Birmingham New Street is the UK’s most-used railway station outside of London. Over a single year, it’s expected that the station will see around 46.5 million entries and exits – that’s a lot of hungry punters passing through its gates.
Safe to say, BNS is a one hell of a hub of activity, and with its close proximity to the Bull Ring Shopping Centre, it serves as the launchpad for those keen to explore the self-proclaimed ‘second city’ first hand.
Although Birmingham is filled with some truly wonderful destinations for you to eat, with its 5 Michelin stars, iconic Balti Triangle, high-class dining in the Jewellery Quarter and street-food scene in and around Digbeth, these destinations may be a bit of a stretch if you’re only in Birmingham for a short stop over and have an onward train to catch.
Thankfully, New Street boasts some serviceable restaurants close to hand, and even has some decent places to eat inside the station itself. Although these will certainly fill a hole, eating in such close proximity to the hustle and bustle of the station can lead to a rather rushed eating experience. For a calmer, more refined approach, it’s best to head out of the station and into Birmingham proper.
All these restaurants, then, are less than a 5-minute walk from Birmingham New Street Station, just in case you need to run back for the train home, so, without further ado, here are some of the best restaurants just stone’s throw away from the station.
Tamatanga, Navigation Street (4 mins)
Birmingham is famed as being a culinary hub of South Asian cuisine, and if you’re after these flavours, then make a beeline for Tamatanga. Everything on the menu is made fresh from local ingredients and every spice used is roasted and ground by hand daily, resulting in assertive though surprisingly light dishes packed full of flavour.
Tamatanga offers all the staples of Indian street food, including slow-cooked curry bowls, chaats, biryani bowls, and sharing-style small plates. If you’re keen for an up-close-and-personal experience with the fresh-forward ethos of the cooking here, their chaat bombs are a great place to start, as they’re bursting with chickpeas, sprouts, sweet yoghurt, and tamarind. These flavours combine to create a taste that’s simultaneously sweet, sour and tangy, but most importantly, refreshing, too.
For something a little more substantial, go for the clay oven-roasted lamb chops, expertly cooked by chefs specifically trained in the art of the tandoor. Marinated overnight in yoghurt, ginger, garlic, and cloves, it’s a rich, indulgent affair, given intrigue and eating-pleasure by the gnarly edges that have been blistered, burnished and embittered (in just the right way) by that illustrious ancient cooking vessel.
Yep, Tamatanga is a fun, frivolous and flavour-packed place to eat, and one of our favourite restaurants close to Birmingham New Street Station.
Address: Orion Building, Navigation St, Birmingham B5 4AX
Website: tamatanga.co.uk
La Galleria, Ethel Street (3 mins)
At La Galleria, you can eat beautiful Italian food under an elegant chandelier light on comfy, cream leather seats… What more could you want so close to BNS?
Shortlisted this year in the British Restaurants Awards under the Best Restaurant Birmingham category, La Galleria knows what it takes to prepare a delicious Italian meal.
The restaurant has a resident pizzaiolo who stretches, pulls and flips right in front of your eyes, giving hungry punters alighting at Birmingham New Street not only dinner, but a show, too.
La Galleria also offers a menu of handmade pasta, with the familiar classics all present and correct – Carbonara? Check. Bolognese? Check – alongside some options you won’t find elsewhere, like the restaurant’s signature Tortiglioni Alla Galleria. Akin to pasta alla norma, with aubergines, tomatoes and salted ricotta defining the dish, it’s given intrigue with a piquant basil dressing. Superb.
Their vitello (veal) dishes come highly recommended, too, with the Roman-inspired saltimbocca perhaps the restaurant’s finest single dish. Wrapped in Parma ham and sage, and finished with a reduction of white wine from the Umbria region, this is a traditional taste of Italy in the heart of Birmingham, and we just love it.
For a boisterous evening (and if you’re not in a rush for your next train!) visit La Galleria on one of their music nights, where you can dine while being serenaded by the house band.
Address: 5A Ethel St, Birmingham B2 4BG
Website: lagalleriaitalianrestaurant.co.uk
Mowgli, Stephenson Place (2 mins)
If you’re looking for low-on-fuss, big-on-flavour Indian street food, there’s no better option than Mowgli, about as close as you can get to Birmingham New Street Station without still being on the concourse.
The brainchild of TV chef Nisha Kotona, Mowgli opened in 2014 and has quickly expanded to become a mini-chain with locations in some of the biggest cities in the UK, serving high-quality Indian food in their always warming and classy-cum-rustic interiors.
With hanging seats reminiscent of childhood rope swings, the Birmingham branch of Mowgli offers a straightforward but smooth dining experience, with a huge selection of often-deliciate, always-delicious small plates (often bowls, actually). Their house keema is a standout, dark and heady from roast cumin, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, and rich from properly fatty minced lamb. You may just need a snooze on your connecting train afterwards, mind.
For lunch, opt for their Office Worker’s Tiffin for a well-rounded dining experience that comes with a bit of the unknown. Here the chef will bless those four tiers with (in their words) ‘meat, veg and carb jeopardy…as it is in India’’. For £18, it’s an absolute snip, though it’s not ideal if you’re planning on working afterwards. For those seeking something lighter, the Ruby Wrap, essentially tandoori grilled paneer in a roti, is just as satisfying.
Address: Unit 30, Stephenson Pl, Birmingham B2 4BF
Website: mowglistreetfood.com
Bodega Cantina, Bennetts Hill (4 mins)
Bodega Cantina is a bold and bright South American-inspired diner decorated with clashing colours, soundtracked by pumping music, and served by a continent-covering menu, all of which comes together to create a vibrant space.
Here you can sample street food and home-style cooking from across Latin America, whether that’s from the wide-ranging tacos menu, or the Argentinian rump steak, Moqueca (a seafood medley of prawns and white fish covered in a coconut-based sauce) from Brazil, and Peruvian ceviche, amongst others.
Read: The best steakhouses and parrillas in Buenos Aires, Argentina
If you’re a little overwhelmed by that rather scattergun approach to menu writing, play things safe with the restaurant’s signature dish; keenly priced sharing nachos with a choice of chicken, chipotle beef, or a distinctive Dr Pepper marinated pork.
Bodega Cantina is all about discovering and sharing experiences with others, which is why most of their menu is designed to share and sample with mates. When you factor in their detailed list of cocktails and sipping alcohol, including mezcal and cachaca, it’s a perfect place to get the party started near Birmingham New Street. Now, when’s the last train home?
Address: 12 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham B2 5RS
Website: bodegacantina.co.uk
Adam’s Restaurant, Waterloo Street (4 mins)
You don’t have to travel far from Birmingham New Street to find Michelin-starred fine dining. In fact, Adam’s Restaurant is a contemporary establishment that is one of only five restaurants with the same distinction, and it’s just a five (well, four) minute walk from the station.
In fact, Adam’s is consistently named as one of the best in the country, coming forth in Trip Advisor’s Travellers Choice Awards last year, as well as placing in the Good Food Guide’s Top 50 Restaurants for 2020 and retaining its 3 AA Rosettes this year.
With an art deco inspired interior lit up in golden hues, Adam’s Restaurant screams (or rather, gently demures) class even before you sample the string of snacks soon to grace your table.
Though you can enjoy a three-course lunch at Adam’s (plus snacks, petit fours and all that jazz) for £55, if you’ve got pockets deep enough it would be rude not to go for the tasting menu experience here. Though not cheap at £130, it’s an artfully composed evening, with each course building on the last to create a progression of dishes with a keen sense of both place and direction.
The soy-glazed Orkney scallop is something of a signature, sure, but it’s in the game cooking that Adam (or, these days, head chef James Goodyear) really excels. On our visit, a blushing loin of venison accompanied with offal-heavy faggot was particularly good. Paired with an intriguing Moroccan Syrah, this was one of our dishes of the year.
Read: Thinking about moving to Birmingham?
Address: New Oxford House, 16 Waterloo St, Birmingham B2 5UG
Website: adamsrestaurant.co.uk
Bar + Block Steakhouse, Waterloo Street (4 mins)
Though it’s a ubiquitous presence on the London steak scene, Bar + Block Steakhouse actually originated in Birmingham, and if you’re looking for some of the best food close to Birmingham New Street Station, you may well find it here, at the mothership.
Dimly lit and illuminated by a neon sign explaining the different cuts of beef, Bar + Block Steakhouse isn’t all about head turning decor. In fact, it’s a restaurant that very much pulls focus onto its food.
Serving steaks tailored just to your tastes, each is hand cut to order, allowing you to get between 8 and 16 oz steaks, all cooked to your preference. There’s always a steak expert (a ‘stexpert’? Nah, that doesn’t work) if you’re struck by the paradox of choice when perusing the menu, but if you’re keen for guidance from these pages, then we’d recommend their speciality dish; a spiral-cut ribeye.
It’s a lovely cut of beef, make no mistake, marinated in chimichurri for 24 hours to ensure the steak remains tender and flavourful. It comes with triple-cooked chunky chips, perfect for dipping in more of that homemade chimichurri sauce, and samphire, for some reason.
If you’re sharing, you can’t go wrong with their char-grilled chateaubriand, and should you fall more in the ‘go big’ rather than ‘go home’ camp, then don’t miss out on the restaurant’s truffled mac’n’cheese, either!
They also serve up an unlimited fried breakfast for just £9.50 should you find yourself in need of a generously sized full English before you catch your train. Well, it would be rude not, to?
Address: 3-6 Waterloo St, Birmingham B2 5PG
Website: barandblock.co.uk
And on that note, we’ve gone a little too big, and it’s time for us to head home on the next train. Now, where did we put our ticket?