Restaurant in Barnt Green, United Kingdom
Two Michelin Plates. Small room. Book it.
Black & Green is a Michelin Plate-recognised neighbourhood tasting-menu restaurant in Barnt Green with a 4.7 Google rating from 112 reviews. The short, seasonal set menu is served simultaneously to all guests at £££, with wine pairings the norm. For a special occasion in the West Midlands at this price point, it is the clearest credentialled option outside Birmingham city centre.
If you are weighing up whether to book, the short answer is yes , with one condition. Black & Green runs a set tasting menu for all guests simultaneously, so if you want à la carte flexibility or the ability to eat at your own pace, this is not the format for you. But if a tasting menu occasion is what you are looking for in the West Midlands, this is the most credible option at the £££ price point outside Birmingham city centre.
Black & Green is a compact, considered operation: tall tables with stools, a black and green interior that is spare without being cold, and a format built around the idea that everyone eats together at the same time. That communal rhythm is not incidental , it shapes the whole evening. Service moves at a single pace, dishes land when the kitchen is ready, and the room has a focus that larger, more loosely structured restaurants often lack. For a special occasion, that structure is an asset. There are no awkward pauses waiting for the table next to you to finish, no sense that the kitchen has forgotten your group. The meal has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
The tasting menu is short and changes with the seasons, which is both a practical commitment and a signal about priorities: the kitchen is working with what is genuinely good right now, not running a permanent greatest-hits list. The Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms that the food meets a standard that is independently verified, not just locally well-regarded. Michelin Plates are awarded to restaurants producing good cooking , they sit below Michelin Stars but represent a meaningful threshold of quality and consistency. Two consecutive years of that recognition at a neighbourhood scale is not an accident.
Wine pairings are the norm here , the database notes that most guests take them, which suggests the pairing programme is well-matched to the menu rather than an afterthought. If you are considering whether to add the cheese course, the guidance from the venue itself is that it rounds the meal out into something more satisfying. On a special occasion, that is usually the right call.
Black & Green's format , all guests served simultaneously, a short menu, a bijou room , makes it better suited to small groups and couples than to large parties. The simultaneous service model works well for tables of two to four where conversation and shared experience are the point. For larger groups looking for a private dining room with a separate menu or flexible timing, this venue is unlikely to deliver that. The room itself is small by design, so if your occasion requires a private buyout or a dedicated events space, contact the restaurant directly to understand what is possible. For intimate celebrations , anniversaries, milestone birthdays for small groups, serious date nights , the format is well-calibrated. You are not competing with a busy main room for attention.
Black & Green is at 49 Hewell Road, Barnt Green, Birmingham B45 8NL , a village setting south of Birmingham, accessible by rail from Birmingham New Street to Barnt Green station. At the £££ price point with wine pairings, budget accordingly for a full evening including the cheese course. Booking difficulty is moderate: this is not a venue with a six-month waitlist, but a 112-review Google profile with a 4.7 average means demand is real. Reserve ahead, particularly for weekend evenings and for any occasion with a fixed date. If you are planning around a specific event , an anniversary, a birthday , give yourself at least three to four weeks. For wider context on what else is worth your time in the area, see our full Barnt Green restaurants guide, our full Barnt Green hotels guide, and our full Barnt Green bars guide. If you are making a longer trip of it, our full Barnt Green experiences guide and our full Barnt Green wineries guide are worth a look.
Black & Green holds its own against neighbourhood tasting-menu restaurants at the £££ tier across the UK. For context, the venues most commonly cited in the same conversation , Moor Hall in Aughton, L'Enclume in Cartmel, and Hand and Flowers in Marlow , operate at higher price points with corresponding ambition and booking difficulty. If you want Michelin Star-level cooking and can travel, those are the targets. If you want verified quality at a more accessible price without the multi-month booking lead times those venues require, Black & Green is the more practical answer for the West Midlands. For Birmingham city-centre options, Opheem in Birmingham is worth considering alongside it , a different cuisine register, but similarly credentialled. Further afield, hide and fox in Saltwood and Midsummer House in Cambridge operate in a similar neighbourhood-fine-dining space if you are comparing formats nationally. For the Black Country and wider Midlands, Black & Green is currently the clearest answer at this price tier for a tasting-menu occasion without the logistical overhead of a major city or destination restaurant.
If Black & Green has you thinking about what a step up looks like, Gidleigh Park in Chagford and Waterside Inn in Bray represent the classic country-house tasting-menu tier in England. For something more contemporary and internationally framed, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Auchterarder and Ynyshir Hall in Machynlleth are two of the most distinctive tasting-menu destinations in the UK outside London. For a London comparison point, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London sits at ££££ and represents what the formal French tasting-menu format looks like at full stretch. If your interest is in modern cuisine internationally, Frantzén in Stockholm and Maison Lameloise in Chagny offer useful reference points for how the format scales at the leading end.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black & Green | Modern Cuisine | A bijou neighbourhood restaurant with stools set at tall tables and a black and green colour scheme. The short, sensibly priced tasting menu moves with the seasons, using prime ingredients to deliver layers of texture and flavour in imaginative dishes. All guests are served at the same time and most go for the wine pairings. Add in the cheese course for a satisfying meal.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Moderate | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Black & Green and alternatives.
The format is non-negotiable: a short, seasonal tasting menu served simultaneously to all guests. You are not ordering à la carte, and that is the point. The room is compact with tall tables and stools, so this is not a drawn-out three-hour affair — it is a focused, well-paced meal. Two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025) suggest the kitchen is consistent, not just lucky.
The venue data does not specify a dress code, and the room — stools, tall tables, bijou scale — reads as relaxed rather than formal. Treat it like a serious neighbourhood restaurant: neat but not black-tie. Overdressing for a tasting menu with bar-style seating would feel out of place.
Small groups work well here; the simultaneous-service format actually suits two to four people. Larger parties should check directly, as the bijou room and fixed-menu structure limit flexibility for big bookings. This is not the venue for a table of eight with mixed dietary expectations.
At £££ for a seasonally driven, Michelin Plate-recognised tasting menu in a village outside Birmingham, the value case is strong. The format — short menu, prime ingredients, wine pairings available — delivers more precision per pound than most à la carte equivalents at the same price point. If you want to order freely or skip courses, book elsewhere.
Yes, with the right expectations. The simultaneous service and intimate scale create a shared, event-like feel that works for anniversaries and milestone dinners. Add the cheese course and lean into the wine pairings for a complete meal. Just note that the room is small and lively rather than hushed and formal, so if you need maximum privacy, ask about the layout before booking.
Barnt Green is a village, not a restaurant district, so direct local alternatives are limited. For a comparable tasting-menu experience in the wider Birmingham area, you would need to look at the city centre. Black & Green's Michelin Plate recognition makes it the most credentialled option in this immediate area.
Yes. Two Michelin Plates and a 4.7 Google rating across 112 reviews at £££ pricing indicates the kitchen is delivering above its weight for the area. Tasting menus at this credential level in London would cost significantly more. The sensibly priced format — with wine pairings and an optional cheese course — makes the spend feel considered rather than inflated.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
