Lasan
Verdict : 7/10 (Satisfied. Would be happy to go back)
On 20 January 2008 (Sun.) a friend and I visited Lasan. I have already been here once in July 2007 (report of that occasion here.
Lasan is surely one of the most renowned restaurants in Birmingham, and picks up various food awards from time to time. It is not a budget restaurant, but this time we have got a special January offer of 2 course meal for £10.
When we were about to open the door, a member of staff came and did it for us. One of the waiters clearly remembered me after almost half a year and greeted me. We could not help noticing the quality of service in these small details.
First comes the complimentary papadoms. Accompaniments are thick sweet yogurt with chili and onion salad. They were fine.
This is one of the starters, Paneer Tikka (£5.50). According to the menu description, paneers are marinated in yogurt, and baked in tandoor oven with pepper and red onion, served with salad and coriander & mint sauce.
The paneer cubes were presented beautifully. Not that special, but still pleasant.
The other starter, "Kumbh Palak Tikki (£4.75)B
The green balls are made of spinach, paneer and potato. Inside, there is a paste of sautéed mushroom (and, I think, onion). The orange thing on top is fresh carrot chutney.
The combination of bitter spinach, sweet mushroom and tangy chutney was just perfect. I would recommend this one to anyone who loves Indian vegetarian food.
This is a naan (£1.95) to accompany the main dish.
As I have already written before, Lasan's naan is sweet, fluffy and butterly. Pretty nice.
Now, main dish. This is Kolma ki tenga halibut (£14.95). Halibut is pan-fried, and served with, according to the menu, Bengali orange peel sauce.
The sauce was tomato based, mildly spiced with some chili kick. I did not particularly taste orange peel. I would have preferred it spicer, but the fish was of good quality and perfectly cooked.
On the right upper corner is the pilau rice (£2.20). On top are deep-fried onion slices. I often find pilau rice too oily, but this one was done nicely.
The other main Samundari Shorba (£10.95).
According to the menu, it is traditiona fisherman's curry with mussels, prawns, diced fish meat and octopus cooked in spicy tomato sauce. This one is even milder in use of spice, and it was almost Mediterranean in taste. The sauce looks very similar to the one used in the other main dish, but it tasted distinct because of the juice coming from seafood, especially from mussels. To be so juicy, I wouls suppose mussels were not frozen ones, The prawns were not usual frozen prawns as we usually find in balti houses. They were larger and had more bite. Again, I would have appreciated a bit more spice, but because of the high quality seafood, it was delicious enough.
Besides, we ordered also a bottle water, and the total bill would have come to £43 if there wesn't discount (we paid £23 bill + £3 tip after discount). Not cheap, but fair for the quality of food and service. We hope to be back soon.
Lasan
3-4 Dakota Building, James St., St. Paul's Sq., Birmingham, B3 1SD
Tel. 0121 212 3664
Email Info@lasan.co.uk
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