Birmingham this may be, but, understated minimalist in design with atmospheric intimate bar, large dining area overlooked by a smaller gallery, gold drapes to the front and an imposing antique style French mirror occupying virtually all of one of the otherwise unadorned white walls, Lasan is no balti house for your Friday night curry. Suffice to say even the familiar popadoms and dips were in a class of their own.

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Lasan’s menu is firmly of the modern age, teasing traditional notes with ambitious new riffs. Unable to decide on any one starter (among them Goan Lemon Sole fillet and tandoori King Prawns in grapefruit vinaigrette) we took the compromise option of a Platter For Two (£13.95); an excellent taster dish of Aloo Brie (spicy potato balls stuffed with brie), terrific Mans Ke Shooley (smoked lamb fillet marinated with hung yoghurt and mustard), Mahi Machli (salmon marinated in tomato and roasted red pepper puree) and Murgh Malai Tikka (chicken marinated with cheese and hung yoghurt).

Having dithered over starters, we tried to be more focussed on the main course. We could have gone for the selection of dishes for two again, but somehow that felt like ticking the ‘not sure’ box on a questionnaire rather than actually having an opinion.

There’s a small but enticing vegetarian selection, but we were in carnivorous mood. Having savoured the descriptions of such temptations as Kerala style duck (£15.95), Bream in garlic and coriander Bengal fish broth (£16.95), pot roasted Venison (£18.95), and Dhaniwal Ki Korma (a veal shin korma, £16.95), my guest angled for the Allepy Fish Curry (£16.95), two fillets of Sea Bass prepared South Indian style in a creamy sauce of coconut milk, mustard seeds, raw mango and tamarind and served with pilau rice. As it was obviously too good to share, I can only go by the glow of pleasure on her face and assume it did the trick.

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Intrigued by the notion of it being scented with crushed rose petals and rose water, I opted for a Lucknowi Rogan Josh (£11.95), large, richly flavoursome chunks of lamb thickly stewed with yoghurt, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, and cumin seed. I confess, I couldn’t smell the roses, but then I didn’t let my forkfuls linger long under the nose before working their magic on the tastebuds.

Taking pity on our agonising and quite possibly psychically attuned to my indecisions, manager Syed Hassan invited a Chicken Chettinad (£10.95) to the table, an equally rich spiced dish of coconut, star anise and red chilli whose acquaintance I would have been the poorer for not having made. Accompanied by side orders of pilau rice (£3.50), sag chana (£6.95) and fluffy nan (£2.50), much against my better nature I had to leave morsels untouched in order to have spare capacity for dessert.

With both dark chocolate mousse and Punjabi style carrot dessert in puff pastry, the selection’s an interesting mix of Western and traditional Indian, but this time there was no wavering for either of us. It had to be Rasmali (£5.95), two textured milk torpedoes served with a pot of chilled pistachio cream. Heaven, with nuts.

I stuck to a couple of Cobras and my partner a glass or three of Semillion Chardonnay, but there is a good varied and well informed wine list, deftly balanced between the Old and the New worlds with prices that range from a perky £14.50 to a robust £35.

With attentive but never intrusive service (another of their awards, as it happens) and food to linger over, two hours passed almost unnoticed as, impressively for a Monday evening, the tables gradually filled up below us, before having to head out into a gathering autumn evening, warmed by the spices still tingling on the tongue.

The restaurant also has a funkier, unfussy out of town sibling, the Lasan Eatery, in Hall Green, but that’s a story for another night.