They’ve probably never seen the coast, so I’m not sure you can say the gulls which cry and fly above the Jewellery Quarter are genuine seagulls.

But there’s only one place to get cod – and that’s by fishing beneath the proverbial ocean wave.

So, if you order some fish and chips with pea purée at this new blue-coloured restaurant with a handful of deck chairs outside, can it really feel like you are at the seaside in the middle of Birmingham?

Half way through the meal - fish, chips and pea puree with tartar sauce (£8.95)
Half way through the meal - fish, chips and pea puree with tartar sauce (£8.95)

Well, not quite... as our trip to promising new diner Fishylicious ultimately proved.

The setting

The name Fishylicious sounds great when you say it and the fork logo with an eye and mouth at the invisible handle end is very clever.

The entrance off Pitsford Street
The entrance off Pitsford Street

Founded by Sarah Thornton, former landlady of The Lord Clifden pub in the Jewellery Quarter, the restaurant itself is close to Vyse Street – next door to a former Pitsford Street car park that is now overgrown and crying out for redevelopment.

Walk through the main entrance to the courtyard and at first glance Fishylicious resembles an enlarged Portakabin painted blue.

The good news is that it’s actually a real building, where the first floor above is used for storage.

The sound of gulls overhead and the presence of a few deckchairs might well rekindle a few summer seaside memories.

The galley-shaped restaurant has an uneasy relationship with natural light
The galley-shaped restaurant has an uneasy relationship with natural light

But the ground floor restaurant interior is a galley shape, painted a caramel colour.

The chairs, though cleverly covered with denim jeans material, also offer little in the nautical sense.

Only in the loos, where rough-timber horizontal wall panels have been painted various shades of blue and white and there are fresh flowers, is there evidence of an overwhelming passion for the seaside.

Personally, I think the owners should have gone absolutely mad for the sea, inside and outside of the main restaurant.

There's certainly a great outdoor space where an artist like Zara Gaze from Sand In Your Eye could create some fabulous beach-worthy, semi-permanent sculptures using builders' sand.

How a Fishylicious "beach" could look: a 2016 Summer in Southside sand sculpture of The Bullring and Rotunda next to the giant Council House model, made by Zara Gaze from Sand In Your Eye
How a Fishylicious "beach" could look: a 2016 Summer in Southside sand sculpture of The Bullring and Rotunda next to the giant Council House model, made by Zara Gaze from Sand In Your Eye

Especially judging by her recent work at Summer in Southside, pictured above.

What can you order?

The menu is broken up into starters, snacks / light bites, traditional fish and chips, homemade traditional pies, sides, side salads, pickle and sauces which include “Birmingham curry” for £1.65, while chip shop curry and old-fashioned gravy are both priced at £1.25.

Unusual items include potted spiced crab (£4.75), lobster and chips (£16.95), smoked haddock bubble & squeak (£4.95) and a shin of beef and onion pie (£9.95) so you wonder if they are trying to offer too much too soon in a restaurant with barely 24 indoor covers.

Fishylicious branding on T shirts
Fishylicious branding on T shirts

Drinks include bottled beers and ciders, wines, spirits, soft drinks and milk shakes (£2.50). Tea is £1.50, cappuccinos £2.65 and lattes £2.95.

We asked for a children’s juice (free), a rarely found Peroni Red (£3.10) – always a better taste then the universal Peroni lager – and a bottle of Sol (£2.90), which I settled for in the absence of the Sharp’s Atlantic Pale Ale which would have been £3.90 for 500ml.

Our order

Battered fish on a toasted bap with lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce - the FLT
Battered fish on a toasted bap with lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce - the FLT

In the interests of making credible comparisons with other establishments, I simply ordered cod with chips, pea purée and tartar sauce (£8.95) – though the choice also included hake (£9.95), scampi (£8.95), seabass (£10.95) or salmon (£11.95).

To be more experimental, I also had a side salad of seaweed with coriander, soy, chilli and cucumber (£4.50).

My wife, Collette, tried the FLT – battered cod with lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce on a toasted bap (£4.50) – as well as a small dish of homemade coleslaw (£1.50) which I preferred to my pot of tartar.

Our daughter had sausage and chips (£4.50) from the “kiddywinkles” section of the menu, which also includes mini fish and chips, chicken nuggets and chips or scampi with chips for the same price.

Fishylicious will be opening its doors on Monday August 1st on Pitsford Street
Fishylicious opened on Monday August 1st in Pitsford Street

The taste

Served with enthusiasm by a young waitress, my meal came wrapped in printed paper and served on top of a plate as if it had just been handed to me in a chip shop.

It was like opening a fantastic present and the rustle of the paper temporarily drowned out the muzak.

Cut more flat than square, the chips had a refreshing, home made quality.

Disappointing: two sausages with chips for a child
Disappointing: two sausages with chips for a child

Along with my wife's meal, both of our freshly cooked fish portions were hot, white and flaky beneath their golden, battered coats and mine came with a slice of lime.

The two, unpalatably thick sausages on our daughter's blandly-presented plate seemed to be virtually meatless – four properly meaty, mini sausages would have been better for taste, digestion and plate aesthetics and most of them wouldn't have been left.

My wife’s meal came chipless, so she pinched a few of mine and liked them, even though her already under-sized plate became even more unfit for purpose... in bizarre contrast to the fact that both of our glasses were far too big for the size of drinks we’d ordered.

The glass was inappropriate for this bottle of Peroni Red
The glass was inappropriate for this bottle of Peroni Red

The peas were good without being exceptional and the tartar sauce something of an acquired taste, whereas I’m sure all sushi lovers would enjoy the bite and contrasting flavours of the seaweed salad, served with very fresh coriander.

Specially made locally by Pip’s Hot Sauce, the chilli vinegar added such a pleasant, late kick to my last few chips I wished I’d tried it earlier.

The bill

Fresh fruit salad with home made ice cream
Fresh fruit salad with home made ice cream

The total for our meals and drinks came to £39.05 including two desserts from the specials board.

Our daughter chose a strawberry and coconut duo (not to my taste) while I opted for a pleasant, mixed fruit salad.

Both were served with small scoops of outstanding homemade vanilla ice cream – the pick of all of our selections and at the opposite end of the scale to the disappointing sausages.

The verdict

A strawberry and coconut duo dessert
A strawberry and coconut duo dessert

Food: 3/5 (let down by the sausages)

Atmosphere: 3/5

Value for money: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Overall: 3/5

Fishylicious will work best on a warm summer’s night if the courtyard is busy and lots of people are pretending to be at the seaside.

During our opening-week visit, when we were the sole diners early afternoon, the atmosphere was dominated by some unforgivingly loud and inappropriate muzak which also made ordering more difficult than it might have been.

The Fishylicious loos have fresh flowers and a bright nautical theme at odds with the muted look of the main restaurant
The Fishylicious loos have fresh flowers and a bright nautical theme at odds with the muted look of the main restaurant

The project is also not yet finished as some artwork with seagulls is on its way to liven up the walls.

An unexpected bonus is that when the main doors are closed and you are inside the restaurant, you can see a fabulous “mural” spray-painted by ace graffiti artist Temper, who was formerly based around the corner in the Jewellery Quarter.

It’s a unique touch and makes you wonder even more about how the dining room might have been more adventurously decorated – and whether this place will feel warm and cosy in the winter.

Graffiti artist Temper has spray painted this design on the inside of the main doors
Graffiti artist Temper has spray painted this design on the inside of the main doors

Overall, the emphasis on a variety of fresh fish makes Fishylicious a most welcome addition to Birmingham’s dining scene and one hopes it will take off given that its relatively hidden location could make business sporadic.

But, compared with the 90-year-old Colmans Fish & Chips restaurant I recently visited in South Shields, it has a long way to go to become legendary.

Where is Fishylicious and when is it open?

Fishylicious, Pitsford Street, Birmingham B18 6LJ.

Tel 0121 554 6791.

Website details here: www.fishylicious.co.uk .

Open Monday to Thursday noon-9pm; Friday to Saturday, noon-10pm