Yikouchi at Chancer’s Café
Birmingham, West Midlands
A real diamond in the rough, you might easily walk past the unprepossessing front of this Chinese café without realising the delights that await within. However, step inside the tiny DIY-decorated space and grab a chair at the counter overlooking the open kitchen, and you’ll witness magic at work. James Kirk-Gould, formerly head chef at that high-rise 24-hour London restaurant Duck & Waffle, now offers extraordinarily good-value Chinese home cooking in this Birmingham suburb – currently in the sweet spot of gentrification (it's still scruffy and cheap, but there's cool stuff to do and eat here and a palpable sense of community). Kirk-Gould is helped front of house by partner Cassie, whose fudge-making business next door provides the sauce for the soft-serve ice cream that is the café’s only pudding. Eating here feels a bit like having dinner with friends, partly because of the warm welcome but also because the menu is so short that you more or less have to eat what you’re given. If that’s the much-praised fried chicken, served crisp and crunchy in a puddle of chilli oil and Szechuan peppercorns with, say, a side of smacked cucumbers, beaten about and then macerated in lightly spiced sesame oil, you will marvel at the freshness and flavour. The drinks menu, also brief, offers Tsingtao beer, as well as green and chrysanthemum tea if you want to stay authentic. Just like the food, the bill will astonish you for all the right reasons.
Dining Information:
Counter seating, Family friendly, Dog friendly, No reservations
1418 Pershore Road, Stirchley, Birmingham, West Midlands B30 2PH
