After a shameful 30 year absence, I finally made a trip to the Khyber Pass in Alum Rock. The very geographical description might conjure up a bleak setting but the welcome at the restaurant allayed any of those fears. The warm wooden decor was how I remember this cosy restaurant and it’s just been given some polishing to know ill effect.

So to the food …. Poppadoms were warm and crispy and accompanied by three dips including mango, tamarind and mint and all were creamy without the watering down that has become common in some restaurants. The starters were an excellently spiced Chicken Tikka which was chunks of chicken breast, red but not in an artificial fluorescent sense. We also had a duo of Meat Samosas which were superb old skool style and not the pretentious cocktail variety that seems to proliferate these days.

The main event was a coconutty and creamy Balti Chicken Korma whilst I pushed the boat out  with a Balti Tropical with Mushroom. Brimful and served up in the traditional sizzling black balti pan, it was excellently spiced without being in the flame thrower category. The lamb was the highlight as the chunks just dissolved on the palate. All mopped up with a fresh and doughy naan.

Definitely worth the trip across Brum Incidentally it’s a BYO and after six there is decent parking on and off the street.

It’s amazing what you can pick up at a car boot sale and perhaps it is fitting that the Madhur Jaffrey’s vintage ‘Balti Serving Set’ was unearthed at one such event recently!  Containing some shiny silver serving dishes it sadly is a complete misrepresentation of the real thing. Am I imaging it but does Madhur’s facial expression display more than a smidgen of embarrassment?

ITV’s ‘This Morning’ featured another episode of Nisha’s ‘curry tour of Great Britain’. Now Nisha Katona is undoubtedly a talented chef but in my brief contribution I made the point that balti was a method of cooking and that a true balti had to be served up in the flat bottomed pressed steel pan (the balti), in which it was cooked…. with all the well researched health and taste benefits which that style of cooking brings. . This point was reinforced by the team at the excellent Royal Watan where she saw one being cooked.   So, it was very disappointing to see Nisha prepare a studio version in a normal pan and serve up in a shiny bowl…sacrilege to the Brummie Balti afficianado who knows his onions!’ So Nisha joins James Martin and a host of other celebrity chefs (Dan Toombs excepted) who don’t seem to know their Balti from a Biryani!