Lal Qila

This place is great!
We walked in and was greeted by friendly young man (not in a cheesy way) he made us feel welcome and escorted us to our table. This restaurant feels warm and cosy, it’s quite small but you don’t feel like your eating with the table beside you.
There is heaps on the menu which all looked delicious. We had a party of 5 so we decided on the BBQ banquet for $ 44 and swapped a few dishes for some curries which the waitress suggested.
The food was absolutely beautiful, everything was tender and flavoursome. This place is not for the faint-​hearted because every dish had a big kick (chilli) which I loved. The banquet also came with 3 choices of dessert so we tried one of each.
We loved this place and will be returning

I had a good meal here with a large group. They were very accommodating to the group and all the dishes were good. The only issue was the food took a long time (there was a long time in between each course) even though they knew exactly how much food and what to make in advance. I’d like to go back with a smaller group. We were able to BYO.

I can’t tell the difference between Indian and Pakistani food but it was so good! Each dish had strong flavours of spice and the butter naan was so good that I started eating it by itself.

The food was really good. I tried their Lamb and Reshmi kebab and Lahori Naan. Everything was authentic in its flavor. It was as good as the food found in Pakistan.

So this is the second Surry Hills Indian restaurant that I’ve tried and it was really really good. Lal Qila is more Pakastani, as I’m learning all the differences, and enjoying the exploring. It took me a while to pick Lal Qila but thanks to fellow Unilocalers and a keen eye of reviews, I successfully sorted it out. Nice location, really clean and warm, with hardwood floors, nice quality furniture and a semi visible kitchen.
The staff was very nice and knowledgeable about their menu and preparations which is always great. They sent out poppadoms to snack on with mint sauce, I also had them bring tamarind sauce and that really got things going. I ordered the lamb chops to start and when that sizzling plate came out, I thought I was gonna jump out of my skin. Yes, I’m ready! And you know why… it took a long time. I’m really surprised as we were the first party in the door right at 5:00pm and really the only guests. Oh well, lets eat. The lamb chops were excellent — seasoned impeccably, not over cooked, charred just enough, truly a great dish.
We ordered a few curry’s but I’m going to focus on the one that I got, Goat Karahi. I’ve tried another Karahi dish in London @ Tayyebs, another Pakastani restaurant. This dish was excellent, super tender goat, stewed so it was fall off the bone tender. The spices were excellent and the dish was generous in size. I’m a naan fan so I tried the garlic naan and a butter naan. Both were spot on, no complaints.
It took while to get the check and settle up, so timing isn’t their strong suit but once food starting coming it all arrived fresh, and hot.
Lal Qila gets my vote and I’ll definitely go back again.

Nom Nom Nom!!!
Heard good things about this place and decided to give it a go… and glad I did.
I’ll be frank and say I don’t know much about Pakistani food or its differences with Indian food but who cares, cause this place is awesome and great bang for your buck. I mean, don’t come for the décor, come for the food.
The portions here are much larger than what you’d expect from other Indian restaurants, as one curry dish is plenty for two people (comes in one big bowl) versus ordering 2 that come in two small bowls that I’ve experienced elsewhere. I ordered a curry that was a daily special and the name escapes me, but it was a Pakistani special. I also ordered some butter naan (so good.) My date ordered palaak paneer and it was bomb dot com. The menu is massive, the offerings delicious, and the servers knowledgeable.
I’d recommend coming here with a group of people (not a bad date place by any means) but you’ll get more chances to try other dishes since their portions are larger than average.

Pay no heed to the odd number of weapons adorning the restaurant, this place means you no harm. The staff are sweet and non-​judgmental, and happy to suggest dishes if you can’t decide.
This is not your average Indian restaurant. For starters, they say it’s Indian and Pakistani, and you can taste the difference. The curries have a delicate flavour, not heavy and oily, but packed with flavour and fresh with a variety of herbs and spices.
I can never decide what to order because there is SO MUCH on the menu that looks amazing. The only solution is to keep coming back. I’m a big fan of their okra dishes, and the chicken claypot special is always amazing. The seafood is fresh and the meat is tender. A lot of the dishes have coriander, lamb, okra and ginger, things like that. Often together. Just writing this review is making my stomach all grumbly. The serving sizes look small at first, but the curries are rich and filling. The jasmine rice has lemon zest and other goodies hidden within.
It’s rare for me to get so excited about having dinner that I start thinking about it at breakfast time. But Lal Qila has that effect on me. Oh the anticipation…

This is the easiest review I’ve ever written, simply because Lal Qila («The Red Fort») is the knock-​down drag-​out hands-​down best Pakistani food in all of Australia, possibly the world (and yes, that includes Pakistan).
Even if I were covered in glowsticks at a giant apocalyptic rave somewhere I could not rave about this place enough.
The best two cant-​go-​past dishes (I’ve tried not ordering them but always seem to fail) are the insanely spiced goat curry and the okra curry accompaniment.
Lord of the Rings epic.

Some of the best curries around and you get out for less than $ 25 a head. I’m an absolute curry expert. I don’t go out for curries anymore because I make better ones than most places and I’m so bored of all the usual Indian suspects, buttered chicken etc. But this place is what eating Indian is all about. They have the staples but a whole lot of stuff I was unfamiliar with too. The curries a obviously made from scratch. The herbs are fresh, the prawns don’t have that deep freeze vibe at all. This place is a massive find.