Chinese buffet restaurant in Corporation Street, Minzu, was closed down.
Having not been to Balti Triangle for some months, I just went there to check things out yesterday. I will write about this walk little by little, as I don't have time to write a long post.
The first discovery was this: A new site acquired by Al Faisal's.
It is near the beginning of Ladypool Road, about in front of Yaadigar.
The shop is still occupied by a video shop, but I don't imagine Al Faisal' keeps on running it and I would suppose it will be a restaurant, or at least some food related business.
Al Faisal's has renewed their premises in Stoney Lane, and recently opened an Italian restaurant Il Piatto in Ladypool Road. Evidently their business is going very well. As the Balti Triangle itself is rather in decline, it is shining like a star of hope.
Il Piatto's black board saying "Bono Sera" (the correct Italian expression being "Buona sera") let me down, though.
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An irrelevant topic. Yesterday, I went to Savannah Eritrean-Ethiopian restaurant for late lunch or early dinner.
On my way to Savannah, I passed in front of Jacky's Kitchen 美食坊 and read a notice that it will be closed on 24th and 25th December.
I could not believe my eyes as I did not think a restaurant dare to close on Christmas days. Evidently they don't have much demand for Christmas bookings.
I wondered if also the other Chinese restaurants close on these days.
Passing Broad Street this evening, I noticed the Italian restaurant Del Villaggio was worringly dark, so I went close to find this notice.
Closed until further notice.
Both Del Villaggio restaurants and Del Villaggio trattoria were closed.
Sounds very bad, especially in this season when the restaurants should be heaving with Christmas parties.
I had a dinner in Cafe Ikon. I expected it to be full, but it wasn't. It was busy, but not full.
It could be so just by chance, but under the current economic climate, it was rather worrying.
Yes, I went there again.
Why I had to return after only a short interval? It was to try out Chinese black pudding dish I spotted on the last visit.
Red N Hot
http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/rednhot_en.html
Please read the web page if you want to know how it tasted like.
So far as I know, Jacky's Kitchen serves Chinese black pudding, but not elsewhere in Birmingham. Correct me if I am wrong.
I must point out also that they have blinded the transparent glass wall and now the diners can enjoy their food without being watched by passers-by!
I have some other things I really want to try here, so I am coming back again soon.
Walking in Chinatown Friday evening, I picked up a flier.
Surprise surprise. It was a flier of Wokmania. Yes, that Chinese buffet restaurant in Hurst street, closed down earlier this year. For a while there was a poster promising opening of an "Exciting New Restaurant" on the window.
Now, the new restaurant turned out to be the old Wokmania. This photo was taken today (16 Nov. 2008, Sun.)
A friend walking with me Friday night warned me off as she had not eaten well in the old Wokmania, but, checking the food through the glass wall today, it did not look particulary unappetising comparing other Chinese buffet places. Or, rather, it looked rather good and plenty. [NOTE: please don't take me wrong; I am speaking within the category of cheapo Chinese buffet places].
As I got the flier, I can even tell you how much it costs.
Lunch: noon-5:00, £6.99 (Mon-Sat), choice of over 50 dishes
Dinner: 5:00-23:00, £12.99, choice of over 70 dishes
Sunday buffet: noon-22:00, £8.99, choice of over 70 dishes
There is a significant reduction for children. Under 4 eat free, between 4 and 11 £2.99, between 12 and 16, £4.99. Students with student ID also get better deal: lunch & Sunday buffet for £6 and dinner for £10.
I have an impression that the price has increased by £1 (correct me if I am wrong), but if the quality measures up, people won't complain.
Passing Fletcher's Walk today, I noticed the place that used to be Casa Lamisa was accepting Christmas booking. Getting closer to see what kind of restaurant is opening, I was surprised to read its name.
It is Shah's! Well, the name might not say so much, but I am pretty sure this logo belongs to that Shah's "Indian" restaurant used to be in Station Street, in the premises now occupied by the Chinese restaurant BBQ Village.
Is Mr. Shah returning from his retirement? Well, we will find out in December.
I have wanted to visit Edmund for some time, and finally I made it for lunch although I could not secure a dining companion.
Edmund's
Mr. Waters was in the restaurant and at one point he came out to speak with one of regular patrons.
The meal was very enjoyable and almost cheap, but the food was a bit of hit and miss and the quality of ingredients was somehow suffering while the quantity was plenty. I did not want amuse-bouche or petit fours, but I wanted better quality meat for the main instead. I need to see their dinner service to understand really what they can do.
Anyway, it is a great restaurant and I can recommend it to everyone.
Speaking about Andy Waters, I noticed Cielo has increased the price of lunch and pre-theatre pre-fix menu by £1.
Now two course is £12.95 and 3 course is £15.95. With this increase, I hope they can still serving the good food as before.
Last Sunday, Birmingham Half Marathon caused Broad Street and beginning of Hagley Road closed for traffic. For this reason, I was constrained to walk from home to City centre, as, from where I live, when I cannot get the buses that pass Hagley Road, there is no other way to go to town than walking.
Walking down Broad Street, I noticed that the former China Red premises are now taken by a new outlet of Regards.
Regards is an Indian, if not at least an Asian, restaurant in Edgbaston, situated not far from the pub White Swan and from Botanical Garden. It is a rather small restaurant, and to my eyes, it is a bald move to open a large outlet in such a high-rent area, let alone the number of competitors in the Indian food market on that street.
Redecoration work is underway and I would expect it to open in a few to several weeks. Let's see what will be on offer.
And I also went to see this one, which has been widely reported by local media.
Closure of Don Salvo. According to the announcement on the window, the landlord reentered the premises as the rent had not been paid.
This is a strange place to me. Don Salvo, since the days when they were next to Mailbox (they relocated to the current Temple street location to make space for the Cube), it has often been criticised for poor service and not-more-than average food by media and by Internet reviewers. Then, moved to just in front of San Carlo, arguably the most successful Italian restaurant in city centre (I like Cielo, but it is not an Italian for me), and even after that, it managed to get a bad review in one of local newspapers. I mean, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? Mystery, innit?
A few weeks ago I noticed the Spanish restaurant in Fletcher's Walk, Casa Lamisa, formerly known as Chez Amis, were closed. As there were no notice on the window, I would think it was closed and not just is refurbishing.
Although I ate here only twice, I have a fond memory both of the occasions. The food was not always top notch, but could also be very good, and was prepared with care and had a character. If it were in a less depressing location, we would have visited more frequently.
It looked some redecoration work going on inside. I wish they can refurbish whole Fletcher's Walk, and not only the shop, starting from changing colour of the lighting.
Yesterday, passing Bristol Street in the bus, I saw Beirut Lebanese restaurant closed with a piece of paper attached on the door. So, today, I went there to check what is written.
This is the announcement.
Probably it is difficult to read, so I summerise. It says the management has decided to replace the Lebanese restaurant by a fast food shop. The closure is dated the 3 August, so our last visit was just about 10 days before the closure. It explains the stale(-ish) food we were served.
So if you fancy Lebanese food in Birmingham, you need to go all the way to Syriana in Snowhill, which is not situated as convenient as Beirut for most of us.
And, by chance, we saw also this fast food shop was closed. This is just about 10 metres away from Beirut.
In this case, the closure was not peaceful and the announcement on the door says the place was reoccupied by the landload. Evidently it happened in April, but I have not noticed until now.
And yet another closure. The Duet Polish restaurant on Hurst Street is not there any more. I think it happened some time ago, and now there is an announcement of imminent opening of Torino cafeteria.
It will sell italian style sandwiches and pastas. I would guess it is an Italian style fast food shop.
Wokmania is still closed and there is no sign of refurbishment and convertion to a new venue. So, in general, there is no good news in this area for now.
Recently we moved from Bearwood to Five Ways. OK. Not exactly in Five Ways, but 15-20 min walk from there.
So, now, Broadway Plaza is just 15 min walk away from our flat.
The building is pretty interesting. Red brick-y and imposing. And coming close, we realised it used to be Chilren's Hospital.
It is hard to see, but in the first line "Children's Hospital", in the second, "Broadway", and in the third, with red neon-light, "Casino". It does not often happen to see both "Children's Hospital" and "Casino" in the same context.
In Broadway Plaza, a slightly up-market fish and chips shop opened. I don't know exactly when, but should be in the past some weeks.
When we past there at 5:30 Sunday, it was closed. I don't know how are the opening hours, and it was not written there. Need to return.
According to the website http://www.greatbritisheatery.co.uk/, a cod/haddock costs £5, and chips £1.50. Is this expensive? I have no idea. It has been a long time since the last time I ate fish & chips. They sell pies as well.
The website boasts of the good sourcing, but there is no word about sustainability of the cod they use, which is worrying.
The location is somewhat hidden from the visitors of Broadway Plaza and I am not sure if they can expect great trade, if they don't start home-delivery as its immediate neighbour Domino Pizza does. I hope to try it in these weeks.
Woktastic, a new restaurant in Paradise Forum, received a glowing review on Metro newspaper on the 30th July. It got 4 out of 5 points.
Evidently it is a "Japanese" (Woktastic website calles its food more appropriately "fusion Japanese") restaurant somewhere between Wagamama and YO!sushi, offering ramen noodles, kare (curry in Japanese), teppan-yaki as well as belt-conveyor sushi dishes. According the reviewer, Annette Rubery, food is fresh and high in quality.
Price range seems similar to Wagamama as well. Main dishes from £5.75 to £9.95, and sushi is between £1.70 and £4.99. Reading through the menu I detect more Thai influence than in Wagamama Japanese.
Let me know what do you think if you have already visited there!
I noticed today that Wokmania, all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurant in Chinatown, is closed down.
And there is this piece of paper on the window.
It is under refurbishment, but it is for a new restaurant.
During a couple of months, Wokmania has been distributing leaflets for discount, but, evidently it did not work.
I am looking forward to see what is coming now.
Andy Waters' new venue in Brindley Place, Edmunds, has finally opened.
http://www.edmundsbirmingham.com/
I don't know exactly when, but on the 7th (Mon.) it definitely wasn't. I passed in front of it to go to City Cafe at noon and Mr. Waters was outside, talking on the phone, looking rather upset.
I took a close look at the menu this afternoon, when the restaurant was closed (evidently it does not open during Saturday lunch time).
Tasting menu (7 course without counting coffee and petits fours) is £55 (without wine) and £75 (with wine) including mineral water. Dinner is £35 for two courses and £39.50 for three courses, both including another sub-course (either amuse buche or pre-dessert), mineral water and coffee. For lunch, £18 for two course and £20 for three course, again, including coffee, petits fours, and mineral water. "Discretionary" service charge is 10%.
At Purnell's, three course dinner is £38.95, and three course lunch is £18.95, which I don't think include water and coffee, so I think we would pay slightly less at Edmund's. Of course, it does not say anything about 'value', as it also depends of quality and kind of ingredients, and portion.
The genre I think is what we call New British or Modern European. The dinner menu looks very interesting.
It is such a joy that Birmingham has got another attractive dining place!
The new noodle and sushi bar in Paradise Forum, Woktastic, is now open.
I don't know exactly when it opened, but in should be this or the week before.
In front of the restaurant is this sign advatising an opening promotion offer. It promises sushi from £1 and noodles from £5.75, and 15% off for students. 
I am not sure if the food should be more expensive when the offer ends, or the "promotion" is only about 15% discount for students. I don't know about sushi, but noodles FROM £5.75 is about right and should not be more expensive. Even sushi, three pieces of cucumber roll can cost £1.
I looked inside through the glass wall. It was rather dark (or maybe because it was too bright outside) and I could not see well, but definitely recognised a belt-conveyor.
Birmingham is suffering from lack of decent sushi place, and I hope Woktastic can fill the gap.
As I have read and heard that ShanghaiYe Chinese restaurant in Holloway Head (near Chinese Pagoda) had been closed, I went to see what is happening.
When I went there around 4 in the afternoon, the shutter was down as I have never seen before.
There was no notice explaining why it is closed, but it looks evident to me now Pad Thai has been enlarged and taken over the premises occupied by ShanghaiYe. There still is ShanghaiYe's signage at the entrance, but Pad Thai's name is on the window which used to be ShanghaiYe's.
It is a shame, as ShanghaiYe was a pretty good restaurant.
I noticed also that Pad Thai has ceased to be a pure and simple Thai restaurant; it is now offering more Chinese dishes, especially Sichuan dishes. I do recognise also some dishes served at ShanghaiYe, like Emperor Rice and Classic Double Cooked Beef with lotus root.
The emphasis is, however, not on the food, but on its karaoke and disco facilities.
Although it saddens me, I understand fully why they did so. The location is too difficult for it to operate as a pure restaurant, and entertainment element is consonant with the clubs in the area.
Good luck for the new start.
I have not been to Bristol Road for several weeks, and when I went there last week, I noticed that the Persian restaurant Phoenix Café (aka House of Phoenix) changed the name.
Now it is called Donya.
I am not sure (althoght it looks probable) if it changed hands, as they are using still the menu of Phoenix Café.
I went to House of Phoenix once. It was some time ago, but then it was serving decent food for reasonable price. I heard good things about it from several people, so it is a pity that their business did not go well (otherwise, why change the name?)
I hope Donya serves equally good food and have a better luck.
Yesterday, we went to Mashwii Arabian Restaurant in Small Heath for lunch. We did go there, but we didn't eat, as it was closed. At least, however, I took some photos.
Their website tells us that they are open from the noon, but to tell you the truth, I have heard that it is not open at noon. It seems to open some time after the noon, but I don't know when. Pity.
Outside, I saw this banner publicising buffet dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 4 to 11 PM, for £8.95. I am not a buffet person, but it might be a good occasion to try out as many dishes as possible.
N.B. This photo is taken on 28 April 2008; I cannot guarantee if this offer is still valid at the moment you read this post. Please call to make sure. Phone number is 0121 766 5300.
You can find the address on the page below.
http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/birminghamrestaurants2_en.html#south
Instead, we went to a Somalian restaurant, and had a great meal only for £5. I am not sure, however, if I write a review, if it is not a place for anybody.
I have always thought Paradise Forum is an ironic name, as it has little to remind me of Paradise (but they finally removed that terrible rotating door, wow!).
Going out from Paradise Forum toward the Centenary Square, on the left side, there used to be an Italian restaurant called La Vita, which many might remember as its former incarnation, La Galleria. It has been closed for many months, but finally the premises are taken by a new tenant (which is selling the tables and chairs of La Vita, if you are interested).
It is called Woktastic Noodle and Sushi Bar. However terrible its name, it looks more suitable for the clientel of the area than an expensive Italian restaurant. If they serve half-decent sushi (I don't mind belt-conveyor one), I might go, too. Looking forward to see what they will offer.
