Breakfast at Dishoom Birmingham

This week I thought I’d share my thoughts on Breakfast at Dishoom Birmingham. I had been invited to check out the new restaurant in Chamberlain Square. The kids had returned school so Sukh and I decided to make it a date.

We had just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary but because it fell on Bank Holiday Monday, we’d decided to spend the day with the kids.

So this was a chance of us to spend some quality time together.Dishoom has been a popular eatery in London for over 10 years, branching out to several locations, including Manchester and Edinburgh.

The restaurant in Birmingham was due to open in April but then of course, Covid happened.

A WELCOME CHANGE TO BIRMINGHAM

This part of the city centre used to be quite dingy and forgotten about, but Dishoom has revived the area and that’s a real plus point.

Even before the old Library of Birmingham was knocked down as part of the Paradise development, that part of town had become outdated.Now Dishoom has injected new life into the area.

Broad Street, the new library, Birmingham rep theatre, the International Convention Centre and Symphony Hall will all be connected to the rest of the city, once the development is complete.Right, that’s enough about the geography of Birmingham! So I had the option of picking either breakfast, lunch or dinner.

We’d already been to Dishoom with the kids twice before, once for lunch during the soft launch and once for breakfast during the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme.I must say the breakfast menu is my favourite, so it was a no-brainer that we would opt to go in the morning again.

COVID SAFETY MEASURES

When restaurants opened post-lockdown, naturally I was a little apprehensive. But Dishoom has you covered from the second you walk in. There’s a sanitising station just inside the main entrance.Once you’ve booked in, you’re instructed to pick up your own menus. Staff have clearly cleaned them after the previous customer and I think it’s a really nice touch.

I haven’t seen this level of care in many restaurants I’ve visited since they reopened. It’s good to see extra care being taken for the safety of customers.The waiters also bring you hand sanitiser to your table. These are all subtle safety measures but I’ve been impressed on all three of my visits. Our waiter Tom was very attentive and explained all the measures in place.Upon arrival, you can’t help but be wowed by the decor. The restaurant is split into three sections: the Dining Room, the Permit Bar and the outdoor terrace.

As soon as you enter, the smell of the incense sticks immediately transport you to the restaurants of Mumbai.

THE BREAKFAST MENU

The first time we went for breakfast at Dishoom, I had the Wrestler’s Naan. And yes, I literally had to wrestle with it because it’s so huge. You get smoked streaky bacon, peppery pork sausages and runny-yolked egg in a perfectly-cooked tandoori naan.This time I opted for the omelette with chopped tomato, onion, coriander and green chilli. I love a good masala omelette and it’s my go-to breakfast dish whenever I’m on one of my Mumbai trips. It comes with a side of grilled tomato and Fire Toast.This didn’t disappoint. The flavours of the bread took me back to my childhood holidays in the Punjab, when we used to toast our bread on the ‘tava’ (frying pan) and load it with butter.

THE BIG BOMBAY

Sukh picked the Big Bombay, which he had on his first visit too. Akuri (a spiced scrambled egg Parsi-style), streaky bacon, Shropshire pork sausages, masala beans, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomato and buttered, home-made buns make up the dish.I was a little greedy because I also wanted to try the chilli cheese toast that comes as part of the Kejriwal dish. So Sukh and I split the items. I had the cheese toast and he ate the two fried eggs.

THE HOUSE CHAI

One of my highlights at Dishoom is the bottomless house chai, which you can choose to have with dairy milk or oat milk. It is sweet and you can literally taste all the spices. Again this takes me back to India and how tea actually tastes there. It’s also served in similar glasses.

MORE ABOUT DISHOOM

The old Irani cafes in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) are the inspiration for Dishoom.The restaurant serves a a casual menu of Indian sharing plates like okra fries and gunpowder potatoes, both of which we sampled on our first visit. Then you have more sizeable dishes like biryanis, curries and my favourite, chole puri.If you have the chance to get down to Dishoom Birmingham, then do try it out. The decor in itself has the ‘wow’ factor and it’s the perfect casual dining eatery, where you can just have a munch with friends or family.

And if you don’t fancy eating, then you can always chill at the cocktail bar.I was impressed to learn about the charity work too and hadn’t known about it prior to this particular visit. But the details are highlighted on the menu.I can’t sign off without giving a shout-out to two of the staff; Gagan and Narinder, who booked us in and seated us. They were really sweet and attentive and it turns out they recognised me from my Tik Tok videos, saying they were huge fans of my skits.

And that was the perfect end to a lovely morning!

While you’re here, check out my recent post, on how to get a better night’s sleep.