Gifto’s Lahore Karahi

Yum. Yum. Yum. The food at giftos is delicious. The masala fish and lamb chops were my personal favourites, with the haleem also deserving a mention. And the falooda. And the lassi. You know what it was all good. We didn’t have a single disappointing dish. The price is really good too. This would have been a five star review if we hadn’t found out the owner keeps the tips that are meant for the waiting staff.

Gifto’s is a great restaurant that makes delicious, fresh, flavoursome food. It’s a family favourite and never fails to deliver. My favourites are the butter chicken, curry masala and chicken biryani. The bread is always fresh and they have a wide variety on the menu for people of all tastes. The waiters are also really friendly and have a sense of humour, and are apologetic about any mistakes (e.g. our table wasn’t cleaned enough once and they sorted it out immediately)
Would definitely recommend! Atmosphere is lovely.

Indian BBQ at it’s best. Tikka ovens and open kitchen reveals the mastery in food preparation. If your looking for a quiet place this is not it, tables are bench style so you may be sitting next to someone you don’t know. But the food is excellent and watching the cooks work the Tikka ovens is fun. The homemade Naan bread, made in the ovens right in front of you, is fantastic. Parking is difficult, but you won’t be sorry once you bite into a lamb chop.mmmm.

Went there with my partner the other night. Not the best area in town, but it’s worth going for the food. The place has many tables and can be a bit crowded, but the food is one of the best Indian food we ever had. Big portions, good service. Must try the desserts.

Came here with a group of ten for a family dinner. Started off with apps of meat. Food came pretty out fast and was tasty. order the mango lassi– it’s the best I tasted.
We ordered a slew of small plates, veggie and meat. All was good and the portions were proper.
For dessert u can’t beat the feluda!

Good news: price range is definitely not £££ but rather ££
Bad news: both partner and me got a running belly fairly quickly after eating here. Fairly mediocre food, nothing too special. Paneer and samosa’s a little on the oily side. Could have washed that down with some booze, but no booze — it’s a muslim place. Wifi is free but did not work. 2 stars.

OMG I ate so much I thought I was gonna throw up at the table.
I was visiting the UK for work and my boss took me here for dinner on a week night. The area is a little sketchy and parking is horrendous but the food definitely made up for it.
I took pictures of the open kitchen because it smelled wonderful and was entertaining for me to watch them cook.
We tried a little bit of everything and they all tasted fantastic. My favorite was the paneer and the okra.
I can’t speak for the price/​value, since I’m not familiar with cost in the UK, but the food tasted great and I’m still thinking about it.

This is the best place in Southall.
Sometimes the service suffers due to them being so busy, but the food here is better than everywhere else, and you don’t go to a place like this for anything but the food.
If you want a posh dining experience you’re better off going to some fancy place in Central London but if you want proper authentic punjabi food you can’t go wrong with Gifto.
If you’re in West London generally, the Hounslow branch (not the Southall one) of Mirch Masala is also well worth a visit.

Die meisten halbwegs preisgünstigen Restaurants in Southall/​Middlesex («Little India») sind eher schmucklos bis ungemütlich. Gifto’s Lahore Karahi ist da eine Ausnahme. Der große Gastraum, der bis zu 250 eng nebeneinander sitzenden Feinschmeckern Platz bietet, ist hell (aber nicht grell) und farbenfroh gestaltet. Man schaut von dort aus in eine offene Küche, in der jede Menge Köche herumwirbeln.
Ich hatte unter anderem das «Ginger Chicken» (£7,20 — «boneless chicken with green chillies, onions & ginger cooked on a tawa [eine Art flacher gusseiserner Wok, in dem die Speise serviert wird]»). Als Ingwer-​Fan war dieses Gericht für mich absolut großartig.
Auch ansonsten bietet die Speisekarte von Gifto’s (auf der Website als PDF abrufbar) viele spannende Spezialitäten, die man vom «Durchschnitts-​Inder» nicht gewohnt ist. Gifto’s ist nämlich keiner — es ist vielmehr ein pakistanisches Restaurant, das vorwiegend Punjabi-​Küche bietet. (Laut Wikipedia ist Punjabi die weitestverbreitete Sprache in Pakistan, und die zweithäufigste Sprache im Vereinigten Königreich.)
Da es wohl ein muslimisches Restaurant ist, verkauft Gifto’s keine alkoholischen Getränke. Man kann diese aber selbst mitbringen, ohne dass die so genannte «corkage fee» berechnet wird. Muss aber nicht sein, denn Mango Shake und Lassi sind auch sehr lecker. Und nach dem Essen kann man immer noch im nächstgelegenen Pub an der Kreuzung South Rd/​Uxbridge Rd oder im legendären Pub «Glassy Junction» (97 South Road) einkehren.
Apropos Muslime: Bei meinem ersten Besuch im Gifto’s saß ich neben drei Kopftuch-​tragenden jungen Damen, die lautstark mit ihrem männlichen Dinnergefährten herumschäkerten und ihm auch indiskrete Fragen stellten (z. B.: «Du darfst ja eigentlich mehrere Frauen haben. Würde dich das nicht überfordern?»). Nach einer Weile entschuldigten sie sich (unnötigerweise!) für ihre Lautstärke, fragten mich, woher ich denn komme, und verkündeten, als ich mich als Deutscher outete, dass sie bei einer Deutschlandreise vor allem die Schokolade immens genossen hätten.
Es ist übrigens interessant, sich lokale britische Restaurantkritiken durchzulesen. Am Gifto’s scheinen sich die Gemüter zu scheiden. Ich habe sehr viele Beiträge von Gästen gelesen, die den Service und das Essen unglaublich schlecht fanden. Andererseits gibt es Gifto’s-Fans, die regelmäßig über 100 Kilometer fahren, um das Essen zu genießen.

Hey yes greatest kebabs in southall, plenty of meat for your money, service is kurt but quick and cost is fine maybe £8 per head depends on your belly

I was a bit torn as to whether to give this place 2 or 3 stars but I was feeling generous!
Once upon a time, there was a restaurant in Southall that offered fantastic Pakistani food, great grills, fresh tasty food with a pretty snappy service!
Over a period of say 5 years, the food has not changed too much — still great grills, great fresh food but the service has gone from awful to appalling! This coupled with the rises in their prices has left me feeling rather disillusioned.
HOWEVER — the food is excellent — well worth a trip down the M4 for a taste of pure authentic Pakistani cuisine!
A bustling, busy restaurant with a simple décor, unpretentious and relaxed — not really making a statement in terms of service or culture — rather letting the food do all the talking.
Very tasty!

Good variety of Dishes,
Fast atmosphere,
Waited for a while for dishes to arrive but was definetly worth the wait,
Kebabs Sheikh, Paratha, Chicken Karahi
Recommended

I went here with family and really enjoyed the food — very spicy and tasty and service was excellent. Although it was busy when we went the staff never panicked or stressed and kept checking to see if we were ok. Even when i needed to pray, they found a space for me to do so.
Very accommodating and very delicious food. The Peshawri naans are to die for althoigh the biryaani i had wasn’t as good as elsewhere. Because we were in a group, we mixed and matched and got to taste a bit of everything — definitely recommend the chicken karahi and the butter chicken.
Overall very nice (and clean) place to take the family for an evening out.

Probably the most renowned indian restauant on the Southall Broadway. The décor is very plain and basic and it does look abit cheap when you have been there regularly but i guess the most important thing is the food which is what has kept customers making Giftos a regular place to dine when in Southall. The range is varied and the standard of food is pretty good. I would stronly recommend the butter chicken dish with either plain or keema naan bread. Prices are reasonable and a family of 4 can usually eat for under £50.

Good food at a reasonable price in a decent environment. I love places where you can see the kitchen and this is one of those places. Clean bathrooms and toilets make the experience good. It is not as good as some of the places in Whitechapel but after walking Southall’s mail street is a good place to relax and refuel on some good grub. I always tend to go for the chicken bhoti and perhaps seekh kebab. If lassi is available that is always good. Make sure you try this. Would recomment this place to one and all. Friendly staff and good service as well.

excellent prices, tasty food, shortage of space. great for take away but not for party.

This restaurant is not too far from my mates uni, so we decided to hold a surprise party here. If you want a table, you will need to call and reserve a little in advance, stating how many people. We had 20 and they were great as they put a few tables together so we could all sit together.
It was a great night. I think i had a prawn puri for starters, which was absolutely amazing. if you dont like your food too spicy then tell then whilst ordering as the prawn puri was really hot.
For the main course, i had the usual Chicken Biriyani. I always order this for some reason. I just think im a little too chicken to go for something i dont know. The biriyani was nice but the sauce that came with it was amazing. Good enough to eat on its own.
When it came to desert, we had bought our own cake, and they were good enough to dim the lights and bring it out for us, free of charge.
A very clean and modern place, i would definately recommend this place if you are going as a group on a fun night, or even if you want an intimate date there. A great place and would definately return with a doubt.

ich kann mich meinem vorredner nur anschließen, das gifto’s ist eine erfahrung. was die küche betrifft, nun, es ist eben ein schnellrestaurant und kein gourmettempel. was nicht bedeutet, dass das nicht absolut frisch und lecker ist — aber es ist eben nicht die hohe kunst der pakistanischen küche, sondern gut bürgerlich! also nicht pommes duchesse, sondern bratskartoffeln, um es mal auf unsere verhältnisse zu übersetzen… und hinterher ein faluda bei rita’s, zweihundert meter stadteinwärts…