Lahori Nihari: West Dhanmondi’s culinary delight lives up to the hype
The eatery has only been in operation for a month, yet it has swiftly become the talk of the town and social media food communities are abuzz with rave reviews
As more and more local cuisine-focused eateries in Dhaka begin incorporating the Nihari into their breakfast offerings, fans of the rich stew can avoid waking up at the crack of dawn to savour the dish from Star Kabab — arguably one of best restaurants in the city to offer this Mughal-era wonder.
A plethora of dine-in establishments and cloud kitchens now serve this delectable dish throughout the day.
One of the newcomers to the bustling Nihari scene is 'Lahori Nihari'. Tucked away in the bustling enclave of West Dhanmondi, Lahori Nihari has only been in operation for a month, yet it has swiftly become the talk of the town. Social media food communities are abuzz with rave reviews of this newly-established restaurant.
Before visiting the restaurant, we spent some time going through the restaurant's social media presence. To tell the truth, the Facebook page of Lahori Nihari felt very underwhelming. Th
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ere were a few pictures of the menu and some dishes, mostly taken by the customers.
Lahori Nihari opens at 5pm every day. And given the narrow roads, we had to switch the transportation mode to a rickshaw.
The establishment appeared to us as a restaurant next door, nothing extravagant. However, the crowd we witnessed painted a different picture. It took us a few minutes to find a seat. The menu was quite straightforward, offering four choices of Nihari: Lahori Nihari (Tk170), Lahori Gosht Nihari (Tk220), Lahori Maghaz Nihari (Tk230) and finally, Lahori Special Nihari (Tk260). We ordered all four.
It took almost 20 minutes to get our hands on the food. All the items were served at the same time, and surprisingly, all four looked the same — a big piece of leg bone sitting on a broth bed, and some chopped fresh cilantro and green chillies on top. We could not tell the difference between the dishes without tasting them.
Lahori Nihari was the most basic of Niharis — the broth was relatively lighter in consistency, but extremely heavy on spices. And it had a homely taste to it, almost reminding us about the Eid-ul-Adha feasts at home. Lahori Gosht Nihari and Lahori Maghaz Nihari tasted almost the same. The only difference was that the former had a piece of beef in it while the second one had a serving of brain.
True to its name, Lahori Special Nihari was quite a special one and a must-have. The broth was quite thick and flavourful. The consistency was quite similar to Haleem, and to our taste buds, it also tasted like Haleem. We enjoyed every spoon of it. Apart from the big bone piece, there were pieces of beef and brain in the Nihari. We enjoyed it with Tandoori Roti and Lahori Garlic Roti.
We also tried Lahori Kaleji (Tk150) and Lahori Murg Makhanwala (Tk270) both of which we liked. The Lahori Kaleji was a blast of flavours, the heavy use of garlic nullified the bitterness of the liver.
Serendipitously, we found Shahin Sarah, the owner of the restaurant, at the time of our dining who visited there for her daily audit. A lawyer by profession, Sarah, felt that there was no good dining place with up-to-the-mark hygiene on the west side of Dhanmondi.
"Me, as a resident of west Dhanmondi, always wanted a good restaurant with quality food where I could eat with my family," she said.
Sarah revealed that the Nihari she offers is prepared from her family's cherished recipes. She procures all the ingredients from Mohammadpur Town Hall Market, and each morning, her staff venture out to acquire the freshest groceries.
"Quality is something we do not compromise on at all," she said.
Overall, dining at Lahori Nihari was a pleasant experience, and we found it worth the hype it created.
