Birmingham's best oriental restaurants

For those who know me, you all know that oriental food is the way to my heart. For the longest time now most of my food cravings 99% of the time is oriental. So I thought why not put together a little food guide compiling all my favourite oriental restaurants in Birmingham. 

1. Siamais, Brindley Place 

Siamais is a great dinner restaurant and therefore a great place to get dressed up for. Siamais has a beautiful flower installation with a swinging chair and is the perfect place to get those all important pictures making Siamais quite a picturesque restaurant. From a vegetarian's perspective there are not many options however the two that I have previously enjoyed are the stir fried tofu with snake bean and tofu with Choo Chee paste. Each dish has a very distinctive flavour with the right amount of spice. With each dish costing £9.95 you can't go wrong especially with the generous amount of tofu they give. 

2. Sabai Sabai 

Sabai Sabai has three restaurants in the West Midlands one being in central Birmingham the other being in Harborne and one lastly in Stratford Upon Avon . Personally over the two locations that I have attended I would recommend going to the Harborne one due to the restaurant itself being larger therefore it's able to accommodate larger group bookings. Again I would only go to Sabai Sabai for dinner only because the dishes are a little bit more pricey averaging around £12.45 per dish. Nonetheless, the vegetarian options are ENDLESS and is this is what I love about Sabai Sabai, as any dish can be turned vegetarian by simply adding the tofu option. 

3. Cafe Soya 

Cafe soya is my ALL time favourite oriental restaurant and 99% of the time is my go to place to get food. It's combination of being super super affordable and ridiculously tasty with an endless vegetarian/vegan menu is a win win for me. So for those who are constantly craving (like myself)  GOOD vegetarian Chinese food this is definitely the place for you. Situated in the Birmingham Arcadian it has a variety of mock dishes such as duck, lamb, fish and chicken thereby satisfying your tastebuds. An average dish would cost between £7-8 which is definitely a bargain especially when the portions are very generous. I can hand on heart say that cafe soya has never failed me so its safe to say this place needs to be added to your food lists!

4. Rofuto 

Rofuto, a restaurant within the Park Regis Birmingham sits on the last level of the hotel giving you panoramic views of the city is more on the expensive side of oriental dining. In this case I would recommend going for a special occasion giving you that all important opportunity to dress up and relishing in more expensive dishes. From a vegetarian perspective I would advise ordering a few dishes to share that way you get to taste majority of the menu. From what I can remember the food was tasty, the atmosphere was lively and the service was AMAZING. 

5. Chung Ying

For the longest time I had Chung Ying patiently on my food list waiting to get ticked off and it so happened that I arrived at the perfect time to claim my 20% off dim sum. The offer is anytime between 12-5pm Monday - Saturday. Ching Ying is famously known to have the largest dim sum menu and it certainly did not disappoint. I never got round to tasting any of the mains (which gives me an excuse to go again) but if your in the mood for dim sum this is the place and again really affordable on the pocket like most oriental restaurants in Birmingham.

6. Buddha Belly - Digbeth Dining Club 

Although Buddha Belly is not a restaurant they serve the BEST mock chicken covered in a peanut sauce with rice from their stand at Digbeth Dining Club. The mock chicken tasted so 'meaty' that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between actual or mock chicken. As of this year buddha belly is a permeant trader at Digbeth Dining Club meaning that you can feast on their dishes Thursday-Sunday every week. As a vegetarian I would highly recommend visiting Digbeth Dining club on a Thursday as that's a day they dedicate to all vegetarian and vegan food stalls. Not only was this Thai dish delicious but the atmosphere was UNBEATABLE with lively upbeat music playing in the background. 

7. Tattu

Now everyone must have heard about Tattu, it's literally talk of the town. A brand new fine dining underground oriental restaurant has opened its door to the city of Birmingham and we could not be more excited. There was so much buzz around this restaurant that I had to visit. As soon as your inside you no longer feel like your in Birmingham but instead feel like your in a restaurant that's worthy enough to be in London. Every corner was so picturesque that I couldn't stop snapping away.

The starters were beautiful and although the vegetarian menu wasn't that extensive the starters had left a long lasting impression on me. Following on with the mains I would 100% recommend getting the mock chicken dish which was much much better than the mushroom hotpot (don't bother wasting your time or money with that one). Overall my dining experience at Tattu was pleasant with the starters winning a place in my heart (or more like my stomach). In terms of expense, Tattu was reasonably priced and totalled to £34 per person which included a mocktail, various starters and mains.

8. Pho

Last but not least we have Pho offering up their finest Vietnamese food. Pho is literally another go to place where I indulge in my version of comfort food. My go to dish is the tofu Ca ri (I've had it so many times that I've never sampled the rest of the menu...thats how tasty it is). The ca ri is so rich in flavour that I never get sick of it. Located in Grand Central overlooking the train station the restaurant provides a busy yet lively atmosphere and is the perfect place to have some lunch and people watch (please tell me that I can't be the only one who does this). Price wise the tofu ca ri is priced at around £10 (not your cheapest lunch time dish but it's reasonable...in my eyes anyways).


And that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed reading my Birmingham oriental restaurant guide and I still have so many that I want to get ticked off my food list so I will soon be back with a part 2 :)

Venice day trip

For many years now I have heard from various people that Venice is a relatively expensive place to visit. Bearing this in mind I had always been sceptical to stay a few days in Venice therefore decided that whilst I was in Milan I would take the opportunity to take a day trip there.

So lets rewind a little. I booked our train tickets from Milan Central to Venezia St. Lucia through Trainline and the entire length of the journey lasted about 2 hours and 25 minutes (perfect amount of time to get naps in). A return for one person on the train cost £23.60 and the trains were amazing!! They were super clean, super comfortable and really easy to navigate. I do recommend getting to the train station about 20-30 minutes before your departure time just to allow yourself to find the train platform at a more relaxed pace. The best feature of Italian trains were that they had plug sockets so you don't have to worry about a dead battery at the end of the day.


1. Have breakfast at Pasticceria Tonolo

If your on a budget whilst in Venice then most restaurants that you'll encounter are take out and this breakfast place was just that. Another heads up would be to have some cash on you as a few places I encountered had no card machines or the minimum spend for card would be 10 euros. I opted for the veggie brioche and the best part was I was able to choose my filling from a variety of flavours. I ended up going with the vanilla cream and never looked back. If anything whilst being in Italy it had definitely enhanced my sweet tooth. 

2. Visit the St Marks Basilica 

St Marks Basilica is one of the most iconic tourist attractions in Venice and I can see why. This beauty of a building has been constructed so elegantly that everyone has to visit. It is situated in the main square where there's a lot of hustle and bustle going on. Entry to go inside is completely free and simply requires joining a queue where the wait will be typically around 10-15 minutes (if the queue looks daunting I still recommend joining). Although I have no pictures of the inside (that's because you are not allowed to take any) its such a beautiful place to sit for 10-20 minutes and admire the paintings and architecture. 

3. Walk around (with no agenda)

Taking a walk with no agenda or going to a certain destination or tourist attraction is literally the perfect thing you can do whilst simultaneously coming across the best hidden corners and canals that Venice has to offer. Although we tried to google map our way round Venice to get to certain destinations we often ended up taking a wrong turn and it worked out for the best. We got to really soak up parts of Venice that were less congested.

4. Have gelato at Boutique del Gelato 

Now we can all agree that getting gelato is the most important part of the day right? For me I wouldn't rest until I got my daily dose of gelato because it was THAT mind-blowing. For those in Venice on a hot summers day you HAVE to visit boutique del gelato and as you can see from the picture this place was heaving. It's a small little place where you literally grab your gelato and off you go. This is where your change of euros comes in handy because this is yet another place that does not accept card. 

5. Go on a boat ride 

Now you're probably thinking when in Venice you have to go on a gondola, it's like a Venice thing to do but the reality was it was a pricey half an hour ride for just 80 euros. Being students and most importantly on a budget we could not justify paying for a gondola ride that was going to be over in the blink of an eye.

However on our stroll near the waterfront we noticed that Alilaguna island tours had put up a special offer for the day advertising a 4 hour boat tour to visit the surrounding islands for only 20 euros. We didn't think twice about this bargain and grabbed the opportunity to visit Murano, Burano and Torcello. We ended up doing this island tour around midday still allowing us to have ample amount of time to tick everything off our Venice bucket list. My favourite island had to be Murano where all these houses were so colourful and vibrant with every house painted a different colour.

All the islands that we visited allowed us to get a more authentic feel for Venice and actually enabled us to catch glimpses of locals living their daily lives as well as getting away from the mainstream congestion in central Venice. 

6. Get lunch/dinner at Dal Moro's fresh pasta to go

Although I don't have any amazing pictures of this place or my food you have to add this to your Venice food list. From one fellow food lover to another you will have no regrets about eating here. Like most places in Venice this is another grab and go place and was the best option before our train back to Milan. Not only was this place delicious but cheap which was a win win. You choose the type of pasta you would like and then customise it with the sauce of your choice. I contemplated taking one back to our Air BnB but the owner had specifically stated that this was to be eaten there and then otherwise the whole experience of this pasta would be ruined. I truly couldn't think of a better end to our time in Venice.

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen my guide to one blissful day in Venice and who knew you could fit so many things in. If you do ever get round to going to Venice (which I suggest you do soon because who knows how long Venice is going to be around for) let me know if you tried out any of my suggestions :)

For more pictures follow my instagram: _davinderkaurr

Ultimate travel guide to Milan

Italy has always been one of those countries that has been on my travel bucket list for a looooong time and I finally got the chance to visit this summer. It was the perfect end to first year exams and the best start to my summer. When initially booking this holiday I had planned to the best of my ability for it to be an inexpensive trip (due to being a student). Therefore I'll be including prices and budgeting tips to help you plan your trip to Italy and what you can do to be money savvy whilst being on holiday.

So lets take it all the way back to the booking process. When booking flights I used the website Skyscanner and let me tell you this site is such a God send. Not only does it provide you with the cheapest dates to travel but lets you create price alerts via email informing you whether the flight prices have dropped or gone up.

This is just an example of just how cheap flights can be where the green indicates the most price affordable days to fly out. I used the same format getting flights for £9 to Milan Malpensa and £20 flights back to London Stansted with Ryanair. We chose to fly out from Stansted because it was the cheapest option. Furthermore due to our flexible nature originally I didn't have a fixed destination in mind and used the 'everywhere' tool on Skyscanner providing me with the most low cost flights.

In terms of our accommodation I used Airbnb and booked a little apartment in the heart of Milan. The space for the 4 of us was fitting where it came with one double bed and a comfy, spacious sofa bed. In total for 4 nights the entire place cost £327 working out to £81.75 per person for the entire length of the stay.

On the day of our flight we did an airport transfer with National Express from Liverpool Street Station to Stansted Airport costing £4.75 single each (this is if you book in advance). We decided to depart from this station as it only took 50 minutes and again was the cheapest option. 

With Ryanair you find that you have to check in online and this can be done with their mobile app where you obtain your boarding pass on your phone making it more convenient. In regards to luggage Ryanair allows you to take one form of cabin luggage and one small carry on under 10Kg that gets checked in for free at the gate at no extra expense. We opted for this option as we was only going for 4 nights and didn't really need the excess luggage. 

My first and foremost tip for luggage would be that make sure that all your liquids fit in one clear sealed plastic bag. Through security you are not allowed more than one plastic bag and it turned out that I had 4 bags of liquids. It was the most stressful airport security experience as some of my things had to be left behind only taking essential liquids through with me.

The flight was only 1 hour and 40 but because of Italy being one hour ahead we landed at 9:35PM. Instead of getting a taxi from the airport to our place we decided to do a bus transfer with a company called Terravision from Malpensa to Milan Central Station costing 8 euros each for a 55 minute journey. The bus departs every 20 minutes so you'll never be waiting around for long.

Due to arriving very late in the night at Central Milan our Airbnb host was kind enough to pick us up and take us to the apartment which is another reason why you should book with Airbnb because nothing beats their hospitality and food recommendations from a local.

1. Breakfast at Pavè

 For those searching a savoury breakfast in Italy you can abandon your search because there is virtually no such thing. Italians typically have a very sweet breakfast with a cup of coffee. Although there was only one thing I could eat on the menu which was a vegan brioche it was worth the trip here. Bear in mind that nearly all eating places have a service charge that you can not avoid. So the brioche was 1.80 euros but I ended up paying 2.60 euros including the service charge. Another thing to take into consideration is that Milan has no concept of tap water so I would recommend buying a bottle of water and keeping this during your entire stay as there are frequent water spots dotted around the city. This was one of my favourite things about Italy as you get fresh cold water whilst walking around in 30 degrees heat.

2. Visit the Duomo

The Milan Cathedral is an architectural beauty and if Milan got one thing right, it is definitely their beautifully constructed buildings. I'm going to be honest this place is flooded with people trying to get the picture perfect instagram and because of the overwhelming number of people it is pretty hard to get a decent picture of yourself in front of the cathedral.

The total entry price is 12 euros this is if you want to take the stairs up to the terraces (there's not a lot of stairs trust me) otherwise the ticket would cost 16 euros if you wanted to take the lift option. The terraces would have to be my favourite part as it's less congested allowing you to get those perfect instagram shots. Additionally, the terraces allow you experience a panoramic view of the entire city. Take into consideration that the Cathedral is a godly place thereby you will be expected to cover your shoulders and legs up until your knees. If you are not wearing the appropriate attire you will be expected to buy a kimono from the ticket office for an additional 2 euros. Another top tip of mine would be if you have extra time on your hands visit the Duomo around sunset this is when less people are around and the deep colours of the sky truly makes the Cathedral look magical.


3. Visit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Didn't I say that they hit the nail on architecture and can you believe this is a shopping centre?! I am like most of you still bewildered to how this is a shopping centre to this very day. All the shops situated here are very high end designer and if you've got the cash to splash then by all means go ahead. Otherwise it serves the function of being an aesthetically pleasing building to take a stroll through.

4. Have lunch at Piz

If you want to try the best pizza of your life you have to come to Piz and theres no debate about it. Piz for me was the best Italian pizza I had ever tried and nothing else can beat it. We decided to go for lunch around 1o'clock knowing that if we went any later it would be closed from 3pm onwards and would not open again until dinner which would be 7/7:30pm. When we arrived there was a humongous line out the door (thats how you know its good). The hospitality here was AMAZING where they served us prosecco (for those that drink) and cheese, tomato and spinach flatbread whilst we waited. The wait looked like it was going to take 40 minutes but instead it took 10 minutes. The entire menu was in Italian but the waitress kindly explained it to us in English and it was a literally no brainer that I was going for the margarita. The pizza is like no other, where the tomato sauce seems to be taken freshly from the tomato itself giving it a tangy/salty flavour and then the cheese was just phenomenal. I couldn't recommend this place anymore (look how much I have gone on). The total cost of this pizza was just 8 euros and it was worth every cent.

5. Get Gelato at La Gelateria Della Musica 

This gelato place has to be on everyones list when they visit Milan. The service was amazing and due to the range of different flavours I just couldn't decide so was given the chance to try nearly every flavour that they offered. In the end I decided to settle with cookies and cream and salty pistachio costing 2.80 euros for two scoops which is such a bargain. If you truly want an authentic gelato experience I highly suggest coming here. Since I have returned I have literally had gelato cravings, that's how delicious it was.

6. Visit the Porta Sempione 

If your ever passing by Sempione Park come and visit the Arch of Peace (it kind of reminded me of the Arc De Triomph in Paris). In front of the arch there are several grass areas and huge steps you could sit on whilst possibly having a picnic and soaking up the sun in front of this majestic view. 

7. Visit the Sforza Castle

Again if your in the Sempione Park region the Sforza Castle is another place you can visit. Normally you have to pay entry during the day but if you come one hour before closing time which is at 5:30PM you get free entry. 

8. Visit the Navigli District

The Navigli district is about 20 minutes on the metro from central Milan and is such a cool spot to chill alongside the canal. We decided to take a little pit stop here due to our feet killing us, I think tip of the trip would be if your doing a city break definitely bring a pair of comfy trainers to get about because sandals are not going to make the cut. Milan is seriously developing a pattern of great picnic spots and by the side of the canal makes the perfect spot to relax for the evening with live music in the background. 

9. Dinner at Pasta d'Autore 

This pasta find was not planned within the itinerary but spontaneously found whilst browsing trip advisor. Situated in the Navigli area it was the best pasta I had tried on the trip. I went for the four cheeses option and boy it was the creamiest pasta ever. The portion appears quite small but it was the complete opposite. Again the entire menu was in Italian (thats how you know your in an authentic restaurant) but the waitress was kind enough to translate. The bread were complimentary starters and the entire meal costed me 9 euros without service charge!! Does Milan get any better?

10. Eat at Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo 

Look at this beauty of a pizza. For you pizza lovers out there Sorbillo is the place for you. We stumbled across this find from a time out recommendation and loved it here. With every popular restaurant there was a queue leading out the door but we was seated fairly quickly. When the pizza's arrived I was mesmerised at the size and can truthfully say that it was extremely bigger than my plate. Crazy right!? The pizza was for sure value for money as a pizza this big only cost me 8.30 euros and lasted me till breakfast the next day. So if your ever in Milan this has to be on everyones food list. 

For more Milan pictures follow me on Instagram: _davinderkaurr