Devilishly daring but missing the mark; Restaurant Spy LSQ2 BAR AND BRASSERIE, THE WATERSIDE CENTRE, BIRMINGHAM BUSINESS PARK.

Byline: By Paul Fulford

IF HELL exists, it is situated in B37 and operates under the name 'Birmingham Business Park'.

For surely nowhere can be more soulless than this place, sprawling inelegantly between the NEC and motorways. It is like the ghost of one of those new towns that deluded planners were so keen to create half-a-century ago only, this time round, it doesn't have quite the charm of, say, Milton Keynes.

Which perhaps makes it all the more surprising that, located in the business park's Waterside Centre, is one of the most unusual eateries I've encountered for a while.

LSQ2 - yep, I've no idea what the name means either - was virtually empty on the evening I visited with my wife and son - though the loud-mouth effing and blinding with his friends near the bar managed almost to drown out the music that was playing.

It's quite stylish - lots of dark browns, posh table settings, that sort of thing. The menu, styled as Australasian, mixes Western and Eastern ingredients and techniques in the 'fusion' style that was fashionable a few years back.

The Goan potato soup with which Ewan and I began was hearty stuff - sweet and spicy with good chunks of nicely soft spud and a scattering of green beans. But it really didn't need to have plonked on top a samosa filled with peas.

Nice as this was, it added nothing but stodge to a dish that already had quite enough.

Lynn had three good-sized prawns, coated in a sweet 'corn dog' batter and served on separate spoons each containing a different sauce. She was pleased if not overwhelmed.

The chicken I had as my main course was dusted with Szechuan pepper and was a good, flavour-some piece of meat. But I was perplexed when the promised accompaniment, sweet potato risotto, turned out to be simply sweet potato in a pungent cream sauce with not a grain of rice in sight.

Black olives and sun-dried tomatoes were unnecessary additional flavours and the green beans that were served were under-cooked.

Ewan was pleased with two huge chunks of kangaroo fillet - served medium-rare - that came with bok choi and a black vinegar sauce that tasted to me remarkably like watered down soy.

Lynn was served with two gloriously fresh, perfectly cooked pieces of halibut that came with roasted vine tomatoes and what was grandly described as "cucumber gazpaacho".

A side order of cous cous was unnecessary and largely uneaten.

This was substantial food that left us with no room for dessert.

There were some good ingredients and some competent cooking, but there were also blips. There was the feeling, too, that culinary common sense had been abandoned in pursuit of novelty.

Our bill also included a bottle of fruity Aussie red and a cola.

Verdict *****

HOW MUCH pounds 69

VEGETARIANS Choice

DISABLED ACCESS Fine

CHILD FRIENDLY? Yes

PARKING? Plenty

GO BACK? Maybe

CONTACT 0121 770 9133

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	Birmingham Mail (England)
Date:	Oct 13, 2006
Words:	486
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