The great thing about eating at a Chinese restaurant is that, generally speaking, no matter what…read morethe eating idiosyncrasies of the people you are dining with, everyone can find what they want. No pork? No fish? Vegetarian? No problem. Love pork? Love fish? Omnivore? No problem. We really had no idea where we were going when we boarded the taxi at our hotel and headed into Birmingham. I had spent a few minutes on Yelp and the Jewellery Quarter seemed like it had a number of good restaurants. Our cab driver was very friendly and helpful and pointed out several options for where we might eat when we reached our destination. It was getting late and it was damp and cold out, so we figured that Henry's Cantonese - despite its middle-of-the-road Yelp reviews was as good a bet as any. As we entered the restaurant it appeared to be packed. A good sign! It was only after we actually were seated did it become evident that all the people we saw was a single large party, possibly a group of co-workers. No matter. The service at Henry's was very polite and attentive. We ordered some drinks and appetizers and got down to studying the menu, which was very diverse and extensive. After a long day, we were happy to have a chance to sit back and relax a bit, so we waited for our appetizers to arrive before ordering our main dishes. The wait staff was perfectly happy to accommodate our leisurely pace. The Deep Fried Crispy Won Tons (http://bit.ly/XOBwX8) arrived first and they made quite a statement, with a large and almost artistic thin won ton crust deep fried to nearly the consistency of a cracker. Next came the Satay Chicken Skewers (http://bit.ly/XOBvCI) which were bathed in a thick peanut sauce. The chicken was prepared perfectly, tender and juicy. Finally, the Deep Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls arrived which I have to admit were a bit disappointing, both because there were only two spring rolls and because they didn't meet the same standards as the other appetizers. (Pro tip for the wait staff: If there are three at a table and they order an appetizer that comes in twos, maybe mention that to them. Better to have one extra than one too few.) Two of us ordered the Chicken and Sweet Corn soup which was delicious. The third of us ordered the Chicken Won Ton soup and also enjoyed it thoroughly. At the time we ordered our main dishes we were concerned that we had ordered way too much food: Deep Fried Crispy Sichuan Beef (http://bit.ly/XOBbnl) Stir Fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts (http://bit.ly/XOBdLT) Sweet & Sour Tofu (http://bit.ly/XOBcI0) Grilled Honey and Black Pepper Chicken (http://bit.ly/XOB8YG) Vegetable Fried Rice But, by the time we were done, nearly every dish was cleaned out and each was delicious in its own way. My favorite dish was probably the Deep Fried Crispy Sichuan Beef. Why does everything taste so good when it's deep fried? The beef was crispy and tender. How do they do that? The Stir Fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts was served thick with vegetables and was perfect. The Sweet and Sour Tofu was probably the least popular dish at the table. The tofu was a bit soft for my particular taste. Still the majority of the plate was eaten. The Grilled Honey and Black Pepper Chicken, which was ordered off the Chef's Special Recommendations menu was gone in no time. Fantastic. I have to say that the fact that Henry's Cantonese only has a 3-star average on Yelp is perplexing to me. The existing reviews seem to focus on two issues, one being that it is expensive and the second, that some of the dishes are served greasy. Happily that was not our experience at all. The food was across the board 4-star and 5-star quality and not one dish, including the vegetable fried rice, was greasy in anyway. Our total bill for three, including alcohol and tip was £91.70 or about USD $139.30. Now maybe that's a lot for simple take out, but this was not take out. It was a leisurely meal, in a lovely restaurant (including a live piano player) with delicious food and great service. What a pleasure it is to be able to write that last sentence. What a pleasure our entire meal was.

On their TAKE AWAY:…read more I love their containers -- I wish I lived in the UK. If I did, I would rack up all the containers and then reuse them. Their location is not really very ideal. It's sort of awkward because it's the only restaurant right in/near St. Paul's and a little further from the main road where restuarants are in the Jewelry District. I decided to pick up some mapo tofu because i wanted tofu! and i was too lazy to walk too far. So, I ordered some mapo tofu for lunch. It was fine. Not too much to say.... it was a little greasy, I think. But it was fine. Nothing too memorable, nothing horrible. They had someone playing a piano in the evening, so I guess that can be nice..... It's really quiet. Ambience is nice as well.

This restaurant has a very authentic feel with ample seating as you go upstairs…read more The menu has everything you could desire from duck, lamb, beef, pork, to a chef's special seafood menu, with good options if your vegetarian, like me. They have a decent lunch promotion between 12-5pm, on 3 courses for only £9.90, which isn't bad value. I tried the egg fried rice with fried mixed vegetables, whilst my friend had steamed scallops within a black bean type sauce. I liked the food, and didn't have to wait very long for it. In the afternoon, it wasn't too busy and we managed to get some nice seats by the windows overlooking the canals. They had some nice background music playing, which wasn't too overwhelming in the sense that it drowns out your conversation, but pleasing all the same. A take away option is also available if your having friends round! And they also add on an extra 10% service charge, which we didn't mind paying.... However, if you have a Brindley Place Loyalty card, you do get a 10% discount!!

Stumbled upon this place by accident. I'm from the US and was craving Chinese or Vietnamese food so…read moreI was really happy when I saw Tin Tin. I ordered their sweet and sour chicken with fried rice. I devoured the entire thing! Great service, great food!

Probably the only Hong Kong style Chinese restaurant in Birmingham and surroundings. A must is the…read moreHong Kong style milk tea. Payment only in Cash. The food is authentic and the staff friendly. I only list it here because I'm moving away from the area so I don't mind when it gets full.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to review Chung Ying, I could have sworn I'd done it…read morealready! This place has great food, drinks and location...what more can you ask for! At happy hour, you can get the whole food menu for £16, it couldn't be more of a bargain. It also buy one get one free on cocktails as well. If you check in on Yelp and spend just £10, you can get a free cocktail. The cocktails are based on the Chinese zodiac so you can pick the one that matches your year of birth. Even though its not my year, the Horse cocktail is one of my favourites as its based on a Cosmopolitan. The service is good, they'll bring the cocktails to the table so there is no need to hand around at the bar. They do an express lunch throughout the week and you are perfectly able to get in and out in 45 minutes and there's no compromising on the food. There are numerous options you can have - you can create your own or select your own dish. There's options for dim sum or soup and a selection of drinks. Chung Ying is based on Colmore Row so catches the work crowd and is large enough to cater for it. I've been here for a few yelp events and we have been welcomed every single time.

Not tried it yet, but food looks great too:) -Ok so since…read morehaving the amazing zodiac cocktails, I have been back for another amazing Yelp event which involved sampling some of the restaurants amazing dim sum - wow! I can't eat prawns, but nevertheless the rest of the choice were amazing; so light and full of flavour. The staff were again welcoming an friendly and ofcourse keen to hear what we thought. The atmosphere is relaxed and quite calm, which makes a change from some places in the City. I would definitely go back for a full/proper meal. They do an Express lunch too, so worth checking out at lunchtime:)

This was very busy given the Eat Out scheme and while we were safely seated at a corner booth there…read morewere many tables close together so not the best with social distancing. That said we had a delicious meal with a variety of dishes. Big shumai dumplings were full of meat along with the irresistible fried green beans. Lots of flavour! The heat in the spicy noodle soup was perfect along with all the veggies and minced pork. My companion enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken with peanuts and veggies along with rice. A good deal at normal prices for £30 but we got half off with the scheme. Service is nothing special and due to the crowds we had to wait for each dish. Value and taste was worth the visit.

Christmas and Chinese food go well together.....right?? Well I decided for some reason this year…read morethey did and took a trip to Pepper Chef on the border of Birmingham's Arcadian and gay village. All the food I have had here is always pretty spot on. On this festive visit we decided to share a few dishes ordering the pork ramen, chilli chicken, yeung chow fried rice and the chicken wings...a bit of an over eat but it is the time of the year for it. Everything was cooked to perfection but the real star of the show was the yeung chow rice. At some places I have ordered this dish they have made the meat the main element of it with a few lonely grains of rice around the plate, but this was a beautifully cooked plate of rice with plenty of egg and a selection of meat and fish running through it, it was really something..especially with lashings of soy sauce. The staff here are really accommodating asking where you would like to sit and also if you would like your food as it is ready or all together, they are also more than happy to explain the extensive menu if you ask about any of the dishes or want them to make recommendations. There are a lot of places to choose from in this area but I think Pepper Chef is a solid choice if you are looking for a decent Chinese. I'll be back.

I should come up to Brum for Chinese food more often. This stuff gives London's Chinatown a run for…read moreits money! Ken Ho reminds me a lot of the Chinese restaurants my family used to go to when we lived in suburban Ohio. Options were limited, but the places that we frequented (all two or three that I can recall) shared common attributes: big open rooms with lots of tables, table linens, polite and bustling staff, and reliably decent food. This place fit that mould. I do wish I could properly read Chinese characters instead of picking out a recognisable one here and there - I was offered three different menus upon being seated: a tri-fold with English words, one with both English and Chinese and a lot of pretty pictures of dishes, and one entirely written in Chinese that was sadly unintelligible to me. I really want to know if there are secret dishes on the third one that I would have liked to order! Regardless, my beef ho fun was as authentic as I've had in recent recollection, and although the dou miu were tougher than I'd hoped, considering my server reported that they were quite fresh, they were cooked as expected - simply sautéed with some garlic (suan rong). And at first, I thought the prices were pretty comparable to London's until the dishes came out: the portions were massive. I was only able to make it through about a third of each dish before having to give up and box the rest up for takeaway. If you're in the market for some traditional oriental cuisine in a casual setting, you can't go wrong with Ken Ho. If I lived in Brum, I'd be here on the regular, for sure.

Dim summm! I'm told…read morethat Birmingham isn't known for the food, but Ken Ho is a very fun meal. They make all the classics, and they make them well. They have all my favorites, including the Shrimp Rice Noodles, for example, which are exactly the right texture. The Shrimp Hargow are great, and although the wrapper falls apart, they all do, and theirs nice and chewy. The Pork Shumai are dense and savory, and the beef tripe has a nice sauce to it. The Char Siu Bao could use more filling and less bun, but the filling is just fine. There's a Fried Calamari if you're craving it, and they make this interesting Fried Pork Intestine. The outside is very chewy so don't order it if you're not prepared for that. The best part of the meal is the Boba option. They make fantastic teas next door, and this restaurant will bring it right to your table. My friend got the Matcha is rich, and I got the Panda which is basically cookies n' cream. Casual fun at Ken Ho. Really hits a dim sum craving hard, in a good way. Would definitely return for more!

I had spotted a mention of Manchester Seafood in a Birmingham newsletter (I Choose Birmingham) a…read morefew months ago and had bookmarked it as a place to visit when I got a chance. I checked my emails in April and spotted that they were doing a Wowcher deal (2x 3 course meals with a glass of wine for £24), so I snapped it up and made a note to check the diary to see when we had a chance to check it out. We (me and my partner in crime, Dan G) put a date in our diary for a Friday in June and I gave them a ring to book. Speaking to them on the phone was a little confusing... The voucher had stated I had to book, but I was told on the phone not to book as they wouldn't be busy on a Friday at 7pm. Intrigued, we popped down last Friday to check it out and see if they were right. First thing to note is that it's a little hard to find if you're not too familiar with the area around the Arcadian. The venue is located on the opposite side of the road from the Ibis and in the middle of one of the alleyways. From the outside you can see the seafood tanks (with live lobsters, crabs, fish and eels for sale to the public), but they have a sign on the floor stating that the restaurant is inside. Go through the shop and you will come to a small eating area with a few tables and a bar. We were seated right away (they were right - there was only 5 other sets of diners when we went in) and our voucher was duly taken from us. We were asked if we would like to order any drinks (apart from our free glass of wine) and presented with their set course menus to choose from. It's worth noting that the venue provide free WiFi, which is great as it's a signal black hole in there. As I love seafood, we opted for the tofu and pork soup to start and 2 different kinds of crab dish for main. Dessert normally offers ice cream or fruit salad, but on this occasion they only had the fruit. The pork and tofu soup was A OK, but it was just an appetiser. The star of the show came in the form of two huge brown crabs (one fried with chilli and vegetables and one served in a ginger sauce). These were truly epic. You are given a nutcracker to really get into the shells, but you could taste the freshness of the crab. We had a giggle trying to not get too messy (impossible!) whilst we were snapping and cracking different bits to get to the delicious crab meat inside. I preferred the crab with chilli (although there was so many chilli flakes, the vegetables were a bit tough to eat without having streaming eyes and a runny nose). Dinner was finished with a plate of fresh melon coated with sugar (I have no idea why the did this), but we were completely stuffed after the crab. The staff were friendly and attentive throughout (they replaced our side plates which we had put bits of disregarded crab shell about 3 times during the meal) and we didn't feel that we were treated any differently because we had a voucher. The downsides are the decor of the restaurant (it's certainly not posh, but it is clean) and the fruit platter (we figured this would be more than just melon), but the amazingness of the crab easily outweighed these two negatives. If you like your seafood you can pop in and purchase crabs, lobsters and all sorts of sea based deliciousness from the shop. If you can't be bothered to cook these at home, however, a trip to Manchester Seafood's small hidden restaurant is highly recommended. Have the crab!

Fancied a bit of fresh seafood whilst in Manchester back in 2008 and decided to use the "askjeeves"…read moreapp. I asked "Jeeves" for seafood Manchester. I entered the B postcode provided into my satnav naturally thinking it was in Bury. After 53 miles I thought this isn't right but continued on my journey having trusted Jeeves on numerous occasions. I eventually arrived at Manchester Seafood in Birmingham and had a meal that contained chicken testes. Whilst my meal was good, my experience was dampened by Jeeves and on my return to Manchester I decided to take legal action and was rewarded £47.45 in compensation for fuel and offered a free ticket to any odeon cinema in the UK. I often wonder why "Jeeves" was removed from the AskJeeves search engine? Went to see "gran Torino" with my free ticket which stars Clint Eastwood and is also directed by Clint Eastwood.

Okay, Peach Garden used to be my favourite go to Hong Kong Style cafe but I think I have found a…read morenew favourite. Twice in a weekend .... It must be. It is under new management and been renovated, it has been open for a little over a month. It is opposite to the entrance of the Arcadian. The owners previously ran/worked in Peach Garden as did most of the staff. There are Roasted Ducks, Crispy Roast Pork and Soya Chicken hanging in the window looking very tasty. The menu is comprehensive with many traditional dishes including my favourite noodles dish ... Crispy Noodles with shredded meat which is delicious. I also tried Soya Chicken and Roast Duck with Won Ton Noodles in soup which was very tasty. Service is quick and staff are pleasant. Their English isn't great but how is your Cantonese but they give it a good go. Makes me cringe when (English) people order sweet & sour chicken, chicken curry with fried rice or chicken fried rice .... You can get these from your local take away!! Try something different and traditional you never know you might like it but you won't know until you step out of you comfort zone. Prices are reasonable and the Ice lemon tea is very good. If you can find a seat take it and try it!!

Definitely 5 stars The dishes are sooooooooo good…read more Authentic Chinese cuisine. I would recommend the roasted duck rice dish. It is so amazing. My favorite restaurant in town. You should also try the fried noodles with seafood or with roasted duck. The dish is also chinese unique style. OMG! Love this place

I've been coming to Chung Ying Garden for many years, as a family we used to eat here every Sunday…read morebut past few years it has only been few times a year. It is a popular place with the Chinese as they do serve a traditional menu as well as the westernised menu. I came here on Saturday for a wedding reception upstairs, the wedding couple had four tables booked with 11 courses! The car park is pay n display but was full so I parked at the Arcadian. The food was good, and it was the first time they served half lobster each person, normally its stir fry lobster with ginger n Spring onions. The others on my table were new to Chinese banquets so I explained alot to them as they expected 'proper' Chinese like the takeaway lol, they did enjoy it though but maybe not the shark fin soup. My friend said the shark fin filaments were not real. So I hope this was chosen by the couple and not the restaurant! In the other room, after we had finished, was a 18 year old party and another group were on a hen night! So it's a busy evening! Due to its location you can spot famous people like I have spoken to Alf Roberts from home and away and seem John barryman in here!!!

Just average. Went…read morerecently for the first time since I was a kid and felt like the whole place was a little tired. Big selection on the menu so best to go with a big group as I wanted to try more dishes. Food was good and portions large but the prices were higher than I'd expected. In reference to the previous reviews on an early Friday evening there was an almost 50:50 split of east Asian and caucasian diners.

This place was truly a pleasant surprise. I'd heard about a new Chinese restaurant in the JQ but…read morehasn't had chance to check it out. A Saturday night in on my own gave me the perfect opportunity. I couldn't find anything online that would give me an indication of the price, what food they offered or anything except a Twitter feed, and not being one of the 'Twitterati' that was no good to me. A quick stroll down there laid any apprehensions to rest. An extensive menu offering all you'd expect and some very interesting variations, and for takeaway customers you can knock 20% if the price it says on the menu. I was greeted by a very friendly barman who called over one of the serving staff to take my order after I'd had chance to peruse the menu. My order was taken promptly and I decided to have a pint while I waited. Opting for some prawn toast and a mixed seafood chow mein I honestly had no idea about the quality of the food til I got home. Yes, the interior is lovely and well presented. I thought the big screen tv playing a music channel and the lack of Chinese beers on draught was somewhat lacking but each to their own. The food was brought out to me promptly and I really didn't feel out of place sitting at the bar while diners around me enjoyed intimate dinners in the booths. While walking home I was unsure if I'd ordered enough food, but I most certainly had. 4 slices of very good prawn toast with just the right amount of sesame and a veritable mountain of chow mein stuffed to the brim with succulent prawns, squid and scallops. Couple that with a couple of beers and some kung fu movies and, for me, that's a damn good night in! 4 stars at the moment, although I will most definitely be back to dine in. Vittoria bar and restaurant is an incredibly welcome addition to what is becoming a wonderfully diverse selection of dining options in the JQ.

I'm always happy to review places up or down depending on further experience. Last night I ended up…read moreworking late and just needed to sit down en route home and finally eat something after a crazy day. Walking past Vittoria I decided on the fly to popped in to try their evening menu; previously I think I'd only tried their lunch specials. I have to say that the chicken chow mien was the best I'd ever eaten ... anywhere! Really tasty and fresh. I was too tired to bother with the menu (which is huge) so just plucked the choice out of the ether! The ribs were very good too tho' the too sticky and sweet sauce/dressing wasn't my thing. Free prawn crackers, smashing! My orange juice was weak and watery so no 5***** this time. Portion size and presentation was very good ... had enough for a decent doggie bag. So it's good to see a solid improvement over my last experience. I can add Vittoria back onto my local hangout list!