This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour was invited to have a meal including drinks at the expense of Rosa’s Thai Cafe. We did leave a tip.

By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour

Experience Review: Rosa’s Thai Cafe Birmingham

Normally I wouldn’t review a restaurant within three months of opening but these are not normal times. Rosa’s Thai Cafe opened in Birmingham on 18th May 2021. I was lucky enough to be invited to see the inside of the venue and take home a dish to heat up at home. Just one month later I returned for what for some Brummies might call a late dinner (Lunch) and what other people might call a very early dinner (Tea).

The thoroughfare outside Rosa’s is named Chamberlain Square but it should really be called something like Chamberlain Walk as the square itself is around the corner. The walkway seems to be suffering from a lack of footfall, during the building works the narrow walkway offered no end of cyclists who couldn’t read the “cyclists dismount” signs and people who don’t understand the phrase KEEP LEFT. Now we have the casual danger of people who can’t actually ride an electric scooter tearing through the area. Argh!

Thursday 3:30pm

I say 3.30pm it is 3.22pm I like to turn up early for a booking to see how a venue copes. They coped just fine and gave us a choice of tables, we sit by the window. We are given a small collection of menus. Someone has been giving the task of crossing out missing menu items with a black marker pen as the Rosa’s is not running a full menu in these Covid times. We order from the all-day menu.. mostly.

Generally I love Thai food and this can cause a problem when I’m going to a new Thai venue, I’m really always going to follow the same pattern, Crackers, Hot and Sour Soup and a Thai curry for my main.

We order Prawn Crackers and something which was called Pumpkin Crackers but quite honestly I wouldn’t have known that was what they were, but the Prawn Crackers were lovely and came with sweet chilli dipping sauce. I’ll be sticking with Prawn Crackers in the future.

Decor wise this is a light relaxed venue with huge windows and a mixture of booth style seating and padded benches running down the window with light blue wooden chairs on the other side of those tables. There isn’t much to set this out as Thai from the décor. Luckily this is made up by the food.

Our drinks appeared we’d both ordered a chilled ginger which was refreshing and very summery, and even though it was now only 3.45pm we had long Cocktails. I had a Rosa’s Boozy Thai Iced Tea (with rum) and my plus one went off the main menu as he was offered a Butterfly Pea Flower Iced Tea – with Gin, by our lovely drinks server, (This turns from blue to pink with a shot of lemon added!) which was a nice bit of theatre. I’m a bit unsure of some of the other cocktail names as they are punny and don’t really say relaxed venue and seem to say pre-clubbing. Eg: Thai & Stop Me?

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I had a very nice Tom Yum Soup with Tofu, strong and mildly hot, my plus one has Chicken Satay (chicken thigh skewers) which comes with a peanut dipping sauce. I’d have had another bowl of Tom Yum Soup given half a chance.

One of the great afternoon team comes over for a quick chat, I presume they know I’m here to do a review though it didn’t feel like we were being treated any differently. After all, dear reader I expect you to have the same positive experience as me from any venue I take the time to review. The service is fairly swift however it is all quite casual which I think is a good thing. I think you should tell relaxed venues if you have a time limit particularly if none is being enforced in these days off limited bookings. If you have theatre or gigs to go to tell them.

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Our mains appear and yes, I’ve had a Massaman Curry with Chicken with Coconut Rice and my plus one had a Pad Thai with Chicken and said it tasted authentic and that the noodles were “beautifully cooked”. I’m so full after my curry that I don’t have room for any puddings! I know!

Had we not asked to settle up they’d have probably left us for another 15 minutes or so. I’ve been in other venues before that gave the bill before I’d even finished my mains!

One thing I noticed was that we were served by three different people, one took our drinks order, one took our mains order and someone else brought our starters. I’m not sure how this would work if the place was crazy busy and there were things they needed to remember or pass on.

All in all a good experience with some tasty food. Our bill came to £68 for two including two cocktails and would have been £50 without. Dinner was paid for by the venue and we left a tip. We ate from the all-day menu however there is a two course lunch menu from Noon to 5pm most weekdays so keep an eye out for that.

Would I return? Oh yes, just knowing somewhere has lovely Tom Yum Soup will bring me back.

Who is paying? Up to you? Halves?

Rosa’s Thai Cafe Birmingham is at 2B, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3AX and is open daily from Noon to 10pm find out more here: rosasthaicafe.com/locations/rosas-thai-restaurant-delivery-takeaway-birmingham

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