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MOVIE CHOICE - CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
People tend to get very excited about Marvel movies, and not just in the anticipatory sense. Was the last Captain America really a neo-Seventies conspiracy thriller? We don’t remember Warren Beatty flying a jet pack in The Parallax View. Anyway, as frothy confections they hit the target, and this, Marvel’s 13th film in its cinematic universe, feels like a culmination. Appalled at the collateral damage caused by the Avengers’ recent avenging, the UN demands control of the team. They split down the middle over whether to accede, and the ensuing rumble results in some of the best superhero action seen onscreen. It’s a busy film, sure, but key character introductions are handled well, and in this serialised blockbuster for the binge-watching age, there are payoffs a-plenty. Times & trailer
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MAKING STUFF UP: STAN'S CAFE
From their JQ base at the A .E. Harris warehouse, Stan's Cafe (pronounced caff) is an unassuming theatre company that's been making things happen since 1991. Their new production, Made Up, is told on a film set, where Kate, a young film star, is being transformed into the various characters she is to play, by make-up artist, Sue. The play centres round the cracks that are revealed in both characters' lives as the real time metamorphosis of Kate develops on stage. As to why Kate (pictured) looks like a Battlestar Gallactica extra in the preview shot, we're entirely stumped. Showing at The Rep from May 14 until 21, if you're not familiar with Stan's Cafe, the company are squarely Brum bucket list territory. Tickets are £11.50 on May 14 or 16, rising to £13.50 for the rest of the run.
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DISTRICT DOG OFF:
THE FINAL WORD IN SAUSAGE
One night, four venues, four dogs, one champion of the sausage empire (and some entirely ace artwork). In advance of the Colmore Food Festival, tickets are now available for the team's second fringe event. Starting at Pub du Vin, pick up your Dawg Map, Dawg Tokens and Dawg Voting Card, then choose between Nosh & Quaff, Purecraft, Bureau or Pub du Vin by way of dawg numero uno (we promise to stop saying dawg now). Dawg. Dawg. Dawg. Eat at your own speed and fear not for long queues - there are but forty spots and four venues, so on our maths you'll have to try pretty hard to hit a rush at any of the kitchens. Cast your—frankly critical—vote at the final venue and immediately become a part of hot dog history. Americana ace, Horace Panter, has even created art—which will be auctioned at the end of the festival by RCFA—to mark the occasion. A happenin' on Thursday, May 19, tickets are £10. Double dawg dare you not to book. Tickets & menu
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UPSTAIRS AT
THE SITE OFFICE
The JQ's worst kept secret (our fault entirely) is transmorphing into new and quite possibly life-changing things. For now, we can tell you that above the former digs of The Site Office, there are single origin beans of the Ue Coffee Roasters variety, plenty of beauteous looking reclaimed wood, and baked goods care of Peel & Stone. Upstairs is open Monday to Friday, from 7.30am until 4pm. Shame we don't have space sufficient to tell you about Downst..
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WOOD-FIRED WEEKEND
And God said, "Let there be pizza". Okay, He didn't. But if He had, we're almost completely sure it would have been a prelude to this weekend's glorious union of cheese, tomato and dough, also known as Brum's Big Fat Pizza Festival. Join more than ten indie pizza traders from 12pm until 10pm on Saturday. There's even chocolate pizza. At Lab11, final release tickets, for £7.50 (+ booking fee) can be secured here.
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Venue: Rofuto, Park Regis Hotel, 160 Broad Street, B15 1DT; website
Choice: Halibut Champagne yuzu miso (£23) Chooser: Waitress, Tam
Putting a 120 cover Japanese restaurant (and sizeable hotel) on the ever so salubrious Five Ways roundabout is a ballsy move. On the one hand, you're less than ten minutes from Centenary Square and moments from Edgbaston—but on the other—your immediate neighbours are a bookies and an underpass. Cue the need for a menu from Des McDonald (he was head chef at The Ivy by 25) and height—Rofuto is pitching itself as the highest restaurant in Brum (*Marco Pierre who?*). Great for grazing, the kitchen covers off sushi, sashimi, some interesting maki and robata grilled skewers well. Its victory moment is in its fish mains. Plump for the perfectly cooked halibut, served with Champagne yuzu miso (very yes), pak choi and pomegranate—unanimously the standout plate of the feasting (where meat dishes took a back seat throughout). The service is also a credit to the launch team—knowledgeable, natural and honest. Whether Rofuto has done enough to get the Colmore-ites up to Five Ways will come down to consistency, views on pricing (at £23, our main felt expensive for Birmingham) and, probably, Kurabu—the adjoining skyline cocktail bar, which is doing entirely delicious things with sake.
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