*gifted meal
Hey Owlets,
It's official - I'm an honorary Brummie now!! Well okay, maybe not, but a few weeks ago I managed to leave the comfort of Brum city centre, catch a bus alone, made it out to a suburb AND survived unscathed. I do love a good restaurant find, but I am very much guilty of staying within the safety net of the centre, so when I was invited for a girly blogger date at Don Diego in Edgbaston, I was a little nervous about getting there without the aid of a car or Uber, but it was surprisingly easy and well worth the trip.
I must admit, not knowing where I'm going is sometimes a good thing, because you take in the surroundings a little more. Following the map on my phone, Siri told me I'd arrived and I was a little surprised to look up and find myself on a 1960s shopping parade. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but I did stand there for a minute wondering why we'd been brought here.
Having been unsettled from the outside, I really wasn't expecting the restaurant to be so beautiful. We walked in and everywhere you looked you would notice something different, be that the different species of birds on the wallpaper, the trinkets on the shelves or the fairy lights nestled between wine bottles on the window ledge. We sat down in, what was at the time, a very empty restaurant. The waiter offered us his favourite bottle of white wine, and we had a glass while we chatted.
One of the things that makes Don Diego so special is it's story. The restaurant was set up by two brothers who moved to Birmingham from Spain - one brother cooks, while the other is front of house, telling us stories from Spain and showing us why the pieces on the shelves were meaningful, including his camera that matched mine!
The menu isn't huge, which I really like, and every dish on there is something I would enjoy - which was a problem when it came to ordering! We weren't sure what to go for so Alfonso recommended his favourites and he put them in the middle of the table so that we could share. My friend and I can't eat gluten and we're used to only have one or two options on the menu. In Don Diego, however, we were told we could choose anything and they would make it gluten free for us (with the exception of the prawns because of the sauce they're cooked in). For starters we shared whitebait, fishcakes, warm goats cheese salad and prawns in a lobster bisque. I have to be honest, until we visited Don Diego I've never liked goat's cheese, and now it's all I can think about.
For my main course I wanted to be a little adventurous, but as I'm allergic to squid I felt like octopus wasn't a safe choice, so I went for swordfish which I'd not tried before either, and it was incredible! Texture-wise it's sort of like a firmer version of tuna, but it tastes a lot stronger. I'm not sure what it was seasoned with but it was one of the best things I've eaten in quite a while and the salsa verde that it was served with was perfect. My only slight gripe is the pricing of the meal; the meal is the standard price you would expect, but it only comes with what you've ordered (so literally just the swordfish). Then if you'd like any vegetables or chips, you have to pay extra for both which adds another £8 to the meal. As a treat, it's definitely worth it, but because of this it's not somewhere I'd consider going on a regular basis.
As we were at the restaurant early we were the only customers, so after we'd eaten our main course, the chef appeared from the kitchen to greet us and ask how our meals were. I really appreciated this as it was nice to hear his side of why they chose to set up a restaurant. We were told that when they moved to Birmingham there was nowhere to eat simple, unpretentious Spanish food, and his passion is cooking hearty food that tastes great, rather than spending a lot of time on the presentation.
Dessert was another difficult choice. I'm usually all about chocolate but I wanted to try something different, so once again we let Alphonso pick, and his guesses were perfect for all of us. My dessert was a white chocolate soup with prune compote, which I wasn't completely sold on at first because of the prunes, but it's absolutely something you need to try. I feel like I'm failing as a reviewer but I honestly can't describe it without doing the dish a disservice - it's one of those things that you just need to try.
As we were finishing our meal, a couple came in for dinner and they were met with the same warm welcome that we received, which goes to show that they care about all of their customers equally.
While I'm very much a city centre kind of girl, Don Diego is enough to make me venture out to Edgbaston again and again. With local produce, prices of a mid-range pub, the food of a gastro-pub and the atmosphere of eating in a family home, I can't recommend it enough. Don Diego really is the definition of "hidden gem", and I can't wait to go back.
Love and Feathers,
The Owlet 💜
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