Most (but not all) British Indian Restaurants are not up to the mark as far as I am concerned.  Give me the authentic tasting regional dishes any day of the week - true 'asian cuisine' - not the dishes served by a Bangladeshi ex waiter with an entrepreneurial streak & a rich uncle who funded his restaurant / takeaway venture / dreams.

I will admit to being spoiled by living in Dubai / Middle East for 8 years and travelling all over from there - eating some of the tastiest Asian cuisine ever cooked - so why settle for anything less?

Looks pretty good - will be giving Hari a 'go'.

I understood Baltis originated in Birmingham?

Sadly can't do that JerryM - just talking to my m8 about Lal - seems he died from kidney problems 2 years back.  Loss of a good Bangladeshi chef.

Working in Bahrain - '76 - used to overlap into the nightshift to make sure transition was ok.  We had the task of completing 2 houses for Dec 2nd National Day.  Pretty hectic time in that period with a lot of overtime being worked - so i went into Isa Town to get a load of tikkas, naans & curry sauce to placate the workers.  Absolutely brilliant stuff from a hole in the wall outlet.  Went there many times after too.  The locals reckoned the curry pot was never emptied - just on the go 24 / 7 - very busy place.

we can all be guilty of posts on forums when tanked up - only to read them when more 'sober' & think wtf was that about?

Guilty your Honour.

When I first came back from the Middle East in '84, we found a little local Indian restaurant run by a guy who I used to have the crack with in Urdu.  He was quite tickled by the fact I bothered to learn a few words in Dubai (Same with arabic - I know a few words - enough for people to wonder how much I understand! - which is not a lot!!).   He would tweak dishes to meet my taste.  He sold out to a guy called Lal - Bangladeshi who was an even better chef / cook than the previous guy and he would make similar tweaked dishes for me - even put one on the menu in my honour.

Sadly, as the 90s approached and recession Lal did the unthinkable and started bringing in chicken that was less than fresh to put it mildly - this was around the time when unscrupulous suppliers were exposed on tv for re-fettling condemned chicken by bleaching & cutting out bad meat and selling on.  Lal fell into this area - thinking e.g if he supplied a chicken shashlik sizzler dish - one piece good, the other 'dubious' he would get away with it.  We warned him no less than 6 times that dishes he either served in or as takeaways were not acceptable until in the end his refunds were no longer acceptable as reparation and he lost his best customers for ever.  I learned Lal went bust soon after and was last seen working as a petrol station attendant.

I lived in the Middle east for 8 years - Dubai based.

My last trip to the Ravi was for my wifes 60th - 2007 - daughters, husbands & grandkids in tow - 9 of us then altogether.

The bill was uaedh 200 - @ ?32 for all 9 - no drinks other than soft or water.

Had a curry @ 6 months ago at one of my local favourites - Jai Kathmandu (nepalese) on Palatine Road, Northenden.  When you order their Veg Pillau Rice - it comes with a basic curry sauce as a separate item - you can order it any strength you want.  I usually leave it as a basic curry.  This particular night, the curry sauce didn't arrive with the dish - so I pointed this out to Govinder - the old guy who delivers most of the food.  He muttered something about the kitchen forgot and off he went.  5 minutes later he was back with the curry sauce by which time we had no real need for it other than to take home - but my wife & I dipped our plain naan bread in for a taster.  It was absolutely delicious - far better than usual - very very tasty, spicy but not hot.  When Govinder cleared up, I asked him who made the sauce.  He replied - he did, chef too busy!  I must see if he will open up on his particular take on a curry sauce - he never usually cooks as far as i know - but he clearly has the 'knack'.

The main chef here is absolutely brilliant and you can tell when he is on duty (Thursdays usually).  The guys tell me he has worked all over as a professional chef - including for the Oberoi hotel chain.

Anyone doing Dubai - Ravis at Satwa is a must
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g295424-d817364-Reviews-Ravi_s-Dubai_Emirate_of_Dubai.html, Chicken Tikka excellent, Naan, curry sauce, butter chicken etc.
Avoid other 'Ravis' - not the same


Likewise the Khyber Restaurant - bur Dubai - http://uae.jantareview.com/Dubai/Bur-Dubai/biz_163778/Khyber.
Recommend here chicken butter boneless, Khyber special veg.

Likewise Kwality restaurant - http://uae.jantareview.com/Dubai/Bur-Dubai/biz_163782/Kwality-Restaurants