Gifto's Lahore Karahi, Southall

We are most fortunate, living in England with the glut of Indian restaurants we have at our dispense.  In reality, most Indian restaurants are in fact owned by Bangladeshi's masquerading as an Indian restaurant.  What we do not seem to be quite so ubiquitously blessed with are Pakistani establishments.  An Indian friend of mine once told me that the Pakistani's are actually better cooks than the Indians.  The Indian kitchen is mostly dominated by vegetables.  Pakistani's are much more meat obsessed and can cook it with greater competency.  The truth of this, I am not convinced of, but it makes a nice story.

Yesterday we went to Southall, in Middlesex, just outside Heathrow airport.  The streets are festooned with every kind of bangle, sari and curiously at nearly every corner a sweetcorn stand.  It was our intention to seek out a decent place to have lunch with our children, to show them the cultural diversity of Southall and just generally get out of Surbiton for the day.

Gifto's, at the far end of the high street in Southall was refitted in 2010 and the decor is clean and modern.  The bench seating system is cosy and the grill and tandoor section is exposed to the public to see the theatre behind the glass screens.

Our arrival was greeted by a friendly waiter who showed us to our bench.  After the initial visit to the toilets, which is always inevitable with a 4 year old we returned to make our order.  Incidentally, the toilets were spotless and strangely the urinals were filled with swathes of clean ice cubes.  This provided a gleeful distraction to the usually mundane job of urinating. 

It is important to note that this being a Pakistani restaurant signifies that there is no alcohol for sale.  We plumped for 2 carrot and orange juices and a mango smoothie.  Delicious they both were too.

Food-wise the menu is very diverse and features some interesting, unique choices.  The dahi bhalla were of especial note, lentil doughnuts decked with yoghurt and tamarind sauce.  The chicken boti, from the resplendent grill was delicate and well cooked, stemmed from its probable long marination steeped in yoghurt and spices.  The star of the show, though, was the handi kofte - meatballs in a rich sauce of tomato and onion, spiced with clove, cinammon stick and cardamom.  The naan were crisp on the outside and soft and doughy on the inside, having been treated to a visit to see Mr Tandoor.  The rice was fluffy and moist.


I cannot recommend this place enough and am already yearning to return.  If you ever find yourself in Southall, with an empty stomach and yearning for some decent spicy fayre I mostly humbly request you check this place out.