Lifestyle: Restaurant Review – Pushkar, Birmingham

EATING lunch at a restaurant in Birmingham’s Broad Street can be a lonely experience.

It may be party central in the evenings and at weekends but during the working day even the suits and ties from nearby Brindleyplace give Broad Street eateries a swerve.

Which is a shame because they are missing a real treat at up-market ‘Indian’ restaurant Pushkar.

Only one other table was occupied during my recent visit – and this is a big restaurant. However, the waiter assured me they do well at lunchtimes when there are big conferences on at the ICC.

Anyway, the reason for my visit was that Pushkar is now promoting its new lunchtime offering of one course for £7.95, two for £10.95 and three for £13.95. As you might expect it is a reduced menu at lunchtime but there’s still plenty of choice.

I started with the chapli kebab while my dining companion plumped for the chicken tikka salad.

Four pan seared, flat patties of ground lamb spiced with ginger, green chillies, coriander seeds and herbs duly arrived on my side of the table and I could smell the fresh herbs and spices even before the waiter had set the plate down.

Those flavours come alive when you bite into the kebab and deliver what I can only describe as a lip-tinglingly good eating experience. The chillies add a nice level of heat and the lamb is tender and moist.

All told, this kebab was one of the best I’ve ever eaten and I’ve had a few in my time dear reader.

Apparently chapli kebabs are all the rage on Afghan barbecues but as I don’t get invited to many of those in Solihull I shall have to come back to Pushkar for my fix.

My companion’s chicken tikka salad was of a generous size with plenty of meat in it.

It’s a great salad for people who don’t like salad, she said, although I suspect those people would probably avoid ordering anything with the word salad in it anyway.

Do you like the way I say ‘those people’ as if I’m not one of them?

Anyway, I tasted some of her starter and the meat was tender and full of flavour and fresh spices, so unlike mass produced CT.

Waiting for our main courses to arrive gave us an opportunity to take in our surroundings. The words opulent and ornate spring to mind. Everything is beautifully appointed and at some cost by the look of it.

It reminds me of some of the restaurants I’ve eaten in in hotels in Dubai.

But it was the food we were here for and the main courses had arrived.

I chose the dal gosht which was lamb cooked with lentils, garlic, cumin seeds and whole red chillies.

Beautifully presented on a long plate with a separate portion of rice and a naan bread (included in the price) this was a fine dish. Lentils go so well with meat in curries I think and the chilli here gave it some extra oomph. It was like the humble dhansak’s more sophisticated older brother.

But good as my dish was it had to take silver medal position behind my companion’s chicken makhanwalla.

This really was a winner. It was chicken tikka, slow cooked in a creamy tomato and cashew nut sauce but it was oh so much more than that.

It must have been the slow cooking, together with the aforementioned expert spicing, that elevated this dish to something very, very special.

I really felt like stealing her plate and running off with it down Broad Street and facing up to the consequences later. It was that good.

We had no room for dessert but the offering included rasmalai, which is a creamed cheese dumpling-based dish, and that carrot-based pudding (why does that sound so strange?) halwa.

As you may have gathered, we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at Pushkar. It would have been nice if there had been a few more diners there but surely food this good at prices like this will get people through the door.

I shall certainly be returning.

Recommended.