Madina Restaurant & Sweets

• Cuisine(s): Pakistani
  Price: $
  Payment Types: cash
• Features: Takeout, Wheelchair Accessible
  Serving: Dinner, Late Night, Lunch, Snack Food
  Alcohol: None
• Reservations: Not Accepted
  Parking: Street

Description

Although the sign on the awning advertises an admirably inclusive list of cuisines, (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi!), in reality, most dishes here are Punjabi-Pakistani. There‚s a steam table loaded with the usual suspects (saag, lamb korma, mixed vegetable curry), made unusually well. Any curry with lamb is likely to be good, as the lamb is cooked bone-in and well spiced. (Suck out the marrow.) There are also pakoras, flatbreads and kebabs aplenty. The best kebab, the chicken chapli kebab, is actually Pashtun in origin, and was brought to Pakistan from Afghanistan. "Chapli" means sandal, and the oblong, flat shape of the minced meat is slightly reminiscent of footwear. The flat shape creates a large surface area, which gets caramelized and crisp on the grill. Plus, the chicken mixture is wonderfully, assertively spiced-the kebab is liberally shot through with whole cumin and coriander seed, green chile, garlic and cilantro.