Shabab Balti Restaurant

The best Balti in Birmingham!
A proper authentic Birmingham Balti house on Ladypool Road.
Free popadoms and raita on arrival.
The chicken tikka jalfrezi Balti is amazing.
Intense flavours at a reasonable price.
The service is very friendly and they’re always pleased to see you.
Unlicensed so you can bring your own booze if you wish.
Also open very late, I’ve had many a 3am curry here.

I was looking to introduce my boyfriend to the wonder of Birmingham Balti and found this popping up on many of the top lists. We booked a table (lucky that we did, as it was full when we were there) and six of us headed to the restaurant. The staff were lovely, helpful and attentive and the food was as good as I had read it would be. The Table Naan is fun and the peshwari naan was gorgeous and coated in honey. Would definitely recommend here. Quick note, as with many similar restaurants, this is BYO.

EDIT: Based on my visit a while back today I ordered online for delivery, as I figured they’d be better than the usual dire fare so often endured. Well delivery was very slow, way over the maximum time promised, and they missed not one but two item! Given the cost, average quality and error I have to score down. The food was just about OK tho’ the starter was burnt and accompanied by a rank bit of salad so went straight into the bin! Luckily, I was refunded for the two items missed, but still a PITA!
Shabab scores very well on a range of review sites. Inside and out it is a pretty standard, modern restaurant of its type, carrying a very broad range ‘Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani style’ dishes, around 180 options via the various permutations.
Of course the famous Brum Balti, of which there are many choices, features large! It would seem churlish not to opt for one given I was slap bang in the middle of the famous Balti Triangle! So I went for Chicken & Mushroom Balti (medium spiced), alongside Peas Pilau, a Peshwari Nan, a big glass of Sweet Lassi, and followed by Pistachio Kulfi and an Desi Masala Chai.
That’s a chunk of food as the portions are on the generous side, especially given the prices are pretty decent. The lot came to just over £20 with tip which seemed about right … probably even less than I expected if I’m honest. Service was perfectly acceptable; pleasant and smiley.
Quality wise … well, Balti isn’t renowned for its subtlety or complexity of flavour. Maybe in theory (according to some!) but I’ve never experienced it anywhere in Brum so didn’t expect it. The ingredients did seem fresh. There’s nice plump Chicken breast and hand chopped mushrooms in there along with the ground spices. The rice is tasty the ‘curry’ perfectly fine, maybe a bit on the unadventurous side, and the nan arguably the finest I’ve ever eaten apart from the way over the top syrupy topping. The starter of poppadoms came free — nice touch! Drinks wise I enjoyed the Lassi — just the right balance of thickness with delicate sweetness of flavour. The Masala tea reminded my of a similar drink I enjoyed in the Taj Mumbai 15 years ago: tea and spice slowly simmered in milk, then with that skin on the top as it cooled. Very nice indeed.
I was here on a fairly quiet Saturday afternoon, just sat with the paper chilling out as is my weekend habit (somewhere or other!) There were five other customers so they weren’t rushed off their feet and it all felt rather nice. Certainly recommended, especially for a small group wanting to try the famous Balti in the authentic surroundings of Ladypool Road! Is Shababs as good as its reviews? I say no, at least on my visit, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a better option than the average around these parts.

This restaurant seems to be a popular choice, and has been recommended to me by many friends, so to see what the hype was all about, i made a visit. The service was attentive and friendly. The surroundings, décor and ambiance was fine too. However, for me the food did not deliver what i expected to be very good food. It was average for me. I requested an extra hot madras dish — which is usually cooked in a rich gravy with lots of onions and spices. I was given a more dry Karahi dish, with not much flavour or spice. The food was ok. The naan bread was slightly thick and doughy. Overall, this place delivers on everything but the food. As i have dined in many Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants over the years, i would say i was a tough critic. I would probably try this restaurant once more, just in case they were having a bad day on the my visit.

Nice curry at a reasonable price. Does what it says on the tin! Though the waiter should listen more as one our party had prawns in his curry that he didn’t order!

The standard of Balti restaurants on the Ladypool Road is ridiculously high so it’s no small feat that Shabab gets such a high rating.
The décor is pretty standard but the food is fantastic. I have never had anything from there that I would even consider average. It is always super busy (a good sign), and it stays open until late o’clock (I’m sure I had a curry there once that could have been considered breakfast if you judge that thing by the time of day). The staff there are super friendly and always seem happy to see you.
Shabab is right up there at the top of the list for me.

Shabab is one of my favourite restaurant on the Ladypool Road. Not for the décor, which is sparse and a little antiquated, but for the absolutely delicious food.
The Ladypool road is a bit like the west end of Brick lane. It is a mainly Bangladeshi community and restaurants serving their food ordain the cobbled and narrow streets.
The best dish here is the Lamb Rogan Josh, it has the most divine and sweet tomato flavour. I salivate whenever I go past and whenever I go here I order the Rogan Josh with a Nan. It is a very cheap place to eat.
On the evenings it is crowded and there is a lot of space in the restaurant. They have a great selection of Indian sweets and I always have the Gulab Jaman. It is sweeter than Justin Beiber in a nappy.

One of only a handful left of traditional, old school Balti restaurants in the shabby, neon-​heavy, curry theme park that is Ladypool Road. Even after a complete interior make over, the owners at Shabab have still kept the menus under the glass table tops. While this adds a retro touch it can make it tricky to read when you’re sat at a table with friends and there are poppadoms and a monster sized naan bread obscuring your view.
The food is good, but what makes it are the the waiting staff. They freakily remembered our names from our previous visit 6 months previously and are super friendly.
It can get jam packed on a weekend evening, so it’s best to book in advance
and it even stays open until 5am on a weekend for all the dirty stop-​outs who are still craving a prawn Madras at 4.45am.