Every month I give an overview of where my curiosity (or my friends/colleagues) took me in my new hometown. Birmingham has loads of potential, as we keep on saying, it just needs to be brought out! July was crazy busy, apologies for my absence online or delay in replying to messages, but when on my computer all day at work I try to spend my free hours enjoying English summer as much as I can.
Elke maand geeft ik een overzichtje van onze omzwervingen in mijn nieuwe thuisstad. Dit om aan te tonen dat er toch heel wat potentieel zit in Birmingham, het moet alleen tot uiting kunnen komen. Juli was een ontzettend drukke maand, mijn excuses voor de afwezigheid online of voor de vertraging in het beantwoorden van mails, maar na een hele dag achter de computer probeer ik zoveel mogelijk te genieten van de Engelse zomer.
There are so many things to talk about this month that I put them in a couple of categories for you:
Lunch: As our work is situated very close to Brindley Place, we often find ourselves heading in that direction for a nice lunch. One I forgot to mention last month is Carluccio’s, where we had a lovely Italian lunch (I had the Penne Gardiniera which I would highly recommend!). On a spontaneous Tuesday morning we were tempted by the idea of having burrito’s for lunch and honestly, no one really needed to be convinced. Off to Chilacas we went where we enjoyed their burrito’s and “buy 1, get one burrito extra for 1£”! The last week of July brought two more lunch dates: we went to Wagamama to celebrate a colleague’s 2 year work anniversary (Pad Thai for the win!) and tried out another burger place (I love doing comparative research when it comes to burgers): Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We had been to Handmade Burgers Co before, but I have to say I prefer Gourmet (also because of their 6£ lunch deal).
Breakfast and coffee: If you know me well you know I love my breakfast. I had been to Yorks before for tea with the housemates as well as their Monday jazz evenings (with pizza!). At the beginning of July I went there for a Tedx Brum Social which was very inspiring. When my sister visited I took her there for breakfast: pancakes with caramelised banana for her, french pastries for me. The next day my sister and I went for lunch at the Boston Tea Party. Finally I found a place where they do good, non-sweetened homemade lemonade! I took my German friend there who was visiting the weekend after for some delish pancakes. Last week I got to try out a new coffee place: Urban Coffee. Did not have coffee though, as it was after work and I have enough sleeping problems as it is, but the venue is really nice, numerous coffee options, even some espresso martini’s if you fancy it!
Pancake breakfast at the Boston Tea Party
Volunteering day: With work we had a volunteering day at the Acker’s Centre, where we worked very hard doing maintenance on different parts of the site. To end such a long but satisfying day well, we went for drinks at Bodega – cocktails! The night continued at Pizza Express (long live the vouchers!) and ended with more cocktails in Island Bar.
Rooftop Bar Crawl: Not your average Wednesday evening, but definitely one worth mentioning. The weather was wonderful and we were set out to discover some cool rooftops in Brum! First one on the list: The Bureau. Good cocktails and a nice rooftop, although not as big as we expected it to be. Next stop: Vertu! Absolutely fell in love with this place while we were sipping our Pimms and enjoying the sun and the hipster vibe. Time for some food then, so we went to Pasta Di Piazza, also in the Jewellery Quarter. Loved my Risotto Marinara! And to end the night we ventured to the Church Inn for more rooftop love.
When in Brum: I had some more visitors in July, so obviously wanted to show them the best of Brum, as well as discovering some new things. When my sister was here we went to try out Digbeth Dining Club. Great street food event, interesting venue. After that we had some more drinks (and enjoyed the people watching) at The Old Crown. This Belgian needs her daily dose of chocolate, so when the sister came we had to make a trip to Cadbury World! Chocolate galore! The other weekend I had my German friend visiting and took her, after a long day of seeing the sights in Liverpool to the Old Joint Stock for dinner. The day after we visited the Botanical gardens and managed to even see part of a jazz concert there!
Fish & Chips at the Old Joint Stock
Birthday drinks: Two birthday drinks, one evening: first some drinks at the Malt House for a colleague’s birthday, then to The Lost and Found for some very nice cocktails (5£ during happy hour!)
Miscellaneous: I went to the Birmingham edition of Wireless! My colleague Vicky and I went on the Sunday and really liked Iggy Azalea, Tinie Tempah, Pharrell and Kanye! Same colleague, different venue: the Edwardian Tea Rooms. We went to the official opening and I can assure you: their gin and rose lemonade drinks were superb!
Iggy Azalea at Wireless Birmingham
Bits of Brum 