I fancy myself quite an expert on regional cuisines of southern Italy. And I’ve got a pretty good handle on Turkish, American, and British food. Mexican and Ethiopian, too–they are all I think about most days. Beyond that, I’m pretty clueless. Put me in any old Chinese, Japanese, Thai or Indian restaurant and I’m a pretty happy camper, proving the old adage “ignorance is bliss” by being exceedingly happy with most everything I order, lacking the experience, context, and knowledge to know if what I am eating is truly good, mediocre, or totally bad.

For this reason, I am completely dependent upon the advice of friends about where to eat cuisines with which I am unfamiliar. I followed Shayma‘s advice on eating Pakistani in London. She had read this post on New Tayyabs in Whitechapel and beseeched me to try their local competitor, Lahore Kebab House. I may be totally ignorant about the nuances of Pakistani cuisine, but every dish I ate there on Saturday night topped Tayyabs. The grilled lamb chops were of higher quality meat and more liberally spiced. The chicken tikka, too, didn’t mess around in the spice department, bringing the heat in new and interesting ways compared to its less complicated Tayyab counterpart. The lamb curry was delicately gamey as all good lamb should be and its accompanying sauce had penetrated the meat. It was a marriage of flavor and protein made in culinary heaven.

The only part of the meal that fell flat for me was the dessert, kheer (rice pudding), which seemed excessively dense and creamy compared to others I’ve had in the past. Perhaps the goal of this dish was texture over flavor? I admit I don’t really know.

Lahore Kebab House
2 Umberston Street
E1 1PY London
Tel: 020 74819737