I’m a fan of Italian food and I’ve heard good things about Fumo. This restaurant is slightly different compared to other Italian restaurants the concept is tapas. I have had plenty of tapas in my time but mainly Spanish and also Middle Eastern style tapas ‘mezze’ but never have I had italian tapas. I like having tapas I like sharing my food and this way you can share food and also order a variety. This was something new to me and I was curious to try it.
Fumo is part of the San Carlos group I don’t think they have many Fumo’s around or maybe this is their only one this one is based in Birmingham and it was right next door to a San Carlos. I do actually like the food in San Carlos this gave me a bit of hope that Fumo would be just as good.
When we entered we were nicely greeted and were advised to keep our shopping bags (we had a few lol) and coats in their cupboard they provided she said their wouldn’t be enough room where we would be sitting. The restaurant is really nicely decorated I love the lighting and the marble tables. The bar area was quite large with seating area scattered around and a wide variety of different drinks.
We went for an early dinner about 4pm. We were told we couldn’t book unless there was a large party we did get fortunately get a table as there was room. After looking at the menu we weren’t sure how many dishes to order and how big the portion sizes would be. We asked the waitress how big the portion sizes were and she said they all vary in sizes which was quite vague really!? in the end we ordered 4 dishes and thought we can always order more. We ordered a spicy prawn, calamari, scallops and ravioli. The ravioli was the first dish to arrive and pretty quickly just after our drinks came. There were three 3 ravioli pieces in a creamy cheese sauce it was rich but the flavour was really nice, I enjoyed it. Next to arrive was the other three dishes and were very well presented, I loved the thick chunky wooden boards and how they wrapped the calamari in paper also the way they presented the scallops in the shell they looked amazing. The presentation was really good and they all did look as good as it tasted, however the dish I thought lacked in slight flavour was the prawns. My friend and I did think the portion sizes were slightly on the small side, we only had two prawns and two scallops. I didn’t feel totally full and I wouldn’t say I have a big appetite. I would have ordered more but my friend wanted to try the sharing dessert and she was nearly full but that was due to being ill the few days previous so her appetite wasn’t normal. I was debating whether to get another dish for myself but I thought I didn’t want to get something and only two items arrive, also my friend wanted to have dessert from the start so I thought this may fill me up a bit more.
Being a pescetarian I had to question the sharing dessert, it didn’t tell you what came in it but just a selection of their best desserts which can be anything! and wouldn’t all their dessert be the best?…as I don’t eat gelatine I told the waitress and she was happy to change it to fit to my requirements. We ended up having tiramisu, apple cake, brandy snap kinda of thing that was filled with ricotta and chocolate cake. I absolutely loved the tiramisu and would recommend it, it was one of the best I had eaten it had so much flavour yummy!!!!…the apple cake was the next best and then the other two I did find the chocolate cake slightly dry and they ricotta filled brandy snap was average, it needed more flavour. I would next time just get the tiramisu. For those of you who do eat gelatine I think she mentioned cheesecake and panna cotta would have been served.
Overall I did like the restaurant the service was good but I did feel they sometimes cleared up the plates too sometimes early sometimes just literally after we finished. The portion sizes were a bit small, yes I know it’s tapas and you get small portions but two prawns isn’t enough. The food is tasty and very good quality and I would suggest to get 4 tapas dishes each to be a bit more satisfied, this would cause problems fitting on their tables though, they were slightly small we struggled with our four dishes. I would go again as I liked the food, however more of a treat. There was a few nice touches they did I liked how they brought hand fresheners for the calamari and prawns I presuming and asked if we wanted water and brought a jug of tap water for us.
Overall: ★★★★☆
Website: Fumo
