Adam's Restaurant

Adam's is chef Adam Stokes's restaurant in New Oxford House on Waterloo Street, in the center of Birmingham. It holds a Michelin star.

Stokes grew up in Northampton, where his father raised the family's vegetables on an allotment. He spent seven years at Hambleton Hall in Leicestershire under Aaron Patterson, then became head chef at Glenapp Castle in Scotland, where the kitchen earned a Michelin star. In 2013 he opened Adam's as a pop-up in a former sandwich shop on Bennetts Hill, and it won a star within months. In January 2016 the restaurant moved round the corner to its permanent home.

The building once held an insurance office, and Stokes and his wife Natasha, who runs front of house, refitted it from scratch. A bar inspired by art deco sits at the front with the main room behind it, and a chef's table downstairs looks straight into a kitchen of black steel and granite. Adam Wilson and Simil Gurung now share the role of head chef, while Stokes oversees the kitchen as executive chef. Having a permanent site of its own gave the team room for private dining as well as the main service.

Tasting menus of different lengths form the core, with an à la carte alternative. A macaron made with beetroot, with a filling of foie gras and kalamansi gel, has served as an early bite, with a chickpea version for vegetarians. Halibut has come with sea vegetables, leeks and oregano, and wild mushroom has been paired with guinea fowl. The wine list runs to several hundred labels, and the restaurant also holds three AA Rosettes.