Credit Crunch Lunch: Metro Bar & Grill
Place: Metro Bar & Grill, 73 Cornwall Street, Birmingham. Tel: 0121 200 1911
Why go?: Buzzy atmosphere, clean, well-presented food, great bar. Crucially, Metro is an accurate barometer of Birmingham’s economic health. If it’s deserted at 2pm on Friday – “Sell! Sell! Sell!”
Price: Prix fix menu (lunch and dinner, Monday to Saturday): two courses £14.50, three courses £17.50. Choose from a selection of dishes on the main menu. Starters range from £4.25 (soup) to £7 (piri piri king prawns). Sorry but the £2.50 bowl of olives and £3 rustic breads are disqualified on the basis that they are nibbles, not proper opening batsmen.
Mains range from £10 for a tasty schoolboy nosh of gammon and eggs to £13-£15.75 for good-range fancy stuff (rump of lamb with spiced citrus cous cous, chargrilled swordfish – which begs the question, Who eats swordfish?). Steaks from £12 (6oz sirloin) to £21 (8oz fillet). There are vegetarian options, but who cares?
The meal: Lunch gets off to a good start when Mr Pink, my guest, reveals he is speculating on the diamond market. He’s fallen head over heels in love, popped the question and is off to choose a prized gem for the future Mrs Pink. I see it as my duty to do the only thing a chap can do in such circumstances and suggest he goes for a large one – a glass, that is.
Fortified by Rioja (him) and vin blanc (delicate me) we waltz past Metro’s hall of mirrors and are seated at a well-positioned, people-spotting table at the back of the bright, attractive dining room. We are offered bread, which I am prepared to snub on principle (see “Bread Watch” below) but Mr Pink says “I do,” confusing it with “Yes” and it doesn’t seem like the right time to stage a political protest with the waiter.
The last time I had lunch at Metro I failed to see why the place was so popular. I got the atmosphere thing but the food wasn’t great. I am happy to report that Mr Pink and I enjoyed a very pleasant lunch.
I kicked off with the piri piri king prawns, which were tasty, well-spiced and didn’t require wrestling from the shell. Mr Pink had the crispy duck salad which he enjoyed.
Mr Pink loves chorizo sausage almost as much as he loves his pink lady. So when he saw one of the daily specials – slow-roasted shoulder of lamb, potato and onion rosti, sauteed greens – came with the Spanish banger there was no stopping him. Jolly good it was, too.
I had one of the other specials, a retro-tastic dish of pot-roasted beef bourguignon, which has a thin streak of gooey fat and some terrific creamy mash. It could have done with a little more gravy but at £13.75 was well-priced and fortifying. Corporate comfort food.
Sadly, Mr Pink had to leg it to go diamond-hunting. Oddly, he returned five minutes later for his coat, which he’d forgotten. His head is full of love. I finished the Rioja, good value at £16.50.
Metro does standard puddings for £5.75 (spiced apple brulee, rhubarb and custard tart) but you can have a “taster” pudding with a coffee for £5. I gave it a credit crunch whirl and had a more than adequately sized banana sponge with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream and a terrific espresso for a fiver. Brownie points to whoever came up with the idea.
Bread watch: It’s £2.50 for “warm rustic breads, roasted garlic, olive oil.” Which is fine if you want “warm rustic breads, roasted garlic, olive oil.” But I want “a couple of slices of the bog-standard, serviceable bread French railworkers dunk into their cassoulet.” Cost? £1 per loaf/stick. Cost per customer? 11½p. Metro’s good-humoured management agree to disagree with me although clearly I am right.
Verdict: * * * * Great lunch venue, even if there are more commercial property agents per square foot than anywhere else in the world outside Dubai.
