Visited the Masalla Merchant for the first time in a while last night, and had a really nice meal…read more I'd say this place is probably the best of the numerous Indian restaurants in the area - the buckle in the Stirchley curry belt. I arrived a little earlier than my fellow diners and sat on a comfy sofa by the entrance, clutching my bottles of beer. This is a bring your own booze restaurant (which really keeps the bill down). I recommend getting drinks from the excellent Stirchley Wines, which is just a short trot up the Pershore Road, and is full of excellent and unusual beers, wines and spirits. However, if you're feeling lazy there is a standard off license virtually next to the restaurant. Once my fellow guests arrived we were seated at a large table in one corner of the restaurant and served the traditional poppadoms and dips. The menus are crammed with loads of traditional dishes, plus a 'contemporary' section. If anything the menu is too big, and we all took a while to navigate it. After ordering, the food did take quite a while to arrive, perhaps because the restaurant had become much more busy. Our food all arrived at once, in a flurry of naan and sizzling hot dishes. I ordered a hot lamb dish (something, something Naga) from the contemporary dishes section, with a peshwari naan and fried rice. The curry was delicious, with chunks of really tender lamb in a hot but really flavourful sauce. The naan was light and sweet, filled with almond and drizzled in honey. Perfect combo. Two of our group went for vegetarian dishes, including the paneer cheese parcels, which looked great and, I'm told, were really tasty. Overall, I rate this place. Service can be a little slow but the food is really tasty and the prices are reasonable. Our bill was accompanied by white chocolate mice and gummy bears to sweeten the deal (although at £77 for 6 of us it was already pretty palatable). Retro sweet win.

Masalla Merchant is a place where we tend to go on work meals. I have been here couple of time and…read morealthough it's not mind blowing, they do a decent curry with a massive choice on their menu. It is more a Bengali restaurant so you will find dishes you may not be familiar with, but menu consists of many dishes from the whole Indian subcontinent. It's a bring your own restaurant which has certainly brought down the price per person when I have been in large group and split the bill. For my starter, I had the fried Fish which was soggy with oil, which I didn't enjoy so much. My main dish was a tamarind prawn dish which was very rich in sauce and taste, There is a vast section on the menu which has the curry houses speciality dishes, which come with pilau rice which made it very good value. Masalla Merchant is a nice restaurant in Stirchley which is very popular with the locals, and has been busy on both of my visits and worth a visit for sure.

This restaurant is a huge and beautifully decorated Indian restaurant serving kashmiri style food…read morewhich was really tasty, much better than typical Indian takeaways. They have a huge menu ranging from curries and sizzlers to vegetarian dishes, various biryani, tandoori dishes and Indian desserts like Kulfi. Portions are massive so just a main would be more than enough, and prices are very cheap for the amount of food you get. The service was excellent, we came on Christmas Eve so it was very quiet but it's usually a very busy lively place. Overall good quality cheap Indian food, very generous portions and great atmosphere, good for parties too.

The best curry in Brum. I hesitate before saying that it's the best curry in the UK, as I would…read morelike to feed my face some more before making such a blanket statement, but it's certainly knocked the London competition out of the water as far as I can see. Goodness though, where do I start with the curry. Firstly, here is not where you come if you like your eyebrows singed and little pain the next day. No, the curries here are made with roasted spices, cooked for absolutely ages until the chefs can be sure there'll be an absolute taste riot in your mouth. Each dish is totally different too. Some of the standouts are the lamb on the bone, the keema, the daal of the day, masala fish (sizzling and huge portion, equal to a whole fish!). The service here can be a bit hit and miss, although when it's spot on, it really is awesome to watch. There are usually about ten waiters on at any one time (it's a big place), running laps around the restaurant with huge trays filled with goodies. It can sometimes be hard to catch their eye for a corkscrew, or to order, and you can wait a while for food. However I might add here that this hasn't happened the last twice I've been. They must be sharpening their game. The atmosphere is raucous (huge groups of people make the pilgramage most nights) and loud (but not in a binge drinking hen night sense, moreso the enjoyable family way). It's BYO - you'll be given some queer glasses to drink from that'll make you think you're drunk before you start. The decor is modern curry house chic. Glass tables and pleather chairs all over the place. There's a curious waiting area with zebra print sofas and a huge telly always showing sky sports. Who knows why. Who cares, eat your dinner!

Another Indian Sweet Centre and Restaurant on Soho Road in Handsworth. And another top Restaurant…read morein my view. Plenty of sweets and dishes to choose from so again you cannot complain. There are also meat dishes here at Doaba so no doubt that will please meat eaters. I have tried chicken tikka masala at this restaurant and it was splendid. The chicken was fantastic and the spiciness of the dish was just right. I am going to come back here without question and I recommend people come here as well. There are also vegetarian dishes as well so there is something for everyone. The sweets were perfect as well. Both the coconut and chocolate barfis were excellent along with the Gulab Jamuns. Staff here are very friendly and the service is second to none.

I've been going to the Doaba since we lived in Handsworth in the late 1970's. The food, service and…read morehospitality is always a pleasure. Excellent and very reasonably priced chicken curry, chapatis and barfi have always been spot on for me. I always look forward to visiting there when i'm in Brum, and my wife loves it when I bring some barfi and ras malai back down south, a real blast from the past for her Keep up the good work !

As always Best curry fantastic staff affordable prices and super service good job guysread more

Akram's is a Birmingham institution. They've been at the same location on in Stirchley for as long…read moreas I can remember. Akram's is a "family run restaurant offering only the best in traditional Kashmiri cuisine." They have an extensive menu to chose from so everyone should find something to eat. There were about 10 of us at the table so we kind of broke off in to factions. The 5 at my end of the table decided to share a large naan. This wasn't as big as the legendary Birmingham table naans but as you can see it was still huge. Fresh flatbread stuffed with flavoursome spiced lamb mince. I could probably have eaten that on my own with a bit of sauce to dip it in. My friends around me started picking their mains while I was still making up my mind. I remembered what I'd been told by a friend of mine - "You can always recreate the sauced dishes at home but how many of us have a tandoor in our house?" With that, I chose the Akram's Tandoori Speciality, or Mixed Grill. It took a little longer for mine to come to the table than it did for the others but it was absolutely worth the wait. The plate was sizzling hot when it was put down in front of me. Not only was it hot, but it was also very spicy. I loved it. There was sheek kebab, tikka lamb and chicken and tandoori lamb chops and chicken. This was all sat on top of onions and peppers which soaked in the juices from the meat above it. I would not hesitate to order this again. Next time though, I'd make sure that there was some bread left by the time the dish got to the table!

Khanum is an Indian restaurant in the centre of Selly Oak that also delivers. They serve the usual…read morearray of bhunas, kormas and tikkas, and whenever I've eaten in there the food has been high quality. Service is surprisingly prompt and the staff are friendly, though not so friendly it gets in the way of the quick service. The prices are at the cheaper end of the curry house price range, starting at about 5.50/6 pounds for a main course and about 1.50/2 pound for side dishes. There are higher quality curry houses in Birmingham, but these will undoubtedly tax your wallet a lot harder than Khanum, there are also cheaper curry houses but with with lower quality food. The one criticism I have is that the restaurant is a little cramped, but apart from this Khanum is a restaurant I would recommend to curry fans.

Can't go wrong with a tarka dall, and Khanum more than delivers. Service quick, food was hot and…read moretasty, and the vegetarian in me was very satisfied. Not too oily - which a dall often can be, so that was a good sign. My other half had a chicken biryani, and whilst the veg curry that comes with it was a bit bland, the meat was apparently tender and delicious and there was lots of it there. A biryani is always our way of testing curry houses that ar new to us, and this one passed with flying colours. Winning all round!

Tasty mithais and Indian sweets on offer here. If you are looking for a variety of Indian sweets…read moreand snacks, look no further than Sangam. And because this is a restaurant, you can eat in. This is a vegetarian restaurant so sorry to disappoint you meat-eaters. But then again there are plenty of restaurants in Birmingham where you can eat meat. Its not the biggest of restaurants but Sangam is a place where you can take your family. This place does have a nice family feel to it and the food is value for money. Quality of food is excellent, the service is very good and the staff are very friendly. That is exactly how a restaurant should be. I would also give top marks for cleanliness and hygiene. The Gulab Jamuns are exquisite and so are the barfis. I'm coming back here just for the Gulab Jamuns.

Birmingham has no shortage of sweet centres, but there are comparatively few that only offer…read morevegetarian food. For some Asian communities, they have strict dietary restrictions so would only eat at "pure vegetarian" sweet shops, which basically means they don't use eggs or animal fats in their food. Sangam Vegetarian follows these dietary requirements but doesn't compromise on the taste of food. They have delicious paneer pakoras (Indian cheese),, bhajiya (mixed parkora) and the traditional Punjabi dish, sholay patoorey (chick pea curry with a fried naan) is scrumptious! The price is about average for the local area and considering their food is freshly prepared on site, it's definitely value for money. It's a take-away shop with many Indian sweets to choose from. You could even have a sample taste of some sweets before you choose to purchase, which not all sweet shops offer! The service is as good as the food!

Absolutely delicious food! We were warmly greeted and had excellent service here…read more There is a large menu on the table so can seem overwhelming but you only need to look for your favorite protein or vegetable and then select the style of dish. We had lamb tikka and complementary poppadoms with chutney to start. Meat was tender and mildly flavorful. For the mains we enjoyed the Hairy Biker chicken special which was super smoky delicious. The okra / ladyfingers Balti style was full of flavor on top pilau rice. The garlic naan was a generous portion but if you have a large group go for the table naan. Gigantic! Prices were reasonable, under £30 for all this food. Enough for 2-3 people. Casual setting and quick service.

friendly staff and excellent food. We were a group of 9 walk in customers and the restaurant…read moreaccommodated us with ease. We'll worth giving this place a go, you won't be disappointe. we will definitely be back!

The Dilshad has been my go to place for either dining in or using their takeaway service for over…read more40+years. Obviously others have been tried but if the Dilshad ticks all the boxes stay with your tried and tested.

Very nice interior. The food is tasty and authentic. People there are friendly and welcoming. There…read moreare vegan and vegetarian options available. Prices are very reasonable and welcome students with all budgets. Try Indian nan if you go there.