The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Birmingham, West Midlands*

Birmingham, West Midlands Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• Chinese Quarter, superb food at good value. Selly Sausage in Selly Oak.
• Ummmm Big Wok..£7 chineese buffet
• Shanghi Wok i would recommend in the Fox Hollies/Acocks Green area for Chinese take-aways,althought for meaty spare ribs i prefer the one down the road(Shaftsmoor Rd)towards the Straford Road /Sparkhill area. They are by a outdoor,mini-supermarket open to 11pm.
• Mokhams of Digbeth Balti house -seemed to have shut up shop,its got scaffold and boards inside.Does anyone know if they have moved somewhere else ? Otherwise for cheap muchie's in the Mornings wot above the hole-in-the wall- Satisfaction in Hurst Street ! opposite Mr.Egg -the only place where you get a full salad(cress,SPANISH Onion,tom,lettice,Q))on brown or white bread,fast service.Just follow the taxi drivers !
• Mr. Eggggggggggggggg............ Subway... anywhere!
• Chippie on Dale End (Toys R Us, Academy) is about a quid for loads of chips, everything goes up by about 50p after gigs though, so it's worth queueing a bit early and eating before you go in. Cheap chilli is nice. Also underneath New Street (round the side of the ramp in that dingy looking undergroundy type place) has a chippi with lovely cheap chilli too.
• Hoagies in Kings Heath makes the best sandwiches ever, and Ronnies down by Ideal is pretty decent too.
• Tiger Wok
• Subway on Queensway kicks ass. There are two more in town, but the staff dont seem to be as good there.
• Fantastic choice of Indian food, but not great for other cuisine's, e.g. no quality, resonably-priced Thai restaurants
• kfc they are every where and there food rocks
• there are some really nice restaurants in teh mailbox. the noodle/sushi bar is a bit scary, tho food is lovely! also Toyk in shirley- mmmmmmmmmm:)
• Home of the balti!!!
• king krbab great nice kebabs mc donald ok for a milk shake or the loo
• the 'monsoon' restaurant on may lane in wythall. best curry i've ever had! very nice interior and exterior as well.
• Zebs Mirpuri Cuisine is one of the finest cusine with the taste of Punjab. This restaurant which is based in Ladypool Road in Birmingham has the best quality and irresistible food.
• MOST DEFINETLY CASPIAN PIZZA!!!
• Pizza Hut!!!
• Old Orleans, very nice Brasshouse, expensive for what you get but not bad.
• Someone said for a good feed try Coffee And Cream by the aston university.........honestly the person who told you that needs shooting man everyone i know who has had food from there has been on the S**thouse the next morning spraying the pan. I swear that greasy elephant leg (called the kebab) that's rotating on the grill has been there for a few weeks. Afford at all costs unless you have an indestructable stomach.
• Shimla Pinks has been closed due to cockroach infestation. Closed on 14/5/03
• Mongolian bar, pick your own stirfry.
• Le Baguette Du Monde....yummy!
• Las Iguananas in Arcadian is very very nice good food, good portions and very nice drinks..all very reasonably priced. Big Wok in Chinatown, all you can eat for £7.99...really nice food and loads o it..also very fun ice cream machine!!
• Asteries = classic sandwich and baguette shop/chain that's been around before sandwich shops were profitable and trendy.
• Wetherspoons...oh, we like.
• hmmm...greggs....doughnuts...yuuummm...
• the cotteridge village inn do yummy food as does bella pasta
• Balti and Chinese food. Go where the Indians and Chinese eat not where the Friday/ Saturday night crowd go.
• Dawat is my favourite balti house in b'ham. Good ones in town are the Taj on Bristol Road and the one at the top of digbeth by the Royal George (which isn't called the Royal George anymore)
• Mr Egg, cheap fry ups.
• MCDONALDS!!! COOOOOOMEEEE ON!
• Rubies in Edgbaston for nifty Cantonese
• bar 2 sixty
• If your palate stretches to beyond a curry on a Friday and Saturday you'll be disappointed
• Juice.com in Selly Oak has fabulous sandwiches and salads...Go there!
• Just go to Pizza Hut, it takes a while in the one on the main high street for your pizza to arrive, so go to the underground one in the station. If you want soemthing a bit more safis then check out Costa!
• Theres about 5 maccies in the city centre alone. Various balti places around, Stirchley has some v.nice ones check out Bengal chaa or Balti Bazzar
• Snax in Digbeth. A plate of food as big as your car for £3
• Bar Room Bar in new Mailbox complex Broad Street area has lovely Pizzas and you are giveen a pager when it bleeps food is ready cost around £5.00
• Fish! Coffee and Cream, Aston Students' Guild
• McDonalds x 4
• Theres so many. KFC, Maccie D's. burger king and the like.
• Two fantastic belly-busting sandwich shops are: 1) City Pantry outside New Street Station Victoria Square entrance. 2) The tiny hatch place in Union Passage, next to the Post Office. Both do fantastic chicken salad sandwiches to bloat for.
• Birmingham is home of the balti! Try 'Punjab Paradise' or anywhere else on Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook. Or any of the student-friendly places on Bristol Rd.
• Zaffs in Balsall Heath does the finest Chicken Kebab I have ever... ever eaten! Add a dab of mayo for a touch of cosmipolitan charm and you have one of the finest pieces of cuisine in the world...
• McDonalds right next to Paradise Forum. Quick and easy, but sometimes very big queues- beat the rush and it's good.
• Pret A Manger on Corporation Street and next to the Library- decent sushi and fresh organic sarnies.
• Try Stirchley (on the Pershore Road) for new, cheap Baltis.
• Joshuas -funky cheap and fresh baguettes
• Nardini's ; Pubs
• MR EGG!!!! cheap greasy spoon in china town
• Try going to BOSS HOGS at the Ennerdale Hotel in Acocks Green.The meals are cheap & massive !!
• Poco Loco in Moseley - good Mexican food.
• The telephone number of the Warehouse Cafe is (0121 633 0261) Health Food Shops: my favourite is the One Earth Shop next to the Warehouse Cafe (vegan).
• Bella Pasta - new street
• You can find balti houses all over the place, but for my money the best are in the Sparkbrook 'balti triangle' formed by the Stratford and Ladypool Roads and Stoney Lane. My personal favourites are The Minar on Walford Road and I Am The King Of Baltis on Ladypool. The best central one is Mokhams of Digbeth. All these premises are unlicensed, as any self respecting balti house should be.
• shimla pinks is pricey, not great. and is alledgedly owned by lee dixon, arsenal full-back. in selly oak (student land) there is mud cafe (cheap pasta) and the selly sausage (trad caff food and veggie versions). Both excellent california pizza factory in harborne (ironically) does Italian syle pizzas, good salads and has some really friendly, helpful staff.
• The Mud Cafe in Selly Oak.
• chung ying's(chinese qtr)-very good food,but very moody waiters
• I've yet to find a better Indian restaurant in Brum than J.Jays at Five Ways.(£30-£40 for 2) On weekdays they do a fantastic value buffet lunch. The best Balti can be found at Yasser's in Stirchley.(about £6 a head)
• When a McD opens, the local chippies suddenly shut up shop or change hands a few times prior to shutting up shop or drifting violently down market. That's certainly true in my part of Birmingham, anyway. The (not so bad, now shut) round the corner from what is now the Northfield McD has shut, and it appears that the Longbridge one has delivered a fairly powerful kicking to the previously marvellous Southside Fish Bar. New owners, at least once, and a distinct drop in prices and quality. A Friday take-away for us used to be the Southside, now it's usually a curry from the Chamon. The kebabs and chips are marvellous from Sophie's Choice in Cotteridge, but the fish isn't so great and my wife's not a kebab fan... so I only eat from there when she's away.
• Healthfood Shop: Sage Wholefoods, Moseley New Age shops: the best by far in my opinion is Zen, in Brindleyplace, but also check out Shared Earth in New Street.
• The Diner in Hall Street, Hockley - open 24 hours at the weekend, close to major clubs. Pret A Manger, New Street - London's famous sandwich bars open a branch in Brum; no superlatives are enough, this place is SO clued up, the food is f***ing amazing. Key Largo, Broad Street - huge new tapas bar. Casa Paco, Fletcher's Walk - Brum's no. 1 Spanish. The Warehouse Cafe - Veggie, Digbeth. Wild Oats - Veggie, Selly Oak. Cafe Des Artistes - Custard Factory, Digbeth La Bastille - French, Corporation Street.
• Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts on street towards library (New Street) who needs anything else.? Totally desperate for food? -- Try wandering onto Aston Uni campus (end of Corporation Street) during term time: there's a place called Oscars (4pm-10pm) which is cheap big time, the food ain't great though. Supposed to be only for students so keep stumm!
• St.Pauls Restaurant and Bar is a fashionable Manhattan style locale in an elegant Georgian square in Hockley; not far is also The Mongolian Bar and Grill. For Italian fans, Primitivo in Barwick Street. is the best place, and for affordable French try Chez Jules in Ethel Street. Plenty of Chinese restaurants in Brum's disappointing Chinatown, and a huge concentration of native Balti restaurants in Sparkhill and Sparkbrook, the Balti Belt. The best Indian, though, is Shimla Pinks on Broad Street (Brum's Golden Mile, chock full of eaty/clubby places and home to Leftbank, another good eating place). For Pizza Express, Cafe Rouge et al, go to Brindley Place, also just off Broad Street.

Pubs

• Scruffies!!
• subway city has an abnormally youthful crowd... good place to go on friday nights...
• The Hill and Briar Rose, next to each other on one of those lil side streets have started being arsy with ID, you're now looking at clientelle up to about sixteen, and from about nineteen upwards provided you look well old or have ID. My advice: if you're actually close to legal (17 or 18), wear a low cut top, and have a back up plan.
• Gunmakers arms
• Rock/Alternative pubs in Birmingham: Coster Mongers (near Oasis indoor market) plays mainstream Rock and Metal. Scruffy Murphys (just up the road from the Academy) plays more credible metal and is a good starting point before heading to The Gallows pub, where most people go before going to Edwards No8 (aka Eddies)
• Tap and Spile off Broad street is nicer than anything on it. The Anchor in Digbeth is a good real ale pub. Generally, far too many characterless chain pubs
• If you are anywhere near Aston Uni then go to Gosta Green. A quality Scream (tm) (!!!) pub, they do exist, largely due to the fact that everyone behind the bar is @ Aston Uni, and Carling is £1.65 a pint!!!
• Jug of ale in moseley is great! pound a pint on sun and wed so get down there! the briar rose just off new street is good too and is a wetherspoons so cheap!
• The Jug of Ale, it's good if you look a little young and have forgot your ID. Mosely Road, Mosely.
• mason's and the barley mow in solihull attract a 'fresh-faced' crowd. ahem. as does the white swan in wythall.
• no-one's mentioned the sunflower lounge on smallbrook queensway. opening times are erratic but they play cool indie choonage(some of it's awfully obscure. if you like that sort of thing. i know i do). can get a bit mobbed tho and there aren't enough seats really. they also have bands playing downstairs occasionally.
• Lloyds bar - excellent place to drink if you've just finished work on a saturday night as its cheap and there's always a good atmosphere. Walkabout - busy, full of 'the older generation' and generally pretty cheesy music, especially as its the same every week. Promos on reef. Reflex - the 80s bar, love the revolving dancefloor, cheap drinks and a pole dancers pole...so many bruises! Merchants - dont know why it doesn't get busier. It not a Whetherspoons although many people think it is. Don't know why? Only busy really saturday night, sometimes friday and during the footie as has tvs. Rococo - changed from Bar 260, you can change the name and the decor but you can remove the trouble - last st George's day, so many police Sports Cafe - love the personal tvs in the booths, busy for footie, too expensive most of the time Wetherspoons - full of students after cheap drinks and old people! O Neils - dont see the appeal Springbok - weird place. Annoying door staff who have taken to ID checks for me every time I enter. Im 20, ive lost my ID, see the pain??? Brannigans -ewww! Old Orleans - nice, often gets missed out but do free food and cheap coktails on a friday evening Picassos - used to be Rat and Parrot but hasn't changed. Love the music but hate the touchy feely men in there. Waxy o connors - nice Revolution - the vodka bar, so many flavoured shots, so little time! Hard Rock Cafe - expensive but you have to go there the once Henry J. Beans - expensive cocktails even during happy hour but the June Bug is well nice.
• Any Whetherspoons pub (the Briar Rose, the Square Peg, the Figure of Eight) are all resonably priced and have comfortable atmospheres. Plus they aren't homophobic!
• Sunflower=name obviously extracted from the Weller song, cool music (60's R&B and Indie), shame about the quality of the pulled pints.
• Wetherspoons, Edwards, the one opposite Hunter Court and next to Ming's takeaway
• Factotum , Briar Rose , Jug of Ale , Walkabout , Soak in selly oak is nice 2.
• The Square Peg - Corporation St. Good meeting place, cheap (food as well), moving on to... Trocadero - Temple St (off New Street). Quiet in the week, lively at the weekend. Sometimes open to 12 on Fri/Sat night. Pit Stop - Gas Street (Behind the Convention Centre, on the same elevation(level) as the canal. Good Hip Hop / R'n'B night on friday, nice, friendly, mixed crowd. Avoid the cheesy saturday night pop night like the plague.
• FLAPPER AND FIRKIN ITS PROPBERLY A GOOD IDEA TO BE 18 CUZ I HAVE BEEN ASKED FOR 1D EACH TIME IM IN THERE AND YES I AM 18 AND HAVE HAD ID EACH TIME SO ITS BEEN KEW. THERES LOTS OF FRIENDLY PEOPLE IN THERE WHICH IS GOOD
• The Full Moon in Dudley
  any weatherspoons
  The Anchor in Cradley
  Costa Mongers
• Prince of Wales, Moseley. Patrick Kavanaghs, Moseley. Bulls Head, Moseley. Market Tavern, Digbeth.
• Gosta Green (by Aston University) - great student pub and rather pleasant female bar staff to boot!
• The Flapper, thats the one i mostly visit but they are strict on who they serve!
• Isobar, Arcadian, fun and the drink's flowin. Don't go there if you want a conversation though, the music's kinda loud.
• Flapper and firkin, (was) very lively full of the rock crowd. DJ upstairs on Fri/Sat. Bands downstairs on most nights, bands cost between £2 - £5. Drinks more expensive on weekends. Has been getting very strict on behaviour lately and a normally full pub has only been managing to accract about 50 customers compared with about 200 before.
• Kudos - trendy bar at 28 Horse Fair (Opposite the old Dome II. Mostly gay, cheap drinks, fun crowd
• The Old Joint Stock if for the building and decor alone.
• new weatherspoons Paradise Place small some nights crowded
• Sacks of Potatoes, Aston University Campus
• The flapper
• Tap and Spile on Gas Street/Broad Street is great for little traditional pub fgrub and beer - an individualist haven in a sea of mass-produced alcohol retail outlets. All Bar One (Brindley Place) isn't bad for a chain pub. White Swan Pub on Harborne Road in Edgbaston is a lovely old pub with a Toby restaurant out the back if you get big beer hunger.
• The malt house
• The Toreador no longer exists due to them gutting the Bullring!
• Slug and Lettuce, mention that it's full of rich, snobby 6th formers and students
• Old Joint Stock, 4 Temple Row (across from the cathedral). Very posh inside, lots of statues and mirrors and chandeliers. Good beer, too.
• Broad Street - lots of places to have a drink. Ministry of Sound Bar, Key Largo, Stoodi Bakers and Bar 2 Sixty are classy late licenced 'club-bars', the rest are more pub style but some open late. Walkabout (Aussie theme), Figure of 8 and Merchant Stores (both Wetherspoons so cheap), Tap and Spile (traditional pub - a rarity!) Rat and Parrot - all good. Also Brindley Place just off Broad St. - All Bar One, Cube, lots of plush bars and fountains for pissed-up shenanigans. Away from Broad St. try RSVP (towards Aston Uni.), Square Peg (wetherspoons), Flares (70's theme, near DNA). The Arcadian Centre (Hurst St.) has lots of classy bars like 52 degrees North, Sobar, Heroes and many more. That's also the Gay Village. Also the Hogshead in Moseley is good, and if you're a Birmingham Uni styowdent then try the Gun Barrels (just off campus), the Bristol Pear, the OVT (Farce and Firkin) the Brook or TC's (all off Bristol Road (A38) in Selly Oak). Another good bet is the Medicine Bar on Gibb St. in Digbeth, and while you're there try the Kerryman or one of the other genuine Irish pubs.
• Fiddle and Bone - by the canal by the NIA - crap music but good beer.
• central park is crap but very cheap, all drinks a pound hadleys has wicked very loud music but is a bit dodgy
• - New Bar! - 'Gallery Bar' (opposite Exile) - vibrant atmosphere, top DJ's - Mark Jarman etc. every Saturday
• Cleary's in Cheapside. Authentic Irish pub (owned by Mr Cleary!) - get in before 10.00pm and stay till 2.00am.
• The Rock Cafe (opposite snobs), the foundry (nr edwards) scruffy murpheys (nr ToysRus) and oneils (china town)
• O'Neills near the arcadian - loud, live irish music. staff sometimes dance on tables. table service! NO dress code figure of eight, broad st. NO dress code, almost unique in the area. always a few v. cheap beers, quick service, mixed crowd. no music, good place to start.
• The Toreador, opposite the Rag Market, City Centre, has a wild Goth night every Saturday.
• For a quality,traditional pub try the Seventh Trap on the Walsall Rd, Perry Bar(according to Nigel in the office).Willy's Bar on Summer Row is good if the sun is out.
• Austrailian Bar - Broad Street, good atmosphere every night of the week, but get there early on fridays and saturdays (before 8pm) or you'll have to queue
• Bars: Bar Coast, The Arcadian, Hurst Street. Carpe Diem, Great Charles Street Queensway. Marco Polo's, Ladywell Walk, Chinatown. Bar Mellow, Broad Street. The Slug and Lettuce, Chinatown. Primitivo, Barwick Street - trendy restaurant serving French/Italian influenced food turns into a bar in the evening with DJs.
• Bars: Brum's glitterati favour trendy bars like The Medicine Bar (Custard Factory) and Circo (Smallbrook Queensway). Quo Vadis at the Citadel and All Bar One in Hockley cater to older but still fashionable crowds. Others include the Green Room Cafe Bar, StoodiBakers, Bar Sputnik, West End, and the luscious canalside Via Vita
• This pub in the outer suburb of Handsworth is a particularly good place to start your evening. Well laid out with three pool tables and about 20 TV screens showing MTV or the video juke box it has a classy atmosphere, but rocks hard enough to get the evening off to a bang.

  Watch out for the nearby 'Memoirs of Kashmir' restaraunt for a great takeaway curry.

  Also check the nearby 'Old Crown' for good live music on a Saturday.

  Get the 52 bus from Arundel Gate or Castle Market.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Nero, Coffee Republic, both have smoking areas ;)
• NK's Diner 1084 warwick road Acocks Green not opened long but they do a great big fry up for a fiver, and they serve great omelettes with chips, you cant go wrong here the place is clean and done out real nice. you wont know how good it is untill you go and try it out.
• There's always a coffee shop with space within five minutes of the ramp, I got a group of nine in impromptu recently. Starbucks is very clean but no marshmallows. :(
• seddley brews
• the clock cafe in northfield has got to be one of the cleanest cafe's in the country great all day breakfast's and a nutty owner called frank thanking you all the time and making sure everything is o.k. a bit over the top but all the more reason to go there always made to feel welcomed
• The Cross Cafe Moseley - I don't get out much as there doesn't seem to be much going on.
• Starbucks!!!
• Starbucks, good variety, the one near Snow Hill Station isn't bad as it has comfy seats and doesn't just sell coffee.
• Costa is ok, but Coffee Republic is the best- friendly staff, cheap prices!
• Selly oak has the best cafes. The mud cafe is cool
• Martineau Place just off Corporation Street opened 2001 has a nice selection of cafes and cheap resturants - with a covered piaza - which has some live music.
• Starbucks-----how many of these are there now in birmingham??? they seem to be multiplying!!!! aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!
• the mayonnaise on the baguettes in Croissant House on new street is out of this world.
• Costa do great coffee, or starbucks! Mostly on the main high street but there are a few smaller ones down by cult clothing.
• Bar Lago, Aston University Campus
• Hudson's - to be found in the poshest shoppping centre in Brum, the business that started eleven years ago on a bit of cash, some old sofas and 2 guys making it up as they went along is still going and serving great sandwiches (all made to order) and coffe in cafetieres (no lattes here!). Pricey, buta bit wacky and the owner is a magical character who used to be an undertaker - Hmmmmm.
• Pret, m&S (???) the food gallery. Theres loads really.
• Mcdonalds
• CafeSurf has closed down now I believe
• Lots of Costas, Coffee Republics, Starbucks etc in town centre. Cafe Face in Selly Oak.
• Seattle coffee co. Very nice hot chocolate. Not cheap, but not expensive- you'll pay the prices if you're freezing.
• Loads and loads- in the last few months, they've been springing up all over the place. Seattle Coffee Co has been taken over by Starbuck's- there's one right next to the library, and one on Colmore Row. Also Waterstones has a coffee house on site- open till 8pm weekdays, newly refurbished. Several on New Street, one on Corporation Street next to Rackhams.... I'd guess about 6 in the town centre.
• seattle coffee co. very chilled out - great coffee - theres two - one opposite Pigeon Park and one next to the library in Paradise Forum

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Last updated: 2008-01-15