Milan - Review

Milan Sweet Centre

The name and outward appearance of this place is deceptive - and that's maybe why it's one of Birmingham's best kept secrets.

I wish it could be kept a secret but I want people to experience this food. My favourite is the Masala Dosa - a delicious filled rice flour pancake thing. At only 3.40 this is great value and just so tasty - please try it - you won't look back. This is Authentic Food - just as you would get in India. They offer many other great hot dishes as well as a vast range of sweets. Don't immediately go for the range of fried stuff that you can see in the counter as you enter - it's good but not what it's all about - have a look at the menu along the top shelf - this is the tasty stuff!

New Happy Gathering review

43-45 Station Street(behind New Street Station), B1 , tel: 0121 643 5247

This place is hidden down behind New Street Station - come out of the main concourse towards the car park and turn right. Go down the disgusting stairs and you'll see it. It's just up from the Electric Cinema (more on this another time).

We got in and were shamefully directed immediately towards the buffet. Ignore that and ask for the Hot Pot special instead - or the Actual Chinese Menu that Chinese people are given - it's got pictures so you can see what you're going to get. We went for the Hot Pot - which at 9.95 each is not only great value - but fantastic fun too. They didn't seem to keen to give it to us at first stating that is might be too spicy - I find this confusing considering Birmingham has such an appetite for spicy food. When it arrived it was a boiling pot,with two areas - spicy and not so spicy, of delicious broth. You then take all the bits that they give you with this and cook them yourself. It came with delicious fresh wheat noodles, glass noodles, asian greens, king prawns, fish balls, beef balls, tofu and two massive stacks of thinly sliced beef and lamb. On the side came a lovely sauce to dip into - not sure what this was. It took a bit of skill to get the right cooking times but the taste was sensational and it filled us right up!

I highly recommend this place - just please avoid the Buffet in favour of something more interesting!

Campaign for Authentic Food

This campaign is part of a wider syndrome that I'm sure many of you will have experienced over the years - the two tier menu system. It seems that the fine providers of Asian food throughout our cities seem to want to only provide us with food that they think British people will like. For this reason it is often difficult to get hold of authentic regional specialities as menus are always crammed full of Pad Thai, Fried Rice or Chicken Tikka. To me this seems unfair - I can't remember a single restaurant in China offering us Chow Mein whilst on holiday - we were always presented with a wide array of far more interesting (and healthy) dishes. Now I don't believe that restauranteurs do not know how to cook more interesting food - they surely eat it themselves every night - so why don't they want to share it with the British public - we want to be educated!

Recently we have visited a few excellent Chinese restaurants in Birmingham and you know as soon as you arrive what is going to happen - gone are the chopsticks, in come the forks with the prawn crackers (have you ever seen the Chinese eating these?). Out goes the proper menu and in comes the reduced English one - or worst still you are directed immediately to the greasy buffet - it is almost insulting. I just want to be treated the same as the Chinese students that are tucking into (and sharing) beautiful clay-pot dishes of delicious smelling stuff - especially as the menus often have English translations.

Anyway the campaign starts here and I hope many of you will join us in this quest for authentic food - asian and otherwise. Please send us your information so that we can review restaurants that give the British the choice as well.

Welcome to Tornado Alley

Hello and welcome to Tornado Alley - a site about the secret gems of Birmingham, UK. Britain's second city is at best underestimated and at worst the butt of many jokes. Our plan is to change these misconceptions - we believe Birmingham is on the brink of something big. We enjoy a thriving arts scene, integrated communities, affordable living and some top class architecture as well as some quality eating. So if you are heading to the UK as a tourist, traveller or immigrant then make sure you stop by and check this place out - you might just stay.