Always on the hunt for fine, authentic Indian cuisine, our latest search took us to Bhujon Dining & Cocktail Bar in the Birmingham Suburb of Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield. A quite salubrious area of Birmingham, I don’t feel it has the abundance of great dining options it probably should. There are a few of course…Don Diego & The Butlers Arms to name a couple. It does have quite a few Indian restaurants, but apart from Delhi 6, none have stood out so far, so how would Bhijon fare?
Bhujon occupies a corner plot in Mere Green, previously home to quite a few restaurants and the outside facade doesn’t do justice to the large restaurant inside. The decor is made to be high end and decadent, with leather booths and modern art on the walls, with a burnt orange and cream theme.
The restaurant sells itself on authentic Indian Cuisine and glorious cocktails – the latter of which seemed reasonably priced, with some good offers on these as well. When we dined we met with Bhujons owner, who was courteous and enthusiastic about his restaurant and their food, something which is always nice to see. His ethos also ran through to all the staff we met who were all very polite and accommodating.
So what did we eat? Obviously there were some Poppadoms and chutneys to start with – nice to have some spiced poppadoms as well as just plain, I really liked the flavor of the cumin seeds in them. An so to the starters I chose the Jalpari Pani (£5.90) – Fried King Prawns, marinated with turmeric, mustard paste, herbs & spices. I was pleased to see the prawns were huge and really well cooked. The mustard flavor was strong but well balanced and there was a sweetness to the sauce too that worked really well. Lee went for a recommendation from the owner to start with – the Kodi Vepudu (£4.90) – Sliced pieces of chicken breast, served in a robust yoghurt and curry leaf sauce. I dug my fork in this too and loved the spicy sauce coating the chicken, although we felt the chicken itself was a tad overcooked. Nevertheless it didn’t detract from the dish. This is the point that I will apologize for the photo quality, the lighting was a bit odd!
For main courses Lee went for the Tandoori Chicken (£7.90) which he was please to see was served on the bone. The patterns painted on the plates with sauce/chutney were quite retro, but I liked them! I decided on the Chicken Tikka Masala Tawa (£8.90) – served on a sizzling iron skillet. We had a chilli & coriander naan, and a side of Bindi Bhajee (£3.90) which was okra and onions to accompany the meal. No complaints or faults at all about our main dishes – flavours were lovely and we really enjoyed it. The okra dish particularly was excellent! The portions are big too – really making it good value for money.
We didn’t go for a dessert, mainly because we were so stuffed we weren’t sure we could even make it back to the car, but we did have a look at the menu, which looked relatively typical for an Indian dessert menu.
Overall we had a good night at Bhujon, the service was good despite the fact they were packed, and the food was decent and flavourful. They also do a fantastic value deal – Bhujon’s Outstanding Banquet (Sunday-Thursday) which is only £11.90 for Poppadum’s, a choice of any starter, main dish, rice or naan, and a coffee and mint to finish, perfect for a night out on a budget.
290-292 Lichfield Road • Mere Green • Sutton Coldfield B74 2UG
Disclosure: We were invited by Bhujon to try out the food, a positive review was not required and all views are our own as normal!