From street food to fine dining, Birmingham’s food and drink scene is booming. Labelled “world class” by the editor of the Michelin Guide, the city now has four Michelin-starred restaurants (that’s four more than Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds, and more than any city in England except London).
It’s also home to the balti, an invention dreamed up by Pakistani immigrants in the 1960s. The dish has become so popular with curry lovers that there’s now a legal bid to give the Birmingham balti the same protected regional status as the Cornish pasty or the Melton Mowbray pork pie.
On top of that, the city’s street food is hard to beat. Digbeth Dining Club (launched three years ago and crowned the Best Event in the UK at the British Street Food Awards) is home to a rotating roster of traders every Friday night beneath the arches of Digbeth’s viaduct.
So whether you’re looking for something instant or something indulgent, here’s a selection of some of the best options the city has to offer.
For a special occasion ...
Each of the four Michelin-starred restaurants – Simpsons, Purnell’s, Adam’s and Turners – has its own unique style and affordable midweek or lunchtime menus, while Carters of Moseley, serving inventive dishes in an unfussy neighbourhood setting, has been tipped to give Birmingham its fifth Michelin star. It’s already the Good Food Guide’s Readers’ Restaurant of the Year for the UK.
For a romantic date ...
There’s Fumo, a smart bar and kitchen serving cichetti – the Venetian version of tapas – or Marco Pierre White’s restaurant and Champagne bar with stunning views from the 25th floor of The Cube on Wharfside Street. More clandestine, perhaps, is the effortlessly romantic Anderson’s Bar and Grill, an atmospheric basement restaurant tucked off St Paul’s Square.
For a curry ...
Lasan in the Jewellery Quarter has featured in The Sunday Times’ Top 100 UK Restaurants list and been named the UK’s Best Local Restaurant on Gordon Ramsay’s F Word, while chef Aktar Islam has won the BBC’s Great British Menu. Try the refreshing Mahi Machli followed by the rich Elaichi Beef.
For something a little different ...
Digbeth’s Polish restaurant, The Karczma, is draped in sheepskins like a hunting lodge in the Tatra mountains. Try a hearty rye soup in a hollowed-out loaf of bread followed by a shot of vodka with a pickled cucumber.
For a cheap eat ...
Brum Yum Yum is the biggest street food market outside London, bringing more than 20 traders to Kings Heath on the second Saturday of the month. This is a family-friendly affair, with live music on the village green and a Routemaster bus serving beer.
