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Rola Wala is new to the Selfridges Food Hall in Birmingham.  Like the other concessions in the Food Hall, it’s a place to grab some food while you take the weight off your feet before getting back to some more shopping. It’s not the sort of place you’d go for a romantic meal or a leisurely meal with friends as the decor and furniture are a touch industrial in style. This is the fourth Rola Wala location to open, as there are already venues in Oxford, Leeds and Spitalfields in London. Rola Wala’s prides itself on its ‘Twisted Indian Street Food’, and Indian street food is just the thing when you are having a busy day shopping.  I was invited along to try out the menu last week as Rola Wala’s guest.

So to begin with you have to decide between a naan roll or a spice bowl.  The spice bowl was an easy choice for me as I would always choose rice over naan anyway, but I also thought it would look better in my pictures (ever the blogger). The Spice bowls are based on a red rice imported from Sri Lanka, which is apparently even better for you than brown rice. The alternative is the soft sourdough naan roll  which I thought looked very nice too. Now you need to choose from six toppings: three vegetarian and three non-vegetarian plus there’s an optional range of sides available if you pay a bit more. You can pay extra to double up on the toppings too, but to be honest I don’t think you need to as I found a bowl and two sides was very filling. Then you get to pick from five different chutneys, which run the whole spice range from a mild spice to too hot for me.  The mildest is pear & tamarind, with the scorpion being too hot for me, but I can’t cope with very spicy food.  I was torn between the mango, lime & ginger and the mint, lime & pineapple which were medium spicy.

There’s quite a range of drinks available with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available.  Lager is a natural match for a curry and there were some beers available, but I opted for the soft option in the Karma Soda which tasted quite like the diet version of a well-known cola brand and I really liked it. 

You order at the counter and your meal is brought to your table.  The service was very fast as you’d expect with street food I think. For my spice bowl I chose the Bengali Beef, which is a very tender shredded beef brisket. There’s plenty of flavour and it’s mildly spicy, but the meat doesn’t overpower the dish, in fact there isn’t a huge amount of it.  I don’t like a meal to be too heavy on the meat, so that suited me nicely. The other meat based options are charred Chicken Tikka and Nagaland Lamb which has been slow-cooked.  I enjoyed the red rice that came with the spice bowl.  It has a flavour that is different to brown rice, not so nutty, but it certainly has more flavour than the average bowl of white rice.

For my sides I picked the String Fries (I can never resist fries) and the Avo Chaat Salad.  The fries were nice and had a slightly spicy seasoning, but they didn’t stand out for me.  The Avo Chaat Salad was truly delicious though and I’d be ordering that every time. It’s a mango salad with avocado and pomegranate too: very fresh, slightly fruity and very tasty.  Sally, a fellow blogger, who ate with me, had some different options that I got to try too like the Kashmiri Cauliflower Popcorn – not a fan, a bit beige tasting for me. Like me though she picked out and loved the Avo Chaat Salad, which was so nice I would happily have ordered that as a main course.  I did enjoy the food at Rola Wala and I think I could be making a return visit before too long.

February’s Degustabox had a bit of an indulgent theme going on for me, although there were some healthy treats too.  I love a good muesli in the morning, so I was really pleased to see a Primrose’s Kitchen muesli.  I’ve found Primrose’s Kitchen to be a quality brand in the past and their Raw Beetroot & Ginger Muesli lives up to their reputation.  Whilst we are in healthy mode it’s worth talking about Emily Crisps which are fruity (or vegetably – is that a word?) and great for a snack. I liked the Crunchy Red Apple flavour that we were sent. Another way to stave off hunger between meals is The Protein Ball Co.’s Cherry and Almond flavour balls.  They are great if you are a fan of cherry bakewells.

Slightly more indulgently pretzel fans will like these Indie Bay Snacks Pretzel Bites.  They are very moreish. If you like American candy, these Tootsie Roll Midgees will be a great treat – they are a good retro choice too as they have been around since 1896. KitKat’s Chunky New York Cheesecake is a welcome variation on the KitKat theme.

I was intrigued to try this True Nepal Cactus Water.  It has a crisp, refreshing taste and would be great in your breakfast smoothie. HARIBO Fruitilicious are a new and existing addition to the range.  They have loads of fruity flavour, but contain 30% less sugar than regular fruit gum sweets. Great with houmous are these Dr.Karg’s Organic Emmental Cheese & Pumpkin Seed Crispbreads.

I’ve returned to Cafe Reem in Harborne many times over the last couple of years and it really is one of my favourite places to eat at lunchtime.  It’s also a great choice for a coffee and a cake, but for me if I’m popping in to meet up with a friend I usually opt for one of their magnificent Mint Teas rather than coffee.  There’s so much emphasis on coffee in cafes these days that tea often gets forgotten or alternatively some good quality teabags are used, but a premium price (similar to the more pampered coffee) requested for the privilege. Cafe Reem is different because tea there is fresh and really an art form in its own right. Not only that but you get plenty of hot water provided, so your tea lasts for the duration of your catch up, which is just the way it should be.

Cafe Reem isn’t just about the tea though.  There’s a lot more to sample and enjoy. With its focus on Middle Eastern cuisine it’s perhaps no surprise that falafel is a speciality and well worth sampling.  It’s prepared with care with a well judged combination of spices to create aromatic and flavoursome falafel.  My personal favourite is the Falafel Burger which is good size for a filling lunch.  It comes with a centre of goat cheese, sumac, and caramelized onions plus it’s served with hummus, imhamara and salad. There are a range of sandwich options available with falafel fillings and they are just as good, but a little smaller on the portion side if you want a lighter lunch.

For my next visit I’m eyeing up the brunch menu which looks perfect for a leisurely weekend breakfast when you don’t have any particular plans for the day.  There are a number of dishes with eggs that have caught my eye including O’jah, a Palestinian omelette, and Shakshuka, a one pot egg dish made with peppers.

Update: I went to Cafe Reem a few weeks ago (writing this in October 2018) with two friends and was disappointed.  I’d raved about the cafe to them and felt very embarrassed by the customer service: an order forgotten; an order got slightly wrong; a lot of grief about a slightly torn bank note; and a disappointing reaction to a hair in a dish (not sure where the hair had come from, but I didn’t like the way the issue was handled).  I do expect to go again with other friends, so I’ll know better if it was a once off then.

For some time now Bearwood (a suburb about 4 miles from the centre of Birmingham) has been a bit of a hot spot for local restaurants that have something different to offer.  Like anywhere else within the West Midlands, it has its fair share of curry houses with a few Chineses, pizza takeaways and chip shops thrown in, but there are plenty more including a few decent Italians, an Austrian restaurant (currently closed sadly), a Persian and an Eastern European grill. In recent months a number of cafes have opened up mostly on the main high street (Bearwood Road) offering a range of offerings and it’s pleasing that these have been mostly independent outlets.

The other day I tried out the latest cafe opening called Why Not Coffee with a friend. Inside there’s a soft industrial decor with wooden tables, metal vintage milk churns and some leather armchairs.  We wanted to sit somewhere comfortable and luckily there was a suitable spot for us  There are also some big tables with high stools which would be great for a meeting or for home workers. They do provide free Wifi and every seating area has a power socket and USB charger, but I didn’t try these out on my visit. I’d have preferred a little more softness to the decor, as I find that works well in a cafe as it helps absorb some of the noise, but Why Not Coffee has a very clean look and a pleasant atmosphere.  There is a spacious, clean and well equipped toilet at the back, but you do need to go up a few steps to get to it. Within the main cafe, I noticed a thoughtful box of things for children, including drawing materials and books.

Now neither of us are coffee drinkers, but we didn’t let the cafe name put us off.  The tea was nicely presented with the milk in miniature metal milk churns.  Like many cafes, there seems to be a desire to charge a similar price for tea to coffee, often without the justification in terms of quality or range.  The tea was perfectly pleasant, but fairly ordinary, so it felt a bit pricey. We were provided with some extra hot water though when we asked, so that did help ease things along.

In the interests of research I tried out one the cakes.  It was a difficult choice because there were quite a few tempting options available.  My carrot cake was delicious and very moist.  I thought the cakes were reasonably priced too.  There are some lunch options available and the bread on display did look nice, so maybe I’ll try some on another visit.

This month’s Degustabox has a new year, new me theme with lots of healthy options in the box, but there are also some nice treats too, so it should clear away any post-Christmas gloom.

I’ve been out doing plenty of walking and I find that the Mahtay Yerba Mate Sparkling Tea is a good size to take when I am out and about.  It’s a light sparkling drink that gives you energy too.  Another great companion for a walk is the Pulsin Vanilla Choc Chip Protein Booster which is a handy taste bar containing 13g of plant based protein.  Back at home I used the Pulsin Vanilla Whey Protein Powder for adding a protein boost. Explore Cuisine Organic Edamame & Mung Bean Fettuccine is a great way of adding extra protein and fibre to your favourite pasta dishes.

January is a time when many of us are looking to try to lose a little weight.  I was interested to try the LighterLife Fast Ready to Drink Shakes, available exclusively from Superdrug, but I found the shakes a little sweet for my taste, but I am interested in trying the rest of the range.  Eating more oily fish is something I’ve been trying to do and my go-to sources are mackerel and tuna.  Wild Planet Albacare Wild Tuna Steaks are 100% pole and line caught.  They are cooked once to retain the natural juices in the tin, so don’t drain and use the Omega-3 rich juices to enhance the flavour and your nutrition.  Clipper Tea has long been a favourite of mine.  Clipper Everyday Organic Tea makes a really good cuppa and it’s organic and the teabags are unbleached.

Also keeping me going this month have been the Jordans Juicy Red Berry Frusli Bars made with handfuls of zingy cranberries and raisins. Hersheys Cookies N Creme 5 Pack Snack Pack have provided a very welcome sweet treat. I love noodles for a quick and tasty meal so the Miso Tasty Spicy Ramen Noodle Kit was very welcome.  A little spice got added to our meals through the Latin American Kitchen products from Santa Maria: Chipotle Mayo Topping and Colombian Crunchy Chicken Bites Seasoned Corn Coating. A refreshing contrast was provided by the Robinsons Fruit Cordial with a more sophisticated mix of fruits than the average cordial.

You can buy a Degustabox here and get a monthly box of food to help you discover new tastes and brands.