Birmingham is a worldwide gastronomic paradise. It’s due to the contribution of the huge cultural influence the city is immersed, of course. It is a multicultural city with numerous restaurants representing cuisine of several countries.
This month, PRAZA Edgbaston is hosting its successful Indian Street Food Festival. The diversity of Indian food is presented at every part of Birmingham. You will have the unique chance to taste the authentic food prepared by chefs from different parts of India. Everything with a bit of twist, of course. We talked to the Director of PRAZA, Rai Singh, to know more about the whole experience.
Midlands Trade: First, I would like to know more about the festival. How and when did it start and what is the idea behind it?
Rai Singh: The festival started on the 8th September and finishes on the 30th September. We initially launched our first street food festival several years ago at our sister restaurant Pushkar. Due to the huge success of the festival, we then decided to bring it to PRAZA.
The whole idea of the festival is to really experiment with and explore the street food scene, especially with the growing interest surrounding street food currently. We wanted to see how we could involve this concept of street food to PRAZA and bring it into a commercial sense for the public to enjoy.
MT: What kind of dishes are served?
RS: We’re mainly serving quick, light snacks at the festival. We really wanted to focus on offering refreshing and colourful dishes that are freshly made.
The dishes include predominantly fresh products such as dairy, yogurt and sauces and so they need to be served fresh for each order. The dishes are small instead of one big main dish, people can sample as many different tastes as possible.
MT: What is the importance of this event to the gastronomic scene of the city?
RS: Its giving something new and fresh to Birmingham. Something that’s very authentic. Our chefs come from all different regions of India and each one of them has had a different input on at least one of the dishes.
MT: Is this an annual event?
RS: We do plan to do this annually; the festival is always a huge success. We plan to shake it up each year and always strive to bring something new to the table and to present new tastes and flavours for the public to enjoy.
MT: How does this experience work?
RS: Small dishes start from just £4, you can add as many or as little as you like to experience a completely unique and palatable tasting experience. It’s a fantastic tasting menu, you really get to taste lots of different items and that’s what street food is all about!
MT: it is served at lunchtime, dinner or any specific time of the day?
RS: Just served dinner.
MT: Which days of the week the festival is happening?
RS: The festival menu is available all week, Monday-Saturday.
Visit praza.co.uk/ for more info about this event
Photos |Courtesy of Praza
