| Even for
Birmingham, where every food option seems to be available,
Away2dine manages to offer a unique experience, combining fine
dining with something of a magical mystery tour. Based – or more
accurately moored – at the quayside of the Mailbox, where it’s
overlooked by a varied collection of competing bars and
restaurants, Away2dine’s unique selling point is the combination
of luxury dining with a three hour leisurely cruise around the
city’s rapidly changing canal network.
Highly popular for Sunday lunch
(£34.95 per person), it also offers an Evening Dinner Cruise
(five courses plus trip for £47.95- £44.95).
 A
Saturday night and bitterly cold, we feared a chilly, drafty
experience but the boat was warm and snug. With low lighting,
candles and a soundtrack of ‘50s crooners the evening’s cruise
began with a decent house red (Cuvee, £11.95) and fresh warm
bread. The menu offered three or four options per course from
which we selected poached maize-fed chicken, rosemary and Parma
ham mignon on red onion and red pepper chutney (a good start),
and an exceptional soup: white onion and thyme volute.
After a refreshing lemon sorbet
to clean the palette came the main courses. The pan seared rump
of Cumbrian lamb was a little on the fatty side, yet tasty, and
came served with fondant potato, broccoli, bevelled carrots and
a sweet redcurrant and rosewater coulis, while the slow braised
English Fell bred steak arrived with several layers of well
cooked and tender meat piled on creamed mash with crispy French
beans, cauliflower and red wine and rosemary jus.
As the wine neared its end, a
vanilla pannacotta got the thumbs up (served with minted
strawberries) as did a Belgian chocolate tart topped with
Chantilly cream and honey roasted almonds. By now we were pretty
stuffed, although somehow still managed to find space to dip
into the fifth and final course – a selection of British cheeses
served with oat cakes, celery, apple, grapes and fruit chutney,
accompanied by fresh ground coffee (or tea), and a couple of
chocolate mints. And before we knew it, The Mailbox was back in
sight and three hours had elapsed.
Away2dine’s food was good, but
the experience is about more than what’s on your plate. Cruising
at a very leisurely and steady two miles per hour, the food
almost seems an aside to the actual journey. Leaving the bustle
of The Mailbox, we travelled up towards Brindleyplace, past the
Sea Life Centre and NIA and back to Gas Street Basin before
heading off towards Five Ways and the University Of Birmingham
(where there was a break to stretch your legs and have a smoke
should you wish). En route we passed the plethora of city living
complexes that have sprung up over the last decade, glimpsed
what’s left of the decaying industrial heritage the canal was
constructed to service and passed stretches of canalside
inaccessible by foot. Gliding low in the water, the graffiti
under the bridges glistened in the floodlights and we saw enough
wildlife to keep Bill Oddie amused, including moorhens, geese,
swans and a heron. The result is something of a unique night
out, in the heart of the city but also somehow removed. |
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what 'The Journal Review' has to say about
Away2dine -