Masala Indo Pak Cuisine

🇵🇰 PAKISTAN / Some great Pakistani food is served in San Bernardino County under hanging plants and the sounds of nature.

🇵🇰 PAKISTAN
📍 25227 Redlands Blvd.,
Loma Linda, San Bernardino County.
🅿️ Small plaza with parking
🥤 No Alcohol
🌱 Vegetarian Friendly

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

Nowadays when you read milquetoast chunks of text there is always something in the back of your mind wondering if AI created such blandness. One might think this method was used when coming up with the ho-hum name of this restaurant, but thankfully the food here has been served and enjoyed for years before AI was ever close to market.

Despite having “Indo” in the name and a poster in the window showing off the “Cuisine of India,” this restaurant features the sometimes overlapping foods of its neighbor. The first hint that the food is actually Pakistani (or Bangladeshi) at any South Asian restaurant (in this country at least) is the inclusion of beef.

The first thing you notice when coming inside past the bamboo screens in the windows are all the foliage on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Along with a soundtrack of bird calls, it seems that the owners are much more at home in nature than the city streets of Loma Linda.

A good order to get your taste buds going is the samosa plate ($5, below), which comes with two large fried triangles and two delicious chutneys. These pastries are simple, filled with potatoes and spices, but fried expertly.

Right at the top of the menu and denoted as “special” in inverted type, it is hard to resist an order of the lamb shank pulao ($17, below). Pulao is different from biryani in that the basmati has been cooked with the meat and allowed to soak up all the stock from the stew.

Plenty of meat is on the shank, but it almost seems miniature when served on such an enormous portion of rice. If you plan to order this, it makes sides of basmati unnecessary as you can always grab more from the large plate. The owner is quite concerned you get the most rewarding flavor combinations and will offer advise about mixing the very spicy sauce this comes with into the rice.

On the back of the menu a list of eleven tantalizing items are hard to choose from in the BBQ section. On this evening, the chicken tikka ($12, below) was selected, two spiced and charred thigh and leg pieces. This tasty dark meat is served over more basmati and with a side of yogurt chutney.

You can also have boneless chicken tikka if you order the boti, but this uses breast instead of thigh. The BBQ section also includes seekh kebabs of chicken, lamb, or beef (all of which can be served as a roll), and a couple types of fish.