| |
| No picture available for this restaurant. If you have a picture, please email it to us |
Latest outlet of highly regarded chain that is based in Bradford - more details (inc phone number) soon |
 |
| Address |
148 Hagley Road, Birmingham
|
| Postcode |
B16 9NY Map |
| Tel |
0121 452 1862 |
| Website |
|
Full Restaurant Listing |
| An exhaustive 1938 words from Chris on Tuesday, January 12, 2010
|
| Food: |
Value |
Service: |
Decor: |
Rating: |
Cost/head: |
Suits: |
| 6/10 |
: 7/10 |
7/10 |
8/10 |
67% |
£25 |
Hen/Stag/Birthday party |
I've been to Akbar's twice now. Most recently last weekend and the first time a week or so before that. The first time I couldn't make up my mind whether I liked it or not so I went back and the second time confirmed my indecision.
The maiden visit was early doors with the missus one night when neither of us could be bothered to cook between Xmas and New Year. We didn't make a reservation as it was only 5:30 and we were shown straight to a table without having to faff around in reception waiting for a 1980's Motorola Car Phone to glow red to call us to table. The decor is very nouveux riche Asian, very gold, very bling. If Akbar's was any closer to Pushkar's on Broad Street, Edgbaston would experience polarity problems. In a funny kind of way though I like it - The old Liberty's Nightclub that it occupies is a monster of a place and they've managed to break the area up into differently themed 'quarters' so you don't quite feel like you are in a cavernous banqueting hall at an Indian wedding. Little restraint has been exercised, either in cost or taste but sometimes it works. Check out the wall tiles in the toilets that must have cost about £70 each! I particularly like the 'Wall of Wine' at the entrance. Linger around here and you could easily convince an impressionable date that he or she was being treated to a night of utter opulence, particularly if you tentaviely enquired what temperature their Louis Roederer Crystal Rose was kept at (£590 per bottle) before tutting and ordering the house white at £11.95. There's lots of smoke and mirrors employed in this place but there's plenty of room for more fun in restaurants in Birmingham.
On our first visit Vicki ordered the masala fish to start and I had lamb chops. Both were ridiculously cheap at £3.25. The fish was comically large flopping over the side of the plate and would have put many a main course at other establishments to shame if size was all that mattered (thankfully we know its what you do with it that counts). On the positive side the fish itself was properly cooked, flaking nicely and still slightly transclucent which was something of a surprise. Indian restaurants typically err on the side of caution and bugger their fish to oblivion. Unfortunately though it still had little taste and neither did the coating other than grease. I couldn't tell you what the fish was, probably River Cobbler or one of the many similar tasteless flat fish that are flying in from Vietnam, but I suppose for most customers it serves the purpose of feeding the eyes for little money. I was more happy with my chops - four juicy chunks were served, far more aggressively spiced than the fish but beautifully tender, which again is not something you can take for granted in Indian restaurants. What bemused both of us though was the common salad garnish on both dishes of dried out lettuce leaves (turning brown) mixed with sweet corn and olives. I'm just about starting to accept kiwi fruit and strawberries as a garnish in Indian restaurants but this is a step too far. For main course vicki had a balti mushroom paneer which at £7.45 was clearly trying to claw back some of the profit lost on the starter. I couldn't resist choosing something from their origional menu (their spelling) so I went for the good old standard of lamb and spinach balti. For sundries Vicki had a chapatti and I had a naan. The naans come in two sizes - two man and family. Too bad if there's only one of you. Their naans seem to be something they are very proud of and come to table from the kitchen carried by people dressed like chefs, (although I suspect they are really just a sub-division of waiters dressed in white) hanging vertically on a plastic tree like some nightmarish prop for a Salvador Dali painting. They are too large and too sweet and most go back with at least half a carcass still swinging from the branches. Sadly the mushroom balti was swimming in oil and the lamb balti was over salted with meat that was far too tough. Our bill without any drinks came to £30 which we thought a tad expensive and left us feeling rather deflated. We rather wanted this place on our doorstep to have food that lived up to the over the top and lavish decor so we could bring friends and visitors when we were feeling in a mood for comedy.
As it happened we did exactly that last weekend. Fellow BP Duck Tim and his partner Liz both rather selfishly have birthdays almost straight after Christmas without the buffer of even one pay packet to recover. We'd planned to cook a meal for them but we'd only just shoved the last rellie from Australia out the door and couldn't face more cooking so we suggested a meal at Akbar's. Some other friends (including BPers Jane and John) joined us making it a party of 9 so this time we turned up and on Saturday at 7:30 (still without a booking) to be treated to the famous pager with instructions to wait in reception until it summoned us. I know some people take objection to this but it works admirably well. We could relax in reception without any stress enjoying our drinks until the thing glowed red at which point we walked to the front of the restaurant to be shown to our table. It works perfectly. What's not to like?
This time we were shown to a long table backed against a wall which I do dislike. The poor sod in the middle with his back to the wall always gets embarrassed having to ask three people to let him/her out to go to the loo (not me I hasten to add, I'm a selfish bastard and dove straight for an outside chair). I'm sure with a bit of thought, tables for two or four could be positioned against walls so that large tables could occupy the centre of floors.
I have no idea what we all had this time so I'll just go through what I remember. I ordered the Calamari Special to start described as 'Squid cooked and served in Akbars special style'. Is it bollocks. I got about a dozen rings of overcooked chewy squid rings served with a side salad that was even drier and browner than the first time (sweet corn and olives still there though for those of you concerned). The only 'special' aspect to this dish was the addition of curry powder to the batter mix but they didn't serve so much as a lemon wedge by way of dressing and a pot of mint yoghurt or something similar to dip the dried out calamari in would have helped matters along quite a bit but it wasn't forthcoming. Of the people sitting 'up my end' of the table Jane also had the squid (similarly disappointed), John had the liver tikka, described as 'Chicken liver mixed with special spices including ginger, garlic and fresh coriander cooked slowly under a grill' which was actually quite superb and the real bargain of the night at £2.75 (although he was disappointed that his first choice of rabbit tikka was unavailable) and Liz had potato and chick pea poori which was quite good but only in a potato and chick pea poori kind of way. Things did get a bit hazy for me after that but I do recall ordering a lamb and paneer dish for myself which was a considerable improvement on the Lamb balti dish I had in that the lamb was far more tender and the paneer was actually quite enjoyable but the sauce was quite sweet and crude on a very one-dimensional level. I also ordered a balti tarka dall to share which was pretty sweet and one dimensional as well (why the hell they can't just offer a bloody good plain tarka dall as a side dish is beyond me but they don't). I can't remember what Vicki had but I know she asked them to serve her dish with less oil after the first experience which I believe they did. For sides we just ordered a few chappati's and a couple of pilau rices. The waiter was a bit shocked at the prospect of no naans being ordered and tried to push them but we declined, no doubt losing him a bit of commission but what the heck. The chappatis were okay but the Pilaui rice is a rip-off at £2.25 per portion, apart from the fact they just serve plain boiled rice the portion size is a meagre mound on a saucer. We reasonably expected that £5 worth of rice would have been plenty for everyone but we quickly ran out.
Service here is efficient, nay commendable if your expectation is merely for someone to take your order quickly and bring you the correct dishes. This they do very well but there is no finesse in between. On our first visit we'd made rather a mess of the dips and poppodoms (as I'm sure most people do) but the waiter was quite happy to take our plates away and leave us staring at our soiled table. I admit I get annoyed at service staff combing away imaginary crumbs in fine dining restaurants but on this occasion I'd have quite liked him to wipe away the poppodom and yoghurt detritus that we'd made despite our best efforts!
Food wise it's all rather hit and miss sadly but to judge Akbar's to closely on the food is probably missing the point They set out their mission statement on the website stating that they specialise in birthday parties, leaving parties, anniversaries and weddings - So pretty much the same market as certain plate smashing Greek restaurants where I'd imagine the food takes an even further step back stage. Akbar's do go the extra mile for celebrations - On both occasions that I've visited I've noticed tables dressed out with balloons, sparkly desserts and so forth. Their website encourages you to tell them exactly what you want and they'll do it, but presumably only if it lacks enough taste.
But I'm just being churlish. places like Al Faisal chase the same large party market but Akbar's do it with far more panache and there are some gems on the menu (we've only really found the chops and the liver so far but there must be more) The bill for our meal for nine people with wine came to about £180 which somehow seemed far more reasonable than the £30 for two without wine that we paid the week before. Regardless I guess I have to say it is good value. If you are going to organise a large party and pick up the tab afterward I know most of us would be appreciative of a place that can a) seat you without commotion and b) let you buy wine for £11.95 a bottle.
Would I go back? Would I recommend you go? Hmm, a qualified yes and yes. Yes if you live in B16 and yes if you want to entertain a large party but not necessarily if you have to travel and not if your aim is a good curry. There is far cheaper and far finer in the vicinity - Akbars is neither one nor the other.
Oh I forgot, there is a third reason, that impressive wine wall and the glittery desserts. If you want to score this place is probably as good as Liberty's ever was.
|
If you are the restaurant owner, we now offer the RIGHT TO REPLY
(see below):
RIGHT TO REPLY
If you are the restaurant owner and wish to comment/clarify any points made in this review please submit your remarks to info@birminghamplus.com |
| |
| REVIEWS
|
| CHRIS |
| REVIEWS |
| No.of reviews: |
186 |
| Average Rating: |
59% |
| Highest Rating: |
99% |
| Lowest Rating: |
0% |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
