Birmingham open market is an absolute lifesaver! We've been shopping here for over five years and…read morethe quality, variety and price far outweigh any convenience of shopping at a supermarket. From standard fruit and veg to more exotic Caribbean and Asian foodstuffs the open market has something for everyone, and usually something to didn't know you wanted. The produce is fairly seasonal so when something is in season it is cheap as hell like 3 butternut squash for a pound or bunches of asparagus for 50p. The frozen food stall at the back is well worth checking out for your freezer-stocking bargains and the stall at the front with eggs and cheese is a must. Seriously, you'll hear the egg man shouting from mills away!

Great Quality produce and great prices. Shop around for the best deals, but on average we save…read morebetween 50p to £1 on each item - meaning a £10+ a week saving on our shopping (compared to supermarkets). The traders are friendly and will normally do you a deal if you need a large amount of a particular type of fruit or veg. Well worth a trip! Remember to take your canvas bags!

As underpasses go this is pretty cool. It must be, or why else would someone add It as a place to…read morecheck in?!;) It's a really busy thoroughfare between New street/grand central and the Mailbox, so i guess it's important it looks as good as it can right? It's fairly clean and tidy and not as much of a tunnel as some underpasses. There is some funky lighting there too which is worth checking out. Not spotted any trolls yet sadly;)

Most underpasses are just a grimy, smelly, unpleasant way to get from one side of a busy road to…read morethe other. This one is different, special, a unique experience where getting from one side of the road to the other becomes a metaphor for the journey that we find ourselves on, travelling through space, time and life. Incredibly well located between New Street Station and the Mailbox it is easy to find, just follow the colourful lines from either place to their nexus here, at the Mailbox Underpass. Well-lit with the mysterious glow of coloured lights this is like a Dan Flavin exhibit. In fact in many ways the Mailbox Underpass just "is what it is and it ain't nothing else" however I think that Edison would have been more than a little proud (indeed I imagine the tear of joy in his brilliant eye) at the distance that his invention has come, this is more than lighting a space, this is a space of light. Open to the elements on both sides there is often a brisk, energising breeze flowing through, pushing away the usual underpass smell and reminding us of nature's power, even in the middle of a city, surely mankinds greatest edifice and display of our impact on the world. Even as we are reminded of nature we are also inspired by our ability to impact the environment to our benefit as the road above allows for a brief respite from the pouring rain or beating, enervating sun. In many ways this "underpass" is actually a road to understanding, in others, it's a nicer than average underpass that makes going to the Mailbox more pleasant and safer.

I fecking LOVE the Gay Village. This area officially starts up by the Hippodrome Theatre…read more(http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/birmingham-hippodrome-birmingham-2) and ends somewhere towards Second City Suite (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/second-city-suite-birmingham) and then across towards The Diskery (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/the-diskery-birmingham) and around in a square, it's not a huge area but has plenty of fun within it's confines. This area host Birmingham Pride (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/birmingham-pride-birmingham) which is one of the larger LGBT festivals in the UK and is home to many gay friendly bars, clubs and venues. The venues go from the sophisticated (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/the-loft-lounge-birmingham) to the ridiculous/fantastic fun (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/village-inn-birmingham) and you're pretty much guaranteed a fun night out whenever you go down. There is a wide range of venues to choose from in this area, so whether you're in the mood for a chilled out cocktail or a full on dance fest until 6am - you're going to have a great night. The people who frequent the Gay Village are just as colourful as the venues and you'll probably end up chatting to strangers at any of the places in the area. Whether you're gay, straight, Bi or undefined... You're going to have a good time in the GQ. The rules are.... play nice, be friendly and be prepared to have a whopping night out (even if you just intended to go for one or two).

Extremely inviting and warm. Very helpful and a great place to lose yourself. Been here quite a few…read moretimes and would recommend it for anyone looking for a good time. A lot less crowded than broad street so a much friendly atmosphere.

If you've been to the Ikon Gallery you'll know about the water feature in Oozells square…read more It's a lovely area with cherry trees, restaurants and cafe's. Running diagonally along the centre is a long channel filled with water that ripples slowly along from one end to the other. This water feature forms the starting point of the composition of the whole area, with the six benches and the large arch dominating the rest of the space. The space makes me think of Japanese traditions as it incorporates nature into it's design. It always feels a little calmer a space than it's neighbour, brindleyplace plaza and I'm sure this is no coincidence. What my children like doing on a warm day is to dip their toes into the channel and pretend it's a river. I love the idea of using architecturally designed spaces as fun places to play, especially when they're right n the middle of the city.

This is a pretty and quiet square that is home to the Ikon Gallery and several smart restaurants…read more As urban landscaping goes, it is very much in the minimalist style with more than subtle nods towards Japanese zen gardens. It is a quiet and relaxed place - far removed from the hustle and bustle of nearby Broad Street and Brindley Place I like calming channel of water that runs from end to end of the square. I also love the way the square lights up a night, with fairy lights trimming the trees. I wouldn't necessarily suggest making a special trip to Oozells Square, but it is well worth pausing on your way through or taking a seat on one of its benches after a visit to the Ikon Gallery.

Simply the best…read more That's right, here I am standing in the country's finest and tastiest street foods. It was an honour being able to attend to see what potential new businesses or franchises that could one day turn into a monster in the market. The day was filled with good buzz from all the people, to watching drunken customers having a go on the rodeo. Despite me and my friend Davey not trying everything, we're convinced we chose smart and went for our top 6 merchants (in no particular order) 1st stop - Buddha Belly 4.5/5 *** Davey's Nomination *** A local Thai merchant originated from Stourbridge, a town familiar to another elite I'm familiar with in the Yelp Birmingham community. When she gave high appraisal to this merchant, there was no way I could back down, so I went in with high expectations. It was £8.50 for trying a bit of everything which included a vegan curry, chicken curry, noodles and Thai crispy chicken. For me, the curry was the best Thai curry I've had in Birmingham and I think it is, it's just a shame it's not permanently stacked somewhere. However, the other half of the dish, I felt the noodles were slightly too greasy and wasn't particular outstanding, with the same view on the chicken, as from the colouring, I'd liked to see the golden texture. Whereas it was dark and slightly soft meaning old oil was used in the process which damages the flavour. Overall, I was very happy with the dish, the presentation was very good and genuinely I felt the dish was given to me like I was standing in Thailand. 2nd stop - Pheasants Hill Farm Kitchen 4/5 This merchant was a pot luck choice by which Davey decided to try as they were selling simple sliders, which provided a good change of pace, meaning it wouldn't totally fill us up. For £3.50 we ordered a Venison burger, which I believe is always a risk if it wasn't cooked just right... As expected the burger did exceptionally well, marks were rewarded with the fact that the juices along with the meat just slowly dissolves in your mouth, slowly topped off with the butterness of the brioche bun. It was a wild deer chase, but eventually we caught it, and it felt good...! After a quick drinks break at 3rd stop - Cracking Nuts... 4th stop - Cheeky Burger - 4.5/10 I wasn't really much of a burger guy myself, but after my recent visit with Elaine at Original Patty Men, I was reminded why Cheeky Burger also has a very good chance of winning at the awards as well. The raw smell of beef with the addition of streaky bacon, something so simple yet so delightful. Davey had ordered a 'Cheeky BSF Brummie' without cheese as a specific, despite it was disappointing not being able to serve the correct order the first time, they were very helpful and even served us bacon straight up on the pan! (YUM!) but it doesn't end there. We were also given some cheeky awesome fries too, which are not to be underestimated as there were exceptionally crispy. The burger had a similar texture to Pheasant's Hill, but the juices with the flavour from the beef and bacon made it exceptionally better. To me, this was a balance between Original Patty Men and the well known Five Guys. Messy but very tasty! I'm expecting Cheeky Burger to be in top 5. 5th stop - Man Meats Fire 4/5 A well known BBQ Champion from Adam Richman's series. These guys definitely know how to BBQ and no wonder they had sold out quite a lot of their items on the first day of the festival. Here a stood as the man was just pulled a bone off a chunk of meat as if it was just a Popsicle stick out of a melted lolly. The meat looked so juicy and tender that I just couldn't resist! At a merchant, which sold such a good variety of meats, the beef rib was definitely one I couldn't pass the opportunity on. With such a huge bone and the meat separating so smoothly, you can gather how tender and moister it was. The meat itself had a great texture, however I felt more flavour needed to be added. With meats as good as this, marinade would've been a perfect combo, however with logistics behind all this, I know it may've been very difficult. After a stop off at the retro gaming....! Final stop - Dim Sum Su 5/5 *** Gary's Nomination *** A 2nd visit to Dim Sum Su, after visiting with Elaine at the Hawker Yard during soft launch. I have high hopes for this merchant with the queues long all day and the fact that I was remembered from my last visit. At this point, we were feeling very full, however I just had to convince Davey that this was the real deal and I won him over big time! The Cantonese Chicken Bao was the same as it was a weeks ago, tender, juicy with a slight sweetness, the 'bao' itself was perfectly cooked and moist. It's one of the few dishes I'd like more of! But did I mention that they do some amazing dumplings too filled with leek, chicken and chinese mushroom! Dim Sum Su is one of the merchants to keep an eye out for, these guys are not to be underestimated.

The 2016 British Street Food Awards took place over the weekend at The Rainbow Arena this year and…read morewhat a culinary treat it was. The arena was packed with 17 traders from all over the UK who had been chosen from over 3000 entries in 5 regional heats. There was also a DJ playing some great tunes as well as the Festival photo booth, face painters and Dead Pixels had all of their retro games set up in the Rainbow. I took my 14 year old nephew and we had a great time. I was pleased to see that a lot of the traders were offering smaller portions for £3-4 to allow you to try lots of different dishes from different traders. We walked around the arena a couple of times to check out our options and settled on a couple of sliders from Cheeky Burger from London as our first course. While my nephew settled for a standard cheeseburger, I opted for their BSF Brummie burger special which was accompanied by comte cheese, confit onion, rosemary compote, grilled smoked applewood bacon, homemade garlic aioli and homemade ketchup. We both wolfed them down, mine was really tasty and I will definitely go back for more if I spot Cheeky Burger on my travels around London. Our second course was from The Breakfast Club who are based in Brighton - the large BACON sign on top of their trailer lured my nephew in, as I'm sure it did with lots of other people over the course of the weekend! He sampled the fried chicken with waffles, gravy and maple syrup while I opted for the mac n cheese fritter. Again, both were really tasty and didn't last long! Finally, we had to go local and chose thai curries from Buddha Belly. I opted for their vegan curry while my nephew went for their chicken curry. I am a big fan of Buddha Belly, if they are at an event I find it very difficult to chose anything other than their amazing food. As usual, both dishes were beautiful, really flavoursome and nicely spicy. I was really pleased to see that Buddha Belly eventually won the People's Choice Award at the event, very well deserved. My only criticism of the event was that there was a very limited sweet offering - despite scoffing all of that food, my nephew and I still fancied something sugary afterwards but there wasn't much on offer. Despite that, it was a very pleasant and relaxed afternoon, we went home with very full bellies and big smiles on our faces!

I love the usual Yelp and Deliveroo events, however this one not so much. Why, looking at the price…read moreof alcohol beverages! It makes zero sense to order via Deliveroo for drinks. One small 187ml bottle of wine I can buy the full bottle of the same wine for the same price in a local supermarket. I can buy beers for less than 1/3 the price in my local off-license, and this is before the £2.50 charge. I find the pricing is all too wrong. Then there is the minimum £10 spend. You can't order food from one restaurant and drinks from another without having to make a separate order, frustrating! Oh, and two of my local off-licenses deliver for free, too.

Found that my £10 credit from Deliveroo was showing on my app and the email from Dan confirmed I…read morecould order after 3pm... I was on it! I looked at both places we could order from - the Wellington or 40 St. Paul's. Decided as I like cider, I'll pick the Wellington. Though I felt bad as I ordered it to be delivered to my office on Edmund street so that's only on the next block!! Lol I ordered 3 bottles as ordering less than certain amount incurs a fee. The order arrived, pretty much within 20 mins, I got text so I went to the lift and was also called by the Roo driver! He found the place with no problem. My only real issue with the delivery was it was not in a bag.. So I had to carry 3 bottles of cider into the office lol thankfully no one question me, no one tackled me for a bottle or more importantly did I smash any!! Lol I think next time I would go downstairs with a bag to be on the safe side. The bottles were nicely chilled though they are now in my work rucksack for when I get home! Thanks to Yelp (Dan) and deliveroo for my drinks today!! Cheers !!!!

I saw this grand old steam train pull into Snow Hill Station and it was wonderful! There were loads…read moreof people on the platform just to watch the train arrive. It was quite sweet to see all of the little kids getting ridiculously excited about the big steam train. To be honest, I was getting quite carried away with it all - for about 30 seconds I understood the mind-set of a train spotter! The Shakespeare Express is a steam train service that runs between Snow Hill and Stratford-upon-Avon. It runs every Sunday from 1st July-9th September. It calls at Snow Hill, Moor Street, Tyseley and Henley-in-Arden before chugging it's way into Shakespeare's hometown. The journey (one-way) takes around 1hour 10 minutes and pre-booked return tickets cost £20.00 per adult and £12.50 per child. Family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) can be purchased for £45.00. The carriages are authentic vintage carriages, pulled by the Princess Elizabeth engine. There is a café on board and there are options to upgrade to a premium dining ticket that includes breakfast, lunch or high tea depending on the time of your journey.

A fun evening spent in the company of so many Yelpers! Dan had arranged for us to take over a…read morelarge section of The Stable on John Bright Street which specialises in Pizza and Cider. The venue is very relaxed with communal seating on long benches and a menu featuring locally sourced ingredients. We arrived to be offered the choice of two ciders, one with a fruity mango base or a more traditional medium-dry offering. Once everyone had arrived, a selection pizzas started to arrive from the kitchen and were set down on a table for everyone to help themselves. I tried slices from three different variations, my favourite being the Bullring Boar which was really tasty, with a light and crispy base. All in all, a lovely evening with great food, drink, music and company. Thanks as always to Dan for arranging and to the management of The Stable for their generous hospitality.

Ahh so cool to see the Yelp family again, it's felt like ages! There were so many of us it felt…read morelike some big reunion!:)) This evening we were at The Stable, a great pizza and cider venue that's been running for just over a year, concentrating on locally sourced ingredients. When we arrived we were offered a choice of two ciders, one was a fairly traditional drink, the other was mango flavoured. I went for mango and absolutely loved it! After a drink or two we we called up to choose a couple of slices of different pizza-some were spicy, some had potato on them-all were delicious! We were also given the opportunity to suggest our own ideas for the ultimate pizza-some really good suggestions-congratulations to Helen who had her pizza made up for her!:) Great night-thanks everyone! So sorry not to have the chance to talk to you all! Xx

Viva Brazillian BBQ!! I absolutely loved this event. I didn't get to come to the last garden party…read moreat the Lord Clifden and felt sorely missed out. This was one heck of a party. I think the chefs at Lord Clifden have found a real treasure trove of new dishes. The spice blends, salsas and aioli were perfect. The garden is ideal for lounging with friends and listening to great music. The DJs really knew how to keep the upbeat, cool tropical vibes going. Seth S and I got there right when the event started and stayed on for nearly 4 hours. I enjoyed the spiced chicken drum, granita, tropical drinks, and a cider slushie for good measure. The staff were welcoming and friendly as always. You just can't go wrong with the Lord Clifden.

Dan did again. The weather gods were shining down on another fab Lord Clifden garden party…read more The BBQ food was really tasty! I had the beef which came medium rare (how it should be!!) so I was happy. It had a great kick to it too. The Beer was really interesting too (it's name has escaped me) but was a smooth session beer, great for a sunny afternoon. The vibes and music for the event was bang on. Great bands and singers, made for a perfect British day chilling in the sun.