Taste of Pakistan

If you want to walk into Taste Of Pakistan for an impromptu chapli kebab, you better get down to this heaving Hounslow spot on a midweek lunchtime. Come dinner, it’s guaranteed to be alive with friends and families ripping at naans. Sandwiched between a garage and a car rental shop, this Pashtun restaurant is a destination. 4x4s pull up to its driveway and groups pile into the vast, basic, white-lit dining room before filling their table with juicy kebabs, bubbling karahis, and giant naans that hang from hooks like taunting sirens for anyone outside without a reservation. Naseer, the owner, happily holds court and does occasional laps of the restaurant to check whether your velvet-smooth charsi karahi is OK (it’s excellent) and whether you need to make another booking (you absolutely do).

photo credit: Jake Missing