When in Birmingham, do as the Brummies do. The city is now so famed for its curries that it would be an omission for a visitor not to sample one, even if he is a Hollywood star whose turbulent home life has been raked over in a recent libel trial.

Johnny Depp embraced the idea wholeheartedly for his stay in Birmingham on Sunday evening: he spent tens of thousands of pounds on a meal for two dozen friends.

Mo Hussain, operations director for the restaurant Varanasi, disputed a report that the bill was £50,000 but said Depp had paid more than the usual £20,000 fee to hire the entire restaurant because he had made the booking at short notice. Staff cancelled 240 reservations to clear the way for the actor and offered free food as compensation to disappointed diners. Hussain said the actor had ordered the finest food and champagne and given “a large tip”.

Depp, 58, was in Birmingham as part of an unofficial tour of Britain with his friend Jeff Beck, the musician whose hits include Hi Ho Silver Lining. Beck played a concert at Symphony Hall in the city last night and fans were hoping Depp would appear on stage, having done so at gigs in Gateshead, Glasgow and the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The tour is a change of scene for Depp, who was awarded £8.2 million in libel damages last week at a court in Virginia. The jury found that Amber Heard, his ex-wife, had defamed him in an article for The Washington Post in which she described herself as a victim of domestic violence.

Heard received £1.5 million in damages in her countersuit after Depp’s press agent claimed that her allegations were “an abuse hoax”.

Hussain, who has run Varanasi on Broad Street for six years, said the actor had been a delightful customer who gave everyone a hug, kiss or handshake. This was a time-consuming exercise. Not only were there 24 staff — or one for each of Depp’s party — but Hussain invited 60 guests of his own to meet the star. “My close family and a few friends,” he said. “He did not leave one person out. He was there for a good five hours.” Diners had a three-course dinner of chicken tikka shashlik, vegetable samosas and a king prawn starter. Other dishes included butter chicken, paneer tikka masala, lamb karahi and king prawn bhuna. Depp decided against traditional Indian desserts and was served panna cotta and cheesecake.

“He met my three daughters and they made him give them a few one- liners from his movies,” Hussain said. “He did, ‘You’re weird’ from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He was really good with the children.” He added: “Some of the staff were asking about the recent court case, but he was just smiling — it was a smile of relief.”

Other Hollywood stars to have sampled Birmingham’s curries include Tom Cruise, who was so impressed by the chicken tikka masala at Asha’s last year that he ordered a second one immediately after finishing the first.

Hussain said the 300-seat restaurant was expensive to hire exclusively because of its size and central location but that Depp was unfazed. “They never even looked at the bill,” he said.

Behind the story
The first curry house in Birmingham is thought to have been founded in 1945 by Abdul Aziz, a former labourer on a British navy ship who came from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh (Tony Turnbull writes).

He and his wife, an Irish waitress, took over a restaurant opposite Steelhouse police station and within a few years were serving curries for a growing immigrant population. Soon other Bangladeshi-owned restaurants began adding spicier ingredients to their menus and so the city’s reputation as the curry capital of Europe was born.

In the 1970s, to attract more western customers, Pakistani restaurateurs introduced the balti, named after the flat-bottomed wok that the dish is cooked in. Its popularity led to Birmingham’s “Balti Triangle”.


Birmingham has some of the most celebrated Indian restaurants in this country. The Michelin-starred Opheem is famed for its contemporary approach and ten-course tasting menus.

Lasan, in the Jewellery Quarter, was named best Indian restaurant a decade ago by Gordon Ramsay and counts Ant and Dec, Beverley Knight and Michael Bublé among its customers.

Varanasi, where Johnny Depp partied, is the city’s largest Indian restaurant and underwent an opulent £4 million makeover five years ago.

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