Here's a photo of the Balti Chicken which I found pleasant and interesting at Shebabs in 2018.

Indeed, I went to another Indian restaurant on the same trip and was thinking their samosas were not as tasty as a bag of frozen samosas I bought from Asda. Either they buy in an inferior brand, or make their own with a very poor recipe. Indian restaurants have become too expensive for me to take too many chances. I need to be reasonably sure the food will taste good before committing to the expense.

There is a youtube channel with the same name. The presenter seems well meaning and the recipes look interesting, not that I have tried any yet. So i decided to visit the restaurant itself. I am rating my experience as really bad due to a combination of two factors: (a) sky high prices, and (b) low quality food, taste wise, at least for the single dish I ordered, with pilau rice.

I would have added meat samosas as a starter but not at a cost of £5.50. I may also have ordered saag aloo but regarded the price of £7.50 as extortionate, for a side dish. So I settled for chicken dhansak. It lacked any of the rich flavours found at many BIRs. At least 75% of restaurants would serve a better dhansak, in my opinion.

Very disappointing. It confirms my guess that if a top notch BIR starts a youtube channel it could have potential if the people behind it know how to create fine flavours. But, the other way around, the chances are against it.

Quote from: Bengali Bob on July 25, 2022, 07:07 PM
Managed to go to Shababs eventually. 

Excellent review, thanks. After reading your findings, I doubt if I will return there in October, after all.

Quote from: livo on July 23, 2022, 02:59 AM

What do you think?

I think it's a marketing gimmick. The BIR industry succeeded in creating a whole new category of dishes, generating further interest in Indian restaurants.

I find it hard to believe there's any difference between using a normal pan and a balti dish for the cooking. Maybe even Shababs use a normal pan, when they are not being filmed or observed by a visitor.

I have tried only three types of balti curry: (1) chilled food dishes from supermarkets, all lacklustre and nothing special at all; (2) a few chicken balti dishes from provincial Indian restaurants - again nothing special and not a dish I would order again from the same restaurant; (3) Shababs - the only one I rated as merit worthy, not one of the tastiest curries I have ever enjoyed but just below that level. The intriguing thing was that I wouldn't have known where to start in recreating the same flavour at home. It was somewhat unusual. But now, R Sayce has published a recipe and it will be interesting to see if it delivers a similar taste. I will try to find the time to prepare his recipe, ahead of a planned, third visit to Shababs in October.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on July 21, 2022, 08:15 AM
Not I — George's last word on the subject started :

QuoteSorry, but I think I am going to change my mind, at least for the foreseeable future. It's become too difficult and with a perceived risk which is not offset against any gain whatsoever.

** Phil.

I also said: "I doubt if there's a single nugget of worthwhile knowledge throughout the entire programme." You can see that from the ultra basic sauce recipe I posted.

Quote from: mickdabass on July 04, 2022, 08:17 PM
In fact its a completely different animal from any other curry any way

Interesting comment. That was my thought when I visited Shababs (twice) and had their chicken balti. So I think it bodes well for your recipe and Misty Ricardo's.

Mick - many thanks. I look forward to trying your balti recipe, together with Misty Ricardo's recipe on youtube, based on chicken balti at Shababs, Birmingham. I have enjoyed chicken balti at Shababs twice and it was quite good. Other baltis I tried at various other BIRs were lacklustre.

This recipe seems worth trying, thanks. To give it the best chance of producing a 100% clone, should I use level, rounded or heaped spoon measures?

Quote from: Bob-A-Job on May 10, 2022, 03:56 AM
Conclusion.  The missing 5% does not exist, it is subjective.

I agree. The misguided thing must be that there's 5% missing from anything anyone tries to make. No, I suggest each dish needs to be considered, individually. If I tried to make a Madras, there would be a lot more than 5% missing because it's not something I have ever had in a restaurant, and I would not be able to assess what I was cooking. But with two of my favourite dishes, chicken dhansak and chicken biriani, I worked on recipes for each, several years ago and reckon what I ended up with is probably better than anything I have ever had in a restaurant. So they may be 5% better, rather than 5% worse.

Another myth which I disagree with is that Indian restaurant food in the 1970s and 80s was better than it is now. I disagree, and reckon many places now serve food with superior flavours to around 40 years ago.