I reviewed this place donkey’s years ago and rather liked it. Since then it seems to have gone from strength to strength (despite rather than anything do with me, I can assure you), with them moving (some time ago now) into a shiny new much larger premise with rave reviews following said move.

As I no longer work in town (amazingly it has been nearly 4 years now since I started flying solo work wise) and thus don’t commute (other than from my bedroom to my office, which is about 20 foot at a push and even I don’t get the car out for that), I no longer drive by the place on my way home from work and thus have not been to the new place.

I decided to rectify this on a Thursday evening, with me and a couple of the chaps from the Cardiff Wine Buyers Club attending a Georgian wine tasting at Fine Wines Direct on Penarth Road.

Post the tasting food was required, with it being a second tasting in that week for me, after a full on rioja one in London on the Monday, 

after and this place is literally up the road.

It is certainly a step up from the cramped old place and as such a much more inviting place for a feed.

The menu is a two sided affair, with the more traditional Pakistani fair on one side

and more mainstream sub continent dishes on the other side.

A slight oddity was mutton karahi on one side was £12.49 and on the other side £12.

As our visit was in mid Ramadan and it being my understanding that shadi haleem is a typical iftar dish (hearty stuff being very welcome to break fast) I reasoned now would be a good time to go for this dish.

Now it is fair to say this dish couldn’t look less alluring with a very runny cowpat coming to mind, but what it lacked on the looks front (and boy did it lack) it certainly made up for (in spades) on the flavour front. A case of close your eyes and dig in order to be pleasantly surprised.

A rich slow cooked stew of meat (mutton I think) blended to an almost porridge consistency with ground lentils and wheat, it was big and bold on the spice front with a big hit of chilli heat. On top of that heat were a myriad of other spices in the mix, with cinnamon, cardamon, cumin and coriander to name but a few. With its lovely layering of spice and silky consistency, as well as the zing of welcome acidity from batons of fresh ginger to temper the richness, I can certainly understand why this dish is so popular in terms of breaking a fast at this time of the year. Tasty and very satisfying, with lots going on (just need to close your eyes).

I also ordered a keema naan (£4 – mandatory here, as I understand it),

which was a meal in itself, with a meaty disc surrounded by a puckered naan bread. Very rich, such that I was more than happy to share. I know people rave about the keema naan here, but I thought it only ok  and actually preferred the other breads ( the butter naan in particular) we ordered.

One of our party (of three) had the nihari,

which was replete with slow cooked beef in a thick rich gravy with a good kick of chilli heat and warmth of spice. Lovely flavours to this dish, which was up their flavour wise with my haleem but much more of a looker.

A final dish was a mutton karahi (we went for the one on the cheaper side of the menu at £12)

Slightly OTT presentation wise, the mutton was cooked on the bone (as it should be) and all the better (flavour wise) for it with that robust almost gamey flavour you get from this meat. There was a fair bit of  chilli heat here, on top of some nice spicing.

We, of course, massively over ordered with two lots of basmati rice (£3.50 each – at most one was in reality needed) , two rotis (only  £1 for both) and a butter naan (£2)

All (despite our bellies being fit to burst) were excellent, with good separation and a nice butteriness to the rice. The butter naan was seemingly equal part butter to naan and was the night’s top naan in my book.

On the food front the only thing that slightly let the side down was a rather limp (it was provided gratis) side salad affair (cucumber had seen better days to be honest)

Drinks wise there are only soft drinks, with pop as well as the likes of chai and various iterations of lassi.

We went for a jug of mango milkshake (the mango lassi we originally ordered was off) which was a bountiful affair for the £9 price tag.

Nice level of mango in the mix, such that the mango’s trademark fragrance and peachy pineappleness was properly evident rather than at the all to often homeopathic levels. Enjoyed this and it was excellent fare for tempering some of the heat in the dishes we had.

We left far too much, over ordering on the carbs, and had to admit defeat with much still left on the table.

We were very happily sated (if rather amply stuffed, like the keema naan) by the end.

Excellent feed and at £18 a head it was a bit of a bargain to my mind.

The verdict

Been a while since I last visited this place, which on the basis of this visit is a shame.

Very solid, amply portioned, properly tasty Pakistani food at a fair price. What’s not to like about that?

I do think in places like this, it is always best to try the more traditional dishes rather than default to what is perhaps more familiar (you can have chicken tikka masala or curry rice and chips if you want  but you can get those pretty such anywhere).  The haleem may have  looked a bit of a dog’s dinner, which may put more than a few people off it, but boy was it a tasty dish. I rather think it is a shame that it and the likes of the nihuri are not more commonly seen on menus.

Haleem and nihuri are very popular in  Bangladesh, as well as Pakistan, so no reason why they would not be on the menu of main stream curry house here, which are generally Bangladeshi, if the demand was there. On this showing it should be.

The details

Address: 174 Penarth Road, Cardiff, CF11 6NL

Website: https://lahorekebabishcardiff.uk/

Opening hours: