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Dining in Europe > Birmingham Birmingham city centre offers a first-rate selection of places to dine. Evenings and weekends see locals, students and visitors gravitate towards the centre of town looking for gastronomic fulfilment, and the choice on offer will not disappoint. Practically every nationality is represented by restaurants to suit any budget. Balti restaurants are especially strong in Birmingham, both in number and quality, and indeed many would argue the balti was born in Birmingham. Broad Street and the surrounding roads give you the pick of the bar and restaurant bunch. From pub grub to haute cuisine, you can find it on Broad Street - a pint of ale or a five-course meal. Treat your tastebuds in the stylish Left Bank restaurant, which serves food with a contemporary feel in a super-modern environment, or the highly-rated Shimla Pinks, a chic, award-winning curry house. Broad Street is home to many highly popular chains such as the lively Edwards cafe-bar or the ever popular brasserie-style Cafe Rouge. Being less than a stones throw away from the ICC and a very short walk from the NIA and the city centre, Broad Street and the surrounding locale make the perfect location for that "swift pint". The area boasts several popular pubs such as Brasshouse and Brannigans on Broad Street. The Brindleyplace development off Broad Street gives diners and drinkers a vast choice in the way of waterfront entertainment, with sushi on offer at the Shogun Teppan-Yaki and a taste of the good life at Bank restaurant. If chow mein and stir-fries stir up your appetite, head straight for Birminghams Chinatown, found roughly in and around the Arcadian Centre and on Thorp Street. The flavour of the Orient is captured in traditional Cantonese restaurants such as Chung Ying Garden and the knife-throwing Japanese art of preparing Teppanyaki cuisine is available in the restaurant of the same name. It certainly ain't chop suey, but if thats what you're after, you'll find it in the Arcadian. Edgbastons Hagley Road is paradise on earth for the hungry and thirsty. From traditional English to whatever your imagination can come up with, you'll find it here, and still within easy reach of the rest of central Birmingham. If tales of the Sanctuary nightclub have put you off Digbeth, think again, The Custard Factory is home to many forms of entertainment and the Cafe des Artistes cafe-restaurant offers a trendy environment in which those with a more sophisticated palate can enjoy their contemporary cuisine. Hockley, known for its jewellery trade, is now developing a thriving cafe culture. Come here for a vast choice in restaurants, bars and pubs, and for a romantic evening as much as for a fun and furious night out. St Pauls Square, home of the trendy Saint Pauls Bar & Restaurant favoured by professionals and students alike, will leave you spoilt for choice. If you are after a balti, then Birmingham most definitely has the edge on most cities of the world. Balsall Heath, Sparkbrook and Small Heath have a seemingly endless amount of balti restaurants on offer, bringing infinite joy to lovers of this sumptuous and aromatic dish from all around the Midlands, who make the journey especially to savour the huge range of baltis offered. The amount of award-winning restaurants here would impress even the most hard-nosed food snob - Birminghams baltis are not to be sniffed at! Entertainment in BirminghamBirmingham is slowly but surely emerging from the constricting knot of associations with Spaghetti Junction, and is gaining a reputation as an exciting and entertaining place to be. The city centre boasts theatres, museums, shops, galleries and many, many great places to eat. From visiting the famous Cadbury World in Bournville, to dancing your socks off at The Sanctuary in Digbeth, you are guaranteed a wide choice of entertainments in Birmingham. Even Amsterdam can hardly beat the beautiful canal network around Brindleyplace. This is where you will find a seemingly endless choice of places to drink, dine and dance, as well as the ICC and the NIA. Hidden inside Brindleyplace is the Ikon Art Gallery, providing a bit of culture between stuffing your face in one of the many great restaurants here. Broad Street offers a choice of food that will satisfy even the most picky eater with pubs, bars, cafes, and brasseries - if you want to munch, sip, or dance the night away, come here. For those after a more refined evenings entertainment, the Symphony Hall, also located on Broad Street, is reputed to offer the best acoustics in Europe and is home to the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Broad Street also boasts a huge choice of nightclubs and discos. The university area of Edgbaston has more than just the usual array of student bars on offer. Indulge in whatever cultural activity takes your fancy at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, a small art gallery with an intimate exhibition of Monets, Renoirs and Van Goghs (and best of all its free of charge). There is also a small venue that hosts classical and chamber music concerts and operas on a regular basis. Edgbaston is also home to the (mac) Midlands Art Centre, which houses a cinema, six galleries and three performance spaces within its grounds, making the mac a premier spot for all aspects of culture and the arts in the Midlands. Hockley is the jewellery district. By day, distractions on offer include the award-winning Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, which promises to amuse even those who aren't enthralled by diamonds and sapphires. There is no shortage of night-time pursuits in Hockley, check out the thriving club and bar scene for a great night out. Dining in Europe > Birmingham
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