A recent tweet from the Mail covered a comparison of the merits of various balti sauces. The reporter was of an age where she probably didn’t even realise what a proper balti was(!) … maybe the Evening Mail editor needs to organise an evening out for his young reporters and we can set up a demo as well as a meal. That way, we can be certain that Birmingham’s very own newspaper can properly champion Birmingham’s very own signature dish.
There has only ever been one play featuring Brum’s favourite dish and one of the co-writers, Sudha Bhuchar, is doing a solo show at the MAC on 28th September … an event not to be missed!’
https://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/sudha-bhuchar-evening-conversations
Following an article in the Guardian about the reduction in number of Baltihouses in the Balti Triangle, media interest has been massive … Channel 5, BBC, ITV, BBC Radio WM, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio 4 and an international news agency but tellingly no interest from the local newspapers (Post and Mail).
No wonder their readership nos are declining sharply!
Once a really grand place on the Stratford Road … double frontage, cooking in full view, unusual tandoori cod starter and an excellent balti chicken mix.
Once home to the Grand Tandoori!
I recently blogged about an innovative beer brought out by Crumbs Brewery made from discarded naans.
Pleased to hear that they scooped a silver at the London Beer Awards. Let’s hope, it will be available at Brum offies soon … to wash down that Balti!
Food on offer included an excellent parsnip and coconut curry. As I tucked into mine I got chatting to a woman probably in her thirties who seemed fairly well read/ clued in and lived locally.
To my dismay as we discussed food, she hadn’t a clue what an authentic Balti was. Needless to say she does now and has promised to give Shababs a whirl.
All part of the Balti Awareness programme!!
I recently got hold of a lager beer from Crumbs Brewery. Uniquely it’s made with surplus wonky naan breads so sounded like an ideal brew to wash down a Balti.
So it proved as it was beautifully smooth and flavoursome and yes the flavour of the naan came subtly through … probably more Peshwari than Garlic!
Yet another example of an Indian chef not knowing a balti from a banana.
In this case the you tubing chef was a Gurdip Loyal launching his book “Mother Tongue’ and cooking a supposed Balti Chola. Predictably it was a standard chick pea curry bunged into a couple of shiny bowls. When will they ever learn! …
Looking back, here are my top ten Balti houses in the Balti Triangle of which seven are now sadly long gone. Those still going are asterisked:
1. Royal Naim, Stratford Road,
2. Punjab Paradise, Ladypool Road,
3. Shababs, Ladypool Road*
4. Shahi Nan, Stratford Road*,
5. Sher Khan, Stratford Road,
6. Grand Tandoori, Stratford Road,
7. Popular Balti, Ladypool Road*,
8. Hajii Baba, Stratford Road,
9. Adils, Stoney Lane,
10. I Am The King, Ladypool Road.
With the apparent return of Basil Fawlty, I thought a reprise of a review of the black country’s BaltiTowers from my twenty year plus Essential Street Balti Guide might be appropriate …
‘On my visit, Basil must have been on holiday as the restaurant had a calm laid-back atmosphere. No free dips but one was served on a plate with my Chicken Shashlik. My partner’s excellent Mushroom Bhaji had been freshly cooked not microwaved.
Baltis were served up in shiny bowls but we were told that they had been cooked in them and my Balti Chicken was full of large breast pieces in a dryish but tasty sauce. The Lamb Balti was equally tender and fresh naans mopped everything up. Perhaps the only disappointment was a lack of Basil Fawlty memorabilia which might have given a touch of authenticity whilst stopping short of the manager hitting the waiters over the head with the balti bowls!
One wonders if things are still the same …