A little Jewellery Quarter restaurant where diners sit around the kitchen table is up for a prize at the prestigious Good Food Guide Awards. Albatross Death Cult opened last June on Newhall Square and was added to the Michelin Guide ten weeks later.
The venue, which seats 14 guests around the kitchen counter is now up for the Best New Restaurant gong at the Good Food Guide Awards. Albatross Death Cult is a sister venue to The Wilderness, with chef Alex Claridge cooking with predominantly seafood in the new establishment.
Albatross Death Cult goes up against Skof in Manchester, Lyla in Edinburgh, Briar in Somerset, Native in Worcestershire and Row on 5 in London for the prize. The winner will be announced on Monday, February 3 in a ceremony at London’s Theatre Royal on Drury Lane.
Read more: Birmingham restaurant competes with The Ritz to be named best in Britain
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The Good Food Guide describes The Wilderness as a restaurant where ‘diners are unlikely to eat on a whim’ as there’s little signage on the tucked-away square. It says there is ‘no distinction between the fully open kitchen and the dining room’ and that the food is ‘primarily a multi-course, Japanese-inflected seafood tasting menu’.
The guide describes dishes at Albatross Death Cult as ‘inventive but restrained’ and ‘classical yet able to embrace broader influences’. It has an overall rating of ‘very good’ from the guide, with an ‘exceptional’ rating in the ‘deliciousness’ category.
The only other Birmingham restaurant up for a Good Food Guide Award this year is Opheem, the fine dining Indian restaurant that is up for Restaurant of the Year alongside The Ritz Restaurant in London. Meanwhile, Grace and Savour at Hampton Manor is in the running to be named the Most Beautiful Restaurant.