Hen and Chickens
SCORES ON THE DOORS
I’ve been watching the kerfuffle over Ynyshir’s food hygiene rating of one with interest. I’m a firm believer that it should be a legal requirement for all restaurants to prominently display their food hygiene rating. It’s currently voluntary, which is why we only ever see the 4s and 5s.
If its clientele isn’t concerned, fine, but I flatly refuse to eat anywhere knowingly under a 3 rating. I started browsing ratings on the Food Standards Agency website, after a meal that led to our table of four all being spectacularly and unpleasantly ill overnight. That restaurant was rated 2; improvement necessary… never mind one: significant improvement necessary.
I’m in a group of eight, for a pre-early evening football feast; it’s our second visit in as many months, having only recently taken them off my blacklist, after I spotted they only had a 2 rating. Not that we’d had any problems per se, and at least half our extended group, would’ve been perfectly happy to stick with it. But I book the restaurants, so I took our patronage elsewhere.
Hen & Chickens main bar
Now, with their recent rating of five proudly displayed on the front door, we’re back and delighted for the return of some city centre desi pub delights.
Main dining room
It’s a grade 2-listed Victorian pub, with an Italianate exterior, stained glass, crittall windows and a spacious L-shaped bar that’s resisted any significant change over the last 150 years or so. It’s my preferred spot, although there are a couple of dining rooms too.
Hen & Chicken menu
The order begins with working out how many large mixed tandoori grills we want, onto which we load the individual choices of curries, sauces, nans and additional grill items; seemingly with the shared goal of ordering far more than we need.
Large mixed grill
As our mixed grills land, erupting their billowing clouds of seductive aromas, I’m seconds away from drooling like a bloodhound, before tucking in. A bed of finely sliced onions continues to cook on the hot plate, soaking in the juices of the meats that are piled high—succulent tandoori wings, slabs of chicken in a green tikka marinade and juicy shish kebabs with a spicy kick—topped with three generous pieces of fish pakora. The absolute-fine margins of what makes a tandoori mixed grill great aren’t my forte, but I know which boxes need ticking and this ticks the lot, with a big, fat marker pen.
Fish pakora
Our ‘sides’ include two extra portions of fish pakora—better on the side as it keeps the crispiness of the batter for longer—fish curry, panner tikka, five nans, rice, masala fries, a korma and two madras sauces; the latter being a twisted firestarter of sour heat, jabbing my sinuses clean and prompting a short bout of hiccups… it’s exactly as a Madras should be.
Madras sauce
The bill is staggeringly good value at £23.29 each (food only) plus tip, although drinks are on the pricier side (Guinness is £6.85 a pint).
I’m not at all sure the food tastes any better than it did with a hygiene rating of 2, but I’m 100% confident there will be no repercussions overnight; which is exactly as it should be.
RECOMMENDED
27 Constitution Hill, Birmingham B19 3LE
14th February 2026
