National Curry Week: I’m from New Delhi and I tried Indian street food in Birmingham - this is what I think

I moved to Birmingham in 2021 from India - having lived in New Delhi and Bengaluru - and have tried out many of the popular Indian restaurants in my new home city.

Growing up in New Delhi, munching on street food was almost a part of my staple diet. Almost every neighbourhood in New Delhi has its own famous chaatwaala - a street vendor selling savoury snacks. Chaat is an umbrella term to describe the different kinds of savoury snacks available.

Many Indian or South Asian restaurants in Birmingham have tried to capture those flavours. Over the past year and more in Birmingham I have eaten at Zindiya in Moseley, Indico in the Mailbox, Tamatanga - which is just across the way at the Mailbox, the Indian Streatery on Bennetts Hill, Dhishoom in Victoria Square - and ordered in from many others like Itihaas in the Jewellery Quarter and Tamasha in Chad Valley.

I went to Zindiya a couple of times, especially for its street food like Samosa Chaat, Chole Bhature, Paani and Puri, and of course, Masala Chai. Unlike Dhishoom, the chai is not endless here but it gives them a run for their money.

Masala chai is easy to make at home if you have the right ingredients but even after years of trying - I haven’t managed to get the taste right, but Zindiya does it perfectly.

At Zindiya, you get a feel of what streeteries in India are like, but you also get food that tastes great and follows the hygiene laws of the land. They are a family-run independent business serving street food from Mumbai, Kolkata, and New Delhi - three of the big cities in India.

If I were to compare it to the food back home, the only complaint I have is that the spice level is just not right. And, honestly, I am thankful for that because I don’t miss the gastric discomfort after eating food so spicy I sweat through it.

I also got a takeaway from Tamasha in Chad Valley recently and they had one of the best Indo-Chinese dishes popular in India - Chilli chicken, and the Butter Chicken was as good as it gets in Birmingham. It was sweeter than the versions I have had in some New Delhi restaurants but closer to the original.

The recipe for Butter Chicken or murgh makhaani was developed in old Delhi in the 1950s - as legend goes - where the founders of Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryganj discovered it by chance. They mixed leftover tandoori chicken with a tomato gravy that was rich in butter.

The secret to Butter Chicken is to get the rest of the spices just right because the tomato can overpower everything else quite easily.

To conclude, I would recommend Zindiya as a must for their street food and Tamasha for trying their best with two of the most popular dishes from India.