EATING OUT

Innovative Italian dining in the West Midlands? With Laghi’s, says Tom, Edgbaston has the edge

To Edgbaston, on a damp Tuesday afternoon, for lunch at Laghi’s, an old Italian restaurant with a new chef, that my friend, food writer Simon Carlo, likes very much indeed. ‘It’s owned by Luca Laghi and has always been pretty good,’ he tells me over our usual pre-prandial sharpener at The Grand Hotel. ‘Especially as his mother was in the kitchen, making all the pasta.’

She’s often still there, but, after a new head chef didn’t quite work out, Laghi brought in the rather talented Stu Deeley, executive chef of Smoke at Hampton Manor, and a winner of Masterchef: The Professionals in 2019. ‘Anyway,’ continues Simon, as we drain the last of our martinis, ‘it’s now really smart, Italian-ish food.’ I was a judge on Masterchef the year Deeley won, and can still remember his wonderful way with cod. The man can really cook.

And so to Laghi’s, small and understated. Pig’s-head fritters first, fat fingers of soft, sweet jowl encased in a crisp panko shell. Then barbecued queenie scallops, pert and just opaque, in a buttery, gently spiced espelette sauce, each mollusc topped with a neat pile of tomato concassé. Toasted pine nuts add texture, just as a

Rigatoni is just £9.50 a bowl – astonishing value for this quality

fistful of pangrattato, or fried breadcrumbs, provides crunch in a dish of sliced beetroot, subtly acidic, topped with a blob of proper burrata, indecently fresh and lasciviously creamy. Both dishes share a precision of taste and technique. Traditional Italian, by way of modern Brum.

But if those starters were mighty, then the pasta is better

still. Seriously, as good as you’ll find at the likes of The River Cafe, Riva, Luca and Locanda Locatelli. At a fraction of the price. Campanelli, resembling pale chanterelle mushrooms, is cooked properly al dente, every nook and cranny coated with just the right amount of fierily porky ’nduja sauce. While rigatoni cacio e pepe, robustly sharp and salty, clings concupiscently to those stubby tubes. The carbonara is equally fine, each strand of fresh spaghetti

slicked with that creamy emulsion. Nuggets of guanciale are fried just short of frazzled. Mamma Mia! None of the pastas costs more than £11.50. And the rigatoni is £9.50 a bowl. Which offers astonishing value for cooking of this quality. Yet again, Birmingham impresses. Yet another true Brummie beauty.

About £25 per head. Laghi’s, 22-24 Islington Row, Edgbaston, Birmingham; laghis.com

‘Starters were mighty,’ says Tom. Above: mortadella tonnato