Kababish
BACK TO AN OLD STOMPING GROUND
Kababish is not part of the new breed of curry houses – neither those with nouveau cuisine aspirations, nor the street food types. So whilst it’s at the more traditional, yet smart and comfortable end of the scale, their menu holds few surprises.
But, having been a regular here for so long we must be close to our silver anniversary, the food has been of a consistent high quality throughout with just the very odd blip. As notable as that is, it’s the consistent friendliness of the staff that truly deserves a special mention and I’m sure at least two of them have been there throughout that whole time. Although, given that familiarity, it does rather feel like reviewing your wife’s cooking.
A friend from those early Moseley days, Sass, is back on a visit with her chap, Simon, who has never been to Birmingham before. As they live in deepest, half timbered and thatched Sussex, he wants a decent curry and Sass seizes this opportunity to revisit an old stomping ground, so it’s Kababish that gets the nod.
There are another two friends joining us, but with us four arriving a bit early we order popadoms for the table. Then, with the news that our fellow diners are running late we decide to get some starters for the table too – we each get to pick one which we plan to share and Simon and I quickly agree on the lamb ka tikka and tandoori lamb chops, whilst vegetarian Georgie goes for the Paneer Shashlik.
Meanwhile Sass is more than a tad perturbed that she can’t find the dish she always used to have. We call the waiter over and she sets about describing it to him… which boils down to king prawns on a hot plate. “No worries, we can do that” the waiter says, without even needing to consult with the kitchen and that’s that sorted. In the meantime, finally freed from bedtime duties, Laura and Leanne turn up and they order another paneer shaslik and onion bhaji.
The lamb ka tikka turns out to be four huge, juicy chunks that ticked every single box any confirmed Tikka fan would expect. Next, it’s Sass’s tandoori king prawns that arrive on a hot griddle, looking like they’ve been pumping iron at the gym and sitting amongst a bed of fried and lightly charred onions. The conversation momentarily halts to admire the finely tuned, turbo charged snap, crackle and pop of the sizzle. It’s frankly criminal that this dish ever got taken off the menu, so just ask for it.
And then when the lamb chops arrive, the only thing missing is a fanfare. Four good sized cutlets – marinated in yoghurt and spices and cooked in a tandoori oven. Much like the particular pleasure of charred pillowy crusts of pizza, its blackened edges contrast with the intense reddy orange hues of their marinade. If it wasn’t for the other starters I’d have been miffed to have not had more than one.
After a short break, we were ready to order the mains – a balti chicken makhani, balti chicken & mushroom pathia, balti king prawns dopiaza, meetah aloo makhani and a chicken tikka masala. I don’t know why I feel the need to admit to ordering that last one and now it’s written down, I actually feel a bit embarrassed.
In my defence, I almost always go for their lamb achari. But as well as having had double lamb for starters, it’s on the hotter side of a Kababish curry and my acid indigestion doesn’t feel too far away from making what would be a most unwelcome appearance, so I want to play it safe.
It’s a decent enough version of it, albeit only in so much that a tikka masala can be, but it totally backfired on me anyway, as I still got a bit of jessie. It also left me pining for the spicy, tangy heat and all round deep deliciousness of the slow cooked lamb achari, but I will never make that tragic mistake again.
To supplement the mains we had a paratha, 2 peshwari naans, a garlic naan, 2 boiled rice and a pilau rice. I just stuck with the peshwari naan, which is ‘Best in Class’ – a light crust, sticky with glazed honey and laced with coconut, almonds and plump sultanas. Along the way we’ve also had 7½ Pints of Cobra - and I think I had the lion’s share – and a bottle of Babylon Chenin Blanc which brought it all in at £164.10
Simon’s impressed, even remarking effusively about the condiments that come with the Popadoms – I’d suggest that’s as significant enough reason to move, but their home is an otherwise perfect idyll and inferior curries are just a small price to pay. Nevertheless, at the very least I’d expect we’ll now be able to persuade him to return. Sass has reawakened old memories and caught up with friends she hasn’t seen for 8 odd years and Kababish has delivered again, much like … I’d really like to say ‘the wife’ here, but…
Oh, go on then… the wife! And just for the record her cooking is very good.
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