LAHORE KARAHI
1 Tooting High St
London SW 17 0SN
Tel: 020 8767 2477
Opening time: Noon to midnight daily
Closest Tube: Tooting Broadway
Average per head: ₤10 with non alcoholic drinks (Halal restaurant, no alcohol served - byo but no corkage)
The time has come to share this little culinary delight with the world. Can't think of any more excuses why we shouldn't review this find and share it with all of you out there. This hag has been coming to Lahore Karahi for over a year now and finally, I'm ready to divulge this little gem. Leave your fancy coats and frilly tops at home and don your comfy jeans if you're heading to this place. Afer a curry session at this restaurant, everything on you and around you will be perfumed with the aroma of cardomon, cumin and all those wonderful spices that flavoured your dinner.
As evident by its name, this restaurant specialises in karahi dishes (a wok equivalent) and so far in our culinary journey, we haven't tasted better. Here's a great tip - if this is your first time, a must to try is either the meat karahi or lamb chop karahi. These dishes alone make the trek to Tooting (well, its a trek for those who don't live near Tooting or on the right Northern line branch) well worth it. Believe me, after our first taste of the meat karahi, we craved it frequently and often went back to satisfy them. Anyways, moving on....
Lahore Karahi is certainly a functional restaurant without all the fancy trimmings. Don't come here to impress a date, unless your date is really into good curry. There are certainly enough efficient wait staff (and all of them men, oddly enough) to take and dispense orders. Oft times the queue for takeaway is just as long as those waiting to be seated but luckily we've never had to wait for more than 15 minutes before being accomodated. On this occasion, it was an early Friday night and we were craving some cheap and cheerful comfort food after a hard week. Tough decisions had to be made, after all the no-nonsense menu offered several tasty options and its hard enough to narrow it down.
For 4 very hungry appetites, we started with a poppadum each and a portion of lamb cutlets. A portion of the grilled lamb consisted of 4 cutlets and certainly arrived promptly.
We battled with ourselves to try something new on the menu but the tried and tested won hands down. After all, it was a cold windy night and we wanted our usual tongue burning, belly firing curry. Meat karahi was on the table that night but we forgot to get the lamb chop karahi. But if you do visit, make sure you do get this if you like lamb. 
Tender pieces of lamb smothered in a thick, spicy gravy - with a bit of pilau rice or naan - its a treat for your tastebuds. Our only foray into the unadventured territory was the Chicken Masala - recommended by the waiter - its a fiery chicken dish certain to make your tastebuds and belly tingle. 
Not forgetting the our daily requirement of veges, Sag Paneer (spinach and cheese curry), our favourite Bhindi (okra or ladies fingers as its sometimes known).
Don't let the picture of the Sag Paneer fool you - yes it shows only one solitary piece of curd cheese. But under that thick gooey spinach goodness hides generous pieces of cheese, spiced to perfection. And the okra? Most of the time, its a despicable vegetable when incorrectly cooked - its been described to resemble phlegm both in texture and taste. But Lahore Karahi's version is a satisfying, tasty delight.
Our meal wasn't complete without the mandatory rice so we decided to be adventurous by trying the lamb briyani and had an additional 2 very generous portions of plain rice. 
After this monstorous meal which transformed four very hungry people into four very satisfied patrons. Throw in a soft drink in each with our own beer (its byo here as they don't serve alcohol) the total damage of the night was ₤8 per person. Now, who could argue with that?
TOH
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posted by Culinary Hag at 2/26/2006 02:07:00 am
4 Comments:
You guys might want to try the Mirch Masala down the road, it's formica tables groan under the weight of the finest grub in Tooting.
9:58 pm
naaaaaaah dont listen to monkey gland
lahore karahi is a million times better.....the food at mirch masala is revolting
12:10 pm
This has become a regular haunt of mine, I love the Meat (mutton) Karahi.. its never let me down and if that's not enough meat for you go for a lahore special naan aswell. The Kulfi is home-made and delicious!
10:03 pm
Not impressed, food is average and there are plenty of other curry houses in Tooting that are just as good if not better. Appalling service.
I booked a table for 12 people for yesterday night, over the telephone on Thursday. We arrived 9.10pm (our booking was 9.00pm), and were told by the staff to "wait 5 minutes" while our tables were prepared. 10 minutes later, we were still standing around, blocking the kitchen, probably annoying the other patrons who had come to dine (there was very little space for such a big party to stand in). We were told again, our table would be ready in "5 minutes". We were told this at 9.22pm. At 9.27pm there was no table, and we therefore took the decision to leave. The staff then urged us to come back and said and that a table was ready (upstairs). They repeatedly asked us to stay. We thought, especially as it was Ramadan, we should give our brothers a chance, and re-considered and came back in. We were led upstairs, and much to our disappointment, there still was no table ready. We went all the way back downstairs and left! Again, the staff begged us to stay, but we had enough by that point and left.
We resented the argument put forward by some of the staff that we had arrived late and that’s the reason the table was not ready for us. That is a completely pathetic, insulting and weak argument considering (a) we had booked the night before and (b) we were still made to wait 20 minutes for a table, which was never ready anyway.
We should thank Lahore Karahi however, as after we left your restaurant we decided to give Al-Mirage a chance. We had a lovely meal, with fantastic service, in very nice and clean surroundings. A table was set up for us in 2 minutes and we had a very very enjoyable night. As a party we spent a fair whack of money on a feast. Thank you again, we know NEVER to come back to Lahore Karahi, and always to go to Al-Mirage or some of the other establishments.
9:53 am
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