Review: Opheem, Birmingham

I wonder to what extent labelling a dish “Winning dish on Great British Menu” skews the punters to order it? I’m willing to bet that a lot more of them fly out of the kitchen than the other mains or starters they’re sharing the menu with. And chef Aktar Islaam has two “winner on GBM” as well as a “winner on F-Word” dishes competing on his menu at Opheem. We were typically obtuse and didn’t order any of them. Well, the whole menu just looked good.

And before I dive into the food, I have to say I liked the dining room to bits. Sleek decor, dramatic touches, but also very comfy. Open kitchen but behind a glass wall to keep the noise down. Good service too.

So. Good little nibbles to start. An oyster macaron with sweet green pearls and an oceanic oyster emulsion was very pretty and very polished. Best possible signal that this was going to be genuinely fine dining from Indian roots! I’ve moaned enough times about Indian “fine dining” restaurants that are just curry houses with fancy plating, I won’t start on that agai… oh. I just did.

My starter was abalone mushroom, hearty chunks grilled like steak, with truffle puree and a deeply satisfying mushroom broth. Little chips of rice pancake added crunch. Outstanding. Maureen’s mackerel sounded like it would be sweet/hot and punchy, but in the event the slivers of grilled mackerel were the predominant flavour (and good) with the accompanying mango salad and dressing just so-so.

Tamarind sorbet made for a funky palate cleanser. And ticks the novelty box for me, which isn’t that easy to do these days (jaded palate, moi?).

My main was gorgeous. Centred on a very juicy/fatty tranche of wild boar belly, a sturdy slice of nicely scorched carrot, and a dumpling filled with the most amazing minced boar loin. The dumpling had the texture of silky suet pudding and it’s quite beyond my skill to tell you what precise combination of spiced made the minced filling quite so wonderful. Anyway, the whole dish was finished off with a healthy pouring of beautifully deep and earthy curry gravy. Splendid.

Maureen’s goat biryani proved to be even better. A square of slow-roasted goat belly. A button of minced goat with, again, a warm and delicious mix of spices. And then an entire goat biryani under a pastry lid. Words cannot express the magical scent exhaled all around us by that dish when the lid was carved off. Black cardamom was the main aromatic, and if you know it you might be able to imagine. The dish needed a generous dollop of silky chilled yogurt, and that’s exactly what it had.

I honestly expected desserts to be a let-down after that. Nuh-uh. Maureen’s rice pudding was actually more akin to a pannacotta in texture; Chef Aktar Islam served our puds himself, and said he didn’t actually like the rice in rice pudding, so after cooking he takes it out! Well, it works. Paired very well with textures of rhubarb and some puffed rice too. My dessert was down on the menu as “Chai” but the chai parfait was actually entirely overwhelmed by powerful pineapple and coconut flavours. Pfff… who cares, I like pineapple and coconut, and I liked this a lot. Don’t think I’ve ever had better coconut sorbet.

We ended up around £38 for 3 courses without drinks. The wine list is fairly short, but very good prices and good quality. I’m really impressed with Opheem. It’s immediately the top bar for Indian cuisine in Birmingham, and frankly I don’t think there’s more than a couple of places in London being this inventive.