Sometimes you just want a lamb kebab, simple as that. There’s plenty out there on our streets, the kebab shop next door to the Chicken hut, they’ll grill you a lamb seekh past the point of well done then some more. So what makes this Arabian grill restaurant different? The kebabs of course, lightly spiced and lacking the garish red colouring that most kebabs shops in Brum insist upon. You can actually taste the meat. What’s more they grill on charcoal and they know how to cook so the meat is still juicy. A couple of lamb kofte, big portion of rice, salad and Lebanese flatbread £6.50, simple.

Abu Zayd
412 Coventry Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B10 0UF

Someone who’s culinary opinion I respected very much recently declared Miss Korea the best restaurant in Birmingham. Well I don’t know about that, it could well be the best Korean in town, but with a choice of two real Korean restaurants the competition isn’t exactly stiff!

Korean bbq has been around for a few years as an option in a few of the new wave of Chinese restaurants such as BBQ village. But it was only a year ago that Brum got its first wholly Korean restaurant in the form of Miss Korea. Located a couple of doors down from Min Min Noodle Bar, the sleek blackness of the interior and the cooking equipment embedded in the tables leaves you in no doubt that this place means business, Asian business. The charcoal burners can be quite intimidating for newbies. Hell they’re still a little intimidating to me. I’m still never sure which way to flick the switch or turn the flange as the signs are all in Korean. But before you get to all that grilled stuff there is the wonderful array of Banchan, Korean appetisers, to explore. Kimchi, which is slowly taking over the world, comes in cabbage and cucumber forms here and are essential to start off your meal. Also the water spinach, but not so much the seaweed as it’s a bit tough and oddly flavoured and I’m usually all over seaweed like seaweed is all over beaches.

To kick off the meal proper the kimchi fried rice with pork is a winner, a slightly greasy mound of fried shortgrain rice studded with pork accompanied by a seriously snotty fried egg that mixed together makes a wonderfully moreish dish. Or try the various Bibimbap, the most famous Korean rice dish, a hearty melange of fresh ingredients atop plain rice served in a searing hot stone bowl. Asian comfort food at its best, both particularly good when slightly drunk. As is cooking your own meat on the blazing hot charcoal heated hotplate. Thinly sliced marinated beef ribs (galbi) or beef and pork strips (bulgogi) are probably the best options. Quickly seared then wrapped in lettuce with a little ssamjang (sweet Korean chilli sauce) it hits plenty of gastronomic pleasure spots. However, the unmarinated beef ribeye steak would be heavenly if it looked like the nicely marbled piece shown on their menu but the real life offering is clearly sub par and not fit to be grilled in such a way.

Some people are put off by the idea of cooking your own food at a restaurant but I think the whole experience is really rather good fun. Just remember this when your waitress is changing your hotplate regularly because you’re choking the restaurant out with your grilling ineptitude. Don’t worry because you’re in good company, I have at least three changes every meal. It makes them very grumpy indeed. The service can be a little cold which may be a management issue because they also reject requests for tap water. An attitude they should seriously reconsider and the reason why Miss Korea cannot be called the best restaurant in Brum.

Miss Korea
Bromsgrove St, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6AB

Filthy, dirty, dripping – usually adjectives with negative associations to food. That is unless you’re cresting the current Streetfood trend. I won’t bore you with the Streetfood gospel, no doubt you’ve heard all about it, this apparently new way of dining is sweeping the nation. Or at least London. But wait. Birmingham is now on the Streetfood charabanc with the Digbeth Dining Club’s rota of mobile caterers. Late last year among the atmospheric inner-city train arches of Digbeth at the back of the Spotlight bar, there were intrepid Streetfood vendors doing their thing every Friday evening. Burgers, pizzas, stews, wraps, toasties, baps, buns, cakes, burritos, tacos, hotdogs, that is the canon of Streetfood. Some of the offerings are more successful and tasty than others, and some done with more dedication and care than others. Quite frankly there are some vendors who I think are having laugh. If the new Streetfood is about tasty inventive gourmet handmade food at reasonable prices then they fail on every account. But there is one vendor that always delivers on those promises. The prince of Digbeth Dining Club – The Meatshack.

The Meatshack’s burgers are the best in a 100 mile radius. Paul Collis has really studied what makes a good burger. His style of smashed mustard fried patty and semi-steamed bun really makes for a juicy, filthy, dirty but also outrageously tasty burger. The patty is a secret mix of aged local Hereford beef (ask for it pink) and the buns are the finest soft brioche. But he doesn’t stop there, there are wonderful specials that change constantly. His candied bacon variations are awesome but personally I think the black pudding variation his best yet, or maybe it was the special special suckling pig burger (pictured). Now if only I can get fries with that…

The Digbeth Dining Club had a winter break and will be back on the 1st March 2013. I will be there, as always, at the front of The Meatshack’s queue.

Digbeth Dining Club
Spot*light, Unit 2 (opp. Air Nightclub), Lower Trinity Street, Digbeth, B9 4AG

Ahhh Franky Dosa, sounds like a Bollywood film star but is in fact the star of the menu at Lasan Eatery. I hesitate to call this place a curry house as you would automatically think it another Balti type establishment. This is definitely not that, it’s modern and light with a pared back menu from across India. Eatery is the right name for it with casual banquette seating and small open kitchen as you walk in. What curry house can you see your order being skilfully cooked?

Or for that matter in what curry house can you also order a dosa? A South Indian stuffed crêpe made from lightly fermented batter of ground rice and lentils. Served with sambar (a thin flavourful veg curry) and chutney, being southern they’re usually veggie and at Lasan Eatery there’s the standard dosa stuffed with spicy aloo. But there’s also chicken-stuffed and of course the very special mr Franky Dosa stuffed with mutton. They make their dosa crispy here just how I like it. They’re quite large for a starter so I tend to have a few sides of tadka dhal, aloo gobi or matter paneer to make up a whole meal. But then I would missing out on the excellent main curries. A classic Bhuna Gosht tickles the tastebuds every time I order it, sadly my favourite Rajastani Laal Maas didn’t make the recent menu reshuffle. Maybe I should start a petition to bring it back?

Lasan Eatery
1355 Stratford Road (opp. Waitrose), Hall Green, Birmingham B28 9HW

“Where can I get a proper wood-fired pizza?”

“Is there anything decent to eat in the Bull Ring?”

Was I right people of Birmingham? Were these questions vexing you to your very core?

Thought so. Here’s the answer. Rossopomodoro, situated in Birmingham Selfridges food hall. That’s the food hall that doesn’t really sell any food, but can offer you the delights of Krispy Kreme, Pret a Manger and Mr. Ed’s Diner. Yes, that’s our Selfridges food hall people of London, don’t judge us.

Now I wouldn’t pretend Rossopomodoro is perfection. But their pizza is, I think depending on who is shaping the dough and manning the fire, anything from pretty good to excellent. Not a fan of too many toppings on my pizza, I’d go for the Verace – which pimps the mozzarella and adds a slick of decent quality olive oil. Their tomato sauce is pleasingly simple, I think it’s just decent quality, well-seasoned, canned Italian plum tomatoes (which you can buy to take home if you want, better than most supermarket brands). I think they also import their flour, which is a bit mad but they end up with a decent tasting crust so whatever works for them.

However, don’t expect anything great from the starters which I always skip after a singular disaster with some arancini. Pasta is no better than found at regular Italian chain restaurants (i.e. woeful) and I’ve never stuck around to find out if their desserts are any good.

But that doesn’t take anything away from the pizza! If you are shopping in the Bullring and fancy a sustaining pizza, and who doesn’t from time to time, then here’s your answer. It’s surprisingly unbusy as well. In fact, I wonder how well it is doing, so pop along and support it so I can still eat there in future!

Rossopomodoro, Selfridges Food Hall. They also do takeaway. Pizzas around a tenner.

Oh woe is me! My go to place for Yum Cha or to eat Cantonese dim sum Golden Pond closed late last year. I shed a tear, it had been our family favourite for decades. The Golden Pond has turned into Shanghai Blues, a Cantonese Sichuanese hybrid. But the jury is still out on the quality of the dim sum. It certainly isn’t as good as it was before the change. Some of the items at GP, in particular the steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce 豉汁鳳爪 and deep fried squid 炸魷魚鬚, were better than I’ve eaten in good Hong Kong dim sum places. It was cheap too, no matter how much we ate it was impossible to spend more than tenner!

So from the pool of also-rans in the Birmingham dim sum stakes who will now come out on top? At the moment the front runner is Chung Ying Garden the sister restaurant to the more prominent Chung Ying. It edges out Ken Lo next to the Hippodrome. But more careful sampling of the rest of the competition is required before a winner is declared; a revisit to the once atrocious but now apparently excellent China Court may prove decisive.

Chung Ying Garden have special prawn dumplings in the shape of rabbits! Which makes me think that to address the balance they should make rabbit dumplings in the shape of prawns.

Chung Ying Garden
17 Thorp St, Birmingham B5 4AT

I’m not really a breakfast person. All that early morning mastication is hard work if you ask me. Especially if confronted with the full English. On the rare occasion I have one for brekkie, usually getting my money’s worth in a B&B, I’m guaranteed to be in a drowsy stupor by midday. That’s not to say I don’t like them, I love them! I mean what’s not to like? But more usually I’ll cook myself a full English as the main meal of the day. That way I can be sure that everything I like is on the plate.

When I feel the need to have one cooked for me there’s only one place guaranteed to get it right, Becketts Farm Shop & Restaurant. Which handily is next to where I work. This place has been here for years and I’m sure it used to be a farm but any pretense that it sells local farm produce disappeared long ago. But blimey their breakfast is legendary. Every component is good quality. My favourite is actually the Irish breakfast with Clonakilty black and white pudding, soda farl and fried potato. Other options are available. Check them out next time you’re heading in or out of Brum on that road.

Becketts Breakfasts are served Monday to Saturday 7.30am-5pm and Sunday 8.30am-11.30am

“Is there anywhere to eat between Walsall and Birmingham?”, a Twitter-er (tweeter?) asked t’other day. “Why yes, the Black Country Museum for fish and chips!” I responded, instantly. “Seriously?” came the response.

Yes! Seriously. I’ve been banging on about the fish and chips at the Black Country Museum for at least five years now, and still people think I’m joking. I’m not! To my mind they easily do the best fish and chips in the West Midlands, whilst laying a strong claim to the best fish and chips in the UK (and by extension the known Universe).

As with all great food experiences, it transcends what on the plate, or in this case in the cone. Ideally you will visit BCLM on a bright, sunny day which is slightly too cold to be completely comfortable. The bitter cold will sharpen the appetite and prime the stomach for its incoming raft of vinegar-soaked fats and carbs. The museum – which is indisputedly the best of the living museums – will have already given you a taste of the appalling conditions of the working class as they mined, chain-made and forged their way through a tough, tough life. The thoughts of such privation will serve to make your first bite of the dripping-fried, perfectly crisp, never greasy batter feel even more luxurious. The flakes of cod (always cod) are soft, thick and not overcooked. The chips have a good heft of dripping about them. Absolute perfection.

A few practical points: The museum isn’t particularly cheap to get into at around £12, although worth every penny. This is offset by the fact that you can use your receipt for free entry for the forthcoming year. Think of it as membership to an exclusive fish and chip club. The queues for Hobbs & Son, which was a real fish and chip shop before being moved to the museum from Hall Street, Dudley – brick-by-brick and painstakingly rebuilt and refurbished will probably be long at a weekend and busy periods, although I’ve never had to wait more than 30 minutes. Bear in mind in busy periods they sometimes run both fish and chip shops and sometimes one shop will be serving fish and chips for non-meat eaters, do not on any circumstances get tricked into eating these!!

I’ll leave it to your conscience to decide if you should get a pickled egg.