February’s Style Birmingham magazine said, “We had an incredible evening at The Oriental Bar Restaurant; our food was above and beyond expectation and the service was flawless. Its fantastic atmosphere and menu make the restaurant a great choice for couples looking for somewhere different to eat on Valentines Day, or to celebrate Chinese New Year with some authentic cuisine.”

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A visit to The Oriental reminded me of my friend Harry’s favourite saying. Whenever we go out for a meal, he’ll glance at the myriad of dishes on the menu and say “where there is choice there is misery”.

Knowing Harry it’s probably a quote from Vic Reeves or Harry Hill…

Well at The Oriental the choice is mindboggling, but not misery-making. Quite the opposite.

With its menu now boasting a fresh influx of great dishes – with a swathe of new Malaysian options – you are spoilt for choice, but in a nice way.

See the full review here

Work in the Mailbox? Or the city centre? Like eating out
at lunchtime? Try the Oriental – it’s recently been rated 
by the Times as one of the top ten pan-Asian restaurants
in the UK. The new-look lunchtime menu offers a range
of oriental tapas, noodle dishes, noodle soups
and main courses. 

I tagged on to a group of twenty suited and chattery
lunchtime diners, and opted for Yuk Sung as a starter.
This is a rewarding, light meal of finely chopped carrot
mixed with minced chicken, which is then stir-fried,
set on a bed of vermicelli-like strands of rice paste,
sprinkled with sesame seeds and served up
on trimmed iceberg lettuce leaves.

Splash on the soy sauce (if you like it), roll the leaves up
and eat.

For a main course I plumped for Koay Teow,
which is a noodle-and-beansprout recipe that’s served
with either beef or prawns. The contrast between the slippery,
slightly gelatinous texture of the flat rice noodles,
and the crunchy beansprouts is delightful. The chilli 
isn’t overdone, and a glass of water
or a bottle of Budweiser goes down 
well with it.

The bar here is well-stocked
as you can expect, with champagnes, wines,
spirits, and a selection of classy bottled beers,
including Chang, and Magners if you like your cider,
and there are the cocktails, Wild Orchid
and Tokyo Rose, for example, and the more
familiar Screaming Orgasm and Sex on the Beach.

You don’t quite get a beach with the restaurant
but you get the expanse of water at the junction
with the Worcester Canal, and a view along the canal
up to Gas St Basin and Broad Street, and with the sun
out, the reflections on the water and the pacifying
oriental music, it’s a restful place to eat and drink
during time out of the office.

Fantastic decor, very contemporary and opulant, loved the photos on the back of the chairs. good position by the water, lower level of mailbox.just the right amount of choice of food, often at oriental restaurants there is too much to choose from. portion sizes just right.food presented very well and was really very good. service was friendly and really enjoyed spending time there.

James

This restaurant is a real gem. Lovely location, with a terrific ambience and decor. The service is attentive without being intrusive, and the cuisine is to a very high standard. In fact, the weekday lunch set menu, with 2 courses for £ 6 or 3 for £ 9 is a steal. The a la carte menu is extensive, reflecting malaysian, Thai and chinese influences. Overall, a high quality restaurant that is definitely worth a visit.

This was our second visit to The Oriental. Our first had been fantastic but the restaurant had been pretty quiet. After reading a couple of reviews saying how bad the service was when the place was busy we risked going on a Friday night. We contacted the restaurant to say we had car trouble but they didn’t have a problem keeping the table open for us. When we arrived they asked us if we had fixed the problem and even recognised us from our last visit. The place was busy busy but the service was as good as the first time we visited. The staff are very attentive and could not do more to help us. The food was first class too. Aromatic Duck to start was lovely and moist and more than enough for 4 people. The mains were fantastic too. You won’t just find the usuals you old expect on the menu, with the mix of Thai, Chinese and Malaysian there is plenty of choice and specials like Ostrich in Black Pepper sauce. I went for Kari Prawn, basically a creamy prawn curry with a bit of a kick. Mussaman chicken and Panang chicken were also both awesome. Best of all was the Red Snapper Fillet Flambe, who doesn’t love watching a flambe? All absolutely delicious. The setting at the side of the canal is fantastic at night and the decor is as good as the food. We can’t wait to go back again and again.