Abduls Café and Diner in Hall Green, on the edge of the Balti Triangle is in fact a rein(curry)carnation of the much loved Saleems until recently operating on the Ladypool Road. It’s certainly a throwback with its basic décor, cold display cabinet and even the old skool metal water jugs for those who haven’t taken advantage of the BYO facility.

Free dips were enough sliced onions to make a grown man cry in a chilli sauce … simple but effective. This was accompanied by paid for poppadoms and then microwaved pakora and chicken tikka … reasonable but not exceptional.

My main was a meat ‘balti’ served up in a silver bowl and whilst the meat was flavoursome and tender, the dark (fenugreek infused?) sauce was too oily which was a shame and, in fairness, it didn’t stop me finishing it. My wife’s Korma was served up in a cereal bowl and oversweet and, in her view, lacking in depth whilst containing leg and thigh rather than breast.

The naan bread was decent as would be expected for a restaurant whose culinary roots stretch to, in many people’s opinion, the best katlamas in Brum. Will I return? Certainly to check out the katlamas but not sure about the ‘balti’!

The Great British Food magazine featured a selection of top UK ‘curry’ restaurants and just managed to squeeze in one from Birmingham under a ‘home of balti’ tag. Strangely it was Lasan … now Lasan is a great restaurant deserving of many awards but balti isn’t one of them. If the magazine is to mention the balti connection then surely it should be Shababs or Al Frash in the Balti Triangle.

Yet another example of foodie ‘experts not having a clue about Balti!’

Davood Ghadami

The Strictly Stars waltzed into town and apparently Eastender’s star was desperate to get all the stars together to ‘try a curry in the home of balti’. It’s good to hear we’ve got a reputation with an ‘East End boy’ but let’s hope they went for a ‘proper’ one rather than some ‘posh nosh’.

Anyway, he’s been left a proper ‘Birmingham Balti Company‘ balti bowl as a souvenir even if he doesn’t actually make that balti get together.’

Birmingham 2022

The Beeb Website recently featured ‘Birmingham ..What’s to Love’ in honour of the City’s successful Commonwealth Games bid. In 60 seconds they whistled through everything from Canals to Heavy Metal. They also covered Brum’s foodie connections including Cadbury’s, HP Sauce and Birds Custard. Unfortunately all three are now owned by multi nationals but Balti (as the fourth food featured) saved the day. To paraphrase a current footie chant … ‘Balti … it’s one of the City’s own!’

Incidentally, it was good to see the BBC feature what looks like a ‘proper’ pressed steel balti bowl which the media normally get horribly wrong when depicting the City’s favourite dish..

It was good to see Balti acknowledged in the well respected Harden’s UK Restaurant Guide for 2018. (See Birmingham Mail article). Al Frash makes a prestigous appearance flying the flag for the Balti Triangle. Harden’s Guide has been around for almost 30 years and its ratings are based on diner surveys rather than the pomposity of a few foodie ‘expert’ reviewers.

My only slight grouse is that in featuring the excellent Lasan, the accompanying comment is ‘a cut above the normal Brummie Indian Restaurants.’ Perhaps, they need to be a bit cleverer because one would think that they are cocking a culinary snook at the plethora of Bangladeshi, rather than Indian, restaurants … many of whom will have a loyal following.

PS. If you pop into Al Frash, try their Baltis cooked in organic coconut oil … definitely worth the extra quid or so.

Castle Bromwich is not exactly the Balti Triangle but like a lot of the City’s suburbs boasts some great (and usually unsung) suburban curry houses. Step forward, the Lime Pickle apparently voted the best take away in the UK. Not sure about their rules on home delivery  though!

Incidentally, mine’s a Tetul Mix starter followed by Korai Maharajah with a Garlic and Cheese Naan … and don’t forget the poppadoms and dips.

According to the news today (via the Independent), a landlord, based in Kent, has been taken to court for trying to ban tenants from Pakistan and similar regions because of the ‘curry smell’. He claims that the local community all agree with him but let’s hope that’s not a reflection on Kent.

Either way, it’s over the top to say the least. My  aunt’s house usually smells of boiled cabbage (which makes the hottest curry smell like Chanel No. 5) so maybe she should be made homeless as well.

Fergus Wilson

Incidentally, a picture of the landlord bears a startling resemblance to Victor Meldew…say no more!