Baba-licious: Pakistani Curries at Khan Baba

It’s not much to look at. Despite being newly opened, the carpet is worn – and dusty plastic vines dangling overhead rarely inspire confidence for a fine dining experience. When we wandered in at lunchtime, the bargain RMB 38 buffet looked lusterless, and even the menu was disheartening, featuring an oddly large list of Chinese dishes. Turn a blind eye to all this and focus on the flavors.

As my charming lunch companion Pablo noted, the Lahori samosa (RMB 22) is the Pakistani version of Canadian poutine. Take something fried (a samosa rather than fries) and smother it with something saucy (curry instead of gravy) and something delicious (mango chutney subs for cheese curds). The result was marvelous – Pablo licked the bowl.

The other dishes were nearly as praiseworthy, and made us ashamed of our snap judgment. After all, it’s China – shouldn’t we be used to delectable dishes emerging from the most humble of settings?

The chicken hot karahi (RMB 56) was enjoyably unusual, flavorful and spicy from the whole pickled peppers which burned pleasantly but retained tartness. The Lahori mutton choole is a mild sweet Punjabi curry featuring black chickpeas (RMB 58). Retaining the texture and chew of the lentils, the spinach daal (RMB 40) was likewise bowl-scrapingly delightful, and rounded off our feast in high form. The low point was the naan (RMB 15), a dense Xinjiang-style bread rather than the fluffy tandoori flatbread we were expecting.

In short, skip the buffet, skip the Chinese food, ignore the chintzy décor and just enjoy Khan Baba’s excellent curries.

Standout dishes: Lahori samosa, chicken hot karahi

Also try: Mughal’s, Yadgar

Khan Baba Pakistani Restaurant 汗巴巴巴基斯坦餐厅
Daily 11am-3pm, 6-10.30pm. Courtyard 4 (southeast of Nanjie), 4 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (6506 0976)
朝阳区工体北路4号院

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