Cook it yourself Indian cuisine as balti kings spread the word at Brierley Hill restaurant
An Asian restaurant in the Black Country is offering people the chance to prepare the very best of Asian cuisine, a special dining session with an expert cookery lesson thrown in.
Blakey's Eastern Promise in Brierley Hill is offering a novel way for people to learn about Asian cuisine on its High Street premises.
For a set fee of £65 people are be taught how to prepare their food in the Asian style, to then cook it on the premises and then eat in the kitchen with the chefs. The premises is mostly a takeaway, but there is a small in-house dining area.
The four-hour sessions are guided by Blakey, also known as Afor Ali, and Mister Dave, aka David Homer, two well known Balti experts from Lye. They help prepare and cook a three-course menu and enjoy the fruits of the labour in the kitchen afterwards.
Blakey said the idea came about because he wanted to spread knowledge of Asian dishes
Dave used to run a warehouse in Dudley called Mister Dave's that delivered frozen baltis to restaurants, pubs and shops up and down the country, and export the exotic dish to ex-pats in Majorca, France and Spain.
He first opened a balti house in Lye back in the 1980s called Mister Dave's soon began attracting thousands of diners from around the region and led to a balti boom in Lye High Street.
Blakey also opened Blakey Eastern Promise in Lye High Street at around the same time and the pair became became household names in the area.
Dave learned to make the baltis from a restaurant chef in Sparkhill, Birmingham and gave up his jobs as a telephone engineer and DJ to open his restaurant. He went on to open another three restaurants in Kingswinford, Telford and Worcester.
Blakey has since moved his business to Brierley Hill and now the pair have teamed up to run lessons around once a month on Saturdays between 10am-2pm, with a lot of interest in the sessions.
Dave, who is semi-retired said: "It's like a gourmet dining club. The guests come in and help prepare starters and main courses. It is then cooked and they can then enjoy their traditionally cooked curries."
Blakey, who opened the takeaway seven years ago added: "We get around seven our eight people. It's an adventure for them cooking this type of food. We enjoy passing on the cookery knowledge."
Booking is essential
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