Review; Miss Saigon At The Birmingham Hippodrome; Musical Inspired Food

[REVIEW] Last week I was invited by the lovely people at Birmingham Hippodrome to see their current show Miss Saigon and to sample the Musical’s inspired menu at their AA Rosette-awarded Circle Restaurant.  Upon arrival we were greeted with a lovely cocktail, ‘Sun and Moon’ which was a mix of Schnapps, Creme De Cassis and fruit juice.

While we were chatting we were served some Miss Saigon inspired canapes.  All the food that were were to sample was inspired by the musical and the chefs at the Hippodrome design the menus to complement each show.  The goats cheese and caramelised onion bruschetta were delicious.

We were then taken upstairs to the Circle restaurant were we were served taster portions of each of the dishes on The Miss Saigon menu.  Each course was named after a part of a musical production.

‘Act I’ was:

• White bean soup with basil pesto (V)
• Salt beef croquette with a salad of mooli, shallots and capers (Top Right)
• Goat’s cheese mousse with marinated tomatoes and walnut toast
• Vietnamese prawn summer rolls with sweet chilli sauce (Bottom Left)

The winner of Act I just has to be the salt beef croquette, moist and tasty the salt beef was accompanied by capers and an Asian salad of mooli and shallots.

‘Act II’, the main course was from top left, clockwise:

• Yellow curry lentil scotch egg with asparagus & new potato salad (V)
• Honey-brushed confit of duck leg with celeriac purée, bok choy and star anise jus
• Pan-seared fillet of coley with rice noodle, samphire, ginger and spring onion broth
• Chilli & coriander crusted pork tenderloin with soy & sesame braised savoy cabbage

I really could not fault any of this course.  It was all delicious.  My favourite taster serving was the yellow curry lentil scotch egg was spiced perfectly.  The warm curry flavour complemented the runny egg so well.  I’m not usually a fan of cabbage but savoy cabbage accompanying the pork tenderloin which was braised in soy and sesame was a whole new tasting delight.

We then went to take our seats for the show.  During the interval we returned to the hospitality suites and sampled the ‘Curtain Call’, which consisted of:

• Green tea panna cotta with sesame tuille
• Bitter chocolate tart with lychee, strawberry & mint compote
• Poached peach & pistachio cake with raspberries and vanilla set custard

Food & Restaurant Photos courtesy of Birmingham Hippodrome

I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t a fan of the panna cotta and this is no discredit to the wonderful high standards of the food at the Hippodrome but I’ve never really been a fan of any panna cotta and although I’m a huge tea drinker, green tea flavoured foods aren’t for me.  The peach and pistachio cake was delicious and the chocolate tart could have been eaten time and time again!  the tart had just the amount of bitter chocolate.

I’ve seen Miss Saigon three times in the West End and this touring production is just as good and I’d certainly recommend the production to any musical fan and also to those who have never been to a musical before.  The cast really gave their all and it was a fantastic night out.  Sooha Kim (Kim) and Ashley Gilmour (Chris) in the lead roles gave incredible spine-tingling performances but the audience was won over by Red Concepcion (The Engineer) providing just the right amount of humour and sass.

The food was delicious and I was very surprised at the price; two courses were £24.50 and three courses cost £29.50.  The taster menu was served exclusively for us.

I was invited to the show by Birmingham Hippodrome as part of the Brum Bloggers community.  The food, drinks and ticket were all complementary.  the touring production of Miss Saigon is at the Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 23 September. For further information and to book tickets, call the Hippodrome’s Box Office on 0844 338 5000 or visit their website.