Trinity could be just what Village diners have been waiting for, writes Richard Peach.
Apparently, the verdict of one “expert” on the new Trinity restaurant was: “Bromsgrove isn’t ready for this . . .” Well, let’s get this straight right now: the people of this area are gagging for a real eating experience. For too long we have been starved of the sorts of restaurants we read about every week in the Sunday supplements.
Write in and baste me if I’m wrong, but what have been our choices? Yes, there are the usual curry houses and Chinese restaurants, there is a wide selection of pubs serving food – some of them doing it well – and the Barnt Green Inn is currently undergoing a transformation from carvery to a gastro-pub, although presumably still with a high volume of customers. Some of our hotels offer good, interesting food, but we’re talking about separate, individual restaurants here.
There used to be The Mill Restaurant in Alvechurch, a regular in the Good Food Guide under chef Carl Timms, but its doors have now been closed for more than a year and it is rumoured to be the site of a new cosmetic treatment centre.
So, yes, we are more than ready for Trinity, which has been launched by two couples in Aston Fields.
This brave foursome are Simon and Sue Turner, who live in the middle of Barnt Green, and Dave and Kathy Andrews, of Bromsgrove. Simon and Dave work together as lecturers at Birmingham College of Food and had for some time been looking for a venue where they could put what they teach into practice.
They heard at the start of this year that the former function room of the Ladybird Inn was to become available for restaurant use as the site, by Bromsgrove rail station, was redeveloped to include a hotel. “It was a long time in the planning,“ says Simon, “and we opened on August 9.”
The name Trinity came from the three businesses, pub, hotel, and restaurant in the middle coming together. “It also seemed liked a nice name,” says Dave.
Simon adds: “What Trinity is not is a hotel restaurant. It is a stand-alone restaurant that services a hotel. We have already built up a really good customer base and people are coming back five or six times.”
While Aston Fields designer Rachel Malum came up with the look for the restaurant, Simon and Dave were able to use their contacts to find the best staff.
In fact, it seems almost all of their employees are former College of Food students. One of these is executive chef Stuart Bagley, although he says his real education has been working at the sides of four Michelin-starred chefs, including Gordon Ramsay. Then there is the general manager, Katharine Armstrong, another former student of the college, as are two more chefs in the kitchen.
“Good chefs are really hard to come by,” says Simon. “There are a lot of people who think they are good at cooking and aren’t that good. The college of food is a real hotbed of talent.
“The standards set at Trinity are down to Stuart and Katharine.”
The ebullient Stuart is keen to talk about the food, his passion, which for Trinity is “modern British cuisine with an Asian influence”.
“It is all locally resourced products, it is all traditional and freshly prepared. When I arrived, I threw the microwave out.
“I see the kitchen as a playroom,” he adds, and when you study the menu, including the onion ice cream served with medallions of Aberdeen angus, you see what he means. That menu has just made way for a winter version offering such temptations as Seared monkfish tail wrapped in parma ham (£14.60) and Casserole of venison with braised root vegetables (£11.90).
With starters in the £4-5 range and desserts under £5, an evening at Trinity is not a bank-breaking experience, especially as the wine list also looks to offer very good value.
And this “experience” is the point. They want you to take your time, to enjoy the surroundings and the food – something many people used to the fast turnaround of pub restaurants will find liberating. “If you come here at six o’clock and are still here at 11 o’clock, that’s fine,” says Simon.
Stuart adds: “In some ways, that is a learning curve for people in this area. Here there is no rush. We want people to soak up the whole atmosphere and, to be honest, to learn how to enjoy food.”
For those who want to dip their tastebuds into the Trinity experience, there is a three-course Christmas menu at £21 for the traditional version and £28 for the “modern” – or you could try the traditional Sunday lunches with two courses at £12.50 and a children’s menu at £8.90.
When The Village rang to try to book a table for a secret review, the restaurant was full, so we haven’t eaten at Trinity, apart from trying a delicious sample of Stuart’s starters and desserts. But from that taster and seeing the enthusiasm and commitment behind the scenes, I’ll certainly be back.
If you’d like to try for yourself, Trinity’s phone number is 01527 889948.