LCB

Introduction

Now living in Wallington, it's harder than ever to keep on top of the changes going on in the Tooting scene, but while Spellins still lives there for a few more months, I have local intel. And to celebrate the birth of his first child we took her to one of the newest additions - Taste of Pakistan. At two months old, she wasn't quite ready to sample the lamb kebabs but she certainly appeared to be salivating at the prospect of doing so in the future.

Venue

Taste of Pakistan succeeds the longstanding Afghan Palace which replaced one of our favourite's - Rayyan's - a decade ago. It was a good innings for the Palace, but it was never rated highly by us. From a aesthetic point of view, Taste of Pakistan follows in it's footsteps with a rather half-arsed attempt to tart up a relatively tired space.

The restaurant is split into two halves. The left, a dining area dominated by a veritable jungle of fake foliage and colour hanging from the ceiling; the right, a more open plan dastarkhwan area for eating on the carpeted floor with a kitchen at the rear.

The traditional dastarkhwan area provides a point of difference, but the flora next door feels discontiguous and possibly designed to distract diners from the otherwise rather disorderly interior and tired flooring. It's as if the re-fit is half finished and the budget blown on plastic flowers, cheap mirrors and questionable neon lighting.

5/10

Starters and sides & Curry

Platter 1  (BBQ Seekh Kebab, BBQ Chicken Wings, BBQ Charsi Lamb Chops, BBQ Lamb Ribs, BBQ Chicken Tikka, Masala Fish, Pilau Rice, and Naan Bread)

Channa Balti

The wipe-clean, laminated menus here mirror the function over form seen in the restaurant interior. Big bold fonts and block colours made it read more like a supermarket deals catalogue than a list of culinary delights. However, with meat curries sold by the weight and value platters on offer, the comparison to a sales brochure feels apt.

And it worked. We were taken in immediately by the two platter options; platter 1 being our final choice, supplemented with a channa (chickpea) balti for some token (less than healthy) veg.

The platter - a large metallic serving dish, filled with rice and barbecued meat amply fed four of us. The rice was that delicious biryani kind that had soaked up all the juices of the meat on top, and the meat was abundant and varied. Lamp chops, lamb ribs, chicken tikka, chicken wings, seekh kebabs, and masala fish were all piled on top for a veritable feast. 

The quality of the meat could possibly be questioned more but we didn't care as the barbecue-charred spices were full of flavour and the bones more replete with meat than first appeared. The chops in particular didn't look anywhere nearer the plumpest best, but still had a fairly chunky, tender and tasty bite. The seekh kebabs were probably the most disappointing - probably overdone, while the masala fish was a nice point of difference to the lamb overload.

Supporting the plethora of meat treats was a quartered plain naan and one of the two balti dishes on the menu that provided some sauce to the piles of rice. Served in a large karahi, it was a sizeable dish and packed a lot of chickpea and spice. Again, it won't win any awards for appearance, with a oily, slightly over-cooked look, but was still very enjoyable and generous in its serving.

15/20

Staff

The laid back dress and demeanour of the waiting staff here, and their unnecessary large number contrbuted to the rather casual, unprofessional feel to the place. Many were lounging about waiting to be called, but were attentive when asked at least. We waited a fair amount of time for our food too - hopefully that was the food being freshly barbecued, but it wasn't the greatest service experience overall.

5/10

Value For Money

At £35 for a huge sharing platter that comfortably fed four, along with a large karahi of channa at £9.99, and you're looking at great value. And with meat curries sold by the weight, economies of scale are certainly the order of the day. Yes, we've had better quality, but it's hard to argue with the bang for buck available to larger parties here.

8/10

Summary

Without visitng Pakistan myself, I can't comment if Tooting's Taste of Pakistan is the real deal, but the food felt authentic. The platter gave us a real sample of the meat, rice and bread centric menu, and neighbouring tables further highlighted the juicy kebab options on offer.

This certainly isn't one for the fine diner or vegetarian, in fact there was little green on offer bar the luscious ceiling paraphernalia, but if sharing a large meat platter sounds like your bag then Taste of Pakistan is worth trying. 

Locally its closest comparator is probably Namak Mandi which I would personally favour, and Watan offers similar food but at a higher quality (and price point), but food-wise there's little to complain about here, just don't expect much more beyond that.

33/50