Let's welcome newly opened cafe "Paul at No.41" into Harborne! We caught up with them to see why they chose our wonderful high street to set up camp and what sets them apart from other similar businesses in the area. Read our Q&A below...
We're the latest independent restaurant in Harborne. Myself and my head chef Lee have worked together for large chains for a number of years. I've always had a dream and ambition to open my own restaurant and jumped at the chance when the site became available. I wanted the menu to be a fairly simple menu, utilising the best ingredients possible. I had a lot of help from my family with designing the restaurant, my sister-in-law came up with a lot of the styling and me and my Dad did almost all of the renovating, apologies to all the people that had to dodge under the ladders while we were painting! For the front of house team, I managed to get into contact with the team that worked here under Scott's of Harborne. The last thing I wanted was for people to loose employment especially when it was out of their control. We're a lovely little team who always try to make everyone feel welcome.
Harborne's always been a part of my life, whether that was shopping for school equipment, getting my bike fixed at the old Halford's or working, one of my first jobs was in O'Neills, what is now The Junction. I've always loved the community spirit in Harborne and love how everyone looks out for one another. The amount of people popping into wish us well while we were renovating was really pleasing and it's been so so nice to see a lot of those faces come through the doors and support us since opening.
I've always loved working in restaurants - you get to meet loads of interesting people, are always kept busy and no two days are ever the same. I spent around 10 years as a kitchen manager before working my way up to general manager for a large chain and tried to absorb as much as I could. I'll be putting what I've learnt over the years into practise!
ALL OF IT!!! The pancakes are AMAZING, Eggs Royale, Scrambled Eggs on Toast - I've really thought about the cooking method and the scramble is to die for.
We offer comforting food with good portion sizes with relaxed friendly service. We've tried to provide a relaxing environment, a home from home, a lot of people comment to me about how nice the style and colour of the restaurant - I don't think that there's much more that you can or need to offer 🙂
Relaxed, fresh, inviting & homely.
On Facebook 'Paul at no 41' & Instagram 'paul_at_no_41'
I'll be setting up a website and getting on TripAdvisor soon too so keep eyes peeled!
