"You Choose" — The Blue Piano

Venue: The Blue Piano, 24-26 Harborne Rd, B15 3AA; Website 
Choice: Beef Rendang Nasi Lemak (£15.95) Chooser: Waitress 

If awards were available for packed-lunches, we'd put a selection of our wraps and salads forward. And we'd be beaten, hard. By the national dish of Malaysia, Nasi Lemak, which was originally taken to the fields to be eaten during the working day, wrapped in a big pandan leaf. Now available on a plate, and in Edgbaston no less, The Blue Piano's doing a mean game in the staple — beef rendang (pictured) served with coconut rice, roasted peanuts, dried anchovies, egg and cucumber, on a bigass pandan leaf. This is rich, authentic currying, with bags of Southeast Asia's most important ingredient — texture. The crispy anchovies cut through the hugely authentic rendang in terms of flavour and feel, with the cucumber adding some well-designed freshness. Big up Malaysia. And if you've somehow managed to miss the savoury Singapore carrot cake for your starter, we've spent far too much time banging on about it to run through one of our favourite dishes in Brum again here. But suffice to say, big up Singapore too. Menu