LahoriKARAHI & CHARGHA
کڑاہی
000
LahoriKARAHI & CHARGHA
Chicken tikka skewers grilling over an open fire

Love at First Bite

Lahoreis a taste

Kilo karahis cooked to order in a heavy iron wok. Whole chargha, fried or steam-roasted. Nihari that started the night before. Levenshulme, seven days a week — hours below.

See the menuHalal

Since

Lahore

Open

7 days · hours vary

Karahi

By the kilo

Kitchen

Chefs from Lahore

The short version

We didn'tbring arecipe.
Meat over glowing charcoal in the grill
A whole chargha, roasted and plated

We brought the city.

Lahore does not really do subtle. It is a city that eats in the street until two in the morning, that argues about which karahi is the real one, that puts a whole chicken in front of you and expects you to get on with it.

That is the food we cook in Levenshulme. Our chefs are from Lahore, and they cook the way they cooked at home — a kilo at a time, in a heavy wok, when you ask for it. No sauce base sitting in a pot. No shortcut into a bowl.

People tell us it is the closest thing to Lahori karahi they have found in this country. We would rather you came and decided that yourself.

90%

Would recommend

600+

Reviews and counting

1kg

The standard karahi

01

Fire

Clay oven

Kebabs and tikka go onto the wall of a working tandoor. Chargha meets hot oil. Nothing here is finished in a microwave.

02

Fresh

To order

Karahi is not batch-cooked and held. Your kilo starts when you order it, which is why it takes a little while — and why it tastes like it does.

03

Share

By the kilo

The menu is built around the middle of the table: kilo karahis, jugs of lassi, platters and tawas. Eating alone here is possible but slightly beside the point.

04

Halal

Certified

Everything on the menu is halal, all day, without exception. There is a prayer room on site and parking at the rear.

What to order

Five thingsworth the drive

The full menu runs to well over a hundred dishes. If it is your first time, these are the five the kitchen would put in front of you.

IFried or steam-roasted

Chargha

The whole bird

Chargha
from £8

A whole chicken, marinated to the bone, then either dropped into hot oil until the skin cracks, or steam-roasted in the degh until it falls apart. It is not a portion. It arrives whole and you take it apart with your hands.

Find it on the menu
IICooked to order

The Karahi

Sold by the kilo

The Karahi
£27–£35 per kg

No pre-made sauce, no holding pot. A kilo of meat goes into a heavy iron wok when you order it, and comes out when the oil separates and rises. Tomato, chilli, butter or boneless — the difference is real, not a menu name.

Find it on the menu
IIINew this year

Brohi White

Balochistan, not Punjab

Brohi White
£24–£30 per kg

The karahi with no tomato in it. Yoghurt, cream, green chilli and white pepper build a pale, mild, deeply aromatic sauce — a Brohi dish cooked Balochistan-style. Order it once and you will spend a while explaining it to people.

Find it on the menu
IVSignature Lahori Tawa

The Tawa

For the whole table

The Tawa
£60

One griddle carrying chicken legs, lamb chops, wings and seekh kebab, with two curries, rice and chips alongside. It is the order you place when the table has stopped being a table and started being an occasion.

Find it on the menu
VNihari · Haleem · Paya · Kunna

Slow Fire

Started the night before

Slow Fire
£10–£12

Nihari, haleem, paya, hareesa, Chinioti kunna. Nothing here can be hurried. These are the dishes Lahore eats early in the morning and late at night, and they taste of hours, not minutes.

Find it on the menu

The clay oven

Straight off the fire

Everything on this rail meets flame before it meets a plate.

  • Lamb Seekh Kebab
    01

    Lamb Seekh Kebab

    £6

    Minced lamb, pressed onto skewers and stuck to the tandoor wall.

  • Lamb Chops
    02

    Lamb Chops

    £12

    Marinated overnight, grilled hard so the fat crisps at the edge.

  • Chicken Tikka
    03

    Chicken Tikka

    £7.50

    Yoghurt and chilli marinade, charred over open flame.

  • Fried Chargha
    04

    Fried Chargha

    £9

    A whole bird, spiced to the bone, dropped into hot oil until the skin cracks.

  • Lahori Fried Fish
    05

    Lahori Fried Fish

    £22

    On the bone, in spices and gram flour, deep fried until it shatters.

  • Chicken Wings
    06

    Chicken Wings

    £5

    Straight off the grill, hot enough to burn your fingers.

  • Roghni Kulcha
    07

    Roghni Kulcha

    £1.80

    Slapped onto the clay wall and pulled off blistered.

A grill loaded end to end with skewers

Bring people

A kilo isnot a portion.It's an invite.

Almost nothing on this menu is designed to be eaten alone. The karahi comes by the kilo, the lassi comes by the jug, and the tawa arrives on a griddle the size of the table. Come hungry, and come with people.

Signature Tawa

Signature Tawa

£60

For the whole table

One griddle: chicken legs, lamb chops, wings, seekh kebab, two curries, rice and chips.

Jumbo Platter

Jumbo Platter

£45

The whole grill

Fish, seekh kebab, lamb chops, lamb tikka, chicken tikka, chicken leg, malai boti, wings and samosa.

Kilo Karahi

Kilo Karahi

from £27

The middle of the table

A full kilo, cooked to order. Lamb or chicken; tomato, chilli, butter or boneless.

What people say

Probably the only authentic Lahori-style karahi in the UK. The mixed grill is fantastic.
Tripadvisor review
One of the best karahi chicken dishes in the country. We drive over just for it.
Tripadvisor review
Best Pakistani restaurant in Manchester — the mutton karahi is outstanding.
Tripadvisor review

Around 90% of roughly 600 reviewers say they would recommend us. Reviews are paraphrased from public listings.

Find us

Levenshulme,Manchester

Opening hours

Opens today at 12pm

  • Monday12pm – 10pm
  • Tuesday12pm – 10pm
  • Wednesday12pm – 10pm
  • Thursday12pm – 10pm
  • Friday9am – 10pm
  • Saturday12pm – 10pm
  • Sunday12pm – 10pm

Book ahead on busy weekends.

Good to know

  • Halal certified
  • Prayer room on site
  • Car park at the rear
  • Vegetarian & vegan dishes
  • Family and group tables
  • Takeaway available
Open in maps
Warm lamplight against brick, in the style of the dining room
Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore
Badshahi Mosque, Lahore

824 Stockport road sits on the Levenshulme stretch of the A6, ten minutes south of the city centre, with parking at the rear and Levenshulme station a short walk away.