Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is hosting a free exhibition which tells the story of the Bangladeshi community’s major contribution to the much loved British Curry. It has some realistic ‘mocked up’ kitchens and dining areas although a trifle disappointingly the wallpaper isn’t of the flock variety. Some fascinating facts includes the statistic that Birmingham has the […]
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Best of the Balti
I’m often asked about my favourite places to go for a Balti in the Balti Triangle so here’s my current favourites and my reasons. I’ve listed them in alphabetical order so as not to upset any sensibilities! AL FRASH, Ladypool Road Al Frash has won a number of awards and favourite customers included the late Sir […]
You say Bolti, I say Balti!
This week, Radio 5 (the Thinking Man’s Talk Radio?) featured a Bolton curry house who were marketing the ‘Bolti’ … supposedly their take on the Best Balti ever. In the interests of the BBC’s worldwide reputation on fairness, they invited a Balti Triangle restaurant to provide the Brummie perspective. Fair play to the Bolton restaurant (the Royal […]
Balti beginnings … A brand new “theory”?
A new restaurant has opened in Kings Heath called the ‘Punjabi Dahaba Grill’ and as I quite like Kings Heath and of course with my personal penchant for ‘Indian’ food, I decided to take away one of their menu leaflets for future reference. There’s vegan soya alternatives … quite apt given the building used to […]
The Curry Guy – Book Review
The Curry Guy: Recreate Over 100 of the Best British Indian Restaurant Recipes at Home (Hardback at Waterstones) – Dan Toombs (author) Dan Toombs tome (now there’s a tongue twister) ‘The Curry Guy’ (@TheCurryGuy) is an excellent insight into BIR (British Indian Restaurant) cuisine. This is a book short on pomposity but long on valuable hints and […]
Rip off curry?
A recent episode of TV’s ‘Rip off Britain‘ highlighted the substitution of other meats for lamb in a comparatively high proportion of UK Curry houses. In fairness, it wasn’t horse, rat or rhinoceros but either beef or mutton. Now if I was a Hindu then beef would be a religious insult so I can understand […]
Chef shortage … but not in the Balti Triangle?
I paid a visit last week to the Shahi Nan Kebab House on the Stratford Road in the Balti Triangle. it’s one of my favourites even though it will never win any interior design awards. Custom is 90% Asian and it’s usually very busy yet I noticed one of the main guys who usually mans […]
It’s hot down under!
Balti and Birmingham were featured this week by prestigious Australian national broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service who were set up to specifically deliver multi cultural and multi lingual broadcasting. One of their team, Carla Grossetti (@carlagrossetti) visited Birmingham to sample the City’s signature dish and suffice to say she left impressed! For the full story …
Not a Frash in the pan!
Al Frash in the Balti Triangle is in my top five for a ‘proper’ balti so on my recent visit, I was interested to see the menu proffered the option of having my balti cooked in organic coconut oil for a £1-50 premium. Usually, this sort of thing is a fleeting fad but I have […]
A Load of Naansense!
The local paper have just run a piece on a ‘Biggest Naan’ completion. Usually these famous ‘table’ naans are usually only possible if the restaurant has a metal tandoor. Now there’s nothing like a spot of naan sharing but here’s my advice. They look great but never have the lovely doughy consistency of a normal […]