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Venue: Bistrot Pierre, Waterside House, 46 Gas Street, B1 2JT; website
Choice: Bouillabaisse maison (£15.95) Chooser: Front of house staff
Brummies give it both barrels when the city's renovation projects run roughshod over the original building, so berets must be doffed in the direction of French restaurant group Bistrot Pierre, whose stunning conversion of the former Birmingham Canal Company has been carried out with total sympathy. The wine cellar, for example, is where barges used to pull in to pay their toll while a colossal vault door, which used to keep said tolls safe, remains a wonderful interior focal point. This is without doubt one of the city's most stunning restaurants and the sun trap terrace is set to be a summer must. Food-wise the mini chorizos au miel (£3.50) link arms with your tastebuds and can-can gloriously from cheek to cheek, long after you've swallowed the honey-glazed porky parcels, while the Bouillabaise comes stuffed chocker with hunky mouthfuls of smoked haddock and fresh shellfish. Mop everything up with baked-on-site bread and douse the lot with liberal volumes of red. Menu
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MOVIE OF THE WEEK: GHOSTBUSTERS
Who you gonna call? If you listen to the thousands of internet misogynists who angrily campaigned against this film without seeing it, not these four new Ghostbusters, who have the temerity to — wait for it — be women. However, perhaps you’d prefer to take the advice of someone who’s actually seen the film. In which case we’re happy to report it’s an energetic comedy with plenty of big laughs. Leslie Jones gets the best lines of the four, but each one has their moments, Melissa McCarthy's rage against her inept Chinese takeaway being a particular belly juggler. Not everything works — the original cast members’ cameos are mostly missed opportunities — but this is far from the disaster we were warned of. Don’t believe the haters. Times
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WE'VE DISCOVERED GREATNESS
Because we read our own weekly email and like to follow our own advice, we booked tickets to see Australian comedy ace Jim Jefferies at the O2 Academy earlier this month. Having followed our own advice we were thrilled to learn we were absolutely right and that Jefferies was indeed a most accomplished merchant of mirth. What we didn't know was that his support act, Jason John Whitehead, would have us leaking lager from our noses within seconds of taking stage. The lolzy Canadian will appear at the Glee Club's Comedy Carousel on July 21, alongside Andy Robinson and Jimmy McGhie, the latter of whom we have it on very good authority is also ace. We'll be there, so if we're wrong about this, you can throw root vegetables at us.
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