Kings Paradise Balti Restaurant

Kings Paradise Balti Restaurant
321 Stratford Road
Sparkhill
Birmingham
B11 4JY
Tel: 0121-753 0006
Fax: 0121 753 2212

When in Birmingham, what else could we do but go for a balti. Four of us set out at lunchtime for Sparkhill, the hub of the balti belt in Birmingham, without any particular establishment in mind, but hopefully to find one that was open and looked reasonable.

One of the first that we spotted was the Kings Paradise. It has its own private parking at the rear which was a double bonus, because car parking in that area looked to be a bit of a problem. We also thought that if we parked it more or less in view, there would be a sporting chance of it still being there when we came to leave.

From the outside it looked a little smarter than the average Sparkhill balti restaurant, it also had banners proclaiming lunches, 2 courses for £4.95 or three courses for £6.95. Altogether, it seemed too good a deal to miss and so we went for it.

We were the only diners in at that particular time, although one other person ventured in a little later. I’m never sure if this is good or bad, what I’m hoping it meant was that we would get a freshly cooked meal rather than warmed up leftovers.

We sat down to poppadums and chutneys. There was an onion, tomato and cucumber chutney, yoghurt and mint sauce and a rather vivid thin red sauce. It turned out to be mildly hot and I never asked what it was, but it was very pleasant all the same. The poppadums were warm and freshly made.

For starters, there was the usual choice, but I was intrigued by the ‘Kings Paradise special kebab’ on the menu. I asked what it was and was told it was like a shami kebab, but dipped in egg and fried. So three of us went for that and the fourth ordered a samosa.

The kebabs were very good, the dipped egg had formed a thin batter on the outside. The two kebabs, which were of a decent size, were served with a nice side salad. I covered mine with yoghurt and mince sauce and added some onion chutney. The kebabs were finely minced and disarmingly neutral at first, but delivered a fresh green chilli heat as the meal progressed. Reports of the samosa were also favourable, but the portion only consisted of one, whereas we were treated to two kebabs each, which was a lot more substantial in comparison.

For the main course I ordered lamb and spinach balti, the others ordered balti chicken jalfrezi, balti chicken tikka and balti lamb chops. We also ordered two nan breads and two portions of pillau rice.

All of us were pleased with the balti dishes. There was good meat content and plenty of nicely spiced sauce. We all did our main meals justice. The nan breads were very good, excellent texture and flavour. I thought the rice had been reheated in a microwave, as it was not quite as fresh as the rest of the meal, and also the plates it was served on were extremely hot. We enjoyed the meal and also ordered another two nans, not that the portions were small, just that we discovered our appetites.

Overall, a decent restaurant and better than some others I have been in recently in the area. The food was nice and the portions were good, the service was casual but efficient. The bill came to £25.20 for four, but there were no drinks on the bill as the restaurant is unlicensed.

Recommended.

Phil.