IT'S often said New York is the most cosmopolitan city on earth - the sort of place where you could sample cuisine from almost any part of the world.
But Birmingham's got to be catching up fast. Long established as a melting pot city, it still tends to be thought of as famous mostly for
its Indian restaurants.
But Brum boasts far more than just the Balti Belt when it comes to showcasing some of the world's great food.
One of the latest is Blue Ginger, a small but impressive restaurant specialising in Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine.
It's located in a great little comer of Kings Heath, that is fast emerging as a street of some gastronomic note.
It may be evidence of the continued spread of the Bohemian character of Moseley as it stretches further down the Alcester Road, or it
could be the case that due to the proliferation of pubs and bars there stand-alone restaurants are having to move further out of town.
Whatever the case, Poplar Road has some real gems, and most are worth checking out.
Blue Ginger features a
menu that combines some
dishes that are familiar with
others you will never have
heard of before.
Some of the dishes, such as
satay, are the kind of thing
you might find at a Thai
restaurant. Other starters are
a little different, such as
savoury carrot cake and tofu
otak - a delicate spicy mousse
of tofu and seawead wrapped
in a banana leaf and char-
grilled.
My companion's Blue
Ginger mussels were delicious (I know because I tried
one) - plump, juicy mussels
cooked with galangal, lemon
grass and green curry sauce.
My lucky prawns were good
too, king prawns in a crisp
tempura batter which came
with a sweet and spicy dip.
Interesting sounding main
courses like beef randang (a
spicy Malasian dry curry),
hokkien noodles (combining
squid, king prawns and pork
in a hot sauce) and nasi
goreng (Indonesian fried rice)
all sounded good but in the
end we both opted for
Singapore chicken curry. It
seemed suitably appropriate,
given one of the ingredients
was 'blue ginger' and also
included coconut milk and
traditional nyonya spices.
It proved an excellent blend
of heat and flavour and more
importantly tasted fresh and
light. You were left in no doubt
that this was cooked to order.
The accompanying rice was
memorable too, as were the
mixed vegetables.
Sadly on this occasion we
did not have time to try any
of the tantalising desserts, all
of which are home-made -
definitely an excuse to make
a return visit.
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