[Disclosure: I was asked to review Orelle for a review for National Geographic Traveller Food magazine, so our meal was complimentary. I wasn’t obliged to write a review for this blog but obviously I have!)
City views from the 24th floor, slick service, a swanky interior and excellent food. Well-heeled business types doing deals over steak and glam couples gazing at each other over oysters and cocktails. We’re in London, right? Wrong.
Orelle is our reminder that yes, Birmingham really is right up there these days when it comes to restaurants, and not just in look and feel and the kind of people they attract. But most importantly in quality. Orelle is one of the more recent additions to the city centre, taking residence high in the sky so you can look the BT Tower in the eye and distract yourself from any boring dinner conversations with 360-degree views across Birmingham’s skyline.
It’s been created by D&D Group, a hospitality big boy which already operates 45 venues – most in London – and has clearly realised that Brum is where it’s at.
Arriving itself is a treat. Head through the ground floor cafe and cocktail bar, itself a shiny, classy cavern dominated by a central bar and head to the lifts at the back. A short swoosh upwards and you’ll pop out into the swanky interior of Orelle. They could probably have spared any expense on the interior, given the floor to ceiling windows provide enough to look out outside, whether it’s day or night that you visit. But of course they didn’t – creating a feast for the eyes in the decor alone, from sweeping half-moon booths to intricate decoration and impressive lighting.
It’s often easy to rely on expensive fit-outs and big views, leaving stuff like service to chance. A recent visit to a famous London members’ club proved that to me – apparently if somewhere feels exclusive you should expect to be treated rather badly as a customer. Not here – the welcome is warm, the staff knowledgeable, confident and well trained. The kind of service that matches the appearance.
The French-inspired menu features familiar dishes of beef tartare and terrine to start, followed by mains including meat and fish as well as the obligatory ‘filet’ and cote de boeuf. Orelle isn’t a cheap place – most mains will set you back between £30 and £40, while the fillet comes in at £48. A place for a special occasion maybe – or when someone else is paying.
Never able to resist them, we start with a platter of Porthilly Oysters (some of the finest there are in my humble opinion) which features three simply shucked and served with mignonette and three fried, their crispy exterior enveloping a rich, creaminess inside. The perfect introduction to oysters, even if you’re one of those people determined to say you don’t like them.
Jamie’s tartare of Longhorn beef is hidden under a pile of matchstick potatoes that add crunch to the tender beef, while pickled Maitake mushrooms help to cut through the richness of the meat and the confit egg yolk.
It’s good, but my mushroom starter is better. Barbecued hen of the wood doused in a cep mushroom and white soy velouté that is packed with enough saliva-inducing umami to see you through the evening, yet has the addition of aged Parmesan to push the boat out even further. It’s one of those dishes that is simultaneousy moreish while making you want to slow down so it lasts as long as possible.
My pork main is the winner of the night. Perfectly-cooked pork loin, serves alongside chunks of belly that is the right proportion of crunchy crackling, melt-in-the-mouth fat and fall-apart meat. It’s served with plum, onion and girolles then doused in a rich jus. It’s balanced, rich and somehow hearty and delicate in the same breath.
Ever the traditionalist, Jamie goes for a faux-filet that’s good quality and well cooked, but somehow unremarkable compared to the more complicated dish I’ve gone for. It’s elevated by a rather lovely peppercorn bearnaise (I usually object to all the mucking around we see with perfectly good classic sauces but this works).
Despite my love for the complex, we agree that a side of buttery, almost whipped, mash is a heavenly reminder that keeping it simple is often the key to success, and vow to cream our potatoes to this standard in future.
We’re already impressed, and not just with the food. The sommelier is knowledgeable and friendly, recommending us a wine that’s good without us needing to remortgage the house, while manager Kim Sin Tae is one of those people who you can’t help but warm to thanks to his infectious enthusiasm for what he does.
Desserts may come as an after-thought in some places, but not here. In what could be an antiquated step, but is somehow just timeless and classic, desserts are wheeled across the room on a trolley, prompting conversations to stop and drinks to pause halfway to the owner’s lips as the rows of perfect French patisserie parade past. It’s reminiscent of the French ‘cheese trolleys’ I’ve marvelled at on trips across the Channel and I’m here for it.
We try three, which is both unnecessary but also absolutely necessary and all are brilliant. A classic chocolate-cherry combination is predictably purr-inducing, but it’s the apple choux bun that has us descending into moans of delight that fortunately are drowned out by the sound of a busy restaurant.
We’re there for quite some time. Service isn’t speedy but I don’t think I’d want to see that change. Orelle is somewhere to luxuriate, to take your time, to order too much and to enjoy the moment. No doubt some business lunches are full of the wham, bam, thank you ma’am of deal-making and city slicker stuff, but for the rest of us, Orelle is one for a special lunch or dinner out. It’s not cheap, but you’ll leave feeling a million do
