A short post for you today about a recent trip to the Edwardian Tearooms for Sunday lunch.
Found at the back of Birmingham Museum and Gallery, this beautiful lunch setting is an often overlooked (but well worth visiting) cafe in central Birmingham. Hidden right at the back of the ground floor, through the gift shop, this impressive and expensive tea room is an attractive spot to rest your weary feet after a day viewing the different rooms housing art work within this stunning building. I’ve actually talked about this place before, albeit as a coffee pitstop, so I won’t go into too much about the venue itself as you can read all about that (and see photos) in this previous post. I’m not lazy I’m just saving us all time – you’re welcome.
The reason for my latest visit to Edwardian Tearooms was actually to sample the Sunday lunch offering, something that they have been running for some time here at the tearooms although I’m ashamed to say I had absolutely no idea about it. That does seem to be part of both the charm and problem with this place, in that it’s often forgotten or overlooked when it comes to food. This is a crying shame when you consider the fact that two roast dinners come in at a most reasonable £20.
With the choice of beef, pork, or a mushroom Wellington I opted for the former, which has always been my favourite roast meat because chickens are quite boring and roast pork is often too dry. First impressions as the plates hit the table were that the portions were more than generous, especially with the bowls of cauliflower cheese and complementary jugs of extra gravy, and the Yorkshire pudding was bigger than my first flat. As a fat bastard I was obviously quite happy about all this.
Tucking in, the roast potatoes were and remained the highlight, being crispy yet fluffy in the middle, and the plentiful vegetables were well cooked. This and the Yorkshire pudding more than satisfied my Sunday lunch expectations, but unfortunately the beef did not. Hear me out..
I was aware as soon as the meat hit the table that it was a little rarer than I would usually like; by rare I mean very much still a blood bath. Not the end of the world (appreciate that’s personal taste) and being that the slab was so huge I decided I would just eat the more cooked outer section. But this part of the beef was rather fatty, and actually proved almost impossible to cut through. I know a few others felt similar while others seemed to have no issues at all. Maybe it was bad luck; perhaps I’m just fussier than I thought. In all honesty, as I looked longingly at the pork and crackling others were scoffing around the table I felt a pang of jealousy. I managed what I could but gave up quite disheartened, and upon clearing the plates bizarrely no one questioned the enormous amount of meat left behind.
The mouthful I had of the dense mushroom wellington (thanks Emma) was tasty and more like a huge piece of pie; I’d happily come back for that as a roast alternative, actually. The same for the side of cauliflower cheese that was every bit as gooey and rich as you’d hope. If I’m ever going to burn my mouth on food I’m never sad if it’s because of molten cheese, let’s be clear.
We ended with a fine but not exemplary sticky toffee pudding, let down by bought in instant custard which we probably needed twice as much of.
So all in all Edwardian Tearooms was a bit of a hit and miss for me – maybe I’m just fussy about my beef, but to me it just needed a little longer on the cook. Having said that the accompanying veggies and spuds were cracking and I’d be more than happy to come back to give this (minus the beef) a second go as it’s a bargain really at £10 each. The venue is much more quirky than your usual pub and you can always wear the Yorkshire pudding as a hat if all else fails.
Edwardian Tearoom, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH
Disclaimer: I was invited to try the Sunday lunch offering at Edwardian Tearooms but was not asked to write a post, favourable or not. All views and photos are my own.