Potatoes On Pizza? Only at Rudy’s!
Sage potatoes, wild boar, honey… broccoli? Rudy’s is not your typical Italian pizzeria. This little spot on Bennetts Hill is a hidden gem which knocks it out of the park, and here’s why.
The end of the month can mean many things in the world of work. Deadlines, meetings, results and reports but for team Siren, we are fortunate to be able to add a little tradition to that rather corporate list… Team lunch! As our team packed away the laptops and popped airpods back into their cases, our collective consciousness settled on one thing… Pizza. But not just any pizza; we had our minds set on one restaurant in particular, Rudy’s!
With our stomachs rumbling and our fingers crossed, hoping that we were in for some good grub, we took our seats and took in the sights, smells and sounds as our food filled the table.
What’s On For Lunch?
The pizzas at Rudy’s were nothing like the heavy, doughy, topping-laden Friday night takeaways we might have been expecting. These were large for sure, but light, thin, bursting with flavour and despite the size, did not leave us so full as to require a power nap when we returned to our desks.
On the menu, is a fungi-filled ‘Portobello’, a spicy but flavourful Cinghiale made with wild boar salami and Rudy’s fan favourite ‘Porchetta’ which you might have guessed come topped with lashings of roasted ham, white onions, rosemary oil and – to ensure that we got enough carbohydrates to last us until the middle of next week – sage roast potatoes! Now, like our team, this curious pizza topping may cause you to involuntarily raise your eyebrows but we’re here to confirm that this potato-on-pizza combination is a stroke of genius and would be the pizza we recommend for anyone looking to visit Rudy’s for the first time.
With miles of thinly stretched, perfectly cooked dough to chomp on, our team opted to skip sides (trust us, you won’t need them when the pizza is this good) and instead filled the table with Rudy’s trio of dips, which were all delightful. There was a classic garlic aioli, a beautifully balanced sweet and spicy ‘nduja aioli (something which this writer liked very much) and a chilli honey. Drinks were what you’d expect from any city restaurant and so the usual beers, wines, soft drinks and a cocktail or two were all on the menu. The only thing which did catch my eye was homemade lemonade which I’m sure is delicious but at £4 a glass, we settled for a round of cokes instead.
The place itself is just a couple of minutes from two of Birmingham’s busiest train stations (Snow Hill and Grand Central) and more importantly – but also more dangerously – it is just two minutes away from our current office on Newhall Street.
The Vibe
The decor is stripped back, functional but charming. Exposed steel, raw brickwork, rough plasterboard and warm lighting are certainly a vibe which helps Rudy’s feel casual and unassuming. They’ve done away with the ceiling altogether and instead painted all of the ventilation ducts, cables and pipes matt black. It should come across as lazy or pretentious but it is neither. Rudy’s is fantastically chill and homely with its stylistic choices and concise but excellently delivered menu. Its staff are also friendly, knowledgeable, professional and always on hand to offer their recommendations.
As one of our group has an allergy we were impressed to see the level of care which was taken to ensure that no cross-contamination occurred and an iPad was even given to one of our party so that they could see a detailed breakdown of all of the food, ingredients and processes. The pizza oven (which is in full sight of the restaurant for excitable dinner-time entertainment) heats up to 400 degrees – or so the menus told us – and yet to ensure the cross contamination was avoided, it was emptied of all pizza and pizza-making implements were set aside so that our team member’s Calabrese could cook away from other foods, which it did in just 60 seconds!
Our Two Cents
With food which is so affordable (almost every pizza on the menu is around £11) Rudy’s genuinely impressed us and as we walked uphill towards our office, we certainly felt full but nobody needed a reviving triple espresso to get them back into ‘work mode’, which we’ll take as a win.
Following our last restaurant review for the then-new Shokupan in Grand Central, we neglected to give that food stop an official Siren rating, which is quite possibly for the best (you can read all about that here). As for Rudy’s, we’d give this a well-deserved 4 out of 5 for food, decor and pricing. If we’re not back as a team, we’ll almost certainly be back on our own.
Rudy’s… You hit the spot!
