This weekend, Birmingham was invaded by thousands of comics fans, all flocking to the Birmingham International Comics Show, us included.  Would Birmingham survive? Stay tuned, true believers!

As Dave was going to the pre-show launch party–by which you may as well infer booze-up–to hobnob with artists and writers galore, he let me pick the restaurant for dinner on Friday night before the party.  (Lucas and I snored the night away at the hotel instead.  Oh yeah… I know how to party.)

I had wanted to eat at Purnell’s, but they’re not keen on children in the restaurant (unlike Le Manoir, The Fat Duck or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay), so I checked out some parenting websites for recommendations.  Netmums came up trumps with their recommendation of Bank as a ‘grown-up yet child-friendly’ restaurant.

Bank is situated in the cosmopolitan Brindlyplace area of Birmingham.  The area heaves with bars and restaurants giving it a lively buzz.  Bank occupies the ground floor of the Deloitte & Touche building and thus attracts a young, lively, corporate crowd.  The heavily mirrored and glazed interior design reflects (no pun intended) their customers well and there are great views overlooking the canals.

We arrived at the beginning of evening service and thus were seated quickly with a highchair brought out for Lucas, who promptly started flirting with our waitress.  His shameless flirting only got worse when she brought us our menus and some very good bread.  The ciabatta was nice and chewy and the wholmeal was really well flavoured.  We happily slathered some very nice salted butter over each slice as we perused the menu.

The menu at Bank is eclectic to say the least.  Arabic, French, Greek, Italian, British, Chinese and Thai dishes all sit happily alongside each other on the menu, with the focus on bold flavours rather than any particular cuisine.

We all shared a mezze platter as our starter: Olives, flat bread, humous, falafel, tzatziki, sweet pepper and aubergine relish, tabbouleh, savoury Greek pastries & baby red peppers filled with feta.

Mezze platter

This was very good.  The stuffed baby red peppers, in particular, were amazing!  Like little flavour bombs in the mouth… so sweet, slightly firey, and with lovely creaminess from the feta to cool your mouth down.  Very yummy.  The olives were excellent–such a shame that Dave doesn’t like olives, so I shared one or two with Lucas.  His first olives!  (He prefers green to black, if you were curious.)  The falafel were sweet and deliciously nutty, but alas I lost most of mine to a certain wee man who had decided it was the tastiest thing ever.  The older Lucas gets, the more his tastebuds align with mine.  Which is great in one way, and frustrating in that I can never eat a meal without half of it being pinched!!

For our main courses, Dave opted for the seared scallops with black pudding, garlic mash & a white wine sauce while I played it slightly lighter with crispy duck with Chinese greens, sesame & honey dressing.

Seared scallops, black pudding and garlic mash

Roving reporter Dave, all the way over on the other side of the table, reported that this dish was as fabulous as it looked.  I would have loved to have tasted it, but Lucas was busy tasting it for Daddy.  He loved his first taste of scallops!  I know scallops and black pudding is a bit over-done these days, but when it is done well–and I’m told this was done very well–it’s fabulous.

Crispy duck, Chinese greens, sesame & honey dressing

My duck looked a little homely compared to the dramatically plated scallops and I felt quite jealous until I tasted the duck. Oh my. Perfectly crispy skin, rich, tender duck legs and the dressing was packed with flavour.  The duck sat atop a bed of stirfried bok choi and tenderstem broccoli which was still lovely and crisp, and made a nice contrast between the seductive richness of the duck and the sweetness of the dressing.  I probably didn’t need the side of rice that I ordered off-menu, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have left even a smidgeon of the dressing or duck behind.

Our new waiter–shift change halfway through our meal–took the time to tell us that all the desserts were freshly made in-house, which was nice to hear, and also–very enthusiastically–tried to sell us the day’s special: rice pudding with spiced plums. He gave such a vivid description that I was certain he’d actually been able to try it, which is really reassuring in a restaurant. Unfortunately for him, I’d been hankering after the dessert plate ever since I read Bank’s dessert menu online a few days ago and I didn’t need to make doe-eyes at Dave for very long before he acquiesced and agreed to share it with me.

Sticky toffee pudding, crème brulee, chocolate fudge brownies, raspberry and passionfruit pavlovas

The sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream and the crème brulee were stunningly good.  I quite liked the pavlova, but the pav itself wasn’t squidgy in the middle which was a shame.  Having said that, I can see that it would be tricky to bake miniature pavlova bases to the right consistency.  And as for the chocolate fudge brownie squares… well, they weren’t fudgy.  They were pretty cakey, and Dave actually thought that he was eating tiffin as they featured both nuts and fruit.  That’s not to say that they were bad.  They were good, just not what I expect from something billed as a fudgy brownie!

Overall, I quite liked Bank.  I did feel that our meal was a bit on the expensive side, but the food and service were good, and we had a great time so I can’t complain.  I’d definitely go back if I were ever in the area again, and I might check out the Westminster one the next time I’m in London.

And as for Birmingham… well, it was intact when we left.  I can’t speak for the rest of the rampaging hordes of comic geeks, though!  We got to catch up with some old friends, made some new ones, Lucas met Batman (and everyone leered at Harley Quinn) and I got some awesome sketches.

All in all a great weekend, and how could it not be?  Food and comics… two of my favourite things!

Bank Restaurant & Bar
4 Brindlyplace
Birmingham
B1 2JB

For reservations call 0121 633 4466 or make a reservation online.