CIELO
Verdict : 9/10 (Not very Italian, but excellent all the same)
On 3 February 2008 D and I visited Cielo, Italian restaurant in Oozells Square, Brindley place.
The head chef, Andy Waters, used to have a Michelin star in a different restaurant, but I don't remember where and the website does not say.
It is an up market restaurant and pretty expensive, but, mercifully, it offers affordable fix lunch menu from Monday to Saturday, £11.95, 3 course for £14.95. For a la carte menu, I would expect to pay about double these prices. You can order from a la carte menu during lunch time, too.
This is the interior. It is bright during the day as two sides of the restaurant are facing outside and have glass walls. As I cannot stand having lunch without seeing sun light (even the prisoners in civilised countries don't suffer such fate), this is a big plus point.
On entering we were greeted by a waitress who took our coats, and then led us to one of the two-seaters by the glass wall.
We both chose from their lunch menu, and ordered a bottle of sparkling water, 750cc Ty Nant, £2.95. We did not order any wine, but just for information, a glass of wine is from £4 and from £14 a bottle.
Then a waiter came and put two chabatta rolls and butter on the table. Given that not a few Italian restaurants charge for bread and olive oil, I should note that we were not charged for the bread.
This is my starter: Parma ham, asparagus and ricotta cheese. The black swirl on the plate is reduced balsamic vinegar.
It tasted like as they looked and there is not much to explain. One quibble is that the ricotta cheese contained either raw chalotte or onion, and I thought it should not.
This is D's starter (or probably I should say primo), penne with prawns and chili in tomato sauce. Our waitress asked him if he liked some parmesan or black pepper, and he said yes, although the Italians normally do not put parmesan on fishy pasta (they believe that the combination of fish and parmesan is not good for digestion).
I thought that the tomato sauce pasta should be boring. I admit I was wrong. The tomato sauce was surely one of the best I have tasted; it was so dense, full of flavou, and I felt slight hint of honey. The fresh red chili gave a pleasant kick, and the prawns were beautifully cooked (it is so easy to overcook prawns). Well done.
This is my main course. Salmon fillet with braised balsamic puy lentils and lemon oil. (I did not understand where the lemon oil was).
I could not imagine how would be the combination of salmon and lentils, but I dare to try it. The salmon was cooked just right, but the salmon-ey smell was a bit over-powering.
The puy lentils have harder skin than ordinary lentils and don't lose shape in long cooking. These ones in fact were rather hard and had a bite. They should have put quite a lot of balsamic vinegar to give such a strong flavour. I would not have liked either the salmon or the lentils as they were, but the combination of the two was beautiful. The robust balsamic flavour of lentils kept the salmon perfectly under control.
These are diced chisp that D ordered as a side dish (£2.95). As the dices were chunky, they tasted like hybrid between chips and oven baked potatoes. I don't think they used right type of potato for deep-frying, although D said they were ok.
Behind the chips is D's main course, pan-fried chicken breast served with Asiago cheese and pesto cream sauce. The meat was on the bed of wilted spinach. Although beautifully cooked, it would have been much better if they had used better quality chicken (but, then, it would have costed more).
D got full because of chips, and only I ordered a pudding. According to the menu, these are praline and pineapple tart with vanilla ice-cream, but in reality it was praline tart, pineapple compote, and vanilla ice-cream.
Pineapple was cooked with spice and the upper surface was coated by caramelised sugar. The ceramic spoon for the ice-cream was stabilised on the plate by cream or white chocolate. It was very elaborate.
What surprised me most was this praline tart filled with pink cream. I asked our Spanish waiter what was this and he said it was praline. But to the best of my knowledge, the praline is either sugar coated nuts or nuts and chocolate mixture, and it is never pink. It did taste familiar, but even now, I cannot figure out what was it. It was tasty and curious at the same time.
We ordered also two cups of coffee (£1.95x2) and paid £37.12 including 10% service charge. However, now that I read again the receipt, they forgot to charge us for the chips. With they added, the bill should have been £40.37.
It was much more expensive than our usual Chinese lunch, but it was one of the best meals we have had in Birmingham, and was worth every penny. We would love to go back.
By the way, we saw by chance Andy Waters in the restaurant; it is good to know he is actually there.
Cielo
6 Oozells Square, Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2JB Map
Tel: 0121 632 6882
