 www.balti-birmingham.co.uk 
Asian Balti Restaurant Association
Recommendation added: 26/02/2007 00:28
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +817)dewberry has been thanked 1 times for this contribution
"Living in Birmingham we're somewhat spoiled for choice when it comes to eating at an Indian restaurant or Balti house, but this can be a bad thing as well as good. The bad aspect is the fact that these establishments will spring up out of nowhere because the owner knows that by situating itself in Brum he's onto a good thing. This has resulted in the Curry Capital of England being overwhelmed with second class restaurants run by people with a tenuous link to India who open within weeks and close just as quickly because the food, quite simply, isn't up to the standards of the established restaurants.
After several instances of food poisoning when I'd tried 'new' restaurants out I decided to stick to the old favourites and rarely venture past those. Sometimes, however, living in a city which boasts such a huge variety of Indian restaurants me and Mark feel the need to try somewhere different – but without the risk of ending up inside one of the less authentic places!
This is where the Asian Balti Restaurant Association comes in. Simply type www.balti-birmingham.co.uk into your browser and you'll have the resources to check the best of the best as far as balti restaurants in Birmingham go. There's no need to register and you'll find details of plenty of balti houses for you to try should you be a Brummie or just passing through.
The home page is a simple affair; with a very brief introduction to what balti actually is and where it originated, along with a mission statement from the Association and links to take you to a list of the various restaurants listed on the site. It's a nice, uncluttered home page which is perfect for the kind of site it is – which is basically a dinner-finding site!
This is really the sort of site you want to use if you're looking for ideas as the restaurant list is by no means comprehensive, and of the hundreds of balti houses in Birmingham there are only around 50 listed on here. If you really have no clue as to where to eat you can browse the featured restaurants and decide from there, but if you try and use the site to look up a restaurant you've heard about then the chances are you won't find it.
I visit www.balti-birmingham.co.uk when we fancy a curry but want to try somewhere different and I've been 100% impressed with the results. Since finding the site a few months ago we've visited seven or eight of the restaurants listed on here and have found the recommendations given to be accurate and honest, in fact I've never been disappointed with a balti house I've eaten in that has been featured on the site.
It so simple to use too. You choose a restaurant by clicking one of the alphabetical links listed on the home page; this will display a list of the names and addresses of balti houses whose names start with this letter, along with a stock photo to identify the place. When you spot somewhere you like the look of simply click on the name to open a new page which will give you a brief review of the restaurant and also the facilities you can expect to find should you decide to visit.
I find the list of facilities for the various balti houses to be invaluable as it will generally tell you if there is parking available (car parking in Birmingham's Balti Belt is notoriously hard to come by), whether or not the restaurant is licensed and if you're allowed to bring your own drinks as well as details of any take away service which is operated. What many people don't realise is that a lot of the balti houses in Brum are unlicensed so unless you take your own booze you'll be drinking coffee or Pepsi with your curry, so why spoil the night by having to hunt out an off licence when you can check on here and bring supplies with you?
Reviews of the individual balti houses will usually give you very brief details of the menu you can expect to find, as well as any awards won by this particular restaurant and comments about the service the reviewer received. I've always found these reviews to be honest and because they are literally under 200 words (and very well written) I can skim through a dozen or so restaurants before the clock forces me to make a decision on the balti house we'll visit on that particular night.
You can also use www.balti-birmingham.co.uk to book a 'Balti Break'. You can choose from two options, Tamarind or Coriander Packages, and have the option of booking either an evening trip or weekend break to Birmingham and sampling the delights of the Balti Triangle. Living slap bang in the middle of Brum I doubt I'll ever have cause to use this service, but the Coriander Package looks particularly appealing. For £69 you'll get overnight accommodation as well as a daytime trip to the Balti Triangle, including a visit to an Asian sweetshop and a behind the scenes trip to a balti house, as well as free time to roam around Sparkhill's amazing Asian shops and markets – the perfect place to buy yourself a good quality balti bowl to take home to pretend you can actually cook the wonderful dish!
So, whether you're in Birmingham now or are planning a visit soon, bookmark www.balti-birmingham.co.uk and you'll discover the very best in balti restaurants and hopefully learn a little bit more about the wonderful eating opportunities Brum has to offer!"
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