Adam Stokes targets Michelin star for first eponymous restaurant in Birmingham

Stokes, who helped the Ayrshire venue gain its first Michelin star in 2011, will leave the restaurant after five years in January with his wife, Natasha, who manages the front of house operations in Scotland and will continue to do so in Birmingham.

Natasha told BigHospitality the pair had ambitious plans for the return to their roots in the Midlands.

"We will be pushing for accolades and hope to reattain similar accolades to those held at Glenapp," Natasha explained. "Adam will continue to develop his Michelin starred food style and the set-up will allow him to do this over the long term."

"We're really excited to be moving to Birmingham where fantastic chefs like Glynn Purnell have been taking the city on a food quest. And we hope to be able to add to these dining experiences," she added.

Alongside several members of the restaurant team at Glenapp, the couple will first launch an 18-month pop-up on Birmingham's Bennetts Hill before opening a 60-cover restaurant nearby in the city centre in 2014.

Pop-up​

The 25-cover pop-up, which will open in spring 2013, will be a means to showcase Adam's cookery. It will also be a chance for his chef brigade to finalise the modern British, fine dining menu which will eventually feature in the full restaurant.

“I will create a fine dining restaurant where guests will feel relaxed and comfortable in the contemporary interior," Adam said. 

Adam's, the temporary venue, will feature a tasting menu and an extended tasting menu alongside a small lunch offering with a couple of courses from the tasting options available on their own.

At the larger restaurant, also expected to be called Adam's or similar, there will be tasting menus and an a la carte offering on certain days of the week.

Michelin star​

"Once completed the larger restaurant will have an open-to-view kitchen and dining kitchen bar. There will be a casual transition from kitchen to restaurant: to sit alongside the open and honest style of the cuisine. Future plans include an extensive wine cellar and Food Development Area," Adam added.

Natasha revealed the price point would be decided by a combination of working out the value of Adam's menu and by looking at Birmingham's other restaurants with Michelin stars - Purnell's, Simpsons and Turner's.

The move south from Scotland had, Natasha explained, been in the pipeline for a while.

"I think making the decision to start your own restaurant is either something you are working towards or you're not," she argued.

"Two years ago we found out about the Michelin star and the four AA rosettes and at that point we were planning on leaving but it didn't seem quite the right time seeing as we had just been recognised."

Adam's will open early next year. Meanwhile, Glenapp Castle hotel, a Relais & Chateaux venue, closes for the season from January until March when the restaurant is expected to be re-launched with a new team at the helm.