"You Choose" — Marmalade

Venue: Marmalade at The Rep, Centenary Square, B1 2EP; website
Choice: Veggie Thai curry (£13.50)  Chooser: Chef

It's hard to spot a person that isn't cracking a beam around Centenary Square's new reflective pool and — must-remember-to-avoid-when-drunk — water jets. Thinking there might be something in this, Marmalade, the bar, restaurant and cafe attached to The Rep, has given its terrace area and menu a joosh. To tempt you through the Paradise development, the bar is banging out really rather quaffable cocktails for £5 from 5pm 'til 9pm every single day and all day on Saturdays. It was all about the Brum Punch for us, which the team made a slightly sharper version of, to cater for our not-so-sweet palate. On scran, the menu is full of that hard-to-find mid-range sort of fare — think pâtés, patties and platters on starters, at around the £6 mark. Moving on to mains there are a number of refreshingly light options — like the sea bass fillets with crushed potatoes, salty-nice baby capers and a herby vigere sauce (£14.50). Here, the fish was cooked for a minute too long for us but the flavour combo was rather lovely. As it was in the team's veggie Thai curry — one of the freshest, good-for-you feeling dishes we've been served up in the esteemed history of "You Choose". The sweet potato and shiitake mushrooms were just right — soft but without the least hint of moosh, while the mangetout, bok choi and coconut crisp offered bags of bite. A solid spot for a lighter nibble, with a crowd-pleaser of a wider menu and the happiest of people watching.