Verdict : 9/10 (I really like their food)
On 21 February 2008 (Thurs.), two friends and I visited Blue Mango for dinner. It is situated not exactly on Broad Street, but just behind Weatherspoon pub "The Soloman Cutler Lloyds No. 1 Bar".
It has passed almost two years since my last visit. I have been missing the chance to revisit, though we had a very good dinner, as it is slightly more expensive than the places where I usually take my husband.
At 7:30 when we arrived, about one third of the tables were occupied (if you see this photo, you might think it was empty, but it is because I avoided to turn the camera to other people). But it became almost 80% full at around 8 o'clock, then, as it was a weekday, people started to get quieter after 9 o'clock.
We were given a table for 4. The waiter did not tried to collect our coats, but he would have done if we had asked.
Papadoms appeared, although we did not ask. I forgot to check if we were charged for it. Anyway, it was ok, as we were not ordering starters (I really cannot eat both papadoms and starter). There were two types of papadoms in the basket; one was the usual one and the other one was corn shaped one dotted with spices. Dips were 4: mint yogurt, mango chutney, raw onion with chili sauce, and another sweet and sour sauce (maybe tamarind).
If I remember well it took 15-20 min. for the main courses to arrive (as we were in company and talking, I was not really measuring time).
Now this is the overview. The large basket to the left is North Indian bread basket, then in clockwise from it, baby aubergine curry (side dish), Kalahi chicken, Goan fish curry, Jeera aloo (side dish), Lamb curry, and at the centre is coconut rice.
The dish we liked the most was this Nihari lamb (£8.45). According to the description in menu, it contains cubed lamb, ginger, sanflower seeds, mace, green cardamon and something called keura essence (no idea what it is). The ginger was particularly present. The lamb was really plenty and no vegetable included, at least in visible form.
Left above is coconut rice (£2.95), which was somewhat different from the one I ate two years ago. Contained less fresh coconuts, but more fried fresh coconuts. I have never eaten coconuts rice elsewhere, but I don't think I got fresh coconuts in cheaper places.
Right above is Jeera Aloo (cumin potato), which is pretty common vegetable dish in Asian restaurants here. We asked for side dish portion. It tasted good, but to pay £3.95 for such a small quantity of potato, it was pretty expensive.
This is another main dish, Goan fish curry (£9.95).
Again, it was tasty, but I was not so keen on deep-fried pieces of monk fish. They were slightly too oily for me, and the fish meat was shrunk being over-cooked. They must have used monk-fish to make it a special dish, but for the taste wise, they can achieve the same result with cheaper fish like cod or haddock. Sauce was nice, though.
I don't put the photo, as all the curries look pretty much the same, but the third main dish was Kalahi Chicken (£7.95). It was the most ordinary dish of the three. What I liked about it was the pieces of vegetable cooked with the meat. I tend to prefer the curries with meat and veggie together to meat only or vegetable only curries. The quality of chicken brest morcels were pretty good, and this time, they were rightly cooked to leave them moist.
This is another side dish, Baingan Mirchi Ka Salan. I would not know how to pronouce it.
According to the menu it is a Hyderabadi speciality of baby aubergines and chili cooked in peanuts and tamarind gravy. The sauce, however, tasted pretty complex and could not be just a mixture of peanuts and tamarind. It was slightly bitter and had a hint of ginger. It was also quite hot, as there was pieces of fresh chili. We all quite liked it.
The last item, north Indian bread platter (£4.25), portion I think is for 1.5- 2 people. Left above is paratha made of whole meal flour, right below is naan with some whole grain spices, and below the two is tandoori roti.
All of them tasted good, but the most impressive one was roti. I was expecting something heavy and doughy, but it really was light, crispy and fragrant.
In upper-class Indian restaurants, the curries come often in small pots. The look of them used to disappoint me, but it did not take much time to notice these pots actually can contain quite a lot.
After having finished three of these pots and two smaller pots, we felt quite stuffed, but we could not resist trying pudding, so we asked to bring a portion of Rasmalai to share (£3.95). The milky balls were soaked in sweet condensed milk and sprinkled with crushed pistachio nuts and saffron. The rasmalai were extra fluffy and well made, but the condensed milk was very very sweet and I would not have finished one portion on my own.
We ordered three glasses of lassi as drink, and the total bill came to about £60, but I had a 25% off voucher which made the bill £:45. We paid £17 per head including service. Without reduction, it would have been £22 each including service. It is not cheap, but fair for such a nice food. I would be most happy to come back.
Blue Mango
Unit 5, Regency Wharf, Broad St, Birmingham B1 2DS
Tel: 0121 633 4422
http://www.bluemangorestaurants.co.uk/
