Lahore Tikka House

Located on Gerrard in Little India, Lahore Tikka is a hard place to miss with it's christmas lights and bright colours.  It always seems like it's in a perpetual state of construction.  You walk in through the entrance of the establishment but they lead you to one of the 2 trailers to eat on lawn chairs with styrofoam cups/ plates and cultery and for me it's always a great adventure.  The cuisine is focused on Pakistani and North India where  the Pakistani influences are with the karachi which are curries, kebabs and birayanis.  And the North Indian side with butter chicken, masalas and other classic Indian favourites.  

Now to give you the entire experience and order of operation:

1.  You walk in and you're directed to a trailer to sit down and ponder over the many menu choices.

2.  You check off the items you would like to have on the menu and bring it back to the front counter.

3.  You're given a number

4.  Shortly your items arrive and you enjoy and indulge.

5.  You bring your number up to pay.

We ordered the Karachi beef, Butter chicken, a vegetarian combo sizzler which came with curried lentils, cauliflower and potatos as well as rice sizzler combo with lamb kababs, along with butter till naan and one butter naan.  To drink we order 'mango shakes' which essentially are their mango lassis which were so creamy and a perfect balance to combat the spiciness of the dishes!

The food comes quickly and we are pleased as we are starving and at the point of ordering- we didn't think we over ordered.   The beef karachi and butter chicken come first - served piping hot in cast iron dishes.

The beef is very tender- like stew beef and juicy with a mild curry flavour.  The butter chicken was spicy but less of a sweet taste that I'm used to.  It was heavy and creamy and not my favourite butter chicken in the city.   The rice sizzler platter was ok- I found that the rice was dry and lacked any real flavour but the lamb kababs had this amazing rub on them and were so good.  I would just stick with ordering kababs next time.

The butter till naan was to die for- so rich and the sesame seeds on the naan brought out some crunch and sweetness.  The veggie combo platter was a milder plate with a good mild blend of spice and the vegetables were velvety.  I enjoyed it but next time would probably order like a palak (spinich) paneer or a channa (chickpeas) masala.  Our server also brought us these grilled green chillies - one bite and each of us were sweating bullets and downing water and our lassies to temper our tongues.  We ended up realizing we ordered one dish too many and needed to bring the rest home!!! 

One thing I need to remark on is my bathroom experience.  You walk through their kitchen and a dark garage full of storage and all of a sudden into a newer building and lo and behold - it's like a bathroom sanctuary- marble and large screen TVs, candles, auto sensor bathrooms, it's a totally different vibe than in the restaurant. (Maybe they invested in the bathroom expereience with all the money they saved on styrofoam plates .

It's definitely a fun place to go with a group and gorge on good food.  Also is a good place for late night dining- I hear that the kitchen is open until 4am and we were there around 9:30pm on a weeknight and still people were coming in for dinner.  

**** stars

Lahore Tikka House -1365 Gerrard Street E (Greenwood-Coxwell, Little India)
(416) 406-1668