News: Bitters n’ Twisted Venues Support Acorns Hospice with #AcornsFriday

 

I’ve been to a few of Bitters’n’Twisted‘s venues, and I’m happy to tell you about their wonderful partnership with Acorns Childrens Hospice from Friday…

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November 24th aka “Black Friday”, the day the internet and shopping centres go wild for pre-Christmas bargains.  Bitters ‘n Twisted wanted to do something a little different to crazy sales and mad purchasing and offer something back to our nominated charity, Acorn’s Children’s Hospice.

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Bitters ‘n Twisted Venues (Island Bar, The Victoria, The Jekyll & Hyde, Bodega (Birmingham, Worcester, Leicester and Derby), The Rose Villa Tavern, Marmalade and Buffalo & Rye will be donating £1 to Acorn’s for each cup of warm Winter Cider sold on Friday 24th November, renamed #AcornsFriday

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What’s more, from 1st Dec – 31st Dec for each cup of Brother’s Winter Cider sold in any of the venues, Bitters ‘n Twisted will donate 50p to Acorn’s – resulting in a big cheque being given to the charity in January.

 

NOTE: This is not a sponsored post or endorsement, just news of something happening in the food scene in and around Birmingham you might want to know about.

Wanna Get Flexible? – #Envy at Marmalade

It’s now round six of the seven sins (+ 1) with Bitters ‘n’ Twisted, and hosted by the wonderful Vicky Osgood of Brumderland. Previous events can be read about here:

   Greed  Wrath  Inferno  Lust  Gluttony

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Marmalade is located just under The Rep on Broad Street and is wonderfully eclectic in its decor with quotes from well known plays on the wall.

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In keeping with the other Bitters’n’Twisted venues, Marmalade has chosen a flagship spirit, this one being Vermouth. Vermouth is a fortified wine spirit used in a surprising amount of cocktails including the Negroni, pictured above, named ‘Better the Devil You Know’. With Vermouth, Spritzer and Blueberry Syrup, it’s on the B’n’T cocktail trail where you can experience something different at each of their venues. The cocktail menu is quite comprehensive covering twists on modern classic, all with literary twists on the names…

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To pair with these cocktails, Marmalade are now offering what they’d like to call a Flexitarian menu, catering for carnivores, omnivores, pescatarians, lacto-ovo vegetarian, vegetarians and vegans. So a pretty comprehensive choice then! It’s served small and main plate style to encourage social dining. There will be themed drinks to match shows on at The Rep, so keep an eye out to see what comes up.

To help you choose your dish and cocktail combo, the staff will assist to pair your choices to suit all tastes.

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Our first pairing was the La Vie en Rose cocktail (Beefeater gin, Creme de Cassis, Picpoul Dry White Wine, Peach Bitters, served with an edible flower) accompanied by fried, sesame coated Halloumi in a bed of crispy rocket. It was very delicious and disappeared quickly, the crispy crunchy coating went well with the meaty cheese. The cocktail was a bit sweet for my palate but balanced well with the salty cheese.

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The second pairing was tequila marinated salmon with wasabi dressing with an, as yet unnamed, tequila cocktail! The salmon was delicious with the wasabi dressing and a kick of heat. The tequila cocktail was heavy on the grapefruit to give it the tequila a citrusy kick, and partnered well with the heat of the wasabi. Maybe instead of the too easy ‘Tequila Mockingbird’ they could call it ‘A-Citrus Pinch’.

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Next was marinated Beef Skewers paired with Captain Ahab’s Grog. Captain Ahab’s Grog is a heady combination of Ginger Preserve, Brugal Dry Spiced Rum, Apricot Liqueur, Lime, Plum Bitters and Pomegranate Juice, this toed for my favourite cocktail of the night with a delicious spicy kick from the ginger and Brugal. The steak was deliciously chewy and partnered with mediterranean vegetables, a great dish to get you into a summery mood.

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The final dish was a vegan option and (surprisingly for me) my favourite dish of the evening. It was a delicious chestnut mushroom and hazelnut pate on toast with red onion jam. It was quite close in texture to your usual liver pate and enhanced by the  sweet onion jam. The paired cocktail was a ‘Midsummer Day Dream’ with Aperol, Limoncello, Fresh Lemon, Raspberry, Homemade Rose & Orange Bitters, topped with soda and served with orange. This was my other tie cocktail, it’s very floral but worked perfectly with the earthiness of the pate.

The new menu, which features all of the dishes above, has already launched. So if you fancy a visit to a place where they can cater for all dietary types or if you’re seeing a play and want to grab a quick bite (and a cocktail) beforehand, I’d recommend it.

Disclaimer: For this event, I was a guest of Brumderland and Marmalade who provided all food and drinks; this provides no bias to the post This blog is my own personal opinion and strives to provide an independent view, promoting, enjoying and reviewing the range of exciting food and venues in and around Birmingham.

When: 03/05/2016

Where:  Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham

Who: BrumderlandBitters & TwistedMarmalade

 

 

Because I Feel Foodie! Birmingham Independent Food Fair 2015 – Day 1

Birmingham Independent Food Fair is now in its second year, following on from #futurefoodies @ Hotel LaTour in 2013 (#futurefoodies was Wifey and I’s first foodie event in Birmingham and we were the first visitors to arrive!).

Created by the minds behind Dine Birmingham, Birmingham Independent Food Fair is a flagship event in Birmingham’s foodie scene, bringing together streetfood vendors, suppliers, independent stores and some of Birmingham’s best bars and restaurants.

This year, as per the previous year, the event was held at Millennium Point, it’s also two days long which means double the time for food!

 Wifey and I popped along to see what was happening (settle in, this will be a long one!).

The sun was shining as we strolled along through Eastside Park to the food fair and got to see a glimpse of the goodies, with the outside stalls, before picking up our wristbands.

Streetfood stalls outside Millennium Point
Streetfood stalls outside Millennium Point

Continue reading “Because I Feel Foodie! Birmingham Independent Food Fair 2015 – Day 1”

Burger Me! Independent Birmingham card BBQ at Marmalade

Independent Birmingham were celebrating the 2nd birthday of their discount card.  Marmalade (part of the Bitters ‘n’ Twisted group) were their latest addition and hosted a free BBQ to commemorate  the joint celebration.

I thought I would pop along and see what was on offer.  As a fan of both Independent Birmingham and Marmalade, it sounded like the perfect combination to me.

Continue reading “Burger Me! Independent Birmingham card BBQ at Marmalade”