Birmingham Restaurant Guide

“No need to go to London restaurants that so often disappoint!” – Adam & Natasha Stoke’s “beautiful restaurant with a lovely bar and intimate dining area is in a central location that has parking outside”. Its food score remains the highest in Brum (by a very narrow whisker from Purnells) with practically all feedback describing “fine dining at its best” – “no over the top scientific nonsense”, just “food that continues to be innovative, beautifully prepared and presented” and service that’s “professional, never pompous and which knows how to connect without intruding”. “Enjoying the tasting menu downstairs at the chef’s table is a great experience.”

The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

“There aren’t many restaurants where I will queue for nearly two hours to get a table but it’s worth the wait!” – This “madly popular” Mumbai-inspired chain “has taken London by storm” and is now the capital’s most mentioned chain. Even if the heady days of its Covent Garden debut are long gone, criticisms that it’s “too popular for its own good” are most notable by their absence; and instead its “a firm favourite” for its massive army of fans who feel “it never fails to impress”. The “buzzy, Indian, faux-retro vibe” (“I felt transported to the Parsi eating houses of Bombay in the 1960s”) helps set up a “crazy, frenetic atmosphere”; and even if the “noise levels are pretty bad”, “somehow it all comes together”. It helps that service is “always punctual and friendly” (respect: it’s such a busy chain), and the tapas-y food – though no longer as bleeding edge as it once seemed – still feels “vibrant”, with a selection of dishes that’s “far from run-of-the-mill” (“recommended by all our Indian friends!”), plus “an exceptional list of drinks”. Breakfast here is unexpectedly “a true thing of beauty” too: “so different” in a brilliant way. “You can book during the day, but not at night” – “the wait is tedious, but the buzzer system works well” and cocktails at the bar help blur time. In mid 2019, the chain acquired the former Jamie’s Italian site next to its original WC2 branch in order to expand its footprint. Top Tips – “black dahl is still the best” and “the bacon naan is the greatest restaurant breakfast dish of all time!”.

This city-centre venue with a focus on delicious kebabs and other dishes from the subcontinent’s Northwest Frontier is part of an international empire set up by Asha Bhosle, the prolific Bollywood singer, which also has branches in Manchester and Solihull. Now 86, Bhosle is credited as the most recorded artist in music history, and insists she would have been a cook if her singing career had not taken off. Fun fact: Cornershop’s 1997 hit single Brimful of Asha was a tribute to Bhosle.

D&D London are expanding to Brum with this rooftop, 24th-floor restaurant at the top of the new skyscraper on the site of the old NatWest building near the cathedral; the opening has been pushed back from Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022.

“Latino steak restaurant in the heart of Birmingham city centre” – this well-appointed new branch of the expanding Brazilian chain offers its trademark “generous meat and buffet” formula. It’s tipped by one or two reporters as “good for business meals”.

The very first outpost of the glam Italian chain (est 1992), with “super stylish décor (albeit quite retro), slick service, an extensive menu and a relaxed atmosphere. The food doesn’t always live up to expectations”, but it can, at times, be “excellent”.

“I guess the place to be seen 2018-19” – this famous brasserie chain hit Brum in April 2018, and feedback on it divides along familiar lines between those who see it as “always a pleasant experience whatever the time of day” to those who find the food “disappointing” or “OK but nothing special”.

“Aktar Islam (ex-Lasan) is doing a fabulous job in his new venue” – a “super-stylishy”, 70-cover venture that’s immediately hailed as “Birmingham’s best Indian”, with “dedicated” staff delivering an “equisite” and “exciting” modern twist on Indian cuisine. “It’s is a little off the beaten track from the city-centre but well worth seeking out”. In October 2019, Michelin – unusually for a regional Indian – awarded it a star.

“Arresting” design is a big feature of Adam and Drew Jones’s stunning-looking Chinese-themed yearling: the city’s biggest basement bar and restaurant situated in the recently reopened Grand hotel (built in 1879, and refurbished after over a decade’s closure). Too few reports for a rating as yet: its menu contains a “theatrically presented combination of small bites and larger dishes”. The next stop after this is Edinburgh, opening late 2019.

TV-chef Glynn Purnell’s swish HQ in the business quarter was Birmingham’s most-mentioned restaurant in the survey last year and is often recommended as “Brum’s best” (with ratings on almost exactly level pegging with rivals Adam’s and Opheem). Criticism is most notable by its absence, with nothing but rapturous reviews for his “technically accomplished cuisine, with well-executed creative dishes” and “interested, attentive and well-paced service”.

“Healthy ramen bowls” and “the best karaage fried chicken in town” are the secrets behind the rapid growth of the cramped Japanese pitstops, of which there are now 10 in London – the most recent openings, in Shoreditch and Peckham, having followed a £5million investment in 2019. They provide “a meal that could fill you up for a day”, with “excellent service from a really friendly team who go the extra mile”.

This “upmarket Indian in the Jewellery quarter” has pioneered a fine-dining approach as an alternative to the classic UK curry house for almost two decades. Ratings continue to impress under founder Jabbar Khan following the 2018 departure of high-profile chef-director Aktar Islam (see Opheem).

You choose between five-course and seven-course tasting menus at Ben Tesh and Lucy Hanlon’s 28-seat pop-up turned permanent in the Jewellery Quarter, which opened in November 2017. “It must be close to a Michelin star” say fans, who feel the food is “outstanding” and the whole enterprise “beautifully run”. Portion size and wine matches were two areas where one or two reporters felt it fell short, but most reports are full-on raves.

With its black-painted walls and punchy sound track, Alex Claridge’s decidedly rock ‘n’ roll Jewellery Quarter four-year-old has courted attention over the years with ants on the menu (and this year a social media campaign involving fake guns). There’s serious intent in the open kitchen here, though – “something quite unique happens, with a tasting menu that blows you away” and “beautifully crafted” drinks to go with it; “more restaurants should aim for an ’80s soundtrack too!”

“Totally worth the trip… and also great value for money” – this “magnificent” Edwardian villa of over a quarter century’s standing is one of Birmingham’s most firmly rooted culinary attractions. One or two sceptics feel that “it is still recovering from its decision to adopt a more casual-dining look” (“I would have expected proper table linen for the very high prices”), but there’s been no change in the scale of ambition of the cuisine – be it from the three-course menu for £75, or eight-course taster menu for £95 – and overall it maintains its ratings as one of the city’s top dining destinations.