Tales Of The City - An Indian Feast & Fifteen Minutes of Fame

It's Tuesday and I'm getting ready to meet Nikki. 

I caught the 9:50 from Walsall, disembarking the train at New Street Station twenty-two minutes later. Our usual meeting point is outside M&S Food, right opposite Ozzy, the mechanical bull who stole the show when the city hosted the Commonwealth Games back in 2022.

The Edwardian Tearooms (October, 2024)

We'd intended to have tea in the Edwardian tearooms in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and visit our favourite Pre-Raphaelites but it turned out that it was closed to the public for a school trip so we went to Medicine on New Street instead, catching up over pots of lemon & ginger tea (Nikki) and camomile (me).

After a look around Urban Outfitters to see what the kids would be wearing this year. It's all about the Y2K Boho look, if you didn't know already, clothes anyone can find for a fraction of the price in most charity shops.

Designed by British artist, Laurence Broderick (1935 – 2024) 'The Bull' was erected in 2003 outside the Bull Ring. At 4.5 metres in length, 220 cm high and weighing in at around 6.5 tonnes, it is one of the largest bronze animal sculptures in the country. 

Heading down to Digbeth, we were chased by a young woman who wanted to tell us how fabulous we looked and asked if we'd mind being interviewed for Birmingham Live's TikTok channel. 

 Nikki went first and was such a pro. She recorded me on her phone when it was my turn. I've switched the subtitles on, it was a bit noisy and you might have trouble understanding my Walsall accent!

After admiring Selfridge's iconic curves we had a look around Cow, Birmingham's largest vintage shop. People are a bit sniffy about it but the staff are lovely and there really is something for all tastes, from reworked denim and sweatshirts from the 2000s and well-priced designer gear to proper 1950s, 1960s and 1970s vintage. Although we didn't buy anything we found some bargain Frye boots, some fabulous 1970s embroidered blouses and a handful of stylish vintage leather belts.

As part of my Xmas present Tony had bought me some Dishoom gold coins to reimburse at their restaurant, telling me to treat Nikki next time we met up...so that was our next port of call.

Don't be put off by the modern exterior, Dishoom's interior is exactly like the Parsi eateries in Colaba that Jon and love visiting when we stay in Mumbai.

The staff absolutely loved how we were dressed and treated us like superstars (maybe they'd seen our interviews?) We were given a booth with a birds-eye view of the other diners. 

Plates of gunpowder potatoes (new potatoes, smoky-grilled, broken apart, tossed with butter, crushed aromatic seeds and green herbs), Dishoom house chaat (warm-cold, sweet-tangy, golden-fried sweet potato covered with yoghurt, pomegranate, beetroot, radish and carrot with a tamarind drizzle and green chutney) and some crisp and spicy vegetable samosas to share....delicious as always!

After settling the bill we posed for a classy toilet selfie.

After visiting Monsoon and Accesorize, where Nikki treated herself to some fabulous 1970s inspired sunglasses for her upcoming travels, we hugged goodbye and caught our respective trains home What's App-ing each other on the way back, appalled by the profusion of ath-leisure worn by our fellow passengers.

Thanks for a fab day out, bab and for the Lush treats! Let's not leave it so long next time!