Paprika is a little out of place on the off-license heavy Raddlebarn Road, but this only serves to work in its favour as opposed to being on the student dominated Bristol Road 'strip'. After hearing many recommendations from friends and finally indulging my own curiosity after walking past it so many times, myself and a group of friends visited just last night. Clearly the restaurant is popular with those in the Selly Oak/Bournville area as there was no room other than outside to seat us, but as it had been a glorious (sunburnt) day, I think most of us were glad of cooling off in the evening air.
It was a bit of a shame as it looked really lovely inside, with lots of atmospheric lighting and a view of the kitchen, but whaddya gonna do about it? It's not their fault that their so popular. Our host was terrific - on the walk home my group of friends surmised that the key to being a good waiter or host, and earning a decent tip is to be friendly and chatty but to most importantly not be too intrusive; something our guy had down to a tee. He quickly brought out some naan bread with two bowls of dipping houmous and tzatziki, which was delicious and urged us to try the red wine. We gave in and bought a bottle and it was a nice and smooth and went particularly well with our main courses.
Unfortunately as we'd rolled in at about 9.30pm, a few things were off the menu, including all the vegetarian dishes: Our host promised to knock something up for our veggie friend, which manifested itself as a nice spread of grilled vegetables (aubergines, peppers, mushrooms) and plenty of dips and sauces that more than satisfied our vegetable loving pal. Three of the group, including myself, went with the pricier, but varied spread known as the 'Meat Feast'. This included really delicious lamb and chicken skewers (I think the lamb just edged out the chicken as the better meat), salad with more tzatziki and chips and naans on the side. A tangy hot sauce to share was provided, and we were all very impressed with the food and the service.
Two bottles of red later, or bill roughly equated to about £14-£17 a head, which seemed perfectly reasonable to us thrifty students. Without wine and trimmings it could have easily been under a tenner a head. After spending the evening umming and ahhing over going to the chip shop or getting pizza, which no one was particularly excited over, it was a real welcome break from the usual eateries around our area. Our host thanked us warmly for our custom and we promised we'd be back: I'm very sure we will. read more