New Set Menu At Marco Pierre White, Birmingham

Marco Pierre White. That name has cropped up a few times on my blog over the last year or so. At first it was to experience MPW’s Afternoon Tea selection, then recently I won a competition to dine at the London Bridge restaurant. Every time I’ve visited, the quality and standard of the food has been impressive – even after receiving bad reviews on Tripadvisor. I recently visited The Steak House at the top of The Cube in Birmingham to review their new set menu but sadly, I too left feeling very disappointed with the food.

There is no doubt that the staff are wonderful and extremely attentive. There is no denying this. We were shown to our table and offered menus straight away and were given complimentary Prosecco. I mean, what’s not to love really? I prefer not to be asked how my food is when I have my mouth full, and luckily this didn’t happen. But when we walked away from our meal that night, both Josh and I felt that the overall service was spot on, but the meal was lacklustre. It was average. It really pains me to say this because we were treated extremely well, but the food just didn’t cut it for me. The best thing about the start of the night was the bread and olives. Because if you can’t get that right, you’re in serious trouble.

The views are simply gorgeous. The restaurant is located on level 25 of The Cube and has spectacular panoramic views of the city. It’s also the ideal place for rooftop Cocktails, but the experience comes with a price tag. Tables are set out neatly with crisp white table cloths and the decor perfectly executes the monochrome look. Our young waitress was very chatty and asked me about my blog which I thought was sweet.  She seemed very inquisitive and genuinely spoke with interest. Our starters came in good time and we opted for ‘somerset pokers’ which were rolled up pieces of smoked salami. They were deliciously smoky and paired with my large glass of red wine, they were actually the highlight of the meal. My order of whitebait however was an abnormally plain dish considering they’re usually tantalisingly salty. I prefered Josh’s Welsh Rarebit with poached egg on sourdough bread to mine, his was a tad more flavoursome.

I need to remind you that the Birmingham restaurant is known as the ‘Steakhouse’. But the only real steak option on the set ‘blogger’ menu was the burger. It was the first thing I noticed when looking at the options but please note that the full menu is available to all customers and was launched in May. For my main, I asked for the Pork Belly Marco Polo with crackling and butter beans. I expected the pork to fall apart like it does when its been slow cooked for hours. But the texture was incredibly tough and again, my meal lacked flavour. I believe mine should have come with a side order of mash potato and vegetables. But instead I ordered a side of onion rings. The food was far too bland for my liking which is a shame because the London branch actually served us a delicious meal. Josh’s Steakhouse Burger with fries was served with Monterey Jack cheese, Dijon mayonnaise & crispy onion rings. Again, it was underwhelming and I was gobsmacked since the burger would have cost £17.50 on the normal menu!

I dislike wasting food but I couldn’t eat all of my meal, I like pork to melt in the mouth, but it just didn’t happen. The butter beans weren’t filling either and just thought it was a pretty average meal for Marco Pierre White standards. Afterwards, we let our food go down and took some time to reflect and admire the views. We watched the sun set and anticipated ordering dessert. Of course, we did. There’s no one alive today that doesn’t have a craving for dessert even if there’s physically no room left. It’s the law of dining out.

Shortly after, the waitress encouraged me to order the Eton Mess. Truth be told, I enjoyed it more than the mains but the portion was way too much for one person, it was definitely a sharing dessert that needed two spoons. The cream with the strawberry sauce was tasty (I love cream based meals, I’m obviously a chicken korma kinda girl) but struggled to eat all of it on my own. Josh happily sat munching away on his rice pudding because sometimes, you need that sugar hit to make your food slide down easier.

During my food reviews, I always like to look around and see how staff are treating other diners. Just because I’m reviewing definitely does not mean I deserve any special treatment. I am glad to say that I saw meals come out in plenty of time, and I noticed couples on dates, sitting happily and sipping their cocktails. The table next to us did have their food sent back a few times, but for reasons unknown. Overall, I was disappointed with the quality of food but the views are amazing. I’m appreciative of the invite, but I’m sad to say that until I have £50 notes coming out of my ears, I won’t be rushing back anytime soon.

Please note: The new set menu was launched in May. I was invited to MPW, Birmingham to try their samples of their menu options with a +1. All opinions are 100% honest and are my own.