Restaurant in Birmingham, United Kingdom
Two-person operation, serious tasting menu.

Folium is a two-person tasting menu restaurant in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, holding a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 with a 4.8 Google rating. The seafood-led menu changes with the seasons and reflects a single chef's precise, ingredients-first approach. Book four to six weeks ahead minimum — this is one of Birmingham's harder tables to secure at the ££££ tier.
Book Folium if you want one of Birmingham's most focused tasting menu experiences at the ££££ price point. Ben Tesh and Lucy Hanlon run a two-person operation in the Jewellery Quarter that consistently punches above its size: Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025, a 4.8 Google rating from 230 reviews, and a cooking style that prioritises ingredients over spectacle. For a first-timer, the key decision is short or long tasting menu — both formats showcase the same ingredient-led approach, but the longer menu gives Tesh more room to build a complete picture. Booking is hard; plan at least four to six weeks ahead.
Folium occupies a pared-back room on Caroline Street in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, a neighbourhood that now hosts some of the city's most serious cooking. The room signals confidence without effort: minimal, comfortable, no theatre for its own sake. What you notice first is the open kitchen, where Tesh works alone. That solo setup is not a gimmick — it shapes the food directly. Every dish on the menu reflects a single, coherent point of view, and the cooking has the clarity that comes when one person controls every decision on the plate.
The menu is largely seafood-based, which makes timing matter. Folium's kitchen is attentive to what British waters and seasonal sourcing can actually deliver, so the strongest dishes tend to follow what's at its leading rather than what's fashionable. Cornish turbot appears as a signature reference point in the awards data, paired with Arbroath smokie liquor , a pairing that uses Scottish smoking tradition to add depth to a fish that can otherwise read as neutral. If you're visiting in autumn or winter, expect the menu to lean into richer, more rooted combinations; spring and early summer tend to bring lighter, more coastal compositions. The seafood focus means the menu responds to season more visibly than a meat-heavy kitchen would, so what you eat in February will feel genuinely different from what arrives in May.
Sourcing ambition extends beyond fish. The awards description references A5 wagyu sirloin paired with grilled endive and a rich sauce , a combination that works precisely because Tesh resists the temptation to overcomplicate premium ingredients. The restraint is deliberate and consistent across the menu. A burnt onion wafer with chicken liver parfait, a Mayan Gold potato croquette with smoked cod roe and pike roe beads: these are dishes built on textural and flavour contrast, not on adding more components. For a first-timer, this approach can feel surprising in a positive way , the plates look simple but the flavour precision is high.
The tasting menu closes with a dessert sequence described in the awards record as a delicate run of ices, moving from whipped marshmallow and yuzu with crispy rice through to a toasted hay, caramel and rye confection. It's a light finish that avoids the heavy sugar overload that ends too many tasting menus. The wine list is described as wide-ranging and efficiently managed by Lucy Hanlon, who runs front of house with genuine warmth. At a ££££ price point in a two-person operation, the front-of-house dynamic matters: the room is small, the interaction is direct, and the experience depends on that rapport working. At Folium, it does.
For context within the UK's Modern British tasting menu tier, Folium sits in a different register from destination venues like CORE by Clare Smyth in London, L'Enclume in Cartmel, or Moor Hall in Aughton. Those are larger productions with deeper teams and longer track records. Folium is a neighbourhood-scale operation, and that's the correct frame for evaluating it. Within Birmingham specifically, it competes directly with Adam's and Simpsons for the serious-dining pound, and it more than holds its position. If you're building a Birmingham food itinerary, Folium pairs well with a visit to Carters of Moseley for a second tasting menu experience at a different price point and register. For something more casual, Cuubo offers a lower-commitment entry to the Birmingham dining scene. The full Birmingham restaurants guide covers the wider picture.
The seasonal dimension is the strongest reason to consider a return visit, not just a first booking. Tesh's cooking style means the menu at Folium in October is not the same menu as in March , the ingredients are different, the combinations shift, and the experience changes accordingly. If you eat there once and enjoy it, the argument for going back in a different season is genuine, not just loyalty. That consistency of approach across seasonal variation is what the Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 reflects: this is a kitchen that works to a clear philosophy across changing conditions, not one that delivers a fixed greatest-hits rotation.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Folium | Modern British | ££££ | Hard |
| Adam's | Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Unknown |
| Simpsons | British, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Unknown |
| Opheem | Indian | ££££ | Unknown |
| Riverine Rabbit | Modern Cuisine | ££ | Unknown |
| Tropea | Italian | ££ | Unknown |
How Folium stacks up against the competition.
Folium is a small, pared-back room run by just two people, so large group bookings are unlikely to be straightforward. It suits parties of two or four far better than bigger tables. If you're planning a group celebration at the ££££ price point, Adam's has a more conventional setup that may handle larger numbers more comfortably.
The interior is minimal and comfortable rather than formal, and the two-person team creates a relaxed but focused atmosphere. There's no evidence of a strict dress code, but given the ££££ price point and tasting menu format, dressing neatly is a reasonable call. Think considered casual rather than black-tie.
Adam's is the most direct comparison at a similar price point and offers a more traditionally structured fine dining room. Opheem is worth considering if you want a tasting menu with a strong South Asian-influenced identity. Simpsons is a longer-established option in Edgbaston if you want Michelin pedigree with a slightly broader menu format.
Folium runs tasting menus in long and short versions, with cooking that is heavily seafood-forward and ingredients-led. Ben Tesh works solo in an open kitchen, so the experience is intimate and personal rather than slick or high-staffed. Come in the expectation of a chef-driven meal, not a conventional à la carte evening.
With a small room, a two-person team, and Michelin Plate recognition since at least 2024, Folium fills up. Booking several weeks ahead is the sensible approach, particularly for weekend sittings. Don't leave it to the week before and expect availability at a time that suits you.
Folium is a tasting menu restaurant with a minimal, stripped-back room rather than a bar-dining setup, so casual counter or bar seating is not a feature of the format here. If you want a drop-in or more informal option in the Jewellery Quarter, this is not the right venue for that. Folium rewards advance planning and a committed sit-down dinner.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.