Healthy Eating in Birmingham: Calories in a Balti, a Soho Road Thali and a Chippy Tea

What do people in Birmingham actually eat?

Birmingham’s food is shaped by the communities who built the modern city. At the 2021 census, 17.0% of Birmingham’s 1,144,922 residents were of Pakistani heritage, 5.8% Indian, 4.2% Bangladeshi and 3.9% Black Caribbean, and 29.9% were Muslim. That shows on the high streets: Ladypool Road, Stoney Lane and Stratford Road in the Balti Triangle, Soho Road in Handsworth and Hurst Street in Chinatown are where much of the city eats out.

• The Balti Triangle. The balti was developed in Birmingham in the 1970s, credited to Pakistani restaurateurs, and Adil’s on Stoney Lane opened in 1977. Some 50 balti houses once clustered between Sparkhill and Moseley; by 2023 only four remained. The dish is stir-fried fast in vegetable oil, meat off the bone, served in a thin pressed-steel bowl with a shared naan.
• Handsworth and Soho Road. In Handsworth, 58.4% of residents were South Asian at the 2021 census and 8.2% Black Caribbean. Expect Punjabi sweet shops, dahl and chapati, and Caribbean kitchens a few doors apart.
• Chinatown. Centred on Hurst Street since the 1960s, the Chinese Quarter was officially renamed Birmingham Chinatown on 20 May 2024. The seven-storey pagoda at Holloway Circus has stood since 1998.
• The Black Country next door. Faggots in gravy and pork scratchings are pub and chip-shop staples from Dudley to West Bromwich, and they turn up across Birmingham too.
• Bournville. Cadbury moved to Bournville, about 4 miles south of the centre, in 1879, so milk chocolate is part of the city’s story as well as its corner shops.

Since 6 April 2022, food businesses in England with 250 or more employees must print calories per portion on menus, along with the line “adults need around 2000 kcal a day”. That covers the chains in the Bullring and Grand Central. It doesn’t cover most family-run balti houses, Soho Road sweet centres or Hurst Street restaurants, which is why the figures below come from the UK government’s CoFID 2021 tables instead. Portion weights are our estimates; weigh a takeaway once at home and you’ll know your own.

How many calories are in a Birmingham balti and naan?

A Birmingham chicken balti is one of the leaner curries you can order. CoFID’s retail chicken balti has 105 kcal, 10.5 g of protein and 5.0 g of fat per 100 g, against 156 kcal and 9.8 g of fat for a chicken tikka masala. What changes the total is the naan: a retail naan has 285 kcal per 100 g, and the karack naan served with a balti is often big enough to share across a table.

Tandoori chicken is the protein winner here: 27.4 g per 100 g, almost three times the balti’s 10.5 g, because it is mostly meat with no sauce. The biryani is the trap. At 195 kcal per 100 g and only 7.1 g of protein, a 400 g plate costs 780 kcal for 28 g of protein, less protein than the 420 kcal balti.

The second order saves 762 kcal and gives up 22 g of protein, most of it from the naan, pakora and lassi rather than the meat. Order the balti, share the naan or swap it for chapati, and skip the starter on the nights you’re trying to lose fat.

What should I order on Soho Road or Stratford Road?

Soho Road in Handsworth and Stratford Road in Sparkhill are where Birmingham buys everyday Punjabi and Pakistani food: dahl, saag, chapati, pakoras and lassi, as much as restaurant curries. The good news for training is that lentils carry real protein. CoFID’s Punjabi red lentil dahl has 141 kcal and 7.2 g of protein per 100 g.

The easiest swap on Soho Road is the chapati. Two made without fat save 113 kcal against two brushed with butter or oil, and you’ll barely notice the difference with a bowl of dahl. Pair the dahl with a tandoori or tikka starter and you have a 40 to 50 g protein meal for well under 800 kcal.

Is a Birmingham kebab or chippy tea a decent meal after training?

A Birmingham shish kebab is one of the better takeaways for muscle. CoFID puts a shish kebab in pitta with salad at 149 kcal and 13.6 g of protein per 100 g, while a doner kebab in pitta is 248 kcal for 14.1 g. The protein is almost the same; the doner has four times the fat.

Swapping the doner for a shish saves about 400 kcal for 2 g less protein. A Friday chippy tea of cod, a full 300 g of chips and mushy peas comes to 1,244 kcal and 52.8 g of protein; halve the chips and it drops to 923 kcal with almost all the protein left. Mushy peas are the quiet win: 5.8 g of protein per 100 g for 81 kcal.

Chinatown, Caribbean Handsworth and the Black Country: what’s in them?

Birmingham’s other food traditions each have one dish worth knowing the numbers for. These are the plates that come up most when clients send us a photo of last night’s tea.

• On Hurst Street, ask for boiled rice instead of egg fried: it saves 137 kcal on a 250 g portion. A chow mein carries more protein than most people expect, 34 g in a 400 g carton.
• In Handsworth, rice and peas, a 200 g chicken leg and a side of fried plantain add up to 1,134 kcal and 56.3 g of protein. Keep the chicken and the rice and peas, and treat the plantain as the side you share.
• In a Black Country pub, two faggots with gravy and mushy peas come to 566 kcal and 33.3 g of protein, which is a reasonable meal. Pork scratchings are 47.9% protein but also 46.0% fat: a 30 g bag is 182 kcal before the pint.
• From Bournville, a 45 g bar of milk chocolate is 234 kcal with 14.0 g of fat. Fit it into the day rather than on top of it.

What does a fat-loss day of Birmingham food look like?

The NHS gives 2,000 kcal a day as an average for women and 2,500 kcal for men, and both shift with age, size and activity. A fat-loss day built from food you can buy in Birmingham, with most meals high in protein, looks like this. It lands near 1,800 kcal and just over 150 g of protein.

Nothing here is diet food. It is a shish instead of a doner, chapati instead of naan, and tandoori instead of a creamy sauce. If you eat out more often than you cook, these three swaps do more than any meal plan.

How do I eat for muscle gain on Birmingham food?

Gaining muscle in Birmingham is easier than losing fat, because the city’s food is generous. The work is keeping protein high rather than just adding naan. This day comes to about 2,960 kcal and 181 g of protein, built around a lunchtime balti.

The biryani earns its place here because the day needs calories, and the yoghurt brings its protein up. On a lighter week, swap it for tandoori chicken and rice.

How does a coach help you eat well in Birmingham?

Knowing the numbers is half of it; the other half is someone checking in. MakeMyFitness coaches Birmingham clients on live video, 45 minutes at a time, and talks food through with you as part of the session: what you ate at the weekend, what’s planned for Eid or a family wedding, and how to order on a Friday night without undoing the week. Our lead coach, Kumar Abhishek, is a Human Performance Nutritionist (K11 School of Fitness Sciences). We’re not dietitians and don’t treat medical conditions; for diabetes or any other condition, your GP or a registered dietitian comes first.

Sessions run from 6 AM to 2:30 PM UK time, so most Birmingham clients train before work or at lunch and eat their biggest meal after. For what we charge next to local trainers, see personal trainer costs in Birmingham; for parks, canal towpaths and the Great Birmingham Run, see staying fit in Birmingham. The Birmingham page has booking and session times, and the UK page lists the other cities we coach.