Two Cats Roaming pop-up

Our good friends Chris and Emma arranged a night out at a pop-up at Millenium Point and as it's half-term we were looking forward to a few drinks and a late-ish night sampling some Latvian-inspired dishes from chef Nick Astley of Two Cats Roaming. This roaming kitchen had featured in the recommendations in the Birmingham Mail in January and we're always keen to try something a bit different and support local chefs. 

We somehow made our way to 6/8 Kafe in Millenium Point (not a side of town I know particularly well), where there were just a handful of small tables arranged for the pop-up. We nibbled on some interesting borshch-flavoured cashews (two of my favourite things before the first course was even served!) along with bread that came in a cute little brown bag to the table and some very nice butter. There was also smoked pork fat which Chris and Guy were very clearly enjoying with their bread (as Emma and I are pescetarian the boys got to eat twice as much!)

A canapé followed which was a sort of linseed crispbread topped with oyster cream, the overall taste was reminiscent of the sea, but not like anything I've tried before.

The next course proper was a truffle porridge which was described as "comfort food"; Emma & I had this as a later course and instead enjoyed delicious goats cheese dumplings, called Pelmeni. These were served with a light onion broth and edible flowers.

The next course was exquisite scallops with kohlrabi and buttermilk. The sharp, slightly sour taste of the buttermilk was an unusual, yet perfect complement to the scallops; one of my favourite dishes of the evening.

Next for us pesky pescetarians came the celeriac and truffle porridge; a very comforting combination of ingredients, but if I'm honest it was a bit dry in texture, rather than the creamy consistency I had imagined. The boys really enjoyed the pigeon with Brussels sprouts, Guy said it was "nicely cooked; moist" and admired the use of the whole bird.

 

The palate-cleanser, frozen sorrel leaves dusted with icing sugar, was reminiscent of the treat of dipping raw rhubarb sticks into sugar in my grandparents' garden... A real treat from my youth, but a likeness my fellow diners were baffled by!

The first dessert, milk ice-cream with swede granita and dill, was extremely well executed - vegetables in desserts are currently enjoying a moment, but I was surprised by how good a swede sweet could be. It didn't feel  like a trend being followed, just a really good balance of flavours.

I loved the texture of the next dessert, a light hibiscus tea mousse, with a sticky meringue and chervil. The meringue was made with kvass, which I think is a sort of beer made with rye bread (I'd had quite a lot of the "bring-your-own" wine by this stage though; must remember to take better notes when the cuisine is unfamiliar!)  

For someone with a sweet tooth, the profiterole with chocolate soil was a really indulgent treat to finish on. Presented in a flower-pot, looking like a potato fresh from the soil; this was a fun note to finish on, in keeping with the low-key, informal atmosphere. I did try to maintain some dignity by not tipping the pot of soil up to get the last morsels of chocolate out of the pot; but couldn't resist a surreptitious dip with my finger... 

Following the recent controversy over Giles Coren's comments about the Birmingham food scene reported here, the best we can hope is that inventive, confident cooking such as this continues to thrive in the region. It is the best way to disprove the doubters. We look forward to the next appearance of the roaming cats soon...