higher temperatures in steel dishes with fresh dried spices rather than curry pastes and vegetable oil in place of the traditional ghee. The steel dishes in which the food was cooked were called "baltis" (said to derive from the Hindi word "balty" meaning a bucket) and then the food was served in the steel dishes with naan bread. The geographical area in which the balti serving restaurants were concentrated became known as the Balti Triangle and is defined as having a northern apex at the junction of the A41 and A453 Camp Hill roundabout, an eastern boundary of the A41 going south to Stratford Road, a western boundary of the A453 and a southern edge just north of Wake Green Road and College Road. A visit to a restaurant in the Balti Triangle is often promoted as an important activity for tourists visiting Birmingham. The first recorded written reference to balti dishes was made in a 1984 edition of Curry Magazine and it is said that as of 2016 there are about balti 50 restaurants located in The Balti Triangle. In 1998, the balti restaurateurs formed themselves into the Birmingham Balti Association. In the city centre, among current notable south Asian restaurants are the Rajdoot in George Street in the Jewellery Quarter, which serves North Indian cuisine and which was opened in 1966, and which lists among its former notable customers The Beatles, The Princess Margaret and, more recently, the television personality Simon Cowell. In Hurst Street is The Maharajah, which also serves North Indian cuisine, having opened there in 1971. It was the Egon Ronay Indian Restaurant of the Year in 1999 and among its former notable customers were John Major, Cliff Richard, and Take That. Off St. Paul's Square in James Street is located Lasan, which opened in 2002 and which won "Gordon Ramsay's F Word Best Local Restaurant" award on Channel 4 television. The then chef-director, Aktar Islam, has appeared in BBC's Great British Menu three times: in 2013 and 2014, as well as in 2011 when his dish of sea bass with battered soft shell crab won the fish course category. Islam left his role at Lasan in late 2017 and opened two new restaurants in Summer Row in May 2018 and December 2018 respectively – Opheem, which serves progressive Indian cuisine, and the neighbouring Legna, which has since closed. Outside the city centre and Balti