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Punjab Paradise |
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377 Ladypool Rd
B12 8LA
Birmingham
Phone: 0121 449 4110
Authentic Balti: Yes
Credit Cards Accepted: Yes License: BYO Want to rate this restaurant or write your own review? At the bottom of the page select a star rating or click the "write review" button and send us your thoughts!
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| Date added: 2009-10-27 12:49:06 Hits: 406 |
Mandy S
by Mandy Shaw
on May 28, 2010
I love the Punjab Paradise. The people are lovely, the food is good often and the atmosphere is good.
Be prepared to put up with a slightly slower service and I do find sometimes the food can vary. On the whole though, I love it!
Butter Chicken is lovely, so is the amazing sizzler starter. Nan bread is wonderful!
Be prepared to put up with a slightly slower service and I do find sometimes the food can vary. On the whole though, I love it!
Butter Chicken is lovely, so is the amazing sizzler starter. Nan bread is wonderful!
My Benchmark Balti
by Tom Baker
on April 2, 2010
I'm on a quest to find the perfect Balti (find out more at http://perfectbalti.wordpress.com), and Punjab Paradise was where I went for my benchmark Balti...
A huge responsibility was on the shoulders of the chefs and staff in Punjab Paradise last night, not that they knew it as the cheery doorman (doorman?! amazing.) bounded up to us when we approached the door, and the slightly grumpy waiter barked us a welcome. I was looking at this place to provide the benchmark for my quest for the perfect Balti. It needed to give me something to compare all other Balti's to.
The restaurant is actually lovely, the double height lobby with surrounding first floor gallery is very grand, we were ushered to our seats right away, and fresh popadoms were on our table before I'd even sat down, seriously. I ordered a vegetable Balti and a plain naan (as per rule #3 of my quest), and it was about 7 minutes until it was out of the kitchen and on our table. This was fast food.
The Balti - Now this is what I was here for, an authentic Balti. It looked OK, honest, nothing fancy. Identifiable chunks of vegetable in a thick red-brown sauce with a garnish of fresh coriander, served in its traditional Balti bowl of course. It tasted good too, very flavourful but no single flavour shouting above another, a well balanced dish. The freshness of the tomato sauce hits the tastebuds first followed quickly by the depth of the spices - paprika's definitely in there, cumin & coriander too, a well rounded garam masala mix for sure, and perfectly salted. There's no discernible fresh chilli in the dish, but there's definitely chilli in there, it hits you last and warms the back of your throat. This is perfect for me, I like heat, but not when it stops you tasting the other flavours. The token garnish of fresh coriander is not quite enough to balance the depth of the spices, I would have liked more. Carrying the sauce are a range of vegetables - carrots, peas, cauliflower, green pepper, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, and thin strips of aubergine (the star of the show!). Overall, a well balanced and pleasing Balti, a good honest square meal. Razi the Balti chef should be proud.
The naan - A big dissappointment. It was too thin and slightly over-done in the tandoor, making it more crispy than fluffy, and it had the giveaway alkali soda flavour of a bread made in a hurry with self raising flour. I asked the waiter to confirm this - he consulted the tandoor chef, and I was right. On the plus side it's large for a 'small' naan, and brushed with a good amount of ghee.
Overall though this was a good start. The Balti was great, the restaurant was lovely, the waiter cheered up when I told him about 'The Quest'. It's quick though isn't it? We arrived at 7.20pm and by 7.55pm we were scraping our bowls clean with the last scraps on naan. It felt a little too quick, but maybe that's half the point...
A huge responsibility was on the shoulders of the chefs and staff in Punjab Paradise last night, not that they knew it as the cheery doorman (doorman?! amazing.) bounded up to us when we approached the door, and the slightly grumpy waiter barked us a welcome. I was looking at this place to provide the benchmark for my quest for the perfect Balti. It needed to give me something to compare all other Balti's to.
The restaurant is actually lovely, the double height lobby with surrounding first floor gallery is very grand, we were ushered to our seats right away, and fresh popadoms were on our table before I'd even sat down, seriously. I ordered a vegetable Balti and a plain naan (as per rule #3 of my quest), and it was about 7 minutes until it was out of the kitchen and on our table. This was fast food.
The Balti - Now this is what I was here for, an authentic Balti. It looked OK, honest, nothing fancy. Identifiable chunks of vegetable in a thick red-brown sauce with a garnish of fresh coriander, served in its traditional Balti bowl of course. It tasted good too, very flavourful but no single flavour shouting above another, a well balanced dish. The freshness of the tomato sauce hits the tastebuds first followed quickly by the depth of the spices - paprika's definitely in there, cumin & coriander too, a well rounded garam masala mix for sure, and perfectly salted. There's no discernible fresh chilli in the dish, but there's definitely chilli in there, it hits you last and warms the back of your throat. This is perfect for me, I like heat, but not when it stops you tasting the other flavours. The token garnish of fresh coriander is not quite enough to balance the depth of the spices, I would have liked more. Carrying the sauce are a range of vegetables - carrots, peas, cauliflower, green pepper, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, and thin strips of aubergine (the star of the show!). Overall, a well balanced and pleasing Balti, a good honest square meal. Razi the Balti chef should be proud.
The naan - A big dissappointment. It was too thin and slightly over-done in the tandoor, making it more crispy than fluffy, and it had the giveaway alkali soda flavour of a bread made in a hurry with self raising flour. I asked the waiter to confirm this - he consulted the tandoor chef, and I was right. On the plus side it's large for a 'small' naan, and brushed with a good amount of ghee.
Overall though this was a good start. The Balti was great, the restaurant was lovely, the waiter cheered up when I told him about 'The Quest'. It's quick though isn't it? We arrived at 7.20pm and by 7.55pm we were scraping our bowls clean with the last scraps on naan. It felt a little too quick, but maybe that's half the point...
A SIZZLING EXPERIENCE!
by Andy
on October 30, 2009
The Punjab Paradise has been, like many baltihouses, family run for many years – a family renowned for its balti banter and customer care – originally the legendary Mohammed Shabaz and now his brother Tanveer at the helm, a Liberal councillor who not surprisingly also has the gift of the gab.
With its exotic outside palms, a gold clock that any rapper would be proud to own and a balcony for diners who are upwardly mobile, it’s definitely one for the balti bourgeoisie.
Some tasty dips and a round of poppadums were soon followed by the house speciality, the ‘Sizzler Mix.’ Literally a conversation stopper, the sizzle can drown out a conversation and is a spicy mix of tikkas, kebabs, pakora, onion rings and chicken wings. Mind you there was never any danger of me being too full to order the Balti Chicken Desi – a spicy home style dish with a drier presentation. My partner’s Balti Chicken and Mushroom was tuned slightly more to the western palate with the Punjab’s distinctive coriander laden sauce. This was all mopped up with a coriander naan. (Allegedly the Pakistani Viagra). If you’ve time it’s worth trying your hand at a haandi – another home style dish slow cooked in a clay pot.
There was no room for a sweet but a very enjoyable meal nonetheless…. and a word of advice by the way. The old fashioned kettle in the gentlemans’ toilet is not for brewing tea!
ANDY MUNRO
With its exotic outside palms, a gold clock that any rapper would be proud to own and a balcony for diners who are upwardly mobile, it’s definitely one for the balti bourgeoisie.
Some tasty dips and a round of poppadums were soon followed by the house speciality, the ‘Sizzler Mix.’ Literally a conversation stopper, the sizzle can drown out a conversation and is a spicy mix of tikkas, kebabs, pakora, onion rings and chicken wings. Mind you there was never any danger of me being too full to order the Balti Chicken Desi – a spicy home style dish with a drier presentation. My partner’s Balti Chicken and Mushroom was tuned slightly more to the western palate with the Punjab’s distinctive coriander laden sauce. This was all mopped up with a coriander naan. (Allegedly the Pakistani Viagra). If you’ve time it’s worth trying your hand at a haandi – another home style dish slow cooked in a clay pot.
There was no room for a sweet but a very enjoyable meal nonetheless…. and a word of advice by the way. The old fashioned kettle in the gentlemans’ toilet is not for brewing tea!
ANDY MUNRO
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