Lahori Kebabish (Cheetham Hill)

Pakistani/North Indian style

Cheetham Hill Rd. 

2010 June

After the comments below we thought we should get our backsides back here to see what the fuss was about. - the unfortunate conclusion was that the kebabs aren't that great. We realise that the complimentary stuff from you guys below is about the curries - but we're centred on cheap and cheerful lunchtime endeavors here and unfortunately Lahori Kebabish isn't really our favourite in this area and to be fair it doesn't really try to be. It's clearly not one of those places that are geared up for churning out tons of tikka - it took ages, the orders were slightly forgotten about and the meat was done and done and chopped up and then done some more - to the point where the lamb was dry and tough. The salad and sauces were OK and the tandoor bread was excellent. As Dave below says the £20 deal seems a real winner but the grill stuff just isn't up to scratch - especially at £5 for a simple kebab on chapatti. We like the place and the other food looks great - but the nipping in at lunchtime for a good feed for around £5 is what we're about here and unfortunately Lahori Kebabish isn't really that sort of place.

Initial trip

Although it serves an extensive range of curries we regard Lahori Kebabish as a Kebab House. The distinction is based on the lack of rice &3 – so it’s not a Curry Café. The curries here are £5-£6 plus rice or bread which takes it away from that price range. OK, so far as day time eating (and this website) goes it’s a kebab house! Right, enough said on that matter. There was a good selection available – and one welcome and unusual choice of a skewer of half chicken/half lamb – perfect to get a measure of the two 'main' kebabs.  Bread was done in a tandoor and was excellent.  Salad and sauces were served separately AND put on the kebabs which was a bit strange and probably a bit of cock-up – though no harm done.  The salad, yoghurt and chilli sauce were all very good.  The cooking of the meat was interesting – initially the skewers were put in the tandoor – they were then transferred to the grill and chopped up and mucked around with – presumably to speed things up.  The meat was very tasty, probably better than the others in Cheetham Hill - none of which do lamb tikka and don't seem as grill orientated as this place, though unfortunately the lamb was rather tough – it wasn’t really overcooked. Just a bit of a tough cut – not the end of the world. The only real negative with this place was the price - £5 for the ½ and ½  kebab was high. £4.50 for chicken and £5 for lamb are the standard prices. Rusholme and the city centre are nearer the £3.50 mark for this sort of kebab.
Scores out of 10
Meat 8.5
Bread 9.0
Salad/Sauces 8.0
Service/Setting 7.0
Average 8.1