Rocking up at about 9pm last night, me a couple of friends were feeling a bit spontaneous so…read moredecided to visit the Cottage. It's not like me at all to go to somewhere I have not been recommended or heard about. But it was one of those rare times everything went so well. When you visit The Cottage your first impression would be "What sort of place is this? It's tiny and has no table cloths!" But the three of us had a really good feeling that the food would be spectacular and was! The restaurant it's self is very intimate and resembled being in a small cottage some place. One where you are allowed to bring your own drink.. When we sat down, the only waiter working that night was brutally honest and told us that a few of the other waiters were ill and apologised if service was slow. But we really did not notice as this one guy was zipping from table to table to kitchen without any delay! Now The Cottage is a bit different as it is a Bangladeshi restaurant. It of course has all the Indian favourites but also many authentic Bangladeshi dishes from the region. The Cottage really prides itself on having "exclusive to the Cottage" dishes and they were not lying on closer inspection of the menu. The three of us were starving so we went with starters and main course. I went for Lamb Pakora (which I had never seen before), Shami Kebab and Garlic Mushroom Pakora. What struck us immediately was how huge the portions were! There were 4 pieces of Pakora on each plate and two huge kebabs! My Lamb pakora consisted of massive chunks of Lamb fried in batter which was tender and filling. For the mains, we went for two "Sylheti" dishes. This is named after the region in Bangladesh and in this instance refers to the special masala sauce used in these dishes with an array of herbs and spices. We ordered a Sylheti Lamb Balti, Sylheti Methi and the vegetarian Pas-Puron. When the food arrives, I could not get over how huge the baltis the dishes were served in and how full they were! I was ASTOUNDED! Not that I was complaining of course as they smelt amazing. The Syletis dishes were amazing and my friend declared it was the best balti he had every had in Stirchley by far. They were so rich in sauce and flavour with the Chicken and Lamb were cooked to perfection. Really nothing like I had never eaten before. The Pas-Puron was a quite a dry dish which was filled with an array of vegetables. We stayed for a good three hours until they chucked us out, but it did give us an opportunity to have a nice chat with the waiter and the Manager names Al who was struck me as a very conscientious man who's customers happiness in the food they received to be paramount. If you do visit, be sure to try and grab a word with him. Me and my friends has such a warm and friendly experience at The Cottage, and imagine my delight was I was told they deliver to my area, despite me living miles away!

Really good value…read more Used their takeaway services only Prices are really reasonable and you can often get a good discount using Just Eat to order. You can get a curry for around £6 and its nice to get a special or chef recommends for under a tenner. Would recommend for Friday night in Fast delivery

I had a take out Chicken Biryani from this eatery last night and I enjoyed it a lot. A large group…read moreof friends and I were going to go for a curry but decided on staying in to watch a film instead with a take out. The Biryani had a very good rice base, the rice was not to dry or too moist, it was just right. There were no weird additions to it, for example raisins. This was a great relief to me I must say. The vegetable sauce that always accompanies a Biryani was also very good, I could taste the cardamom and cumin and coriander. A right nice bunch of C's. I will come back here for a larger meal after trying just one of their dishes. I prefer to do this because I like to know what I am getting myself into A curry must for most.

A colleague recommended we go here tonight, she said the food is nice and the portions are big so…read moreit didnt take much discussion for us all to agree :-). On arrival the car park was small but I was able to get my car in a space. On entering the venue we were met by a very friendly waiter who showed us to our table. I must say at 8pm on a Thursday evening it was busy. We had our own wine 'Pinot Grigio' and nibbled on poppadoms dips mango chutney and onion as we browsed over the extensive menu. I orderd a chicken balti for the simple reason - I am not adventerous and my friends both ordered 2 separate balti dishes and we shared a pilau rice, plain nann and garlic nann. The food came timely, hot and served with a smile. My friend wasnt wrong, the Balti's are huge!! :-) The waiter continually replaced our jug of water with fresh water and ice as we drank it. After much laughter, gossiping and merriment we had no room for pud so braved the snow to drive home. The decor is sparse, but what they lack in decor is made up for in hospitality and tasty food. Good prices too so defo worth a try. Quite a few folks were in getting take aways too :-)

Me and three friends went to Bengal Chaa last Thursday and it was a cosy and no nonsense affair. On…read moreentering the restaurant I was a tad overwhelmed at how bright the lighting and colour of the walls was! It didn't let me feel as relaxed as I could have been.. The inside was a bit on the small side and couldn't fit many people. Luckily it wasn't too busy on my visit. So for this reason I would advice making a booking on a Friday or Saturday night. Onto the food. The menu was huge!! Usually I am pretty prompt in my selection in a restaurant but not today! As any good Indian restaurant they had all the classics. But what I was surprised about was the list of signature dishes and chefs recommendations. If you have a chance to visit, you will know what I mean! There was also much more options involving Fish more than your usual restaurant. With it being a Bengali restaurant and the area of Bengal having a rich fishing heritage, it made sense. I started off with a classic mixed grill. The Chicken was flavorsome and Shish Kebab was tender which just melted in the month. For my main course, I opted for Keema rice and the Lamb Bhuna. The size of my meal and my friends meals were huge! I honestly could have eaten the Keema rice on it's own and I would have been happy. The rice was brilliant at is contained lots of other vegetables proportionally. One of my friends decided to count the pieces of chicken in her dish, and it came to a really generous amount. i have been to many Indians where this area have been compromised. Not here! I must add that I was the only person out of my party of four to finish. Not because I am massive fatty but just because i love food and hate wasting it! I would chose to come to an authentic Indian like this any day. And the Bengali twist made it much more appealing and interesting. The price of the meal was very cheap and it was bring your own alcohol!

On recently staying in the area I've ordered from Bengal Chaa three times now, collecting in person…read moreeach time. All things being well and there being no problems with the order they are as nice as pie. However on my third visit there was a problem with the order, and things quickly took a turn for the worse. I ordered a curry and found it tasted more like a balti than a curry. So I returned promptly to the (empty) restaurant and told them this tasted like a balti. I then exprienced the dark underbelly of Bengal Chaa. They refused to refund me, insisting a balti without onions is a curry, then saying I had eaten some, then saying I should return the complementary poppadums too, then called the police as I refused to leave. I quite wanted to talk to police about this terrible customer service. Police couldn't get a refund and I refused their offer of a replacement dish as they'd wasted my time so I went somewhere else to eat. So Bengal Chaa never refund customers for problem orders, avoid

We came here for a set meal for 2 and we were in for a real treat…read more The set meal for 2 contains: Papadoms with chutney dips. Sheek Kebab and Onion Bhajee Chicken Tikka Masala Meat Jalfrezi Sag Aloo Peas Pilau Rice Nan Barfi Kulfi and Coffee. I like set meals at indecisisive times, and this was a feat fit for a king. I admittedly had this delivered because the car was broken and I couldn't drive down. It came hot and fresh and it was simply delicious. All of it. Every last piece!

Birmingham is well known for it's curry house culture and Akaash is as good an example of that…read more Situated miles away from the famous "curry triangle", Akaash is a smartly presented Indian restaurant that also does takeaway, with the kind of food that will delight all but the most fussy curry enthusiast (some even say it's the best curry they've had in Birmingham, but perhaps that's too big a subject to debate here). It seems to be able to tick all the boxes with good service, cheap prices, generous portions and keen, polite service. It seems fair to say it's one of the best curry houses this side of Birmingham.The only possible criticsim I can think of is that there's no parking spaces, so drivers may want to think about taking a taxi to avoid any unneccesary stress. Ignore at your peril, or only if you've tried Indian food previously and have decided that it absolutely isn't for you.

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!

So good! As a person who loves Indian food this is a great restaurant. More casual and trendy but…read morestill serves authentic Indian. The lunch special was great. I was able to get a curry and a drink for $12. My only complaint is I wish the sampler offered more of the meats. My partner and I had to share a shrimp and a piece of salmon. I believe it should be at least two of each item on the sampler. I would definitely recommend going here and I will be back to try more things from the menu.

There was a lot to like about this place. First and foremost was the food. I am a huge fan of…read moreIndian cuisine and the menu choices were precisely to my liking. I wanted to eat something not as heavy as I might normally try at a place like this so I opted for the Chickpea Curry, which came with rice. It was very good and the roti I ordered to accompany it made a nice complement. The location was rather convenient for me as it was between the New St. Station and my hotel. It was easy to find and the seating capacity was fairly plentiful. I was seated right away when I walked in despite the fact that it was relatively busy. I also appreciated their hours as they are open until 10 PM on weekdays and later on weekends. That allowed me to walk in at about 9:15 on a Saturday and not feel rushed to finish my meal. The service was decent. I did not have to wait too long before my server attended to me. My food came out in a reasonable time once my order was placed. The prices were also fairly good for a city centre location. My final cost for everything was just over £17, which was about $22 with the conversion rate at the time. This was a decent deal considering the quality of the fare. The one thing I did not personally like was the excessively loud atmosphere. This was definitely a place for 20-somethings, which meant music at an excessive volume. Unfortunately, this was not to my taste. Add to that a dining room full of people trying to talk over that music and you have an atmosphere that could be surmised to be the antithesis of relaxing. But it all depends on what you are looking for, I suppose. And to be fair, it was not the loudest I've experienced, even on this trip. While I would give this place less than favorable marks for atmosphere, the menu choices were quite nice, the food was very good, the service was decent and the prices were reasonable. I think an overall rating of 4 stars was appropriate. And if you like atmospheres such as what I described, then you might consider it a five-star place.

This restaurant is managed by the same people behind Shere Khan's at Star City. Though the ambiance…read morehere is more upscale, the food falls short compared to their sister restaurant. The desserts, in particular, are disappointing--my tiramisu lacked depth and had a gross refrigerator taste. The service is average at best. It takes forever for anyone to take your order, and there is zero follow up throughout the meal. If you're looking for great social media pictures, Tipu Sultan fits the bill. However, for truly fresh food with complex flavors, Shere Khan's is where it's at.

Has to be one of the best in Birmingham parking is a little terrible so we had to park down the…read moreroad. Food is good great service.

This is now called Balti Room and it's great. Take away and delivery only. Great food, good service…read moreand really lovely people. Just Eat and Uber Eats deliver for them.