2010.02.07
Bromsgrove Rd, Belbroughton, Stourbridge, DY9 9TX Tel:01562 730332
Visitor review from Harry:
We visited Blue Ginger last night for the first time. The restaurant is tastefully decorated with a relaxed atmosphere. The menu is extensive with some dishes on offer that I have never seen before. The food is delicious, well presented and the portions are generous. I can recommend the starter platter for 2! The service is attentive and efficient. My only criticism is that eating felt rushed with little time between courses. I would definitely recommend this restaurant and would be booking a table again there soon.
2010.01.29
Bromsgrove Rd, Belbroughton, Stourbridge, DY9 9TX Tel:01562 730332

I pass this establishment on my way to work every day, and it used to be the ‘Four Winds’ restaurant until very recently, so if any place was going to be ‘yellowfingered’ it would be here.
A very modern refurb to give a (warranted) upmarket impression greets you when you enter, as do the waiting staff and manager, all who are pleasant, super attentive and eager to please.

Service was very quick, and the popadoms that we ordered are unlike any other a have ever had -have I had a sheltered life? They are curly,not flat disks -kind of like big sub-continent Quavers come tacos -aw hell -just see the pic below for proof.

My Chicken Tikka Korai had very generous amounts of chicken, however if anything a little too far on the tomato-ey side. The naan breads fluffy and not at all stodgy. Angie chose a Salmon Tikka starter which came out the correct colour -no food colouring seems to be have been used.
Angie also chose the Jaipur lamb chops -I tried some (well, you’ve got to haven’t you?) and it was superb.

The puddings are well worthy of note..if you have a sweet tooth try the White Chocolate Box -lush.
What I like most is that, as Blue Ginger is quite remote and you can only drive there, I can’t see them doing take aways -and this means it is a proper restaurant – diners will always come first over getting take-aways out the door- unlike their suburban counterparts.
That said, this place is going for the ‘exclusive’ clientele and its not exactly cheap, some of the main courses are £10 plus but the quality and quantity generally are up there so recommended for Birthdays, Weddings, Bar-Mitzvahs’ and whenever you want a treat.
Licensed
Rating:     
2009.10.22
McCausland Crescent Umhlanga Rocks, Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa TEL: +27 31 561 7486

This is a plush buffet style restaurant situated close to the Beverley Hills Hotel on the beach front in Durban.
The food consists of traditional Indian dishes such as curried chicken and lamb with local twists such as excellent spiced prawns.
On the whole everything was nicely spiced and very well presented with special praise again going to the prawns.
The service was very attentive and friendly and as with most things in South Africa
well priced compared to the UK – even the drinks.
Licensed
Website
Rating:     
2009.10.19
67-69 High St, Halesowen, West Midlands, B63 3BQ Tel: 0121 501 3816
I was nearly talked into going to a new Italian restaurant on the evening we visited the Bangla Lounge but luckily my niece fancied a curry. “Where should we go”, we asked ourselves, and decided to try this restaurant opposite the Norman parish church in Halesowen town centre.
Its bright signage invited us in, and being a Monday night we had little problem acquiring a good table at the window, even though it was by no means empty.
Service was quick and waiters were polite and eager to please.
The whole restaurant is clean and modern with round tables and white tablecloths-oddly no salt and pepper on any tables this evening but you only have to ask.
The food is very very good here. My Onion Pakora starter was faultless, my Sisters sheek kebab similarly so.
My main of Chicken Tikka Dansak was simply superb, with a richness and depth of flavour that other local restaurants don’t come close to.
My Niece had a Tikka Massala, while, though not to my tastes, she thoroughly enjoyed.
The chips of all things, should be mentioned. Crispy, in a light batter I think while fluffy on the inside-something unique for this kind of eatery? Absolutely gorgeous and were polished off even though the ample portions meant we were already quite full.
Better still are the prices . Sunday -Thursday is a buy two main courses get one free offer- worthwhile checking its still on as may be for a limited time only.
Not just recommended, but a ‘Must Visit’.
Licensed
Rating:     
2009.09.29
Newmarket Place, Belvedere Road, Claremont, Cape Town

Permima’s is a small restaurant in an outer suburb of Cape Town which serves well known dishes from the sub continent with a local twist.
There is no menu as such – just a blackboard with that day’s offerings.
My choice was Prawn Jingha to start followed by Lamb Vindaloo.
The prawns were nicely spiced and simply presented. The Lamb Vindaloo was vindaloo hot and the lamb tender and correctly cooked.
Both dishes took along time by uk standards to arrive – this would suggest no base sauces and everything cooked from scratch – it certainly tasted that way.
The only thing I could criticise was the naan breads – dry round the edges.
To sum up a friendly well run restaurant that does simple well.
Rating:     
2009.09.28
62, High Street,Wollaston, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY8 4NJ Tel: 01384 373703
NEW: Review by Mr. Paul Edington:
Wonderful Restaurant, food was fantastic the chicken pardesi was excellent. 15 of us went and the customer service was great, one of the best restaurant in Stourbridge. Recommended for all.
Review- Yellowfingers:
 © Copyright P L Chadwick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Another ex public house converted in an Indian Restaurant, this time the old ‘Bulls Head’ in High Street Wollaston (thus making the number of Indian restaurants in Wollaston three -not including three takeways that I know of alone). This restaurant is owned and shares the name of the long established and busy Indian take away ‘Red Forte’ just round the corner on the Bridgnorth road.
 © Copyright P L Chadwick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Excellent creamy raita to pour onto starters and dip crispy popadoms into.
To begin I had a Nargis kebab, which was perfect.

I followed this by a dish called Chicken Pardesi which was truly fantastic, a Chicken Tikka and Prawn curry with Green Peppers, excellently flavoured, and with just the right heat. I complimented this with two Chapatis.
My wife had a Badami Makhani ,nutty sweet, mild and creamy – ‘pudding’ as I call it, while my neice had a Nawabi Tandoori Chicken Massala. This contains Chicken and minced Lamb in a rich curry sauce.
She used to be a vegetarian, obviously not anymore then…
The waiting staff were great, very friendly and this place is worth a visit.
Unlicensed
redforte-menu
Rating:     
2009.09.04
1, Crackwell St, Tenby, Dyfed SA70 7HA
This restuarant is located right at the top of the high street where it forks into Crackwell Street.It is located on two floors, with seating in the bay window overlooking Tenbys North Beach and Harbour.

The food is superb, and was very well presented indeed. Check out the icing sugar swan on the desert (excellently modelled by Wendy).

Unfortunately, during busy periods this suffers from the same problem as many many restaurants nationwide -customer experience flies out of the window to be replaced by the restaurant wanting to take as many covers -bums on seats -as possible.
They were handing us the bill before we had even finished our desert! If we had given them our coats to hang up I’m pretty sure they would have been giving us them back as soon as we had downed our forks in order for us to vacate our seats so the next punter can have them. And we Booked!
This makes the experience of going out for a meal on a Saturday night Crap to be honest. What if we had wanted coffee? What about having a relaxing night out? Why is it all about takings and nothing to do with customer experience?
Do you think I’m wrong?
Is it Ok for restaurants to do this on a Saturday Night?
Use the ‘Comment’ button below if you want to reply (you may need to register to login first).
Its a shame. The food was great.
4 stars for the food
No stars at all for the experience of eating there on Saturday -unless you get the bay window seats and are not kicked out of your seat before you have finished.
Unlicensed
Website
Rating:     
2009.08.23
44 High St Pershore, WR10 1DP Tel: 01386 555357
We were in Pershore on a Dragon Boat racing week-end with the social adventure group Spice Uk and decided to use this as an excuse to get our fingers yellow.
So we chanced upon this great Tandoori “The Shunarga” and paid it an unannounced visit on a Saturday night.

The menu here is very unusual and has many exotic sounding dishes, not least an Indiana Pasta” dish. One of our party chose a delicious King Prawn starter that appeared to have been dressed in fine egg thread noodles. My main course was a meat feast, Tandoori Chicken Leg, Chicken and Lamb Tikka in a minced Lamb Bhuna Sauce.

The presentation of the food was very good and the quality cannot be faulted.
Heres a tip. Don’t eat here if you are camping with your missus. The weather in the tent is likely to turn windy in the middle of the night and you won’ be Mr. Popular. Just Mr. Stinky.
On the whole, very much worth a visit if you are in the village . Enjoy.
Licensed
Rating:     
2009.07.21
19 High Street, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY9 8LB Tel: 01384 893322
Reviewed by my sister:
“hya Andy
Just returned from a curry night with friends from work. Went to Blakeys in Lye – well worth a try – food is excellent as was the service and Blakey even remembered my address from when I used to have take outs from there years ago. Complimentary popadoms which is unusual these days along with free onion bhajis which were superb and at the end of the meal, complimentary coffees also. The total bill for the three of us was under £30 and we had starters which I thought was excellent value.
Anyway, there’s my write up – and if I could do it on your websight I would.”
Rating:     
2009.07.11
Little India:Tudor House, Tudor Square,Tenby, Pembrokesire, SA70 7AJ Tel: 01834 844732
Yellowfingers on holiday! Whilst taking a weeks vacation in sunny (!…sometimes) Tenby we decided to add this delightful seaside towns two Indian/Bengali restaurants to our reviews, which was really no hardship!
First off was Little India, located on the high street area of Tenby.
As this was a Monday evening, getting a seat was easy. I don’t think the same would be said during the week-end though, as past experience has proven this to be difficult -week-ends in Tenby are manic everywhere.
You enter down a flight of steps to a sparsly decorated room, with a centre bar and seating down the side and rear.

We decided to forego starters and head straight for the main course.
I ordered the Little India Special Cocktail -£9.95- a mixed grill of Chicken and lamb Tikka, Tandoori Chicken portion and Sheek kebab, dressed with fried onions and either accompanied by a mince bhuna or a naan. I chose the bhuna which was a good choice.

I can state that no one left anything at all which is a good sign, and my meal was quite delicious. Other comments around the table concluded that although the meals they had (Dhansak for example) were ‘different’ from what they usually expect ,they were still good all the same.
If there is to be any criticism then this would be that more detail needed to be made to the presentation. Mine looked a little ‘washed out’. It needed more colour. A healthy sprinkling of fresh coriander would have improved this, and also a welcome little charring to the fried onions would have also helped…but not too much, obviously.

All in all, worth a visit if you are on your holidays.
Licensed
Rating:     
2009.03.03
42 Dudley Road, Stourbridge, DY9 8EA Tel: 013…

This venue was recommended to us as a potential Bengal Fusion beater in the Lye – Its not, but it is rather good.
These days, a lot of the restauranteurs are taking advantage of the sad closure of many of our midland (or is it national?) public houses, and this balti house resides in the converted ‘Swan with Two Necks’ pub on the Dudley Road, on the way from Lye to the Merry Hill Shopping centre.
The food is well presented and the quality is up there. I chose a Nargis Kebab starter which was OK, the mince a little dry but very edible.

I followed this up with a Chicken Tikka Mattar -Chicken and Keema curry -yum!
Its very bright inside, and I suppose as its quite ‘open plan’, its not so suited maybe if you want a romantic meal for two -but I could say the same for Bengal Fusion, and thats great too, so no points docked. I think its more suited for family/friends parties, which is just what we were having.

Of special note, I must mention the popadums -some of the lightest, crispiest I have had in a while -do try.
The fish tank is centre piece in the main dining area -but no, you can’t pick your ‘Tandoori Fish’ from there. Nice tropical fish though, which seemed to attract the attention of the children in the restaurant.

The service was excellent, not that slow, and neither did we feel at all rushed, considering our visit ocurred on February Saturday night.
Althought its a converted pub, its unlicensed so take your own alcoholic drinks in if you wish.
Overall, not bad at all.
Unlicensed
Rating:     
2009.02.17
26a Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 1LU Tel: 0141 221 9251
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This restaurant is situated in the commercial centre of Glasgow and terms of décor gives out a modern feel.
The food is from the Punjab region of India and features dishes from that region with normal standard Indian dishes also.
One of the more unusual dishes is Chicken Jhatpat which has melted cheese.
For my visit I went more mainstream with that old standard Chicken Jalfazi. The dish presented was dry in terms of sauce than the norm but still tasty with generous amounts of chicken. The naan bread was warm and fluffy – ideal in my book.
To sum up a well presented restaurant with added value for money – an important factor in these tough times.
Licensed
Website
Rating:     
2009.02.14
Valberggata 14, 4006 Stavanger, Norway Tel:+47 51 89 39 35
 Inside the India Tandoori
This restaurant is situated in the commercial centre of Stavanger in Norway.
The décor is what we would term traditional but without the usual music.
My meal consisted of chicken Jalfazi – a number of differences were apparent from the uk right from the beginning – rice came automatically and the dish was offered medium , spiced or hot.
The food itself was excellent – the Jalfazi itseif had both green and red peppers in it – something I consider a must for this dish. Also present were carefully cut strands of ginger and the chicken itself had been skewered and marinated separately.
The sauce was heat with taste without a hint of floating gee – something I hate.
All in all an excellent restaurant. One word of warning Norway is not cheap, a main course, rice,naan and two drinks cost £40.00.
Licensed
Website
Rating:     
2008.11.08
121, Bridgnorth Rd, Wollaston, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY8 3NX
Tel: 01384 392788
This licensed restaurant is always popular and as ever was packed to capacity on Friday night so always best to book.
A recent return vist saw me order the deliciously crispy Onion Bahjees, a personal favourite of mine, followed by the simply so -over -the – top- its brilliant Korai Chicken Tikka Masalla – a dish containing not only Chicken Tikka (natch) but also keema mince. Whats not to like…?
The staff are polite and always at hand, and once you have finished your meal a complimentary small drink is often served to enhance the experience of dining here.
I can whole heartedly recommend a visit to East One.

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