Indian Cafe Racer, Birmingham B5: ‘A good news tale for the local food scene’ – restaurant review

The cooking is sometimes bang on, sometimes a little slapdash, but then piques your interest all over again

Indian Cafe Racer on Bristol Street, Birmingham, spent its fledgling years tucked behind a curtain at the back of the Wellington pub just a few doors up from its fancy new home. There was a Royal Enfield motorcycle, chequerboard floors and a psychedelic Indian soundtrack, but this small, homespun spot from Azad Kayes quickly became culty, then oversubscribed, then in need of a bigger home. It’s a good news tale for the Brum food scene.

For those who remember it, south Birmingham’s Balti triangle once ran to 30 bustling restaurants along Ladypool Road and Stratford Road. Only two now remain. Something has gone amiss with supply and demand. Indian Cafe Racer, meanwhile, has enough fans for a new, 65-cover, grown-up restaurant, serving an ever-changing menu that, when we visited, featured shaktiman and salad (named after an Indian comic-book superhero), gol gappa (crisp shells filled with chickpeas and potato), chicken pepper fry and grilled aubergine and portobello mushrooms, known as farzi steak.

Kayes dips into Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, with a scattering of Indo-Chinese small plates: gobi manchurian (fried cauliflower in sweet-and-sour sauce) and chilli chicken, say. The cocktail bar serves cold, potent liveners with names such as Angry Young Man, Red Carpet and Tiger Rides Bike, alongside endless karak chai, a heavily spiced, very sweet, milky tea brewed strong with cardamom and condensed milk. Jump on our Cafe Racer, the menu says, and let us give you a mast taste of India. No visa required.