Asian Grill, Sutton Coldfield (27th March 2010)

Overall Score: 6.560
Cost: £20-£25

NOT RECOMMENDED

The second curry evening for the club members was locally in Sutton Coldfield. Following a few drinks in town and meeting up with two of Lee's friends we wandered to the Asian Grill.

PICKLES
A limited choice of pickles, only four to choose from was a slight disappointment to the curry club members. This was reflected in the scores given, a top score of 5 given.

STARTERS
Tony decided on a new starter, Chuza Pakora, which he thought was very tasty and awarded a very sound 8; Simon decided on his usual Prawn Puri and was disappointed with the lack of a salad garnish, not traditional in the Midlands apparently. Traditional or not, Simon scored it a 6, lacked a bit of spice as well which affected the score. Lee decided on the Vegetable Puri and was pleased with the spices and taste and awarded a 7.

MAIN MEALS
All members decided that as we were in Balti country we should all have our own choice of the famous dish. Tony went for the Chefs Special Balti which he thoroughly enjoyed, awarding it an 8.5. Simon went for the Chicken Balti and again enjoyed it, awarding an 8. Lee decided to have a Vegetable Balti Madras with Paneer, not the usual Vindaloo as the spices in Brum are a lot hotter than down south in the Home Counties. Lee awarded an 8.5. An overall impression of the main meals was that they were good, not exceptional, portion size very generous.

DESERTS
A poor choice for deserts so we all passed on those, decided to finish off our beer and move back into the town centre for more beers.

In summary, although the food was at an acceptable level we were disappointed with the style of service; the waiter we had was a little bit too overpowering and did not make us feel that comfortable, also had to wait for the starters. Value for money was OK but this is not one we would be returning back too, after all there are so many more to try in the Balti Triangle.

91 Park Road
Sutton Coldfield
B73 6BT
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Telephone: 0121 354 7491

Al Faisals, Birmingham (26th March 2010)

Overall Score: 9.250
Cost: £15-20

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For many months now Lee has been going on about the curries of Birmingham & saying how great they were, so we decided to travel up there to find out.

PICKLES
A varied choice of pickles suited everyone’s tastes, refilled by the waiter without even asking, this went down very well with the boys nearly as much as the stack of popadoms which was given free.

STARTERS
With Tony's palate ever changing he decided on this occasion to venture for the Paneer Pakora, very rarely seen in the restaurants further south, his decision was justified with the perfect 10 given, with Lee deciding on the Paneer Tikka, commenting that his choice was one of the best he had chosen, so when a score of 9 was given there was no shock what so ever. Simon decided to score another 10 for his Vegetable Pakora we then knew that the food that we were about to have would be absolutely great.

MAIN MEALS
Moving swiftly on to the main meals, Tony now getting a little braver and wanting to put some heat into his meals it was no surprise when he asked the waiter if he could have some chillies with his Chicken Korai, topped off with mixed vegetables. Tony awarded a maximum for his main course. High scores were to follow from both Simon & Lee, Simon giving a 9.5 for his Chicken Bhuna, using the term absolutely gorgeous for this meal; Lee not to be outdone also scoring a 9.5 for his unusual choice of vegetable madras with extra Paneer instead of his usual Vindaloo, explaining that the madras was the equal to a Vindaloo here.

DESERTS
With only Simon having desert on this occasion & going for his much loved Gulab Jamon it was not surprising that once again another perfect 10 was recorded for this restaurant that was absolutely outstanding.

With this restaurant being rather large & an open space you would think that you might feel a little uncomfortable, this is definitely not the case, this is a great place to visit knowing that the food & the service is top class.

NOTE- Alcohol is not sold here on the premises but can be taken in with you.

136-140 Stoney Lane
Birmingham
West Midlands
B12 8AQ
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Telephone:- 0121 449 5695

The Maharajah, Sandy (19th March 2010)

Overall Score: 6.801
Cost: £20-£25

RECOMMENDED

This newly opened restaurant in Sandy was a definite must for the curry club. The Maharajah only opened five days before our visit, is a modern restaurant with lots of open space and allows you to feel very relaxed.

PICKLES

The Pickles will have to improve quite radically with just three choices, consisting of Mango Chutney, Red Onion and Yoghurt & Cucumber, very poor selection to say the least. Subsequently a low score of four was given.

STARTERS

Moving onto the starters, after waiting half an hour, these were worth the wait. All three starters recorded high scores. Lee having chosen Paneer Shashlik scored a nine, Simon the Prawn Puri which scored a respectable eight while Tony chose the Pongila Delight which was well worth the second nine.

MAIN MEALS

Moving swiftly on to the main meals, once again for a restaurant that had just opened we were in for a pleasant surprise. Lee chose his beloved Vegetable Vindaloo which scored a good eight. Simon and Tony in two different minds as what to choose, and at one stage were both going for the Chicken Madras. Eventually, Tony went for the Chicken Byriani while Simon stayed with the Madras, both dishes were given an eight.

An overall opinion of this restaurant was that the food was very good; however teething problems were in evidence. Service was a little slow; however the waiters did all they could to appease the diners and were very courteous. This restaurant will be well worth a return visit in another four to five months when the teething problems with service are ironed out.

22 Market Square
Sandy
Bedfordshire

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