Balti Map

One Response to Diwan

1. 

   Andy Munro 30th October 2009 at 4:18 pm #

   On a fairly undistinguished stretch of the Moseley Road, Diwan announces itself as a ‘Balti Specialist’ – unfortunately this service is not available on the NHS.

   Parking is onstreet and easy in the evening and even though for a Monday the restaurant was encouragingly busy the service was still attentive with a special glass produced for my BYO beer.

   Dips were a bit watery but my starter took things up a definite notch. My Diwan Kebab was described as fried minced lamb mixed with fresh green chillies, coriander and mixed herbs and spices. It came as a wafer thin slice – reminiscent of a 1980s style steak sandwich filling … but it was delicious. My partner’s chicken pakora was chalky white chunks in a succulent batter which tasted of … er batter. A bit of extra spice would have helped.

   Interestingly the menu advertised Balti Combos but my choice was a Balti Chicken Tikka Bhuna and it was very tasty if a little tomatoey. Served up in true balti style, a giveaway was that one of the handles had fallen off the balti bowl due to being cooked over a high flame. However my partner’s Balti Chicken Makhani was described as ‘too sweet’ and this was from somebody who has a minimum of two sugars in her coffee. It again had a high reading on the tomatometer. The accompanying Diwan Naan was described as being ‘with fruit’ and was an excellent consistency if a bit barren in terms of the fruit.

   Overall a fairly decent effort without being in the earth moving category.

   ANDY MUNRO

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