The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Moseley, West Midlands*

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

Food

• Little Italy does excellent pizza. Many have complained its other dishes are slightly overpriced but the portions are plentiful and you can take your own wine or whatever to go with a meal (Italian B'ham style!). The new Lime and Chilli House is a welcome addition to Moseley. Food is quite expensive for what it is but the smoothies and juices are just perfect! There are a couple of contenders for the best Indian restaurant in Moseley (K2 on Alcester Road and Kabbabish on Woodbridge Road) but the worst (in my experience) is the Royal Naweed on Woodbridge Road. Best chippy in Moseley is Atlantis (St Mary's Row) without question.
• Brand New restaurant now open on Woodbridge Road called the Lime and Chilli House. Serves tasty, high quality, well cooked nosh and doubles as a Juice Bar. Definitely worth a try.
• Poco Loco - good Mexican. Not especially cheap though.
• Little Italy, disappointing. Bistro Lyonnais, v. good sometimes, iffy at others. Poco Loco - why is that place always fairly full? The food's awful, the service is appalling, it's overpriced and lacking in any appreciable atmosphere. It ain't just the nachos that are cheesy.
• The Cross Cafe Bar - swish Cafe Bar serving posh nosh, decent wines, good Belgian beers. K2 - a superb Indian restaurant, where the quality of the grub is never less than excellent. The Kababish, The Cosmopolitan, and The Royal Naweed : 3 balti houses all on Woodbridge road. all pretty good but the best of the bunch is probably the Kababish - with the Cosmo not far behind - Mr and Mrs Khan cook up a mean balti. The Jade Cantonese - on St Mary's Row. a few very interesting dishes. not as good as it used to be. Poco Loco - Mexican nosh on St Mary's Row - reports on its quality vary, but seems always to be full. Bistro Lyonnais - newish French restaurant right on the Village Green. small and intimate, sources say food is pretty good. Little Italy - brand new Italian eatery - cooking nothing to write home about.

Pubs

• The Cross Cafe Bar and The Prince of Wales The former can be a bit rough at the moment but I trust the management will be sorting that out. The Prince is very varied and always friendly.
• New Pub opening in Moseley : a Wetherspoons called, bewilderingly, The Elizabeth of York. The Bull has re-opened in a new trendy minimalist incarnation, not to everybody's taste.
• It is with some pleasure that the demise of a Firkin pub, namely the Fieldmouse that took over The Fighting Cocks, can be announced. It has now undergone a face lift and rejoices as being a Goose pub serving the usual fare at relatively cheap prices. The new owners have rightly retained the old Fighting Cocks sign above the corner entrance, so offering hope to the more mature drinkers that the pub might one day return to its original name though without the colourful clientel and their splendid antics.
• The Prince of Wales is a great, old-style pub (if the front bar is a little intimidating, check out the cosy back rooms) but look out for the 'local' contingent. Harmless enough but their preoccupation with all things 'local' is a little dull. If you fancy somewhere a little less parochial head for the Patrick Kavanagh on Woodbridge Road (which hosts an array of nights upstairs ranging from salsa to breakbeats) or the Cross Bar (Alcester Road). The Village has been transformed after a recent refurb. It's a little chintzy but it's probably the best pub in Moseley for non-smokers (airy with high ceilings) and does a very reasonable Sunday lunch deal. Accusations that the clientele is school-age are a little harsh...The Firkin currently puts on live music but upstairs at the Jug of Ale is the best place to see bands. The Jug is also the venue for the Cheeky Monkey comedy club. The Hogshead has the usual good range of beers that the chain offers. O'Neills is typical of every other O'Neills. Not my kind of thing but plenty of folk seem to like it.
• Malt Shovel, Balsall Heath, RIP. The new one is an abomination.
• The Prince of Wales - the best pub in Moseley, or anywhere else. Superb interior - probably substantially unchanged for the best part of 100 years, excellent Burton Ale, and top atmosphere. Gets very busy on Friday and saturday nights. The Fighting Cocks - one of the oldest pubs in the village, now run by the Firkin pub chain - has decent beer and all the usual Firkin stuff. The Hogshead - plenty of decent, ever-changing beers at this alehouse. sometimes the service at the bar can be, well, infuriating. O'Neill's - appalling "plastic paddy" with the usual clutter. Okay if youlike that sort of thing - but who the hell really does ? The Patrick Kavanagh Bar - formerly the Trafalgar, now independently run and an excellent house. done out in the modern style. The Bull - does a decent pint of Director's, but is definitely a bit seedy these days. The Village - avoid like the plague. A big, soulless Banks's pub, popular with under-age drinkers.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Moma's has closed down which is good and bad news. Good because the food was dire, bad because the tattooed rough wimmin that used to work there are obviously roaming the streets now.
• Every place needs at least greasy spoon but not as greasy/plain dirty as Moma's. And those mirrored tiles don't do anything for a hangover!! Smokey's on St Mary's Row is a much better bet for a sausage/bacon butty but it's takeaway only.
• Moma's - cheap and cheerful.

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Credits

Last updated: 2008-07-06