rajdoot tandoori - birmingham

mental prices, low quality food, terrible service. but seriously, those prices 🤣🤣🤣 absolute jokers

i have dined here thrice in my 4 and half years stay in birmingham; two dinners and a lunch.

to start off, i know a fair bit about the history of this restaurant but i would not go extensively into that least i bore you ... the restaurant was actually started by a very refined and highly cultured kashmiri pandit. that explains the ostentatious yet somewhat melancholy evoking interiors of this restaurant. he had painstakingly designed it shipping exquisite pieces of art such as brass and silver filigree work from oridsha and rajastan. if you look carefully, the ceiling is the timeless and rare 'khatamband' style of kashmir, which god knows how he managed to install here....

the man had some complications and finally decided to sell it...

so now its in the hands of an owner who's basically milching his customers with both hands...too vivid? not really the prices here are sky high! whats worse, the food is extremely mediocre and possibly even below average. everything tasted the same in this place.  

the service quality is also bad for the price paid. the waiters had very little knowledge of the menu or the ingredients of the dishes therein. the owner who usually camps in one corner, seems arrogant and detached. 

for a restaurant with such good interiors and such high price you would imagine that the cliental are mostly professionals and upper middle class families but thats wishful thinking. when you visit it you are likely to see cantankerous, loud mouthed, nouveau riche - punjabis, name dropping in possibly the most obnoxious manner known to indian kind. mind you, i am talking about this specific strain of 'punjabis' not all of them. for the price you pay, you dam well wish for a refined and composed cliental!

the bar is very poorly stocked. you would be expecting to see the likes of ancnon, talkiser 1985, dewars or at least vat 69 but what you would see in fact is famous grouse and cadenhead’s talisker (something that should never have been bottled in the first place and this is not the 10 year old, brilliant gold looking talisker i am talking about).

the establishment is in a doleful phase of its existence with the current owners. it needs a more refined owner who understands the restaurant, because this could easily be on the the finest in birmingham but only if the food quality is brought up several notches.

one of the best dining experience in town . really lipsmacking food. lamb shish was nice . good quality food & warm welcome . will surely visit .

we live in a society that isn’t kind to restaurants.  one that eats them up and spits them out.  one that is so fickle it could be a contestant on love island.  a staggering 90% of restaurants in this country fail within the first twelve months. why? i don’t bloody know, i’m not a restauranteur; i’m an over opinionated twerp with a keyboard. but the ones that i have seen demise with my own eyes have been poorly judged concepts (lobsters), rotten locations (sea food restaurants above café bloody rouge) and just bad luck (comida, you were brilliant and you’ll be back). it almost puts me off my dream of a little italian restaurant of my own. almost. the restaurant business is not a lottery, it’s a cleverly thought out line of ticked boxes and processes, as my good friend barry sherwin has pointed out to me on many an occasion. and he knows a thing or two about opening these places. so there.

fantastic. i've been here several times and everything i've had here has been excellent. highly recommend the duck starter!

rajdoot in birmingham has been part of the curry scene for over forty years, and is one of the most established indian restaurants in the city. let’s see what this jewellery quarter-based restaurant, serving up north indian cuisine cooked by chefs trained in india, has to offer.

atmosphere

stepping into the restaurant, you can’t help but feel yourself relax in this oasis of eastern calm. receiving a warm welcome, we were seated on a plump banquette in the reception area with plenty of bombay mix for company. after perusing the menu at our leisure, we ordered our meals before being led to our table in the main restaurant. featuring exotic art, traditional music and low lighting, the interior is both sumptuous and intimate; perfect for a loved-up meal with a partner.

food

with poppadums and plentiful amounts of dip arriving before the meal, the shish kebab and gingered lamb chops were first up. the lamb shish was spicy and of a good quality, whilst the flavour combinations in the lamb chops were well matched. for our mains we chose methi chicken and king prawn masalla. my chicken was a heavenly, creamy, smooth-tasting dish full of big hunks of meat. the prawns in tomato sauce had just a hint of a kick.

i love vegetable-based indian dishes and i’m glad i opted for a side of bengan aloo. rich, flavoursome and buttery, this dish shows that meat can be just an optional extra when the food is prepared so expertly. the peshwari naan was a sweet delight and a welcome addition to the meal.

drinks

both of us opted for soft drinks on this occasion, but a wide selection of beers and wines are also available. the opulent decor lends itself to sipping on a glass of something indulgent.

pricing

shish kebab = £6.95
gingered lamb chops = £7.50

methi chicken = £12.50
king prawn masalla = £16.80

bengan aloo = £6.95
peshwari naan = £3.50

total (two diners) = £54.20

overall

what marks out rajdoot from the rest is the ambiance. the traditional, ornate setting is complemented by the low lighting and unhurried service. this is a great place to sit and unwind at the end of the week. although it is a touch pricey, there is a great set lunch menu and i’d urge you to go green and try a few vegetarian options.

rajdoot in birmingham has been part of the curry scene for over forty years, and is one of the most established indian restaurants in the city .  let’s see what this jewellery quarter-based restaurant, serving up north indian cuisine cooked by chefs trained in india, has to offer. [by  alev dervish ] atmosphere stepping into the restaurant, you can’t help but feel yourself relax in this oasis of eastern calm. receiving a warm welcome, we were seated on a plump banquette in the reception area with plenty of bombay mix for company. after perusing the menu at our leisure, we ordered our meals before being led to our table in the main restaurant. featuring exotic art, traditional music and low lighting, the interior is both sumptuous  and intimate; perfect for a loved-up meal with a partner. food with poppadums and plentiful amounts of dip arriving before the meal, the shish kebab and gingered lamb chops were first up. the lamb shish was spicy and of a good quality, whilst the flavour comb

awesome fusion food. i absolutely love the food here from the starters to the main courses. they are incredible. i asked them to make one of the curries extra hot and man they were eye watering spicy so i had mop it up with sweet nan and yogurt.