Tamatanga Restaurant Review

I was invited along to try the cuisine at Tamatanga on Navigation Street in Birmingham.  Obviously here in Birmingham we are well endowed with Indian restaurants, so I was keen to see if Tamatanga could add something new to the mix of Indian dining establishments.

The decor is the first thing that strikes you as you go into Tamatanga.  As you can see it’s quite striking and not what you expect from a traditional curry house and that’s because it’s not, so don’t expect to find any flock wallpaper here. It’s a very modern vibe and generally very comfortable, although the seating in our section was either a little too big for the area, or maybe it needed one less table as it was a little difficult for the waiting staff to get past as the restaurant filled up. I really liked the colourful look and I think it made it clear that the food here was going to be a little bit different and certainly have a modern twist.

We started the evening sampling the cocktail menu.  I do find that cocktails go nicely with Asian cuisine and generally pick something long and refreshing to drink like this Berry Bombay cocktail made from vodka and pink lemonade with plenty of berries.  There’s plenty of choice on the drinks menu including a range of craft beers including Tailgate Peanut Butter Milk Stout which I wish I’d spotted earlier as I’d have liked to give it a go.

For my main course I picked out the Tamatanga Salmon and I wasn’t disappointed.  It was wonderfully moist and aromatic. It’s a salmon fillet that’s cooked with a light and fresh blend of tamatanga’s spices and served with their in-house tamatanga chutney.