- Bib Gourmand, Eat, Italian Restaurant
Land Restaurant, Birmingham: Something Special Is Growing
- British Restaurants, Eat, Fine Dining, Michelin Guide
- Share
Land Restaurant, Birmingham: Something Special Is Growing
Land Restaurant, 30 Great Western Arcade, Birmingham, B2 5HU, United Kingdom. Land Restaurant, five-course tasting menu from £38, eight-course tasting menu from £45. Wine by glass from £8.50. All information is correct at the time of publication. You can find the latest information on Land Restaurant’s Website or call +441212362313.
Land Restaurant’s vegan-tasting menu ascends glorious highs, but there is work to do where minor adjustments would take it from good to great.
Written by Liam Collens // Find other reviews here
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Land Restaurant, Birmingham: Something Special Is Growing
This is my first trip to Birmingham, and for a vegan restaurant, no less. Birmingham does not scream vegan destination restaurant. The city is better known for its bat-eating Ozzy Osbourne. It’s a city turning that corner, making good of its industrial heritage with acres of construction and development underway stretching from the Bullring down towards an indoor mini golf course where the first hole’s Amsterdam’s red light pastiche features a trio of dildo-obstacles that could take your eye out. I still land a four on that hole. Food-wise, Birmingham is synonymous with curries courtesy of its desi diaspora, and that’s all I know about Birmingham until online searches reveal two things. First, Birmingham boasts 15 Michelin-listed restaurants and second, Jay Rayner (a critic hero of mine) positively reviewed one of them, Land Restaurant. This is about as close as I’ll get to Jay’s footsteps.
Land Restaurant is a vegan Michelin recommended restaurant in Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade. This is the inside of Land Restaurant looking towards the open plan kitchen.
Land Restaurant is a vegan Michelin recommended restaurant in Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade. This is the inside of Land Restaurant looking towards the open plan kitchen.Land Restaurant, one of Birmingham’s few Michelin-listed restaurants serving lunch midweek
I am not alone. A close friend accompanies me to Land Restaurant. A beauty pageant Queen to whom I am somewhat estranged for half a decade, partly due to living on different continents, COVID travel restrictions and life just getting in the way. She’s never eaten in a vegan restaurant. Today that changes.
The trend of Michelin-listed restaurants closed for lunch service is noticeable during this trip to the UK. Many restaurants are closed for more than one day during the week. They are closed for lunch. Like the OAK Restaurant in Bath, vegans and vegetarians are seemingly the only diners who like a good lunch these days. (The intrepid Matt Broderick confirmed that Purnell’s still offers an excellent lunch in Birmingham.)
Land’s striking location inside the ornate Great Western Arcade, built over the Great Western Railway line in the 1870s, paints a beautiful scene of Victorian architecture inside a shopping strip adorned with Union Jack bunting, teal columns and a glassed roof. Fit for a King, but perfect for the Queen. Land’s contemporary interior opts for algae-green, textured walls behind onyx leatherette benches and pale, stone-like table tops. It is not cosy, but you may believe me if I told you they wrote The Matrix here (they did not).
Land Restaurant is a vegan Michelin recommended restaurant in Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade, a Victorian Grade-listed shopping arcade.
The trend of Michelin-listed restaurants closed for lunch service is noticeable during this trip to the UK. Many restaurants are closed for more than one day during the week. They are closed for lunch. Like the OAK Restaurant in Bath, vegans and vegetarians are seemingly the only diners who like a good lunch these days. (The intrepid Matt Broderick confirmed that Purnell’s still offers an excellent lunch in Birmingham.)
Land’s striking location inside the ornate Great Western Arcade, built over the Great Western Railway line in the 1870s, paints a beautiful scene of Victorian architecture inside a shopping strip adorned with Union Jack bunting, teal columns and a glassed roof. Fit for a King, but perfect for the Queen. Land’s contemporary interior opts for algae-green, textured walls behind onyx leatherette benches and pale, stone-like table tops. It is not cosy, but you may believe me if I told you they wrote The Matrix here (they did not).
Land Restaurant is a vegan Michelin recommended restaurant in Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade, a Victorian Grade-listed shopping arcade.
Our carrot laksa wallows in a coconut broth, so luxurious, it probably summers in Monaco.
Land Restaurant’s food and menu
Land is a small restaurant with an open kitchen of five chefs; so quiet, you would never know they prepare five and eight-course vegan-tasting menus during lunch and dinner. The booking team usher us towards the five-course menu due to the Queen’s nut allergy, where Chefs Adrian Luck and Tony Cridland adjust the menu to accommodate.
Land’s progressive menu steers away from tiresome vegan cliches and sets a course disloyal to any one cuisine; the latter is a trend with modern fine dining. It leans Asian at times with dashis and laksas; sometimes Mexican with salsa verdes. European with croquettes. Technical strength is evident throughout the meal, with some moments of utter joy.
Land’s most accomplished dish lies in gossamer layers of courgette rolled in salsa verde; all blanketed in a suave sesame espuma. This dish could be one of the best plates I will eat this year. The nutty-but-mild alchemy of the sesame espuma mirrors that of an aged Parmesan and cradles the courgette’s mid-summer sweetness. It’s delightful, and I nearly take our waiter up on the offer of the recipe. I should have.
Our carrot laksa wallows in a coconut broth, so luxurious, it probably summers in Monaco. The laksa twirlable carrot ribbons and broth lean slightly sweet, but it’s all balanced with the funk and spice of what tasted like a chewy, crispy garlic chilli oil. I only wish there was more of it. I could eat three more. The five-course menu is excellent value for money at about £7 per dish, but I did think some portions could be slightly larger, especially the laksa, which speaks ‘main course’ to me.
This brings me to the menu’s flow: a concept that only matters in fine dining, which Land considers itself to be. Land challenges the strictures of fine dining with its more relaxed service approach, and its food showcases just the right amount of prissiness, but the flow, well, does not flow, and at times, you sense a split identity in a dish, let alone between courses.
A stamp of sweet potato millefeuille with seaweed and dashi is a tale of two dishes. The dashi’s creaminess dares you to believe it is not dairy. It’s incandescent with liberal ripples of verdant oil. The sweet potato is superbly crafted with lines of seaweed between layers as it slides apart with the mere press of a spoon. However, the sweetness of the potato overpowers the dashi, and personally, the two components are best enjoyed separately. Land, I would drink the dashi by the bottle; tell me when I can buy some.
The potato croquette hums with kimchi and garlic layered over a stodgy cylinder that lacks a potato croquette’s signature crispy exterior and pillowy centre. It reads like a hashbrown – and I love hashbrowns, but not this one. The pineapple dessert is a case of the parts being greater than the sum where I’m not convinced its creator truly enjoys the comfort a dessert can bring. It is a palate cleanser of tart, sweet, spiced and crunchy.
Land Restaurant five-course tasting menu: Courgette with salsa verde and sesame; Carrot Laksa; Sweet Potato with Dashi; Potato Croquette with Kimchi and Garlic; Pineapple with Ginger and Coconut; Double Macchiato
Having read Jay Rayner’s review a few times, there have been tectonic changes to Land since his 2020 visit, but there is still much to love. Land is admirably more casual than its fine dining label suggests. Not every dish can be a “greatest hit”. Such dining overwhelms. The courgette and laksa confidently stride while the pineapple and sweet potato meander. Our five courses tell me that eating eight courses at £45 is probably worth it to discover more pearls and winners, especially at that price. A la carte options for certain dishes are encouraged, especially the laksa.
Land Restaurant’s interior facing the kitchen; their Japanese Slipper Cocktail (£14); their drinks menu by the glass including wine and cocktails.
Birmingham residents searching for something new and different. Vegan and vegetarian diners wanting an approachable fine dining option. The vegan-curious dipping a toe into meatless eating.
Land Restaurant’s courgette in salsa verde and sesame; the carrot laksa in coconut broth with mushrooms; the potato croquette with kimchi and garlic (£14).
Land’s progressive menu steers away from tiresome vegan cliches and sets a course disloyal to any one cuisine; the latter is a trend with modern fine dining. It leans Asian at times with dashis and laksas; sometimes Mexican with salsa verdes. European with croquettes. Technical strength is evident throughout the meal, with some moments of utter joy.
Land’s most accomplished dish lies in gossamer layers of courgette rolled in salsa verde; all blanketed in a suave sesame espuma. This dish could be one of the best plates I will eat this year. The nutty-but-mild alchemy of the sesame espuma mirrors that of an aged Parmesan and cradles the courgette’s mid-summer sweetness. It’s delightful, and I nearly take our waiter up on the offer of the recipe. I should have.
Our carrot laksa wallows in a coconut broth, so luxurious, it probably summers in Monaco. The laksa twirlable carrot ribbons and broth lean slightly sweet, but it’s all balanced with the funk and spice of what tasted like a chewy, crispy garlic chilli oil. I only wish there was more of it. I could eat three more. The five-course menu is excellent value for money at about £7 per dish, but I did think some portions could be slightly larger, especially the laksa, which speaks ‘main course’ to me.
This brings me to the menu’s flow: a concept that only matters in fine dining, which Land considers itself to be. Land challenges the strictures of fine dining with its more relaxed service approach, and its food showcases just the right amount of prissiness, but the flow, well, does not flow, and at times, you sense a split identity in a dish, let alone between courses.
A stamp of sweet potato millefeuille with seaweed and dashi is a tale of two dishes. The dashi’s creaminess dares you to believe it is not dairy. It’s incandescent with liberal ripples of verdant oil. The sweet potato is superbly crafted with lines of seaweed between layers as it slides apart with the mere press of a spoon. However, the sweetness of the potato overpowers the dashi, and personally, the two components are best enjoyed separately. Land, I would drink the dashi by the bottle; tell me when I can buy some.
The potato croquette hums with kimchi and garlic layered over a stodgy cylinder that lacks a potato croquette’s signature crispy exterior and pillowy centre. It reads like a hashbrown – and I love hashbrowns, but not this one. The pineapple dessert is a case of the parts being greater than the sum where I’m not convinced its creator truly enjoys the comfort a dessert can bring. It is a palate cleanser of tart, sweet, spiced and crunchy.
Land Restaurant five-course tasting menu: Courgette with salsa verde and sesame; Carrot Laksa; Sweet Potato with Dashi; Potato Croquette with Kimchi and Garlic; Pineapple with Ginger and Coconut; Double Macchiato
Land Restaurant, Would I Return?
Having read Jay Rayner’s review a few times, there have been tectonic changes to Land since his 2020 visit, but there is still much to love. Land is admirably more casual than its fine dining label suggests. Not every dish can be a “greatest hit”. Such dining overwhelms. The courgette and laksa confidently stride while the pineapple and sweet potato meander. Our five courses tell me that eating eight courses at £45 is probably worth it to discover more pearls and winners, especially at that price. A la carte options for certain dishes are encouraged, especially the laksa.
Land Restaurant’s interior facing the kitchen; their Japanese Slipper Cocktail (£14); their drinks menu by the glass including wine and cocktails.
Land Restaurant, Who Should Come Here?
Birmingham residents searching for something new and different. Vegan and vegetarian diners wanting an approachable fine dining option. The vegan-curious dipping a toe into meatless eating.
Land Restaurant’s courgette in salsa verde and sesame; the carrot laksa in coconut broth with mushrooms; the potato croquette with kimchi and garlic (£14).
You May Also Like
- Arabic Restaurants, Casual Dining, Dubai Restaurants, Eat
- Dubai Restaurants, Eat, Fine Dining, Japanese Restaurants, Michelin Guide Dubai, Spanish Restaurants
Category
Follow us @eatgosee on Instagram
