8 Fine Dining Restaurants That Define Birmingham’s City Centre

Birmingham’s food scene has quietly become one of the most exciting in the UK. Take a short walk in almost any direction from the city centre and you’ll find tasting menus, chef’s counters and dining rooms that feel as polished as anything in London or Paris. The city now holds more Michelin stars than any in the UK outside the capital, but its best restaurants still feel refreshingly down-to-earth.

Birmingham’s fine dining scene reflects the city itself: inventive, international and shaped by a rich mix of cultures. For residents of Edition Birmingham and the wider city centre, that means having serious food on your doorstep. This guide brings together eight restaurants, all in the city centre, that capture the way Birmingham eats now. From showpiece destinations made for celebrations, to intimate rooms you can wander to for a spontaneous dinner on a Wednesday night, these are the places that define the city – and make it a very special place to call home.

Opheem

48 Summer Row, Birmingham B3 1JJ

Defining detail: Boundary-pushing Indian tasting menu, with two Michelin stars to prove it

Birmingham-born chef Aktar Islam has built more than a destination restaurant at Opheem; he’s created a dining room that feels like a statement of what the city can be. The tone is serious but never stiff: a spacious bar where you can exhale with a first drink, an open kitchen sending out a low hum of energy and spice, and a calm, modern room where each course lands with a quiet, understated confidence. The cooking takes the flavours of the subcontinent and runs them through a contemporary lens: precise, inventive plates that still feel deeply satisfying at the end of the night. If you had to choose a single restaurant to represent Birmingham on the world stage, Opheem would be it – and for city-centre residents, it’s the place you book when you want to show visitors exactly why you chose to live here.

The Wilderness

27 Warstone Lane, Birmingham, B18 6JQ

Defining detail: Rock ’n’ roll fine dining in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter.

At The Wilderness, tasting menus come with names like “All Pleasure Is Fleeting” – a nod to how often the dishes change and to the restaurant’s slightly anarchic heart. This is fine dining that swaps white tablecloths for dark walls, neon, graffiti and an indie-rock soundtrack. Chef Alex Claridge and his team send out intricate, often playful plates – think barbecue brassicas layered with brioche and truffle like a savoury bread-and-butter pudding – that somehow feel both reckless and precise at the same time. It’s bold, occasionally provocative cooking, and the room leans into that energy; it feels more like a night out than a formal dinner. A short walk or tram ride from the city centre, it’s the place to book when you want to show a wilder side of Birmingham.

Adam’s

16 Waterloo Street, Birmingham, B2 5UG

Defining detail: Meticulous modern British tasting menus in an intimate, Michelin-starred dining room just off Colmore Row.

Tucked between Colmore Row and Victoria Square, Adam’s feels like the calm, yet luxurious, centre of Birmingham’s dining scene. What began as a two-year ‘pop-up’ in 2013 is now a permanent fixture, holding a Michelin star and three AA Rosettes while remaining quietly understated. Step through the townhouse entrance to a small cocktail bar, then into a plush, softly lit dining room that’s ideal for anniversaries, board dinners or important client meetings. The cooking is modern British in the best sense: seasonal, precise plates with clean, focused flavours rather than unnecessary flourish. Service is smooth and assured, the wine list serious without being intimidating. If you need a restaurant in the city centre that you know will land well, Adam’s is the obvious choice.

The Oyster Club

43 Temple Street, Birmingham, B2 5DP

Defining detail: A chic seafood and oyster bar just off New Street, pairing impeccably fresh shellfish with a serious wine and Champagne list.

Seafood probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you think of Birmingham. But in the shadow of New Street station you’ll find The Oyster Club – a slice of coastal elegance in the middle of the country. Created by Michelin-starred chef Adam Stokes, it’s a place where marble-topped counters, counter seating and a softly buzzing dining room set the scene for seafood-led indulgence. The focus is on oysters – shucked to order and served natural, dressed or tempura – alongside refined fish dishes and classic plates like Dover sole with capers and brown butter, or fish pie done properly. A thoughtful wine list and plenty of Champagne make it as suited to after-work oysters at the bar as to lingering weekend lunches. After one visit, seafood might be the first thing you think of when you think of Birmingham.

Folium

8 Caroline Street, Birmingham, B3 1TW

Defining detail: A minimalist, 24-seat dining room, hidden in the Jewellery Quarter, serving ambitious seasonal tasting menus.

Tucked just off St Paul’s Square in the Jewellery Quarter, Folium feels like the sort of place regulars would rather keep to themselves. Run by chef Ben Tesh and partner Lucy Hanlon, it’s a small, glass-fronted room with parquet floors, exposed brick and an open kitchen, where a tiny team turns out modern British dishes with clean lines and precise flavours. The focus is on tasting menus – short or long – built around pristine seasonal produce, often with subtle Nordic and Asian notes: think Cornish turbot with Arbroath smokie liquor, or warm savoury custard with roast chicken dashi and black truffle. Service is relaxed but attentive, and the atmosphere is low-key enough that it works as well for a quiet midweek dinner as it does for a special occasion.

24 Stories

103 Colmore Row, Birmingham, B3 3AG

Defining detail: Skyline modern British dining with 360° city views from the 24th floor of Birmingham’s tallest tower.

Perched at the top of 103 Colmore Row, 24 Stories is Birmingham’s highest restaurant – a glass-walled dining room and cocktail bar floating above the business district. Sister restaurant to 14 Stories in London and 20 Stories in Manchester, 24 Stories is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling windows which wrap around the room. Wherever you sit, you’re facing the city. The kitchen leans into modern British cooking with a French accent, built around coastal seafood, carefully sourced steaks and seasonal local produce; the menus are tight, precise and designed to work as well for a three-course dinner as for a long, late lunch. At the bar, classic and inventive cocktails make it as tempting for a sunset drink as for a full meal. It’s the kind of place that makes living in the city centre a genuine privilege – somewhere you can wander up to for sunset cocktails, dinner and then be home within minutes.

Land

30 Great Western Arcade, Birmingham B2 5HU

Defining detail: Creative, plant-focused tasting menus in an intimate, Michelin-recommended dining room in the Great Western Arcade

Set beneath the glass roof of the Victorian Great Western Arcade, Land is a calm, contemporary room that shows just how sophisticated plant-based cooking can be. The space is small and quietly stylish, with an open kitchen working through seasonal set menus that are largely vegan and built entirely around vegetables, grains and herbs. Dishes draw on influences from across the world – you might find a carrot “char siu”, a silky carrot laksa or sake-lees inflections alongside British produce – but the flavours are always clean and focused rather than showy. Service is relaxed, the atmosphere low-key, and the pricing makes regular visits realistic – especially when it’s a short walk from your front door.

670 Grams

The Custard Factory, Birmingham, B9 4AU

Defining detail: Playful, Brummie-rooted tasting menus served in a graffiti-covered dining room at the Custard Factory

670 Grams channels Birmingham’s grit and humour into a tiny, graffiti-lined dining room. Named for chef Kray Treadwell’s daughter’s birth weight – she arrived four months early – it has a fearlessness that runs through both the space and the menu. The aim is to make fine dining feel accessible: loud music, relaxed service, and a tightly edited tasting menu full of local references. You might find a “half-time” Balti pie inspired by West Midlands football terraces, or a playful riff on a Cadbury Fruit & Nut bar that nods to the city’s chocolate-making past. It’s serious cooking, but rooted firmly in everyday Brummie life – bold, funny and impossible to mistake for anywhere else.

Living in Birmingham City Centre

If you like the idea of having Birmingham’s best restaurants on your doorstep, Select Property’s city-centre apartments place you moments from the city’s dining, culture and business districts. Speak to our team today to find out more about our latest Birmingham homes.