Lazeez
[Lazeez] The Search for the 2022 Curry House of the Year Begins…
After our January meet which saw Klay crowned the 2021 CHOTY winners (insert link here), a record number of OCC members eagerly headed West to begin the 2022search for the highly coveted award.
Our February destination was Lazeez, which for all you non urdu experts out there translates as “delicious or delectable”. Would the restaurant actually live true to its urdu name though?
After navigating through an endless complex of shopping malls (most arrived via Hongqiao metro station) we were warmly greeted by the owner, Mr Pawan Bagan, to a livelybustling restaurant – a good start. OCC has fond memories of Mr Bagan with visits to Bombay Bistro (2018) and Saffron Grill (2020).
Onto the food …up first for starters were poppadoms, panipuri (pic below) and baked pakoras (see pic below). Afairly accurate but non-scientific gauge of how well dishes are received in the OCC correlates to what is left hanging around on the table after a few minutes of being served.The pani puri were demolished at around the 20 secondmark, closely followed by the pakoras with the poppadomsmanaging to hold out for a full 5 minutes.
Fortunately, our very own sauce master “bazmarti” was in attendance who is currently 2-0 up in the poppadom dipbattle with each visited restaurant (insert pic here) Bazmatiis on a mission to highlight the lack of quality dips, saucesand chutneys in Shanghai’s curry houses. He could be onto something. On this occasion his mango chutney special easily beat out the restaurants’ “blender green dip” and/or pieces of tomato and onion. Will he go the full year 12 and 0? A challenge to all you chefs out there has been made...
The main courses like all the food at Lazeez, arrivedquickly and at once which is some feat considering our numbers and the foot traffic of the restaurant. The vindaloowas tasty if not spicy with generous portion sizes of beef.The lentil dal and rich palak paneer were well accompanied by the freshly baked naan. Butter Chicken was also orderedwhich narrowly won our best dish of the evening which hada unique smokey taste about it.
The Verdict: Lazeez offers incredible value for money.Our bill at the end of the evening worked out at a modest RMB 220 per person including drinks (many many drinks).If you are looking for a vibrant casual dining experiencewhich is kind on your wallet and live around the Hongqiao area then Lazeez is definitely worth a visit.
Congratulations to Mr Bagan and his team. Lazeez is OCC approved with a 7.3 ranking and a strong marker for the 2022 CHOTY leaderboard. OCC