tipu sultan

its among the better indian restaurants in birmingham. certainly better than pushkar and rajdoot.

i dined here about five times in my 4 and half years stay in birmingham. four times on invites and once on my own. i have tried handi ki mirch, sultan karahi murgh and nihari. all of these were lamb dishes. the meat itself tastedgoodand succulent. well, lamb meat according to me is of a slightly higher quality in birmingham as opposed to say delhi.

i love a fiery dish being an indian that i am but handi ki mirch is overpowering on the palate because i believe they are a tad too liberal with the pepper. nihari for a discerning indian palate is overly subdued. sultani karahai mirch, colloquially put, was on point. it was a tad more spicy than the other dishes (even though the menu claims handi ki mirch) is spicier. 

i think the starters are a let down. murgh wings and fish pakoras were not up to scratch. the layer of basan was too thick to be an enjoyable pakora. you can never go wrong with the pappadoms but i think they are priced nearly 10 times higher than what they should be (including profit). one can easily procure a packet of 30 papodoms for 65p.

the staff are not much different from that of rajdoot in that they are ignorant about the items in the menu and the contents there in. they are not the sort of staff you can expect to be guided from if unsure on what to order.

the insides are lush but not quite asgoodas rajdoot's.

all in all, i would not be visiting this a sixth time but for a first timer its worth a try.

tipu sultan is deserving of all the positive reviews it has amassed over the short few years it's been open.

as a regular from its first weeks in operation to now the one thing that i feel they deserve the highest praise for is ' consistency '

too many restaurants open with much promise and potential to become standard bearer's but ultimately many take their eye of what is really important in a restaurant....yep the food.

decoration, style presentation are all vital but if the food doesn't excite the taste buds there's no point!

tipu has been in my humble opinion consistent throughout the years and i believe that's what makes it so dam good.

portions are generous and one main dish is more than enough for two. i love the open kitchen view nice to actually see how many people work to make this all happen.

the only reason i didn't score it a five is a feeling that the soft drinks are a tad over priced when comparing to the cost of food. a glass of coke is £2.50!! now for something that's costing no more than 30p to add such a margin seems a tad unreasonable.

and the comparison i use is a starter of seekh kebabs made of lamb cost £4 or so. lamb is an expensive meat, so how can you charge that forgoodfood and charge so much for sugary soft drinks!!

a small complaint and i always have water with my food so why am i complaining!!

this is one of the place where they serve authentic indian dishes. tried starters, main course and all items were delicious. ambience wasgoodand staff were friendly.

one of my favourite restaurants in birmingham.. i used to visit tipu's more than thrice a week ...goodfood ... ambience and value for money!

this place was in my wishlist for a while, had heard quite a lot about tipu sultan. if you live in or around birmingham and talk about indian cuisine or indian restaurants you could be sure that you will get to hear about this one and for right reasons.
we arrived there late around 9:30 pm on a weekday (it was a monday actually) and we were surprised to see it was still almost full,and this place is quite large, so expect bit of wait time if you head to this one on a weekend. 
decor from outside doesn't look too great however the moment you walked in, it catches your eyes. beautifully done, lavishly decorated and lovely ambience specially those red lights and classic fort like antiques.after having a look at the drinks menu,you could be surprised that there's no alcoholic beverage,none. yes that's right. plenty of nice non-alcoholic options  are available though to quench your thirst. we ordered a cocalada (pineapple,vanilla and coconut) and another drink which were quite refreshing.lamb chops as a starter were too good, it's also hailed as tipu sultan's signature dish.
we had hyderabadi chicken handi along with ever favourite garlic naan and a murgh biryani.quantity was enough to serve 2, naan was huge and tasty. handi chicken wasgoodbut was a bit dry to my liking, a little bit of gravy would have been great. biryani was alright not really great. another stand out thing about this place was cleanliness and courteous staff, they are friendly and polite. we finished off with a black currant ice cream and had really nice time at tipu's. we even decided to get nihari gosht and a naan packed for home. awesome place, great food and nice value for money. going again this week ;)

been here last week ! most amazing and authentic indian cuisine served here! must visit ! re-energised my taste buds ! fairly priced !goodservice !

been here and the food wasn't asgoodas i was expecting as i was told it was the best place ever but the overall experience wasgoodthe decor is really nice and well presented.

beautiful surroundings. absolutely packed and no rebooking so be prepared to wait. waiter young friendly and fresh . could be more polished manner but fast and efficient at beginning taking orders etc but hard to get towards end of meal.
meal - average togood- lamb chops tasty but not the best i' ve had. black pepper chicken..too much black pepper! - ok..
food overall just average.
overall reasonable price 20-25 a head.
i do think need to raise the game on food / service to match the superb surroundings.
will be going back to give a second chance.

went there this evening with family, excellent customer service, waitresses were first class, the food was brilliant,goodhospitality,goodplace i have been in while!