Penn, Indian Restaurant Guide

“Can’t beat it” – there are “lots of Indian restaurants to choose from” in these parts “but make sure you book this one”: Bangladesh-born chef Sitab Khan’s veteran destination (est. 1982), where “unusual dishes are all prepared to a great standard” and “your tastebuds will not be disappointed”.

This “glitzy post-modern Indian” in the Jewellery Quarter serves “solid accomplished food” in a “stunning dining room”. Now 21 years old, it was an early pioneer of ambitious modern British-Indian cuisine but these days faces “lots of competition” in this field – not least from founding chef Aktar Islam, who left to open Opheem (see also).

“Just wow!” – Aktar Islam’s city-centre HQ reliably “lives up to expectations… and more!”; and remains Brum’s most commented on and highest-rated destination in our annual diners’ poll. “His unique twist on his family’s ancestral dishes with superb matching wine flight provided by sommelier Stefan” (Liperowski) “magnificently takes Indian food to the highest possible level” – “flavours are off the scale” – and “the range and variety of each distinctly different meal is glorious”.

“Excellent Indian food that’s amongst the very best in an area where such restaurants are plentiful” – this outpost of London’s smash-hit chain wins strong ratings, despite the local tradition of brilliant subcontinental cuisine, for its innovative – often “exceptional” – dishes and winning retro style (influenced by the Parsi cafés of 1940s Mumbai). It’s in a big, 330-cover site, overlooking Birmingham Town Hall from the city’s Paradise development.

A rooftop fire in July 2023 briefly shuttered this hugely popular hangout of stars, and offering northwest Indian food that’s packed with taste; it’s now back in business and while “not cheap”, you can expect “a stand-out meal every time with a proper cocktail bar and Bollywood ambience” befitting its owner – nonagenarian singer Asha Bhosle, who was namechecked in Cornershop’s hit ‘Brimful of Asha’.