March 10th – Nandos
It’s the boyfriend’s birthday today, and despite being told it was my treat and he could go any where he wanted, he chose Nandos at The Fort Shopping Centre, out near Tyburn. Hardly the lavish birthday meal I was expecting him to opt for, but for a chicken-lover such as he is, there is no better place. It is quite simply a spicy chicken haven!
Famous for its unique Peri-Peri marinade, Nandos is a bustling and often busy restaurant chain that serves a wide variety of Mexican chicken dishes to suit all tastes. The restaurant was brightly lit, with colourful paintings on the walls and an authentic Mexican theme throughout.
The menu is quite unique in it’s design, as you choose your main, then you choose from a selection of sides, then you choose the spice of the marinade on your chicken (ranging from plain to extra hot), and then you can choose to an extra such as cheese to your burger or Peri-Peri salt to your fries.
You can choose from chicken on the bone, family platters, burgers, pittas and wraps as your main, and add chips, spicy rice, corn on the cob, and even Macho peas (made with parsley, mint and chilli). It’s not all just chicken on the menu though, as Nandos also offer a Steak Roll and Veggie, Beanie and Mushroom burgers, wraps and pittas too.
Prices for most main meals are in the region of £8-£9 for a main with two sides, so it certainly won’t break the bank and you do get good portion sizes. Nandos also has its own range of Peri-Peri sauces that you can taste and try, and I love to splash a selection of these all over my burger and chips!
It does feel slightly like an upmarket fast-food restaurant in some ways, as you have to order your food at the till and pay upfront – and it can be quiet noisy and crowded at times. The food, however, makes up for all of that. Nandos has to be one of my favourite places to eat; it’s reasonably priced, the portion sizes are definitely enough to fill you up and there really isn’t anything quite like Nandos chicken.
March 24th – Llyods Bar & Walkabout
Tonight Arcane’s Press Officer Rachel and I headed to Birmingham for a spot of fun and frivolity, whilst we discussed the future plans for Arcane. It turned out to be an eventful evening for all the wrong reasons, but that’s another story entirely! So instead I’ll just stick to telling you all about the two venues we visited tonight.
We first headed to Llyods Bar, which was surprisingly quite for a Thursday. The bouncers took about ten minutes to check our IDs and let us in (as they were too busy messing around with their phones taking pictures of themselves, would you believe), which could be a reason for why there were no other young people in the whole place except for us! We then waited a further five minutes at the bar, despite the fact we were the only ones waiting to be served, as the bar staff were too busy talking to notice we were waiting. Not a great start to the evening at all really.
I have always liked the layout of Broad Street’s Lloyds Bar, as there are plenty of places to sit, and a separate dance floor area, so that you can choose to get up and dance or sit down and relax – which is a nice change from most of the bars and clubs in Birmingham, as most have very little seating and you have no choice but to stand on the dance floor all night, even if you don’t want to dance.
The drinks aren’t too pricey, as it is another conquest of the Wetherspoons group (see February’s Diary for full drinks and food list), but for me the atmosphere was all wrong tonight. It’s usually a lively and exciting bar to be in of a weekend, but tonight we sat in near silence amongst a large group of business men and woman, who were just there to wind down after a hard days work. They weren’t doing anything wrong in that, but it definitely didn’t have the upbeat party atmosphere we were looking for, so we moved on.
Instead we headed next door to Walkabout, which quite frankly was a mistake this evening! Once we had queued to have our IDs checked, and then queued to pay our entry fee, we then spent a good 20 minutes queuing at the bar. I do understand that it was busy in there, but after Rachel had already been served the barmaid walked away without bothering to serve me, and went off to serve down the other end of the very long bar. I must have stood there for ages trying to catch the attention of someone, and it was only when I started huffing at the fact that people who had just arrived at the bar were getting served before me, did the barman who had been ignoring me for ten minutes decide it was finally my turn!
Other than the ridiculously long wait at the bar, I can’t really complain about Walkabout. The drinks are cheap, with lots of £1 shots and special offers on Vodka Redbulls and cocktails, and the music is always good in my opinion. The main point of interest for me was the great atmosphere the place had in comparison to where we had just come from. There was definitely a party vibe, which is exactly what we were looking for. The one thing that can be guaranteed with Walkabout is that it will always be full of young people and students, and there is always a good party vibe – so if that’s what you’re looking for on a night out, then Walkabout might just be the place to head.
March 30th – Diwan Restaurant
This evening I joined the rather crazy women of Pinsent Masons law firm (in Birmingham) for a meal at a small Indian restaurant in Moseley. I wanted to wander a bit further afield in my search of great venues in Birmingham, and I thought it would be interesting to see where other people choose to spend their time, so the Diwan Restaurant seemed the ideal place.
I have to say, the place totally won me over. It might have been down to the brilliant company I was keeping this evening, but I’ve got the feeling it had much more to do with the delicious food on offer. The only whinge for me really was that we were a large party of about ten, and yet they had squished us together on a table not really big enough to hold eight of us. We did ask to have a bigger table, and the restaurant wasn’t that busy when we arrived that we couldn’t have been given a bit more room, but they didn’t seem to appreciate the fact that we ended up having to climb into our seats and had next-to-no elbow room whatsoever!
Other than that slight niggle, however, the Diwan is a lovely place. The staff were friendly, the service was prompt and the menu is vast and filled with plenty of choice. The Diwan doesn’t have an alcohol licence, which might be a problem for some, but as I see it it’s a chance to “bring a bottle” instead of spending loads on expensive drinks during the night.
They have a vast range of starters (including the delightful Diwan Kebab – say it fast and see the comedy value!), mains and desserts – with mixed and half portions of the mains, meaning you can order exactly what you like, and mix and match to get the perfect meal for you. The Nann bread we had was the size of the table, and the staff will even offer to alter dishes to fit your specific tastes or dietary needs, as all food is prepared fresh and as ordered.
We got everything we had asked for, just the way we liked it, and being as we were such a large table we even got free coffees with the bill. Each and every woman at the table said her food was just divine, and when the bill came it was barely £10 per head for each person’s starters and mains – so the staff made double that it tips! Despite being a bit out of the way, the Diwan is not far from town, and has free roadside parking seconds from the door. It is definitely a must-try if you are a lover of Indian cuisine and looking for something a bit different to what you have locally.
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