Lahori Mehak

1 Reviews on “Lahori Mehak”

• Andy Hayler

  Just off the Great West Road, this Indian (strictly, Pakistani) restaurant features the cooking of Misbah Maqbool, who some years ago worked at The Brilliant. This place opened in the spring of 2014 and started out as a takeaway but is gradually morphing into a restaurant. When we visited there were just four tables, but there are plans to expand the dining area considerably. There is a tiled floor, bright lighting and a TV screen in one corner playing Bollywood dance scenes. No alcohol is served here, nor can you bring your own, but there are soft drinks at very fair prices, as we shall see.The menu is likely to change as the dining-in section expands, but at present features prices that seem from another, altogether kinder era: chicken biryani at 3.99, chana masala at 2.99, naan bread at 50p (yep, that is 50p for a large naan bread) and a can of coke at 60p.Tawa fish was a dish in which pieces of fish were marinated with ginger and garlic and shallow-fried in batter, the result being well-spiced and avoiding greasiness (13/20). Samosas were crisp, of the small cocktail variety, with a vegetable filling (12/20). Fried shrimps and spring rolls were simple but fine as well (12/20). Chicken tikka was tender and had absorbed its spicy marinade nicely (13/20), while a lamb kebab was a touch dry (11/20).Chicken biryani was the best of the main dishes tried, with delicate, fragrant rice and tender chicken (easily 13/20). Methi chicken had plenty of fenugreek flavour (12/20) and a prawn curry featured properly cooked prawns and a nicely spiced sauce (12/20). Naan bread was very good, supple when in restaurants it is so often hard due to being left lying around for too long before serving (13/20). Aloo gobi could have been hotter when served (11/20) and a potato curry side dish seemed rather oily (11/20) but overall the cooking was of a good standard. Kheer for dessert used vermicelli rather than rice, flavoured with sugar and milk and garnished with pistachio, and was fine (12/20).On this occasion I did not see the bill, but a realistic cost for a meal with soft drinks would be perhaps 15 a head all in. This is very fair indeed for a quality of cooking that is well above most high street Indian restaurants. The setting may be basic but the cooking is not, and if this was located nearer where I lived then I would be back here regularly. andyhayler.com

  April 30, 2015, 2:07 pm

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