Food in Birmingham
11 Aug 2019Indian
Indian food in Birmingham is some of the best in the UK - but that’s not to say every Indian restaurant is good, in fact far from it. The selection can be broadly divided into three categories: cheap eats (less than a tenner/head), mid-range (10-30/head) and high end (more than 30/head):
Cheap eats
Convenient for the University is Vaibhavam South Indian, under new management from when it was called Dosa Mania (and also good). Specialising in South Indian cuisine the masala dosa is always a good and cheap option for a filling lunch. If going for dinner, throw in some curries such as the chettinad style dishes. Even closer to the University is Amaa Dosa, rather unpreprocessingly located at the back of the old Costcutter supermarket on the Bristol Road. Service is pretty patchy but the curries are tasty (can also Deliveroo).
Grill pubs can be also be cheap and delicious: my friends recommend The Grove in Handsworth.
Finally if you are catering a meeting you can’t do better than getting a box of mixed samosas from one of the Indian sweet centres around Bearwood and Smethwick: Chandigarh Sweet Centre and Punjabi Sweets and Curry House are great. Just give them a call an hour in advance and they’ll have the best samosas ready for you at a ridiculously cheap price.
Sadly, the restaurants in the Balti Triangle are just not good or reliable enough to warrant a recommendation here.
Medium range
A bit of a hike but worth it for the excellent thalis is Raja Monkey Cafe, out in Hall Green, run by the Lasan group.
A great place if you are having a large gathering, e.g. 10 or more is Tipu Sultan in Moseley not far from the Cricket Ground. The curries and grills are both excellent and you won’t spend a fortune.
Pushkar and Praza by Pushkar are both reliable restaurants (also on Deliveroo) that are convenient for entertaining on the Hagley Road: don’t expect fireworks but solid Indian cooking and good service.
High end
By far the place we go to most these days is Asha’s. It’s a huge restaurant and quite swanky and so you might assume the food isn’t great, but that’s not true. Some of the dishes are truly standout: the lamb biryani is stuffed full of saffron flavour, and we almost always order a whole tandoori lamb leg (tandoori raan).
Lasan used to be the most famous Indian restaurant in restaurant popularised by Aktar Islam - however he has now moved to Opheem and I’ve heard mixed things, but if you want to impress someone with high end Indian “fine dining” this is the place.