Tayyabs

All about the lamb chop

Tayyabs is a Punjabi restaurant in Whitechapel that has become one of the best to go places in East London for Pakistani cuisine. It is a busy place in the evening due to its reputation and located just a few minutes walk from the city. So it is best to go there at lunch time if you can manage. I was at Lahore Kebab House back in February so I couldn't help but benchmark against it when I headed to Tayyabs.

This is a massive restaurant, unlike most standard Asian restaurants, it seems like Tayyabs spend a bit of money on its décor with purple neon lighting with a rather modern design. We were given some chilli sauces, salad and popadoms while we were looking at the menu, I went for the famous lamb chop, some chicken tikka and seekh kebab as starters to share with the whole table. Yes.... The lamb chop is seriously good here, it was grilled at the right level, good balance of spices, meat was tender and robust. The seekh kebab was also of good standard, nice kick from the spices and herbs. Chicken tikka on the other hand was weak, it was over cooked, the meat was dry and not enough flavours from the paprika and garlic seasoning. 

popadoms

lamb chop, chicken tikka and seekh kebab

For main, I had the dry meat of beef cooked in garlic, chilli and turmeric, It was a very spicy dish but packed with the richness and flavours. My face was burning in flames but I couldn't stop eating and that is the beauty of  a good spicy dish! The gosht lamb, garlic, masala, and green chillies was also a pretty good dish, the meat really sucked up the powerful flavours from the curry and the green chillies did not over power other elements in the curry. Tandoori Nan was done expertly, can't fault it.

dry meat 

gosht lamb

Tandoori Nan

It was a nice meal but apart from the outstanding lamb chop, everything else didn't give me the wow factor like the media and other bloggers rated it. And to make a direct comparison to Lahore Kebab House, I found Lahore is a touch better and especially the curry is really top notch over there. But the beautiful lamb chop here is to die for and it is well worth a visit just for the lamb chop alone. The BYOB policy is also a big plus, it is hard to come out here spending more than £20!

Food 5.5
Service 2
Ambience 3
Value 7

£15 per head

83-89 Fieldgate St  London E1 1JU

http://tayyabs.co.uk/