Pak Punjab Restaurant At Jalan Ipoh
Editor’s Note
One fine evening as I was walking along Jalan Ipoh, I’d noticed more than 5 Pakistani restaurants within a 200m stretch with smoke billowing from their shopfront charcoal pits. Many of their diners were seated at tables along the 5-feet walkway in front of the restaurants. From afar, I’d observed that their patrons were a mixed of different nationalities and races, and they were digging into their food of grilled skewered meats, assorted curries, vegetables, rice and naan bread made from tandoori ovens. The aromatic smells of the spices emitting from the restaurants were enough to make me salivate, and I made a mental note to comeback with my wife to try it out.
A few weeks later, my wife and I found ourselves seated at one of those foreign eateries which I had stumbled across earlier. Again, the smells of grilled spiced meats filled the air, and the evening diners were steadily filling up the Pak Punjab Restaurant.
I had hoped that the busy restaurant was a reliable indicator that this particular restaurant’s food was going to be authentic and appetising. Good food or not, I was about to find out for myself…
Pakistani Pact
The young Pakistani waiter which took our orders looked very disinterested and he did not say much. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we decided to place our trust in him to bring us the right order. Perhaps, he was horribly overworked and underpaid, and he was dreaming about being elsewhere. Nevertheless, being a first timer there, I played along with the waiter’s lack of enthusiasm because I’m not familiar with Pakistani food, and right now, I needed him on my side if I was going to order the right dishes.
Picture Menu
Fortunately, every à la carte dish in the menu was accompanied by a clear photo of it, and I could see that the dishes looked similar to Arabic & Indian food. Like a hapless tourists, I started pointing to a diner at another table, and asked the waiter, “What is he having?”
Verbal Order
Noticing that the waiter was short-handed, I decided to speed-up our order, and right away, we ordered familiar dishes of one beef keema (minced), two chicken shish kebabs & two roti naan.
After the waiter left our table, I realised he hadn’t written down our orders which made me worried that he would get our orders wrong.
Buffet Spread
While waiting for our orders to arrive, I sauntered to the buffet table and inspected the vast array of Pakistani dishes. The selection of white and yellow basmati rice looked really good, so I scooped some white long grain rice unto my plate, and accompanied it with an aromatic spinach dish and a portion of spicy-looking dish of mixed lady’s fingers, tomatoes & onions. I also choose to add one of the cold salad dishes from the salad bar unto my dinner plate.
I really enjoyed my rice, two veg choices and salad selection, and even though, I’d wished that I had gave myself a bigger portion of the delicate basmati rice, I had to leave enough room in my stomach for the other dishes coming!
Round Two
Fortunately, our waiter brought us exactly what we ordered earlier from the menu, and the oven fresh roti naan had combined well with the aromatic beef keema and chicken shish kebab. The food was tasty, and I noted that the herbs & spices used were stronger than their subtler Middle Eastern version. Plus, some people may find these dishes a tad too salty, but for us, our meal tonight was a welcome change from our daily Malaysian food. Honestly, I could see us coming back here again in order to try out the other untested Pakistani dishes too.
Since we’ve never had authentic Pakistani food before, we had no way of verifying its authenticity, but I suspected that the food must have been pretty real to have attracted a big crowd of both Pakistani and Malaysian nationalities.
Value Meal
Given the number of dishes that we ordered and how full our stomachs were, the total bill came to a very reasonable rm34 which included our drinks of masala tea, iced tea and warm water.
Another plus point for the restaurant was its bright and clean interior, and the decor was less gaudy than what you would find in a typical Indian restaurant.
In the end, I was happy to add the Pakistani cuisine of Pak Punjab Restaurant to my personal foodie list of international restaurants WITHIN MY BUDGET…
Sheesh Kebab, somewhere in Punjab State🇵🇰
*Disclaimer*
To the best of my knowledge, all of the information provided herein is accurate at the time of publishing and the views expressed are based on my own personal opinions and findings, and they don’t necessarily reflect the views of the Product Manufacturer, Event Organiser or any Third Party unless explicitly specified otherwise.
About The Author
Gus Ghani is the Founder of Running Toons and Virtual Sports ; a HIIT Fitness Coach, and Magazine Columnist. He has contributed numerous insightful articles to The Star newspaper, Running Malaysia Magazine, and Cycling Malaysia Magazine. LIKE Happy Runner for RUNNING UPDATES, Gus Rider for CYCLING NEWS, Gus Ghani for SPORTS INFOTAINMENT and FOLLOW gusghani @IG for LIFESTYLE.
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