He's the chef who came in from the cold. Andy Waters tells Richard McComb he's making his mark by being himself.

If you love food, really good food, then breathe a sigh of relief.

Andy Waters, one of the Midlands' top chefs, may have taken a walk on the foam-side but he’s found his way home. After flirting with molecular gastronomy, this classically trained chef has returned to his roots and done so with considerable aplomb.

When I last dined at Edmunds, Waters’ restaurant in Brindleyplace, in March last year, I described it as a “work in progress.” That might seem like an odd thing to say about a chef who then was approaching his 45th birthday and picked up a Michelin star a decade ago.

Waters, however, has been on an interesting journey. The first incarnation of his restaurant, Edmunds, opened in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, in 2002 and picked up a star within six months of opening.

Waters pursued other projects after the restaurant closed in 2005 and when it came to re-launching Edmunds in Birmingham the chef thought he had to make a splash to impress the metropolitan foodies. Times had changed, he not unreasonably reasoned.

Old techniques had been replaced by food science: there were jellies on savoury plates, foams abounded and things didn’t taste of what they looked like.

Waters thought he needed to surf cuisine’s new wave. He didn’t exactly drown but the experience left his reputation, strong on French-inspired gutsy flavours, a tad battered.

Some critics were indifferent; Michelin inspectors withheld the stardust, sprinkling glory on Birmingham’s other new restaurants, Purnell’s and Turners, as well as stalwart Simpsons. Waters was clearly hurt.

Personally, I liked the food at Edmunds a great deal but I felt something was missing. What was missing was Waters.

What a difference 18 months can make.

Chefs can be notoriously chippy but Waters took the criticism on his film-star chin (in private he threw a few gadgets around the kitchen), re-thought his game plan and came back stronger.

He no longer has any ties with Cielo restaurant, also in Brindleyplace, where he was executive head chef. Edmunds has received 100 per cent of Waters’s focus. The restaurant now closes on Sundays and Mondays to give staff a break and improve consistency.

I wasn’t reviewing when I dined at Edmunds a couple of weeks ago but if I had been I would have found it impossible to separate the standard of cooking from the city’s other big-hitters. I’m not sure I could have said the same a year ago. It’s a terrific achievement.

A fillet of juicy sea bass was served with a scallop “bon bon” and asparagus; a duo of lobster, simply poached and dressed up in tempura, came with a tumeric cream and intense coriander and coconut rice.

The meat courses were equally good – roast quail of just-cooked succulence with a diddy quail egg, foie gras and hazelnuts, a dish fit for a French huntsman; Cornish lamb, a loin and slow-cooked rolled shoulder, had a proper gravy, a bit minty, not marooned blobs of jus. What lovely lamb.

There was a fancy-ish dessert involving coconut ice cream, pineapple and blueberries but the pre-dessert sealed the deal for me: a classic, unimprovable crème brûlée.