Waters On The Square, Chad Square, off Hawthorne Road, Edgbaston, B15 3TQ. Tel: 0121 454 5436 www.watersonthesquare.com
Growing up as one of seven kids in a 1940s family, my mum knows a thing or two about food.
Back then, I’m told, you were home in time for dinner and you moved fast to fill your belly because if you missed out you’d go hungry till the next sitting.
They knew the value of food and how to make a little go a long way.
And as a result, my mother is a woman who can clean a chicken carcass of every last morsel, turn cold cuts into a gastronomic event and summon sensational flavour from the giblets and gizzard of a Christmas goose.
For her, food has to be great quality, well portioned and good value.
So when choosing where to take her for dinner, I’m counting on Andy Waters’ newest venue to tick all these boxes.
On launching his Edgbaston restaurant nearly 12 months ago (with Walsall-raised 33-year-old head chef Gareth Ward at the helm), Andy (who won a Michelin star just six months after opening his former restaurant, Edmunds) modestly described his cooking as “good safe eating”, guaranteeing my no-nonsense mum won’t be served a prissy pageant of foams and jellies on slates.
Hailing from Bromsgrove, where he still lives with his family, Andy worked at the Plough and Harrow in its glory days when it was Egon Ronay Restaurant of the Year and was cooking at Simpsons in Kenilworth when it first won its star.
After leaving Birmingham two-and-a-half years ago, he returned last year and, like Simpsons, chose to set up in Edgbaston, bringing his classical cooking and no-nonsense approach to what he calls “the Mayfair of Birmingham”.
The small restaurant, with just 30-35 covers, may be tucked out of sight in the unlikely location of Chad Square, opposite Harborne Road’s White Swan, but it’s luring diners through the doors with two courses at £23.50 and three at £29.50.
Mum predictably plumps for the pan seared chicken livers to start.
They are rich and offally delicious, served with parsnip crisps, confit cabbage and wholegrain mustard sauce.
My more experimental smoked haddock Welsh rarebit sees a fish fillet replace the rarebit’s traditional toast.
A thick layer of gooey mature cheese is melted over the smoky haddock under the grill. It evokes memories of comforting fish pie and it’s freshened by tangy, sweet tomatoes and peppery cress.
For her main, mum goes for Cornish lamb with black pudding, caramelised onions, peas, lettuce and mint.
Big cubes of black pudding are dense and rewarding, and the meat is lifted by the peas and large whole mint leaves that make her reminisce about the days of homemade mint sauce.
Barely resisting temptation from the slow cooked belly of Wiltshire pork, pomme saute, Bramley apple and stuffing with marjoram jus, I stick with seafood, ordering a bamboo steamed halibut with langoustines, broccoli, garlic and caper butter, and confit of lemons.
It’s a generous fillet of halibut that’s kept its juicy, jelly-like skin.
The langoustines are lacking their usual dramatic presentation, served out of their shells and sliced into small portions, which feels like the kitchen is making a little go a long way. And with change from £30 for three courses I don’t think anyone can argue with that.
The garnishes raise this dish to another level. A smooth, sweet and thick lemon confit is refreshing and inventive, teamed with lemon slices that taste like a joyously tarty take on candied peel, and finished off with a sharp kick from the capers.
We are recommended a white wine to complement both the fish and the lamb dishes, a Beauvignac Picpoul de Pinet.
It does the job nicely and at £22.50 it’s one of more than 20 bottles on the wine list priced under £30. (If you want to push the boat out there’s a £60 Meursault Vieilles Vignes and a £63 Zuxey-Duresses Premiere Cru at the other end of the scale).
The service is slick, quick, polite and professional and within half an hour of walking through the door we’d been served our second course.
There are just two waiters working the bar and floor with a full restaurant for the duration of the Saturday night we visit, delivering everything promptly with no fuss.
For pudding we both greedily go for the chef’s tasting of desserts with a glass of Deen de Bortoli Vat 5 Botrytis Semillon (£3.75).
On a wooden board come five little puds: a pear frangipani, a cherry cream with a dusting of sugar, a pot of custard cream, a yoghurt fruit compote and an Amaretto cream with biscuit.
It’s a gleefully excessive end to an indulgent meal. I can’t finish mine. I’m full to the brim.
Mum, with years of gannet training behind her, clears every last crumb before passing her compliments to the chef, and I get the feeling it’s that kind of review that Waters On The Square really cares about.
We’ve pigged out on three courses, plus a bottle of wine and a dessert wine, and paid less than £45 each.
Waters On The Square has won a listing in the newly-published 2015 Michelin Guide and Andy Waters’ other restaurant, The Queens in Worcestershire’s Belbroughton, has already been awarded a Bib Gourmand by Michelin (a rare award for good cooking at moderate prices of £28 or less for a two or three-course meal).
While many are gunning for Birmingham’s first two-star restaurant, I reckon the city’s first Bib Gourmand could be just as important, tempting a new wave of value-driven customers to sample the city’s fine-dining scene.
Regular Tuesday gourmet nights, hosted by Andy, see five courses served for £47.50 (they’re now taking bookings for October 21 and November 4 and 18) and three special gourmet evenings are planned in the run-up to Christmas.
And you’ll currently find a voucher on the restaurant’s website giving you 20 per cent off your bill.
If we gave marks for value this restaurant would get 10 out of 10.
Food : 7.5/10
Service: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
