Birmingham restaurant recommendations?

[changeling86]

What's your favourite restaurant in Birmingham? We're going to be staying in the centre for a couple of nights this week.

Anyone have any idea?

Or the best curry you've had in Birmingham!

What sort of thing are you after, and is price a consideration? Do you want to stay in the centre to eat?

If you like Middle-Eastern food try Damascena- there are several locations across the city!

We love all foods, willing to spend about £150.

Indian might be a good shout!

1. Varanasi- for fancy food, amazing decor and great service
2. Dishoom - indian/English fusion, more laid back, love their decor and waiting staff are best ever

Lasan if you want upmarket Indian. Or Mowgli if you want something a bit different (if there's not one near you). Or Dishoom.
Indico, Indian Streatery or Asha’s also for Indian streetfood.

Fiesta del Asado (not quite in the centre, but an easy Uber) if you're big steak eaters.

Land is supposed to be really good for posh veggie food.

We went to Opheem a couple of weeks ago and it was absolutely incredible - but only in budget to do lunch I'm afraid

Or The Wilderness for an amazing fine dining experience. The best food I've ever had.

I second damescena for middle eastern food.
Medicine looks delicious and has a couple of branches for brunch.
If you want real curry, get yourself a taxi to the ladypool road.
Gas st social is great for more casual food.

@changeling86

We love all foods, willing to spend about £150.

Indian might be a good shout!

Can I recommend going to Moseley? Couple of miles from the centre but if you want Indian street food, Zindiya is wonderful. They also have an amazing Peruvian place called Chakana which is worth a go, especially if you’ve never had Peruvian. Le Petit Bois is a small but lovely French place, or La Plancha does great tapas.

I think all these places are independent too which is a bonus!

If you want a traditional balti I second Blueuggboots you need to get to ladypool road - al fraish is really nice but there are loads!

Agree with PP about Mowgli, also the location is great for shopping, train station etc.

Oooh yes - Zindiya! We had afternoon tea there, was lovely. And the peruvian place has been recommended to us too. Thanks for the reminder - I must take a trip there...

Maybe do one evening in Moseley and one in the city centre?

The indian brewery

And Tokyo izakaya , great 2 for 1 cocktails!

Shiraz! Best restaurant I've ever been too. The food is amazing.

shirazbirmingham.has.restaurant

Chakana is great. There’s a recent review in the Guardian.

Opheem probably out of budget, but lovely. Not the best curry in Brum though. For that you want somewhere over in the Balti triangle. Asha’s is where Tom “two Tikka’s” Cruise goes for his.

Harborne Kitchen is incredible, but may be out of budget unless you don’t drink.

The Edgbaston Hotel does a great afternoon tea. I’ve heard good things about The Grand.

Tierra Tacos in the Jewellery Quarter is a big fave of ours, as is Tiger Bites Pig.

Dishoom is lovely, but it’s a chain. Check out Independent Birmingham or I Choose Birmingham for the local recommendations.

Is Shiraz open?! I thought it'd closed down in lockdown, glad to see it hasn't.

If I could time travel back 20 years I'd recommend the Punjab Paradise the Ladypool Road. Went there every Friday for years. Never found a decent replacement.
No use to you but took me back to the years I lived in Moseley.

I remember the Punjab Paradise. Takes me back to nights out with a four pack of Banks's Mild from the offy next door, no cutlery and a naan bread the size of a duvet.

Meanwhile in the twenty first century I'd recommend Damascena for a light lunch rather than an evening meal perhaps - it's very good though. Placemaking for other suggestions.

@bonfireheart

Is Shiraz open?! I thought it'd closed down in lockdown, glad to see it hasn't.

Oh no... I hope not. That's such a shame. I haven't been to Birmingham in a while but it was such a brilliant place. The owners were so lovely too.

@twopenguins it was closed when we drove past a few months ago, but it has lots of recent reviews online so is open :) phew!!

Simpsons is superb, but we did spend a lot more than £150 - we had the wine pairings and the tasting menu, though.

Interestingly, people rave about Gaijin Sushi, but we hated it - we thought our food was almost tasteless.

Trying to revive this thread as need recommendations myself.

There are a lot of "Desi" Indian food pubs and I honestly find the food there better than some upmarket restaurants and better than a lot of Indian restaurants.
My personal favorite is The New Soho Tavern, its probably about a ten minute taxi ride from City Centre, down a side road and doesn't look very fancy but the food is delicious especially the Indian mixed grills. I have family that come from London to visit and we head there and then onto the city centre centre drinks.
They are fairly casual places though so not a fancy experience, I suppose it would be classed as a gastropub.