‘Niche’ restaurant to close doors
A RENOWNED Birmingham restaurant is to close at the end of September.
The Jewellery Quarter’s Two Cats Kitchen, off Warstone Lane, opened two years ago after starting life as a pop-up.
But despite being acclaimed as one of Birmingham’s best restaurants, chef director Niki Astley said trade had been volatile and he has been forced to close. He still plans to work as a chef in Birmingham.
He said the quirky restaurant’s size was too restrictive and the food too ‘niche’.
The concept began as Two Cats Roaming Kitchen in April 2014, serving ‘ New Baltic’ food at different events, before opening a 26-seater restaurant in July 2015.
Mr Astley served inventive dishes like milk ice cream with swede and BBQ wood pigeon with scorched broccoli, inspired by the homeland of his Latvian partner Diana. He then scrapped his menu in a major overhaul in March, dropping the Baltic cuisine in favour of modern English dishes.
But the restaurant was still seen as experimental and suffered from being tucked away down an alley.
Mr Astley said: “I never would have guessed that something that started as a experimental concept would have grown into a full time thing. I am eternally grateful to those who have supported us.
“But it is a niche, we take chances with the food that few restaurants can rival, our venue is small and kitchen space restrictive. I’ve found this has created a very tentative approach to dining at Two Cats and this has made trade volatile.
“Our offering is exclusive and unpredictable to the many, exciting to the few – very contrary to what is, on the whole, busy in Birmingham.
“Two Cats will only be part of Birmingham’s food scene for another three months. I hope that everyone who’s been telling me they were going to come try it finally does. I can cockily say it’s worth it.
“It won’t be the end for me as a chef in Birmingham.”
Two Cats charges £30 for four courses and £49 for a seven course tasting menu, serving dishes like poached halibut with eucalyptus and lamb with samphire.
The Guardian’s food critic Marina O’Loughlin praised its “elegantly crafted menus” and said the chef cooked with “intelligence and flair”.
Michael Deacon from The Daily Telegraph called it “an imaginative, welcoming restaurant that offers something a bit different”.
The restaurant will be closed for holidays from July 16 to August 8, and the last day of trading will be September 30.