Lifestyle: Restaurant Review, Bilash, Wolverhampton

THERE aren’t many things I would suggest I am an authority on but I do know something about Indian food.

And by Indian, of course, I am using the sloppy but generally used shorthand to cover the cuisines of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and parts of what used to be Persia.

It is a cuisine I have loved since my teenage years and I have spent nearly 40 years dining in back street Balti houses in Birmingham and high-end Indian restaurants in London by way of Manchester, Bradford and all points in between and beyond.

In short then, it takes a lot to impress me these days. I have my favourites places to which I return again and again and when somebody tells me that the place down the road from where they live does the best curry they’ve ever eaten I meet the claim with a degree of scepticism. 

But it is nice to have one’s pre-conceptions pricked now and again and that certainly happened to me when I visited Bilash in the centre of Wolverhampton for the first time.

I’ve known about the restaurant for some time – it is perhaps best known as the venue for the so-called Curry House Plot when local Labour MPs discussed the end of the Tony Blair era and how it could be sped up – but I also knew it had an excellent reputation for its food and a tremendously loyal following.

What I didn’t know was just how good it is.

Visiting one lunchtime recently I was greeted by affable manager Mohammed khan whose family set up Bilash in 1982 and have run it ever since.

By way of background, he told me that 40% of his lunchtime trade is from Birrmingham and that Bilash is averaging 20-25 lunchtime covers every day so it must be doing something right.

The restaurant walls are bedecked with framed reviews from newspapers and magazines and awards (it is Michelin rated and in The Good Food Guide).

Before I had a chance to peruse the menu Mohammed told me that he wanted to present to me a number of the restaurant’s signature dishes. Oh if you must.

What this involved was three main course dishes – one king prawn based, one chicken and one mutton – alongside rice, a naan and a bowl of homemade raita.

First up was the Goan King Prawn Masala. This award-winning dish uses the best imported prawns from Bangladesh. Mohammed rattled through a list of fresh herbs and spices used to make the masala but greed took over and I downed the pen and picked up my knife and fork.

And am I glad I did. The prawns marinated in lime juice and garlic were awe inspiring in their own right but when combined with the masala which included coconut, almond oil, chilli and bay leaf – amongst other things – it became a world beater.

The ‘sauce’ was one of the most intensely pleasurable things I have put into my mouth in a very long time. It coated the fat prawns beautifully and created something that a taste sensation might look up to in envy.

This wonder dish – and it truly is – is on the menu at £22.90 and it’s worth every penny. I’m already saving for my next visit.

I paused to to try the superbly moist rice (£3.10) which is good enough to be eaten as a stand-alone dish. Soaked, pure long-grain Basmati rice is cooked with cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon water and then fried with saffron, ginger and fried onion in olive oil (yes olive oil).

What quickly becomes apparent at Bilash is the attention to detail. Everything is cooked from fresh and only the finest ingredients are used.

Even the yoghurt for the raita is produced in-house – hung yoghurt combined with crushed cumin seeds, lemon, cucumber and chaat masala.

Onwards and upwards, it was the meat dish next and I say meat because Mohammed was keen to point out that the restaurant uses mutton rather than lamb.

Mutton is still looked down upon in some quarters – the way brisket used to be – but handled properly it is a wonderfully tasty meat and works extremely well in dishes that require longer cooking time or which are being marinated.

I was presented with Laziz Pasliyan (£14.90) which is mutton marinated in hung yoghurt and cooked with crushed cashew nuts and saffron and a whole host of spices including star anise and cloves.

To say the meat was falling apart is something of an understatement. The combination of mutton and yoghurt is a fine one indeed and this is a dish which I could imagine has a lot of support amongst Bilash regulars. Love meat tender indeed.

My final taster dish was the restaurant’s take on a Bengali-style butter chicken.

I approached the Bilash Super (£13.90) with some trepidation as I find butter chicken a little heavy as a dish and for some reason cream has the same effect on me that water does on a Gremlin.

But I needn’t have worried as the Bilash version – based on roasting vine tomatoes with chicken together in a clay oven and mixing them with curry leaves, tamarind and coriander – had a hint of creaminess but it was in no way cloying.

For anyone who likes tomato-based milder dishes such as tikka masala – ie the whole nation – this would be nirvana.

The ever enthusiastic Mohammed explained to me that the food at Bilash is 80% Bengali and 20% South and North Indian. That adds up to 100% delicious.

Bilash has made me tear up my list of best ‘Indian’ restauarants in the region and I’m glad to do so.

And the next time someone tells me the Indian restaurant around the corner from them is the best in the area I’m going to book a table. 

For me Bilash is up there with the very best. If you haven’t tried it yet put it on next month’s bucket list.

Highly recommended.

Bilash, No2 Cheapside, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 1TU. Tel: 01902 427762