For all lovers of Pakistani dishes, Pakeeza's offerings are a must-try. For a typical recommended dinner, one can look forward to servings of Briyani rice, Kashmiri naan, puri to go with Tandoori chicken, fish curry, squid sambal, Masala prawn, Aloo gobi with mixed fruit and vegetable pickles, papodom and fresh fruits on the side.The fish curry is a speciality of Pakeeza where they use pomfret in a non-spicy mouth-watering curry with ladies fingers. Savouring together with naan (round, flat bread made from white flour) and puri (deep-fried,puffed round bread made from wheat flour) with the curry is excellently superb.
For those who prefer rice with a more distinct taste, you can try the Briyani rice cooked with ghee.
Tandoori chicken is so-called because it is roasted in a clay oven (tandoor). To prepare, the chicken is marinated in yoghurt and masala spices. The flaming-red colour of the chicken comes from a mixture of cayenne or red chilli pepper mixed with other spices. Pakeeza's version is definitely spicy hot but nonetheless delicious. It is best to tone down the heat with icy, cool fresh fruit juices of watermelon, guava or orange. You might also want to request for a jug of freshly squeezed special Indian mangoes.
You should definitely make the kill for the Indian mangoes on the fresh fruits platter. So succulent and juicy! Local mangoes are definitely pale in comparison.
Aloo gobi is a dish made from potatoes (aloo) and cauliflower (gobi) together with onions and green peas. Normally it is dry and yellowish in colour because of turmeric. It has many variants but at Pakeeza, it is flavourful in spiced gravy.
The dried-chilli paste squid is another tongue-burner with a fiery after-taste but the Masala prawn is less spicy. Both are delightfully appetising with rice.
Papodom or papadum is a crispy flatbread eaten as a appetiser or snack to accompany curries and other rice meals.
For those who are not familiar with this type of pickle, it has both pineapple slices with cucumbers, onions and chillies in a sourish preparation. Some versions have carrot strips.
Afterwards if you still need desserts to satisfy your sweet palate, you might want to order ice-cream or Kashmiri tea, sprinkled with almond slices and smells of cinnamon.
How to get there: This three-shop restaurant is located along Dato Seri Ahmad Said Road(Green Lane), Ipoh, opposite Regal Lodge Hotel.
