It would be all too easy to miss Red Oven, situated as it is above a branch of Superdrug on Bearwood High Street. Ignore this slightly unusual set-up though and you’ll find a surprisingly light and airy restaurant with a simple elegance and relaxed atmosphere. On top of the 90 or so covers in the main dining area there’s also a function area on the floor above that seats around 25 if you fancy a private party and access to all floors is a doddle thanks to a lift.
The cuisine’s a loving homage to all things Punjabi
and the owners have secured the services of a chef with over 20 years’ experience
to do it justice. The menu’s reasonably extensive too, with plenty of choice
for vegetarians. To test this out we ordered Shakahari Shashlik for one of our
starters which cleverly uses chunks of soya marinated in yogurt and spices then
cooked in the tandoor to replicate the texture and taste of chicken. It’s a
pretty impressive substitute and there are rumours of disgruntled veggies
claiming they’d been fed meat in the past! We plumped for the real thing for
our other starter though courtesy of the Mixed Platter, a delicious seekh kebab
with a decent texture and smoky heat, a couple of portions of garlic chicken
and, star of the dish, moist chicken tikka cooked on the bone for extra succulence.
A veritable bargain at £3.95.
For mains we plumped
for Lamb Tikka Punjabi Masala and Chicken Tawa Masala. Both dishes zinged with
freshness and it was nice to be able to taste the individual ingredients in
different mouthfuls, a refreshing hit and crunch of ginger here and a spicy
blast of chilli there. Discussing this style of cuisine with the owner after
our meal he explained that the emphasis was on fresh ingredients and well
balanced spices rather than the use of ghee and creams that give many other restaurants’
dishes their flavour. This lighter touch extended to the Garlic Naan too, a
flatter, crisper cousin of the ‘sink to your boots’ version that you may be
used to. As a result the meal, whilst perfectly filling, sat more comfortably
on the stomach.
There are plans to
tweak the menu in the next few weeks to introduce some Indian Chinese fusion cooking
and we were able to try a sneaky sample of one of the dishes, Paneer Chilli,
which blends all of the sweetness and crunch of a stir fry with the spice and heat
of a curry. Delicious and, no doubt, a pretty healthy option as well. To cool
our taste buds down a couple of delicious scoops of well flavoured Kulfi (mango
and pistachio) did the trick.
Service was very
friendly and professional throughout, nice to have Cobra beer on draft too. To encourage
you to give the place a try (and we heartily recommend that you do!) they have a variety of tempting offers in place
right now including a £9.95 deal which gets you a starter, main course, rice
and naan (Monday – Wednesday, they do ask that you book first). We can’t
imagine you’d be able to buy and cook all that much cheaper at home...plus
you don’t have to do the washing up which has to be a result. All in all a
hidden gem of a restaurant.
Red
Oven, 607 Bearwood Road, Bearwood, B66 4BJ
Website: www.redoven.co.uk
Tel:
0121 429 2884
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