Latest news with #Shababs
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Breaking - 'best' Birmingham balti house on fire as owner reveals hero moment
Firefighters were battling a fire at one of Birmingham's best known balti restaurants on Sunday morning, June 22. Emergency service crews were called at 11:15am to Shababs Balti Restaurant on Ladypool Road after a fryer caught ablaze. Hours after smoke was seen pouring out of the top floor of the iconic eatery, Shababs owner Zaf Hussain revealed how a member of public saved one of his staff members from the rapidly spreading flames after walking past a ladder by chance. READ MORE: M6 'severe delays in both directions' and lanes closed after car and lorry crash West Midlands Fire Service and West Midlands Police confirmed that one person was injured in this morning's blaze and crews from three city stations were mobilised to the scene. "Everyone is ok," owner Mr Hussain told BirminghamLive. "It was a member of the public who smashed the window who saved the person . "There was so much smoke." He added that the fire brigade got to the scene moments after the heroic rescue. Mr Hussain added: "Luckily, that person was passing by, there was a ladder there because of nearby works we were having. "It started in the kitchen, it was a fryer that caught fire. It has been absolutely crazy." Mr Hussain added that the restaurant has plans to expand as it is very busy, but that will now be put on hold as they assess the damage. The restaurant also posted on their Instagram story on Sunday afternoon to say: "We are closed due to a fire. Will update as soon as we know more." Shababs first opened its doors in 1987 and is one of Birmingham's most well-known Balti Triangle restaurants. The iconic Balti house recently featured on BBC2 when Michael Portillo paid a visit and gets regular visits from YouTubers. Hanzala Hussain was heading out to get his haircut on Ladypool Road when he saw the 999 response. An eye-witness to the aftermath, 23-year-old Mr Hussain said: "Police blocked the road off at the traffic lights so people could not get in but people were coming to have a look. "The police said we could not go because of the fumes. "I heard the fire brigade come from Highgate, I kept hearing fire engines, I live on Stratford Road. "Then I heard police." A West Midlands Fire Control spokesperson told BirminghamLive: "We were called at 11:12am, we mobilised crews from Highgate, Ladywood and Hay Mills. "Crews have left the scene is has concluded. "One person was taken to hospital for precautionary checks." A West Midlands Police spokesperson told BirminghamLive: "We were called to a fire at a property on Ladypool Road, Birmingham at around 11.15am this morning (22 June). "Officers supported fire and ambulance colleagues at the scene, thankfully no one was reported seriously injured." With nearly 1,600 Google reviews of four stars and above, diners regularly praise the "five star" taste, "nice atmosphere" and "properly authentic" Balti at Shababs. Favoured dishes include the famous Balti dish, mixed sizzling starters, naans and chicken tikka massala. Footage of the smoking building was shared on the local Instagram page 'birmzisgrime', where shocked Brummies commented in disbelief. Commenting on the public page, Instagram user @sativasensi1980 wrote: "Noooooooooooo!!! This is the best curry in Birmingham!! Devastating! The owners are great people and i hope the damage isn't too bad and manage to get everything back up and running soon!!" @awayendbanter added: "Best curry in brum ngl." @chrismacdonald5256 wrote: "No best curry in Birmingham." @ceciskym wrote simply: "Shababs" with a tearful emoji.
Irish Post
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Birmingham's Balti, blinders and Irish backbone
MY eyes started to bulge, beads of sweat began to drip from my brow — I realised that my nascent journey through Birmingham's cultural chicane was about to hit the wall when I started to taste a bowl of fiery Hot and Sour Soup ( Suan La Tang ) at a lively Chinatown restaurant. Sichuan peppercorns seemed to be gouging dents in my tongue deeper than West Midlands potholes. And the accompanying fried rice, with its semi-volcanic red chilli paste, was failing to douse the flames. Luckily, I was saved soon after when a very welcome Guinness helped to soothe the pain at the Queen's Arms, a friendly and traditional Art Nouveau pub in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Another pint followed and, quite soon, normal service was (almost) restored, Well, at least I was able to talk again. Such risks are at the heart of any trip into a metropolis which is a melting pot (literally) of so many of the world's cultures and cuisines, from Irish and Caribbean to Chinese and an abundance of South Asian. The previous day, I had voyaged into the heart of the city, along with my partner and photographer Sue Mountjoy, on a hired narrowboat in which we had tucked into our own version of the Birmingham Balti, cooked previously and frozen at home. James with the Wren tied up in the heart of Birmingham Our onboard meal was based on a recipe from Shababs, one of the city's original Balti houses that refined the legendary Pakistani curry, named after its wok-shaped cooking pan, the Balti, meaning bucket in Hindi and created locally in the 1970s. It was a delightful mix of spices, but our cooking skills hardly matched those of the local aficionados who, despite so much competition from burgers, desserts, pizzas and gastro pubs, can still be found across a city which served 20,000 Balti meals a week in the boom decades between 1990 and 2010. Of course, our four-day journey along the Worcester and Birmingham Canal was as much a relaxing wander through idyllic spring countryside as an exploration of the history of the waterway itself and the countless Irish labourers who sweated, bled and died carving its 22-mile route from Alvechurch Marina to Birmingham's historic Gas Street Basin. During the golden age of canals – a relatively short period, from 1760 to 1800 – it is not known how many Irishmen flocked to regions like the West Midlands, the epicentre of the network with 160 miles of canals (more waterways than Venice, it's claimed), most of which still survive, having come through the eras of the railways, roads and now enjoying a halcyon period of leisure use. Many of these men hid their identities and remain unrecorded by history, suspicious of often aggressive authorities and locals who accused them of taking their jobs by undercutting their already meagre wages. James tries out his onboard Balti curry Yet they came in their thousands, many to handle the harvests of the great English and Scottish estates, before switching to the canals for the better pay for the punishing work of digging 20 tons of earth a day, living amid the disease and violence of nearby shanty towns, where beer and brawling were the key distractions. It was hard not to think of their sacrifices when we faced our first and only real challenge, the seemingly endless and gloomy depths of the Wast Hill Tunnel, which is over a mile and a half long and took us over 35 minutes to pass through with just our boat headlight as our guide. It took the navvies three brutally hard and very dangerous years to dig by hand and build the brickwork (from 1794-97). I wondered how many had died there and had been the legendary 'heavy diggers' of Connemara or the 'tunnel tigers' from Donegal – both had a reputation as hard workers and, even today, have renowned skills in construction, particularly subterranean work. Wast Hill proved passable safely with steel-eyed concentration and, once through, gave me a light-headed sense of achievement when that light emerged and we savoured the warmth and birdsong at the end of its shiveringly dank depths. Even so, our cruise – with not a single ancient lock to negotiate - was ideal for a beginner and for boaters who prefer a gentle cruise through a tapestry of rolling Worcestershire countryside dotted with ancient waterside cottages and elegant grey herons who stared at us intently from the towpaths, hopeful that our propellor would expose a doomed fish or two for lunch. The Wren moored in central Birmingham Our first mooring was at Bournville, the UK's 'Chocolate Town' and home to the all-embracing Cadbury business started in 1824 by Quaker John just four miles away in Birmingham's Bull Street - now American-owned and one of the world's biggest confectionery brands. We had a fascinating wander round the elegant and green Arts and Crafts model village, which the Cadbury dynasty built to provide workers with better living conditions than the cramped Victorian city. But it was in among the giggling children at the Cadbury World exhibition centre (over 500,000 visitors each year) that we saw how clever marketing and continuous change made us both obsessed as children with Dairy Milk! Next day, a small boy Ollie (3) and his great grandmother stopped to chat and look over our 49-foot steel monster, between train spotting on the adjoining Cross-City rail line into Birmingham. 'How fast does it go?' he asked. 'Not very, I'm afraid,' I replied honestly, to his clear disappointment. Yet, as we cast off with the help of our neighbouring boat owner and with advice about the big city's attractions from a young man living in his boat opposite, we appreciated that life at 4-miles-an-hour is a wellbeing antidote to today's busy world. Even as busy Birmingham crept up on us, through the fields, suburban warehouses, and graffiti-emblazoned walls of Selly Oak, Edgbaston and eventually through heart of the city's waterways, the 230-year-old canal nerve centre, Gas Street Basin, and our final mooring berth, Brindley Place, once grimy and choked with industry but now home to countless lively bars, restaurants and such attractions as the National Sea Life Centre, Legoland and the Symphony Hall. For two nights, despite being surrounded by such full-on nightlife, our mooring proved oddly peaceful, with several friendly passing dog walkers, pram-pushers and cuddling couples stopping to chat whenever we stepped out. And by foot and buses, we immersed ourselves in the many cultures of a city which has been home to the Irish for over two centuries, with over 15,000 Irish immigrations arriving by the mid 19th century, attracted by work on the canals, railways and construction industry. The Wren sails through the lengthy Wast Hill Tunnel Our trips took us to some of the city's iconic centres, including Digbeth, the spiritual home of the Irish, and the fascinating Back-to-Backs Museum, where the National Trust spent £3 million preserving three 19th century houses that show the disease, landlord cruelty and squalor those families endured. Interestingly, our guide informed us that due to the high water table locally, the poorest families had not been forced to live in the dark and windowless house cellars as so many arriving Irish had had to endure in 19th century Liverpool. After our return to Alvechurch Marina, we handed back the 'Wren' and drove to Dudley to spend the day at the remarkable Black Country Living Museum, whose grim canal yard featured in the earliest episodes of television's long-running Birmingham drama, Peaky Blinders. The dramatized Blinders on TV are a violent group of organised criminals with Irish roots (led by Tommy Shelby played by Cillian Murphy) but the truth of the fearsome late 19th and early 20th century Birmingham 'slogging' gangs is more complex. Some, grew out of the anti-Irish Catholic violence stirred up by roving preachers who encouraged widespread looting and destruction of the impoverished Irish homes around Park Street in the 1860s. For protection, many youngsters signed up to what became an early youth cult of the day. Today, the Blinders are long gone. And, despite Birmingham's recent headlines over bin strikes and council finance chaos, we enjoyed a city with great pubs and live trad music and learned how their modern-day Irish descendants are now the poets, writers, teachers, builders and musicians that have helped construct the kaleidoscopic culture of a city that can certainly float your Balti boat. FACTFILE For canal trip details visit or call 0344 984 0322 ABC Boat Hire or call 0330 333 0590 Hire prices for the 'Wren,' for example, start at £699 for a short break (three or four nights), £999 for a week. Boats range from 32ft to 70ft and can accommodate from two up to 12 people. For more information about the canal network, visit See More: Balti, Birmingham, Irish, Travel
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
YouTuber who eats his way around the world blown away by 'fantastic' Birmingham curry house
From Abu Dhabi and Athens to London and Los Angeles, Jono Yates travels the world in search of amazing food. As part of his Only Scrans YouTube channel, Jono visited Birmingham to test out the city's best food on a football matchday. Whilst he enjoyed a balti pie and gyro at St Andrew's, it was one Birmingham restaurant which received the highest praise of all. Read More: Legendary Birmingham family describes 'surreal' moment after Dubai success "It's fantastic, it's absolutely fantastic," Jono said when he tucked into a balti at Shababs. The legendary restaurant on Ladypool Road was the final destination on the day which involved mixed grills, kebabs and burgers. He added: "Really good spice, it's made me realise I can cook a curry at home and it isn't going to take three hours. "It's so good. As a bite, that's probably the best thing I've had today." As well as eating the famous balti, Jono popped into the Shababs kitchen to make one himself. He continued: "It's so simple but so effective. I'll be a balti master in no time." A different meal Jono enjoyed was Bonehead's dragon burger which Jono described as 'amazing'. After a delightful experience at at Bonehead, Jono visited the Merrymaid Bar & Grill for a 'phenomenal' mixed grill. Shawarma Wala was another highlight on the food crawl, but the Small Heath restaurant is now listed as 'temporarily closed'.
