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| - Though I'm not Pakistani, many of my friends are and I have had the privilege and good fortune of eating home made, restaurant and banquet hall Pakistani food so for a "gori", I consider myself to be a bit of an expert.
After living in North York for a year, I was excited to see the sign for Iqbal's from the highway. I usually drive to Brampton when I want Pakistani food.
Vegetable biryani- I was most happy with this dish. It had lots of veggies and it was well spiced. The raita that came with it was very watered down, too much so, so the point that it was like pouring water on the rice. The salad that came with it was a container of iceberg lettuce and raw onion. Ha ha
Qeema Naan (naan stuffed at ground beef)- this was hot and tasty. The ground beef kept falling in myself as I ate it though bc it wasn't as carefully made as I have had when homemade but overall, it was delicious. My only qualm was that the beef was a bit low quality and had some tough, sinewy pieces in it.
Beef Haleem- I love Haleem. Haleem is always served with raw ginger slices, onions, cilantro and lime to squeeze on. Because Pakistani restos always seem to "forget" to give me my lime when I order the dish (which is disappointing when you live a 15 min drive from from the location and only got take out in the first place because you had no food at home (including limes) ). I double checked with both the guy who took my order and the girl who gave me my order and both repeatedly stated that there was lime in my bag of takeout containers. I got home and there was no lime of course (when do I learn?!). The Haleem was about a 3/5 with points removed for small portion with regards to price and lack of lime.
Bhindi (lady finger) curry- this was a bit disappointing. I got a nasty stalky/cardboard piece in my mouth the first bite I took. Overall the flavor was just okay. They were generous with the oil (I poured off at least 2 tbls) which is considered a good thing to Pakistanis but not for my waist line.
My bill for these 4 items was $35.
The staff were very polite. The food came relatively quickly. The food is of course halal. There was a small assortment of mithai (sweets). If I was desperate for South Asian food, I'd go back but overall, I've had much, much better (though not in North York).
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