Lahore Kebab House, 2 Umberston Street, London, E1 1PY

Some people wonder if I actually do order and eat all the stuff you see on this blog. While I’d like to say yes, I do order AND eat ALL of the stuff I blog about, that would require me taking out a bank loan to fund the feeding.

This meal was consumed by our group of ELEVEN people.

Spoiler: New Tayyab’s has been relegated to second place.

Table setting for eleven people, although four of them joined the meal after we’d finished. Oh well, if we have to start eating all over again, we’ll do it.

If I say that the four people who joined us AFTER dinner were the guests, the main reason for the dinner, would this make it sound quite rude?

Why are you photographing the salad, says a friend. Why not, says me.

The laminated, shiny menu.

Seekh kebab £1 per roll

Tasted really spicy (in a full of spice, not chilli spice), like it was marinated well, and the texture was as you’d expect with mince meat.

Seekh and chicken kebab £1 per portion

More bits of meat arriving on the table. We’d agreed that the meal would be starter-centred, in that we’d have more starters than main meals because this restaurant is well-known for their grilled items.

Poppadoms with chutney

Grilled lamb chops £7.50 for 5

When this dish was put on the table, everyone did some very quick mental arithmetic.

Number of people at table = 7
Number of lamb chops = 5
Very swift actions = success at having lamb chops

Holding a piece (success!) in my greedy little paws, I felt like a caveman about to gnaw on a piece of freshly cooked meat. Which, I suppose was true besides the caveman bit. Each bite fuelled another bite, because it was so tasty and well marinated. How do they make it so tender yet not mushy.

Chicken and lamb samosas £1.25 per piece

If you’ve ever had curry puff (puff pastry filled with curry chicken and potato), you’ll know what I mean when I say that this tastes like curry puff. Could be the spices, who knows, who cares, as long as it tastes like curry puff, I’m sold.

Each bite resulted in more minced meat falling out of the pastry, which meant that I had to catch it before it fell into the greedy hands of my fellow diners.

Peshwari naan £3

Not having had peshwari naan before this, I thought it’d be slightly sweet, flavoured with raisins. Pleasantly surprised to note that it tastes something similar to ‘stollen’, as though it had marzipan in the middle, with some nuts sprinkled on top.

Some people say you can’t mix sweet with savoury, I say don’t be silly.

Fish curry £7

The fish curry at Tayyab’s is one of our favourite dishes, so this was used as the benchmark to compare both restaurants (now in close position, each one fighting it out to be ‘Winner of Dinner’, although they don’t know it yet). Or even care, actually.

Given the close competition in all other sections, this was the one dish that was better at Tayyab’s. Maybe the style of cooking is different, as the one in Tayyab’s is slightly drier and as a result, more tasty in a slightly burnt way. The one here had more gravy to it, but might have been overcooked slightly as it did not flake as fish do, when cooked well.

Bhindi £5.50

Another one of those dishes which fall in the must-order list when we have curry. Usually we order it with lamb, so I was slightly hesitant when my friend ordered this, wondering how it’d taste on its own without any meat to beef it up (ha ha lamb beef pun).

I don’t know how they do it, but they did it. They made this vegetarian dish taste almost meaty, and I finished most of it myself.

Karahi gosht £7

Similar to the fish, but cooked better so the meat was chewy in a tender way, retaining enough bite to it. Not the most amazing of curries, but still very flavourful for what it was.

Keema naan £3

Just because I’d not tried this before, we ordered one portion to share. How was it like? Something similar to having donner meat in a naan, which probably is what this exactly is?

Empty plates, but so much curry left on the table. A most enjoyable meal with a group of great friends. Would I come here again? Just name the day (and dishes)!

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