazy Sundays.

The Harborne Farmers Market is on the 2nd Saturday of every month but get there early before it’s all sold out.

No, not the view from Planet Goober, not even with the telecope I’ve got. This was the sight that the Mars Global Surveyor had as it went on its merry way.

Along with the recent photos in the Daily Mail of the volcano/lightening storm, pictures like the above just bring home how insignificant we really are in the big scheme of things.

There are more pictures here