Brewhouse & Kitchen has launched their ninth location and first in the West Midlands with their new brewpub in Sutton Coldfield. Located at the old site of The Cup/Cambaz, it's the latest market entry for the growing brewery and restaurant concept that started in the home counties and is quickly growing across England. The brand is two-fold, it operates a gastropub with American style offerings (beer can chicken, ribs, etc), as well as a micro-brewery sited within the pub.
I recently dropped in for lunch on a Thursday with Brittany A. and a friend of ours. The interior of Cambaz is gone and in its stead is an upscale, trendy restaurant that combines industrialism and hipster chic similar to newer restaurants like Gas Street Social or The Stable. Iron pipes, wooden crates, mis-matched light fittings, and Edison bulbs abound. Seats are a variety of danish mid century modern replicas that are both comfortable and nice to look at. Near the bar, there is even a round granite topped table with a fire pit in the middle. Near the entrance, you'll be able to view the brew kettles used by the brewery. Despite half the restaurant being empty upon our arrival, the host seemed to struggle to fit us in without reservations. On top of that, we were given a strict 90 minute time limit before we would need to leave. That's hardly the best way to start a meal, much less my first visit to the pub, but despite the warning signs I had been excited to try the place since first seeing the renovation work. We were then seated and had our drink orders taken. I chose a flight of three of their Sutton brewed beers.
Beers that fall under the Brewhouse brand are made and sold on-site. The ales and other varieties are specifically made for that location, and feature names that are specific to the area. For example, their Witbier 'The Bishop' is named in honor of John Vesey, while the 'Marksman' recalls the story of how Sutton Coldfield came to bear the Tudor Rose. History aside, it's quite something for a pub chain (however small) to put so much effort in to making their product as local as possible. They have even hired an on-site brewmaster to oversee those operations. Unfortunately two of the beers on the menu I wanted were not available, so I ultimately chose the Black Belt Porter, 004 Oaks Golden Ale, and their Triple A Rye Ale (Not brewed in Sutton, was brought here to relieve their shortages). All three were very good beers. Our friend felt that the porter was one of the best he has ever tasted, while the rye ale simply knocked it out of the park. The Triple A is named after Adewale Akinnouye-Agbajeis (Mr. Ecko from Lost) and is brewed only in Islington, which is unfortunate considering its greatness.
Given a great start with the brews, I had great hopes for our lunch. I ordered their vegetarian goat cheese and beet relish burger, served with fries. Brittany ordered the BBQ ribs platter, a veritable cornucopia of food, while our friend went with the fish and chips. He also ordered bread, which sadly never arrived to our table. Given the time limit placed on our table by the host, I would have thought that the kitchen would have worked as quickly as possible, especially with so many empty tables. Surprisingly, we were in the restaurant for 54 minutes before the food finally arrived. The goat cheese patty on my sandwich was coated in panko and deep fried. The beet relish was delicious, but more was needed to counter the dryness of the fried goat cheese. The fries that accompanied the sandwich and Brittany's BBQ platter were of a very average, Burger King like variety. The chips on the side of their fish are delicious, however, and I would recommend that anyone ordering an item with fries upgrade to chips or their IPA battered onion rings. Brittany really enjoyed the BBQ ribs, and there were plenty available for leftovers. It's a good thing we didn't enjoy the fries though, since the staff tossed them in the trash while boxing up the ribs.
Fortunately we were able to quickly consume our lunch and were not penalized, clocking in with a cool 4 minutes to spare on our time limit. Oddly, as we left half of the restaurant was still empty. The beers here range from really good to excellent, the food is a cut above chain pub fare, and with enormous portion sizes you'll definitely get your money's worth. While I'll give the beer & food 5/5 stars, the puzzling service quirks need to be ironed out in order for the experience to be truly exceptional. I'll definitely be back soon to see how things have improved. read more