What a famous food critic from London really thinks about a Desi pub in West Brom

Renowned food critic Jay Rayner has returned to the West Midlands to try a new restaurant. The food journalist who works for BBC The One Show and the Observer newspaper, which is part of The Guardian, visited West Bromwich this time.

During a previous visit, he lauded a restaurant in Stirchley for its Chinese food - the venue, called Yikouchi, run by James Kirk-Gould and his partner Cassie, was included in Rayner’s dining highlights for 2022.

This time, he visited a humble Desi pub in West Bromwich called The Sportsman. Rayner had read about the venue via Birmingham food blogger Simon Carlo on his Meat & One Veg blog.

Rayner has a reputation as a straight talker when it comes to dining, and says in his new review that “it’s not the prettiest of places”, adding that he felt it was built for maximum capacity and commented on the local darts team’s trophies displayed.

However, he couldn’t keep his hands off the food. The critic says that their Desi bakra lamb curry on the bone is not to be missed and was delighted by a boneless chicken tikka made with thigh meat.

Of the lamb curry, he writes: “It’s a wonder of thick, spiced ghee-rich gravy and bone marrow suckage, topped with fresh coriander and onion. The meat just tumbles off into the heavily spiced depths.”

And, of the chicken tikka, which he calls the star of the afternoon, he writes: “The skin is hot and crisp and the meat beneath that crunch is tender and juicy. There are bigger pieces of satisfyingly bone-in chicken tikka and a load of superbly crusty spiced chicken wings, blackened and seared.”

Not only does the pub have affordable beer, but also great fritters, Indo-Chinese section and naans, Rayner explains further. He loved the food so much that he took the leftovers home. He concludes his review declaring: “You’ve won at lunch.”

The Sportsman pub is a family-run business that has been in operation for almost twenty years. The Sportsman Club - located on the West Bromwich High Street - has a 4-star rating on Tripadvisor and “Good” food hygiene rating . Open everyday from 12pm to 11pm, it is a Desi(South Asian) pub that offers crispy samosas, bhajis, lamb bhuna and more.

Rayner adds about Desi pubs: “They were, and remain, third spaces; places where those men could get fed in a familiar and comforting way, amid the comfort of others.

“Now they sit right at the heart of the communities of which they are a significant part, open to all, knocking out heaving plates of the cheap and the cheerful, and bringing a beautifully precise extra dimension to British pub culture.”

What is a Desi pub?

The term Desi pub is used colloquially in the United Kingdom to describe a pub owned or managed by a landlord of Indian origin. These pubs usually serve Punjabi food along with regular British food and drinks. They have become a symbol of cultural integration.