I was recently invited to an event hosted by Hotel La Tour to showcase the new menu being launched by their restaurant and to find out about their exciting new project.
Hotel La Tour is a fantastic hotel in the heart of Birmingham which has now been open just over 2 years and has recently announced an exciting partnership with local social enterprise Edible Eastside. Beginning in September, guests will be able to taste freshly grown produce including seasonal fruit and vegetables in the Hotel’s restaurant, Grill La Tour, from the Hotel’s new Roof Garden! The roof-top garden will also serve as a relaxing space for guests and visitors alike to enjoy.
Edible Eastside are based in Digbeth, have established a growing commitment to supplying businesses and educational institutions a space in the centre of the city to master the art of horticulture. The partnership with LaTour will see the enterprise further their links with the city centre and help aid in the promotion of sourcing independently grown produce.
Staff at the hotel will also be able to assist in the maintenance of the garden, something which they are very much looking forward to. Hotel LaTour are already using produce provided by Edible Eastside’s local allotment space and work on the roof-top garden will start at the beginning of September.
On our visit to Hotel La Tour we were lucky enough to have a seat at the Chef’s Table, where they usually serve a small tasting menu to groups of 6-8. We were able to chose off the new A La Carte Menu instead on this special occasion. The Chef’s Table is really great if you’re a foodie, there’s a fab view into the large busy kitchen and the chefs are able to interact with you as they serve the dishes and you can really find out a lot about where the food has been sourced and how it was prepared.
As you might expect with the name ‘Grill La Tour’ the menu is heavily grill based – lots of steaks but also plenty of seafood. I chose the Tempura Squid with Vietnamese Sauce for my starter which was perfectly cooked with a light batter and a very moreish sauce with perfect balance of salty sweet sour and spicy flavours. Other starters on offer include a Heritage Tomato and Burrata Salad, Grilled Langoustines and much more.
Their signature cocktail was a welcome accompaniment to the food, made with gin and apple, it was delicious!
It was no surprise that almost all of us chose steak in one form or another for our mains! I went for the Hanger Steak Skewer with Shoestring Fries and Garlic Butter whilst others went for the RibEye and Fillet, both very reasonable value, and 2 people even shared the 900g Tomahawk! Now that was a pretty piece of meat! There are other options too though including things like Poached Fillet of Turbot, and Steak and Brummie Ale Pie.
Puds include their Signature Jaffa Cake Pudding as well as to die for Chocolate Soufflé, but I went for Treacle Tart with Clotted Cream. Their pastry chef has some serious skills – as I’ve discovered previously on trying out their Afternoon Tea as we finished off the meal with some very tasty Petit Fours.
I’ really liking the re-vamped Grill Menu at Hotel La Tour, and the new partnership with Edible Eastside promises to bring the public even closer to the source of their food, something diners today rank very highly. The Hotel offer some great deals on staying and eating at the Hotel, one not to miss if you’re in Birmingham.
Disclosure: I was kindly invited to this event by the Hotel, the event and the food was complimentary but as always all views and opinions are my own and I was not required to write about the event