LDNReview
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Shalamar Kebab House
Included In
Busy thoroughfares in London tend to produce a special type of transient and canteen-like restaurant. The kind that’s bright and light and affordable and swift, where hunched solo diners come and go and eat with a ravenous appreciation usually reserved for meals in front of the TV. These restaurants, like Zamzam on Seven Sisters or Café TPT off Leicester Square are the equivalent of Popeye’s spinach to those that rely on them. They feed, they water, they rest, they rejuvenate—and Shalamar Kebab House is another superb example.
The Pakistani restaurant lives in the literal shadow of Tayaabs, an oasis of stillness five minutes from the buzz of Whitechapel Road. It’s a straightforward, brightly lit, canteen-style corner restaurant with a short menu that ranges from homemade samosas to chicken tikka, to curries, daal, biryani, and naans. The chicken tikka, whether on a plate or in a roll (for just £3.50), is completely delicious and notably excellent. A moist and spiced reminder of how good perfectly cooked poultry is (and in turn how insulting lemon and herb sawdust can be). That said, the meat biryani—a mountainous plate of fragrant rice mixed with flaking pink lamb—is fantastic too. Paired with dollops of Shalamar’s tart mint raita, it’s a comforting plate that defies the London limitations of a £5 note. If you’re after a curry then the correct move is to look towards the karais and, bread-wise, everything you want is coming out of the tandoor. Once you’ve got your order down, Shalamar will be fixed in your restaurant repertoire, a homely kitchen away from home.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Chicken Tikka
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Meat Biryani
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Chicken Karai
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Tandoori Naan
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch