Review: Karahi Adda in Westbury

The most underrated Long Island delicacy is the karahi, and there's no better place to experience this rustic dish than Karahi Adda in Westbury. The Pakistani strip mall spot is easy to miss, and much smaller than the Asian mega restaurants across the street at the Samanea New York Mall. Yet this unassuming locale hits all the right notes, with a comfy chic dining room that puts the focus on the bubbling woks coming out of the kitchen.   

Chef owner Imran Moeen keeps a tight menu with a few appetizers and kebabs like the flawless chicken malai boti, and karahis that draw from his childhood spent wandering the Old City of Lahore, Pakistan. The karahi is said to have originated on the northern borderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a meaty dish that could be cooked over open fire to satisfy the nomadic traders along their journeys. Most varieties feature a supremely flavorful sauce that's built from peppers and tomatoes and a bundle of aromatics that include cumin, coriander and garam masala. 

Karahi Adda's menu has 14 varieties of karahi that are available by the pound, with intriguing flavors like chicken and mutton kebabs that are cooked in a clay oven before being added to the deeply textured sauce. A white chicken karahi is a stunner with its sumptuous base of yogurt and white pepper, which clings to the juicy bone-in thighs. It's great as a secondary karahi to contrast with the spicier flavors, but if you only have enough room for one, stick with the tomato varieties. 

The first karahi at the top of the menu is the chef special baby goat karahi, and this may sound like an overstatement, but at the time, it tasted like the best thing we've ever put in our mouths. The tomato sauce here is darker from all that black pepper, and robust enough to hold up to the juicy goat meat that you rip from the bones with your teeth. You must order naan here, because that's how you eat the karahi, sopping up the sauce that glistens with oil and smacks of ginger. Long Island may have a lot of outstanding karahi places, but this was the pinnacle.

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