TABLE TALK: MECHU'S MIX MASTERS; MIX AT MECHU, 45 SUMMER ROW, BIRMINGHAM. 0121 710 4222 ALISON DAVISON JOINS THE CITY CENTRE MASSES AT A SWISH SUMMER ROW RESTAURANT.
Byline: ALISON DAVISONThey've been mixing it at Mechu, part of the slick development on what we may now have to refer to, groaningly, as summerrow.
The short-lived deli has been turned into extra dining space, roughly doubling the size of the restaurant. Doors keep it more separate from the bar area and it's all very swish.
Mix at Mechu, as it is now known, has smart dark wood tables, really kewl leather swivel chairs, touches of red, coffee and cream - it's a goodlooking place. And the glass frontage helps, too, although the view is naturally of traffic queuing at the laughably-named Paradise Circus. If this is paradise, hell doesn't bear thinking about.
All the tables bear little notepads and pencils - an idea brought back from New York apparently as a useful thing for business people. According to our friendly waitress, they also come in handy on weekend nights when notes get sent from table to table.
I had a fleeting moment of sadness that no-one has ever sent me a note in a restaurant but as I'd only correct the spelling and punctuation, that's probably just as well. Pedants don't deserve romance.
Even if the notes don't come your way, Mix is worth a visit for the food alone. A lunch with two friends there was excellent.
We'd met up one Friday and found the place almost deserted, not that the staff seemed put out. They reckoned people saved their energies for after work on Fridays and the burned-out masses would be pouring in at early doors to eat, drink and scribble billets doux.
They can do it all pretty cheaply, too. There's a good value deal in which you can get a main course, side order plus either a starter or dessert for pounds 11.95 at lunchtime or pounds 14.95 in the evening.
Otherwise, lunchtime starters go from pounds 3.95 (soup) to pounds 8.25 (scallops) and mains from pounds 8.50 (Caesar salad) to pounds 15.95 for a half-lobster. Prices are generally higher in the evening.
Not all of the menu is included in the deal but you still get masses of choice. At lunch, ten of the 12 starters are included and 13 of the main courses - a lot more options than standard lunch menus.
Lindsey started with Caesar salad, which was excellent apparently, very generous and not too smothered in dressing. She went misty-eyed recalling the best Caesar salad she'd ever had - at Simpsons in Kenilworth - but this ran it a close second, she declared. David allowed me a risotto-free day by starting with the sage, porcini and orange version here. The consistency was on the wet side and there didn't seem to be an awful lot of porcini but it was creamy and rich with parmesan and he loved it. The unusual addition of orange worked well, he said.
My starter was a deep-fried goat's cheese with sun-dried cranberry compote (pounds 4.95). It was beautifully presented - a perfect little golden, breadcrumbed cheese on top of a small disc of the fruit - and it all tasted just as good as it looked.
The cranberry was excellent, slight-ly sweet but with enough acidity to balance the cheese. It all felt very indulgent.
The presentation was almost identical for my main course - a parmesan potato cake with mushrooms and chive creme fraiche (pounds 9.95). This was another golden breadcrumbed affair, though larger and more dumpling-shaped this time on a bed of delicious, soft onion and chanterelle mushrooms. A sizeable dollop of the herbed creme fraiche oozed across the top. The potato cake was spot-on, peppery and hot and with more robust flavour than you'd expect. It all worked very well together and made a perfectly satisfying winter dish.
Free range chicken stuffed with Stilton and apricot (pounds 10.95) was David's main course choice. It sounded sickly rich to me but apparently its juicy succulence was very well-balanced with all the flavours detectable but no one taste swamping the others and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
As side orders were part of the deal, we all had one. From choices which included sea-salted new potatoes, chips, asparagus, French beans, salads and mash, David and I both chose carrot and swede puree. This sweet, earthy mix was lovely and warmly redolent, for me, of my mum's Sunday dinners.
Lindsey had a simple green salad with her main course of penne pasta with chilli, chorizo and tomato (pounds 9.95). The serving was far too big and though it eventually defeated her, she liked it too much to give inwithout a fight. The chilli level was perfect and despite being chock-full of chorizo and poky flavour, the overall effect, she said, was of lightness.
They still offer a lot of seafood here (the seafood platter is pounds 26.25 for a minimum of two) but the menu's embarrassment of choice means that most tastes are catered for.
Although much of the list is expected - there's the compulsory fish and chips, sausage and mash, rack of lamb et al - it's all direct, appealing and great for the season.
We passed on pud, but there was another longer-than-average list of options in this department too, including Irish cream parfait, summer fruit compote (wrong season, surely?) panna cotta and apple and blackberry custard crumble. Good coffees, after finishing off the bottle of Macon Lugny, were enough of an indulgence.
Mix at Mechu certainly seems to have come of age since my first visit when it had only just opened. Although the length of the menu was a little worrying, the kitchen seemed well up to it and everything was a delight, including the helpful, friendly service. It's certainly at the top end of the three-star rating.
I didn't actually pick up the bill this time (you may be able to hear the Post finance department cracking open the Champagne) so I can't tell you what the final damage was but it would have been worth it.
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Birmingham Post (England) |
| Date: | Dec 15, 2004 |
| Words: | 999 |
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