Reviews Lahore Karahi

The cheese naan is really unique in its style. The other naas are also recommended.

Came here on a recommendation. One of the best currys I've had. Will be back.

Finally on the second day I was able to drop in to Lahore Karahi on a Sunday late around 11pm. Ordered butter and Garlic nans along with Chicken Butter Masala, Lamb curry and Aubergine Masala. The Chicken Butter Masala was awesome and this is a BYOB place. Nice place to have a good Pakistani meal.

We're slowly but surely making our way round our neighbourhood curry houses and finally paid a visit to Lahore Karahi- semi prompted by the new jazzier refurb and Eatlikeagirl's good looking lamb chops masala photo on Twitter! 

We showed up around 6ish on a Friday night; it wasn't too busy but by the time we left the tables were fast filling up and they were also doing a roaring trade with the takeaways- of course this always inspires me with some confidence.

Lamb rogan josh- fragrant and tender, lamb masala karahi- great recommendation from the waiter, I loved the smokey flavour but the bones can be fiddly, chicken madras- spiciest of the three, good flavour but a little disappointed they used breast meat as some of the pieces were a little dry. All mopped up with sides of rice and garlic naan.

As usual we probably didn't need that third curry but it's so cheap, you're hardly going to bat an eyelid! We left ridiculously full, well dosed up on our spice, and with a new curry house on the leaderboard... though Dosa n Chutney is still the place to go for your dosa, the curries here were lovely and we weren't left with that salty thirsty feeling afterwards!

Cheap and Tasty. This is our local curry stop. More of a cafe than a restaurant and always pretty full in the evenings. Its BYO, no alcohol is served but for me the lassi is the best to go with the curry - traditional or mango.
Try the mixed grill which is always spicy and tasty!
Prices are pretty low in line with the local other places along Tooting High Road.

We have not been to this restaurant for a couple of years, mainly due to the very poor service (especially to women) that we had experienced in the past. That was quite a while ago now though, and we decided to give it another try. I’m very happy to repor

You can be sure to find authentic Indian food here. I came here with my family and we ordered a selection of curries and biryanis as well the mixed grill kebab. Every dish was full of flavor and leaves you wanting more. The food was the best I have had and absolutely delicious, therefore, gets a 10/10.

Although service isn’t the greatest I have experienced, it is the best provided in tooting. The place itself is very clean, which again isn’t very common in a restaurant around tooting.

It is a very popular and family friendly so it does tend to get extremely busy in the evening, so I would suggest coming a little earlier to secure a table.

By far the best restaurants in tooting and I definitely recommend it.

Great place to go for a meal! Good food and good prices.

Always busy and rarely get a seat for a large group. Also, service is a bit slow and needs to be speeded up a lot!

Overall, great place to with family or friends for dinner.

This was my first ever Tooting curry. I was not disappointed.

My friend and I arrived at around 8pm on a Friday night, and it took them about fifteen minutes to seat us. The decor isn't innovative, but it works. Simple chairs and tables slightly crammed into the space that is available.

Service is fine. Food is brought promptly but with no finesse. We paid at the counter for our food. I think they were also very busy with takeaway orders, but they had enough staff to cover, which was impressive. The kitchen is visible, which again provides reassurance about the food preparation.

We ordered a poppadum each, which came with chutneys as standard. We also ordered a butter naan, saag aloo, chicken tikka kahari and pilau rice to share. There was no warning about the heat of the kahari, and my friend was unable to handle it. It was my favourite part of the meal, whereas I found the rice and the naan too dry.

The cost was less than £10 a head, which was very reasonable; considering the amount of food we had.

Overall, I would recommend this place if you want a decent curry in a short amount of time, and if you enjoy a bustling atmosphere.

This establishment serves two culinary functions simultaneously, and is a cross between an Indian restaurant and a fast food outlet. It specialises in 'hot' north Indian and Pakistani cuisine, and as well as being able to seat around 100 people on the ground floor, it can accommodate around another 20 people upstairs. This restaurant is always packed, and as well as providing for a 'sit down' service, it also has a thriving 'take-away' business, and has a selection of available foods on display.Food is nothing great,in act far form being tagged as remotely extraordinary,service is horrendously sloppy..no pun intended..i mean waiters are all hard-working,but we all know that only hard and sincere work does not always emits hearty service..well sorry for being a bit harsh here..it's a good deal for budget conscious foodies who wants to taste north-west frontier cuisines at a reasonable price..tooting high street creates a nice,buzzy atmosphere around the restaurant which is a plus..There is a plasma screen TV on the wall and many people eating have enjoyed watching the live cricket broadcasts that are shown free of charge to the customers,which can be electric especially when Indo-Pak matches are on..:).so on a lazy summer afternoon or on a frosty February evening,you can visit L.K. for some tasty an spicy dishes for a change..

15 Feb 2012 - Lahore Karahi - Back on The Camel

It was a cold, crisp February night, which only meant one thing, the desire to warm up with some hearty curry and review it at the same time. After the initial curry honeymoon period there had been a lull in the action, but it was time to get back on the camel and visit the bright lights of Tooting to see what the randomly chosen Lahore Karahi had to offer. They were put to the test earlier in the day when an eager Michael Murphy called to check a) if there were television facilities and b) whether we could reserve a spot in line with said television. To be fair they rose the challenge and passed with flying colours, the patron chuckled as if to say, 'Have we got a TV!?' all became clear upon arrival, when we were greeted by a plasma screen TV that dwarfed the dining room; they had even taken the trouble to angle it slightly towards our reserved seats. Well done. It is perhaps worth mentioning at this point that the reason for being so keen to have sight of a TV was not the because of the usual Emmerdale, Coronation Street double header but the hotly anticipated champions league clash between Arsenal and AC Milan.

As we have now come to expect from our friend, colleague and general penguin, 'Hitch the Stitch' was unable to waddle her way out of the office on time so missed proceedings. I myself also struggled, but the ever-present Michael Murphy was there on time to use himself as collateral to hold the table. He sat gracefully and sipped gently on the byo beers, for which there was no corkage fee.

Lahore Karahi was off to a flying start, the same could not be said of Arsenal who already languished 1-0 behind.

We all know tardiness should be avoided at all costs, but when it comes to completing game changing concept evaluates, sometimes there needs to be an exception to the rule. I found myself in this very situation arriving several minutes late. A memo had clearly not been received by the waiter who seemed appalled by this poor display of punctuality, demanding our order before I had even removed my winter coat! So despite the rip roaring start with the TV and table, chinks were starting to appear in Lahore Karahi's armour.

The menu read well, we were exuberant at the prospect of sampling what it had to offer, and were encouraged by the nuances of the Lahore Karahi specials which we hoped would set it apart from the crowd. If there was to be one flaw with the menu it would be this, if everything is on the menu is describes as 'Lahore Karahi Special' it dilutes the term 'special' take note 'Lawhore' Karahi. AC Milan 2, Arsenal 0.

Venue:

Lahore Karahi sits down towards the Broadway end of Tooting High Street and is very much a no nonsense set up. Practicality definitely won out over interior design when this place was being put together. Having said that, the main architectural feature of a spiral staircase is a nice touch, despite being unsafe for human use. When it comes to curry we never judge a book by its cover, but if we were then things would not bode too well here either. The TV was a nice bonus but not enough to pull the score up, let's give it a 6

Sides and starters:

Katlama
Lahori Keema Naan (Special)
Tandoori Paratha
Popadoms
Pilao Rice

Let's cut to the chase - the katlama arrived alarming quickly, it had been microwaved, and although this alone is not enough for condemnation, the taste certainly was. Imagine taking the sole from a tramps shoe, inserting a layer of lamb mince and then allowing him to continue his journey around the park before removing, warming and serving to a couple of hungry curry critics. Not the best of starts.

The Popadoms came with the usual suspects and were sufficient, as too was the rice, although it did look as if it had been prepared at a Klaxons gig. Very 'Nu Rave', there were fluorescent specs running throughout the rice - we don't know what purpose this served, but we felt it was a nice touch. Both Tandoori Paratha and Lahori Keema Naan (Special) can be summarised together, as they both were okay on flavour, but went from moist, to card, to papier-mâche in texture. We looked unfavourably on advertising the Keema Naan as a reminder of Lahore. I don't know if the Lahore tourist board are aware of this, if they are, I won't be visiting, if they're not, someone really should tell them. Nothing greatly wrong but by no means amazing, let down significantly by the Katlama, so it's a 6

Curry:

Karahi Karela Bitter Melon Gosht
Chicken Tikka Masala (Lahore Karahi Special)

Let's start with the Karahi Karela Bitter Melon Gosht, and I know what you're thinking, what on earth's that? We were just as perplexed, so thought, what better way to find out than ordering it! It was lamb, with green vegetables and Melon and it has to be said a delectable little dish, subtly sweet from the Melon and yet a balance of richness coming from the lamb. Some of the herbage was a little burnt though and this left a bitter aftertaste (literally).

It was difficult to really see what the USP of the Chicken Tikka Masala was - certainly in terms of its status as a Lahore Karahi Special, but, as we know, 'special' here is used so liberally its sentiment is lost. At first it was a little repugnant, with a strong taste of paneer, this didn't sit well with the chicken. However, as the flavours mellowed together the creamy edge started to come through and it was actually rather pleasant. As always the chicken was succulent (we make no apologies for using this word again). The lamb definitely outfought the chicken in this battle and perhaps deserves a 'special' of its own, with this in mind it leaves the overall score as a steady 7. AC Milan 3, Arsenal 0

Service

Now, there is prompt and there is prompt, unfortunately the waiters were the latter. I have already mentioned the incident upon arrival, but this continued throughout the meal with my plate being removed while Mike was still knee deep in Karahi Karela Bitter Melon Gosht. There was very little engagement when we tried to explore the menu, with a couple of barked responses. There was also no consistency between waiters, I appreciated the need to all muck in, but of the 9 members of staff present, we must have had 8 at our table at different intervals. So, despite the promising start from the excellent telephone conversation, we were a little disappointed - overall this leaves them with a 6.

Value for Money

As we now know when it comes to a Tooting curry, VFM is always a favourable metric, and Lahore Karahi is no different, a thoroughly good feed for £27 (£30 with tip). However we need to calibrate this not against London as a whole, but the competitive universe that is Tooting's selection of curry houses. So, with this in mind, it is good, but falls short of some of its competition - Spice Village being the first to spring to mind. We initially thought of awarding 8; however this had be marked down ever so slightly due to some underhanded bill tampering. A mysterious 80p was placed on the bill; we racked our brains but just could not put our finger on it, and thus have had to assume foul play. If there is anyone out there who can shed some light on this please get in touch, and if you manage to solve the mystery you will be treated to a complementary curry and blog mention (complements to Mike for agreeing to put up the cash to do this). Overall VFM 7. AC Milan 4, Arsenal 0

Total:

I'm pleased to announce the award of our first ever X Factor point, this goes to Lahore Karahi for accommodating our request to be placed in line with the TV and having it not only angled towards the table but, the champions league playing at a nice volume. This award, however, is not enough to boost the overall scores which come in at a rather average 33/50. They have rolled a 3, and this leaves them lying bottom of the leader board. Not cheap enough to rely on VFM alone, and not classy enough to be considered a pleasant restaurant; Lahore Karahi is caught between a rock and a hard place and must work harder if it wants to be likened to its cultural capital namesake.

Post Script:

Michael Murphy Supports Arsenal - He was not a happy man

The food at this place is excellent. It is halal. The mix grill was very delicious. The lamb curry and the chaat were also very nice. The mango lassi was also refreshing and it had the right level of sweetness. The decor at this place is simple but nice. This place is often very busy so getting a table may sometimes be difficult. I went a later in the day when it was less busy and the dining experience was better. Overall, a great place to dine out and worth visiting. The prices of the food is also reasonable.

Food was delicious and if you do go then the lamb chops on the grill are an absolute must and loads of people had the same. Vege samosas were really nice as well. Food delivery was very quick and hot on arrival. Would come here again.

Very busy restaurant, we had to wait over 15 mins to be seated. However, it was worth it as the food was delicious. We been to this restaurant few times but always enjoyed the food. We ordered a number of dishes, and every one of them tasted exceptionally brilliant. The price seems reasonable but could have been cheaper in comparison to other high-end restaurants. Anyway, overall, everything was nice and had a wonderful evening.

Really good food but service was slow. But we were not rushing so it was fine. The staff were all really friendly and hospitable. We got the mango lasso, meat karahi, saag paneer and chicken danshak.

Lahore Kadahi is one of the best Pakistani restaurant near my home. It's near Tooting Broadway station and right on the high street. Easily spotted too. I love their food. Ee order in quite frequently. But some of the items are best enjoyed hot and in the restaurant. So we started our meal with Lahori Nasta. It's a platter of Chole, Puri and halwa. The quantity is usually quite large. So sharing could be a better option. I loved the chhole and I loved the halwa. The puri was a bit oily. It was followed by lamb kadahi and Tandoori roti. Quite nice both of them. Especially the Tandoori roti. No oil, no butter but still so soft that you can tear it with two fingers and moist inside. By this time we were so full but couldn't resist the sindhi biriyani served at the neighboring tables. So we ordered that. Undoubtedly the best sindhi biryani in town. Though we had to pack 90% of it and I enjoyed it at dinner. **My recommendation goes to them.