Karahi Boys – 741 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1G1
Country: Pakistan  
Seating: There’s an outdoor patio and spacious indoor seating. 
Must-try dish: Namak Mandi Goat Karahi
Dinner guests: Big Daddy, Mad Max, Smelly, Suited Sebastien & Young Matt 
The high: We introduced Pakistani cuisine to a new audience and they loved it. 
The low: We opted not to order the Potohari Goat Karahi, and regretted it. 

For most of the dinner group, the Karahi Boys on Queen Street West is a short walking commute. It’s been around for a few months at least but none of us had ever tried it. This was an excellent opportunity to taste a new place in the neighbourhood, as well as expose some Eat The World TO fans to the delicious cuisine from Pakistan. 

We decided on the chosen dishes with the help of our server Vraj with a heavy emphasis on the karahis, since that’s their speciality. A karahi is an iron cooking pot that looks similar to a wok but with steeper sides and it’s served to the diners on the tables with scorching hot stew inside. 

These are the karahis that we devoured: 

Namak Mandi Goat Karahi: This was the crowd favourite of the evening, and it’s no surprise since Mandrea Bike and their friends seem to always be on a goat kick. The meat was tender from being slow-cooked in a tomato base with spices and topped with plain yogurt. 

Potohari Chicken Karahi: The sauce in this stew was mindblowing. It had a yellowish tint despite being fenugreek and tomato base, with fresh spices, cream, and chunks of chicken. Beware: there are bones in the stew as it’s slow-cooked to the point that the meat falls off the bone in the cooking process. If you want to shake things up, this dish also comes with goat meat. 

Gawal Mandi Chana Daal: This stew is made with split peas, butter, and spices. It’s revered as one of the most famous dishes in Lahore, and as for our little group, the daal definitely was a hit. We were scraping the bottom of the karahi to get the last bites and manoeuvering the naan to get all the sauce inside the bowl. 

All the karahis were cooked with medium spice levels. To accompany the stews, two family-style naan portions were ordered and served to the table in a majestic way – the bread was large, fluffy, warm, and presented as if it were on a tree. You may have to see it to believe it! 

On top of the stews, we also ordered Chicken Dum Biryani. This is a popular rice dish cooked with spices and chicken legs still on the bone. We started with two orders of the Aashik Beef Seekh Kabab, which was flavourful from being cooked in a tandoori oven and each dish comes with a trio of Kababs. Although it wasn’t the juiciest of all time, it did go down well, and the green sauce served alongside was a big hit.

Karahi Boys is completely Halal, and there are a number of dishes that are gluten-free such as the Biryani. It’s easy enough to go vegetarian with the legume dishes, but vegan might be a little tougher because of the cream. Finally, if you want an alcoholic beverage, you may want to go before or after the meal as Karahi Boys is dry. Wash down the food with a lassi instead! 

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)