Location: Birmingham, UK | Category: Restaurant Review / Indo-Chinese & North Indian | Published: June 2026
Let me set the scene, yaar. It’s a grey Birmingham afternoon — the kind where the sky can’t quite decide whether to rain or just threaten to. And somewhere in this city, a restaurant called Via Delhi is quietly doing something very special: cooking food that makes you feel like you’ve just landed in the middle of a Dharavi lane, with the smell of sizzling woks, hot chai, and shameless desi joy hanging in the air.
Via Delhi is not a fancy place. It doesn’t need to be. It’s got something far more valuable than mood lighting and Instagram-friendly plating — it’s got soul. The kind you usually only find after a train journey to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, when some chaiwala hands you a kullad and you think: haan bhai, yeh hain zindagi.
🍲 Where Bombay Meets Birmingham
Via Delhi pitches itself as an Indo-Chinese and North Indian kitchen, and it delivers on both fronts with zero apology. Think less “corporate Indian restaurant in a city centre” and more “your best mate’s mum who happens to run a dhaba and cooks like she’s feeding the whole neighbourhood.” The menu reads like a love letter to the streets of Bombay, the lanes of Delhi, and the back kitchens of every Hakka Chinese joint that ever existed in Kolkata. Ekdum mast.
🐣 Chicken Lollipops — The Classic That Never Lies
We started with the Chicken Lollipops, and honestly, this dish has one job: be crispy, be spiced, and be gone before you can say “one more plate, bhaiya.” Via Delhi’s version nails all three. The coating had that satisfying crunch that echoes across the table like a mini-celebration. Inside? Juicy, well-marinated chicken that clings to the bone like it doesn’t want to leave. Served with a punchy chilli dip that had the right amount of teekha without setting your face on fire. A solid opener. Full marks.
🍜 Chicken Manchow Soup — The Soul Restorer
Next up, the Chicken Manchow Soup. Now, this is where things got personal. There’s a reason every desi swears by Manchow Soup on a cold day — it’s thick, it’s hearty, and it’s got that deep, smoky, soy-and-pepper broth that wraps around you like a blanket made of flavour. Via Delhi’s version had tender chicken pieces, a generous cascade of fried noodles on top, and that unmistakable Indo-Chinese depth that comes from a wok that’s seen some real action. One bowl and you’re sorted. Two bowls and you’re questioning all your life choices for not discovering this place sooner.
🥟 Chicken Momos — The Desi Street Gem
The Chicken Momos arrived next, plump and steamed, with that silky, thin skin that only happens when someone actually knows what they’re doing. The filling was properly seasoned — none of that bland, dry disappointment you sometimes get when a restaurant thinks momos are just dumplings in disguise. These were the real deal: spiced chicken tucked inside each parcel, served with a fiery red chutney that demanded respect. Eat one. Eat three. Regret nothing.
🍜 Chilli Garlic Noodles — Simple, Shameless, Superb
The Chilli Garlic Noodles were exactly what they promised to be: a proper masaledaar plate of wok-tossed noodles, heavy on the garlic, loaded with chilli heat, and utterly uninterested in being subtle. The kind of dish that would be embarrassing to eat on a first date (garlic breath, yaar) but absolutely essential on any other occasion. Slippery, saucy, and dangerously moreish. We cleaned the plate. Twice over, had we ordered more.
⭐ Chicken Triple Shezwan Rice — The Hero. The Legend. The One.
Right. Let’s talk about the dish that made us put down our phones, forget our manners, and eat in complete, reverent silence for a full two minutes.
The Chicken Triple Shezwan Rice.
Bhai, yeh kya tha?!
This is not your average Schezwan fried rice with a bit of red sauce thrown in as an afterthought. Via Delhi’s Triple Shezwan is a whole event. The rice comes loaded with not one, not two, but three layers of Shezwan-spiced chicken — each cooked a different way, each bringing its own personality to the party. The heat builds slowly, like a proper Bombay monsoon — first a warmth, then a tingle, then a full-blown “yaar, paani chahiye” moment. The wok char on the rice is on point. The sauce coats every single grain. And somewhere in all that glorious, smoky, spiced madness, you taste something that can only be described as authentically, unapologetically Bombay street food.
This is the dish that food memories are made of. The one you describe to people who weren’t there. The one that makes you slightly annoyed that you have to drive home and can’t just roll straight into a nap.
If you go to Via Delhi for nothing else — go for this. Pakka.
🍛 Chicken Changezi — The Mughal-Era Comfort Classic
The Chicken Changezi is an old Delhi classic — a rich, tomato-onion gravy with a gentle heat, named (some say fancifully) after Genghis Khan, who apparently inspired this recipe’s unapologetic boldness. Via Delhi’s version is deeply flavoured, with a thick, coating gravy that clings to the chicken pieces like a proper desi hug. The chicken was tender, the masala was balanced, and it disappeared rather too quickly when paired with the Butter Naan.
🫓 Butter Naan — The Loyal Support System
Every great gravy needs a great naan, and Via Delhi’s Butter Naan is exactly that — soft, pillowy, with a golden, buttered top that shines under the light like it knows what it’s doing. Slightly charred at the edges (as it should be), and thick enough to scoop up the Changezi without falling apart. No drama, all delivery. A proper supporting actor who deserves a standalone credit.
☕ The Chai — Ending on a Note That Stays With You
And then, the Chai. Served at the end of the meal like a warm, spiced full stop on a very good sentence. It’s masala chai done right — milky, fragrant with cardamom and ginger, with enough sweetness to soothe but not overpower. Drinking it felt less like finishing a meal and more like receiving a small blessing. If Via Delhi bottled this and sold it, we’d have a problem.
🏆 The Verdict
Via Delhi, Birmingham is the kind of place that doesn’t shout about itself but absolutely should. It’s serving up honest, flavour-packed, unapologetically desi food that sits right at the intersection of nostalgia and brilliance. Every dish we tried was delicious. Every dish was authentically Indian — not Anglicised, not toned down, not made palatable for someone who finds jeera slightly alarming.
But the Chicken Triple Shezwan Rice? That is in a category of its own. That dish alone earns Via Delhi a permanent place on the Bitetrail map.
Would we go back? Abhi ja rahe hain. (We’re going right now.)
Bitetrail Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐4.6 / 5
Must-order: Chicken Triple Shezwan Rice, Chicken Manchow Soup, Momos
Best for: Casual desi dining, Indo-Chinese cravings, anyone with a soul
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