Kray Treadwell to swap tasting menus for small plates
Chef Kray Treadwell has said he will stop serving tasting menus at his Birmingham restaurant 670 Grams due to their "stuffy connotations".
Instead, the Michelin Guide's 2021 Young Chef of the Year will serve small plates, such as flatbreads with crab and fermented crispy chilli and garlic butter; pineapple and char sui with meat; and vegetarian dishes such as BBQ courgette, harissa and ash.
The tasting style ‘In and Out' menu will be available until the end of this year and will be replaced by the small plates offering from January 2024.
It comes after the chef said the restaurant "came to life" after he started a more casual Sunday roast menu, which inspired him to introduce a more informal menu on a permanent basis.
Treadwell said: "My wife, Sacha asked me when I was most happy cooking, and I knew the answer straight away. It was when I was in Cornwall just after I left the Man Behind The Curtain, just making amazing food, without the constraints of the typical tasting menu. Sacha said, ‘That's why you're unhappy, you're not in love with what you're cooking anymore.' Then something clicked."
He added, "We're focusing on the food we love to cook, that people love to eat. I'm genuinely excited about this new direction for 670 Grams and we're really looking forward to 2024."
In January this year, Treadwell said he had dropped plans to extend and refurbish the restaurant, which first opened in August 2020 with the aim of offering fine dining at accessible prices.
The chef has appeared on Great British Menu and was formerly head chef at Michael O'Hare's Michelin-starred the Man Behind the Curtain, which is also due to relaunch as fish-focused, surf shack-style restaurant Psycho Sandbar.
