Loaf
On 13 January 2008 (Sunday) D and I went for lunch to Loaf, club+pub in the Arcadian Centre, Birmingham town centre.
Intially we intended to eat at Green Room, but when we arrived 'Today's Special' had already finished and the regular menu did not look attractive, so we decided to try somewhere else. It was very quiet in the Arcadian, partially because it was Sunday afternoo, and partially because Sobar and Jo Jo's Thai Café have recently been closed (p.s. Sobar later reopened after refurbishment).
I have known the presence of Loaf for long, but I have never thought of entering, as it looked more like a place for drinking. It does actually operates as club in the evening.
It is spacious inside, but there are not many tables. When we were there, there were a few drinking beers, but the customers were mostly young couples or families either drinking soft drinks or eating late lunch.
Judging from the look of the menu and the price, I think the food on offer are half-precooked stuff.
The content of the menu is more or less similar to the one that we find in Weatherspoon pubs. Some of the dishes are surprisingly cheap, like Beef Lasagna for £2.95. Othder examples are Fish and Chips for £4.95, Bangers and Mash for £4.50, Cheese Burger with chips and salad for £3.50.
What we chose was the Sunday Roast that you see on the menu (right). One dish costs £5.95, but two cost only £7.95, and there is a choice between roast beef and roast chicken (half).
After 10 min., I got this roast beef.
On the plate are two pieces of beef: it is not much, but sufficient. The meat was thoroughly cooked and cut ham-like thin. It might not be very good roast beef, but as beef ham it was more than edible, and I found it sufficiently satisfactory.
Below the meat is one half of large Yorkshire pudding. This was very pleasant. The brown suface was crunchy, and the soft white part soaked up gravy nicely. I would order this dish only to eat this Yorkshire pudding.
This is roast chicken. It is infact half a chicken. On tasting it, I thought I preferred roast beef.
Chicken was accompanied by Yorkshire pudding, mashed potato, roast potato, and boiled or steamed vegetable (I guess it was frozen veggie).
Another thing of note among there was the piping-hot mashed potato. It did not taste instant mash at all, and went well with gravy.
These are curly fries that D ordered as a side dish. Curly fries are like chips, but curly ones were made from seasoned potato mash, and they taste like something between chips and crisps.
We ordered also two glasses of coke, and the totall bill came to less than £13. Very high cost performance, I have to say. It is not an exquisite place to eat, but when we get tired of usual Chinese lunch in Chinatown, I would be happy to visit again.
Loaf
70 Hurst Street, Unit 5 Arcadian Centre, Birmingham B5 4TD
tel: 0121 666 4931
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