LAReview
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Biriyani Kabob House
Included In
Eating at Biriyani Kabob House, a strip mall spot on Third St. in Little Bangladesh, is like having dinner with family friends you’ve known since birth. The owner tells you what to order and he might drop a rice pudding on your table at the end of the meal. But it’s not just the friendly, comfortable service that makes this place stand out in a neighborhood full of great spots. It’s the consistently fantastic Pakistani and Bangladeshi food being served here.
Despite the name, Biriyani Kabob House specializes in biriyani, kabobs, and curries, a fact the gregarious owner will explain to you several times while you order. That means there’s plenty on the menu, but we always start with one thing, the Hyderbadi lamb biriyani. This is a plate of deeply aromatic basmati rice with spices, accompanied by a lamb shank that’s approximately the size of a football. The gaminess of the lamb is balanced by the coriander, cumin, and masala spices of the rice, making it the kind of dish that’ll have you coming back anytime you’ve got a friend in town who wants the best of the best things to eat in Los Angeles.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
It’s going to take you multiple trips to work through all the curries, but you’re not going to mind in the slightest, since they all hover around $15, and are also excellent. Each comes with fluffy house-baked naan, which is especially great with some of the spicier dishes, like the deceptively hot nali nihari, a stewed beef dish we crave any time the temperature in LA goes below 65, or the chicken karahi, which melds peppers, onions, a hint of ginger, and spicy chicken. The best of all, though, is the lamb shank curry—a straightforward dish topped with raw jalapeños and onions that cut through the oily meat and amp up the flavor of the relatively mild curry sauce.
The only weak spot on the menu might be the kabobs, which don’t live up to the high standards of the biriyani. While we like our meat with a slight char, these all tend to come out overcooked, especially the stringy tandoori chicken and spongy bihari kabob.
No matter what you order, there’s a not-small chance that your first visit might last multiple hours, especially if the owner comes over and strikes up a conversation with you (which he will). Who knows? You might even get to yell at the TV in Biriyani’s dining room. That’s when you really know you’ve found a second home.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Hyderbadi Biriyani
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Lamb Shank Curry
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Nali Nihari
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Chicken Karahi
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Saag Paneer
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Naan
photo credit: Jakob Layman