Birmingham chef unveils plans to open the city's 'weirdest restaurant' yet in the Jewellery Quarter

Birmingham’s vibrant culinary scene is about to welcome a new addition.

Acclaimed chef Alex Claridge, known for his innovative approach to cuisine, is opening a new restaurant named Albatross Death Cult in the Jewellery Quarter and it promises to be a unique dining experience.

The name “Albatross Death Cult” is inspired by the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The restaurant is a creative response after a significant pause.

Claridge explains, “The name comes from a really challenging time for me, albatross because the space it is going into has pretty much been an albatross round my neck for 12 months.”

The restaurant, which is set to be located in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, is described as a ‘raw, unedited, and decidedly stripped-back sibling’ to Claridge’s renowned restaurant, The Wilderness, also based in the Jewellery Quarter.

What makes the dining experience at Albatross Death Cult, unique?

The intimate 14-cover restaurant will serve a menu of around 12 courses to 14 guests sat around a Omakase-Style, monolithic kitchen counter for one sitting per service. The dishes, mostly featuring seafood and coastal ingredients, will be served directly by the chefs.

Claridge, says the restaurant was created “out of a profound sense of loneliness” and that it is a passion project. A meal at Albatross Death Cult will cost £88 a head. He states, “Anyone can do something for money, I’m doing something just because I want it to exist.”

When will the new restaurant open up?

Albatross Death Cult is set to open in June - the exact date has not yet been announced.

Located in a Grade II canalside warehouse at 1 Newhall Square, Jewellery Quarter. Albatross Death Cult occupies a space that once served as a bar. With its unique concept and Claridge’s reputation for culinary innovation, the restaurant is poised to be a new chapter in Birmingham’s vibrant food scene.

As Alex Claridge puts it, “It’s a weird space, but I think weird is a superpower right now”