REVIEWING KHAN SAAB DESI CRAFT KITCHEN – FULLERTON, CA

Located in Downtown Fullerton, California, this new upscale desi restaurant, owned by Michelin Star Chef, Imran Ali Mookhi, has created a modern Desi restaurant that features recipes that pay homage to regional Indian, Pakistani, and Afghani cuisine. Khan Saab is a 100% Alcohol-free restaurant that serves halal cuisine with specialties in desi cuisine, mocktails, and desi desserts.

AMBIENCE:

The Ambience at Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen was lively, romantic, and fancy. The servers were fast attentive and constantly checked on their customers for anything they need. I enjoyed the touch of modern Bollywood music in the background, the hand-painted murals, and the unique menus with quirky jokes written in Urdu. The restaurant owner took their time to hand-craft its upscale desi cuisine, and I loved everything about it.

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APPETIZERS:

PANI PURI:

4/5

Pani Puri is an appetizer made of a stuffed puff pastry, wheat crackers, lentils, and various chutneys. You pour the chutney into the pani puri and immediately devour the whole pastry. It was an exciting experience, and I enjoyed the presentation of placing the puri above the chutney shot glasses.

CHICKEN 65:

5/5

Chicken 65 is made with chicken thigh, spices, and curry leaves, tossed with sweet, tangy chutney. This appetizer was mind-blowing. The dish tasted like high-quality chicken that was juicy and moist. The sauces tossed along the fried chicken were sweet, tangy, and full of so much flavor. They also included a spiced yogurt chutney to dip the fried chicken in that enhanced the flavor of the chicken.

SIGNATURE DISHES:

KHAN BIRIYANI:

5/5

The Khan Biriyani is one of the signature dishes at Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen. The Biriyani is made up of spices, thai chilis, biriyani grained rice, and so much flavor. For this particular dish, the chef requests customers to wait 25 extra minutes for the order. The rice was also steamed with fresh bread on top and was torn into by our servers, making the rice dish extra hot and fluffy. This dish reminded me of the Biriyani I have eaten back home in Pakistan. The flavors was amazing, the thai chilis were an authentic spicy touch, and there were large, tender chicken pieces in the biryani.

KABOBS:

AFGHANI SEEKH KABOB:

3/5

The Seekh Kabob Dish was a dish made of ground lamb, star anise, fennel seeds, and a specialty khan masala dry rub. This dish tasted like a similar Kabob dish you would find at your local Afghan restaurant. I wish they had added more of the drizzled sweet chutney as a dipping sauce for more flavor on this dish. I would have preferred if this dish had more spices and flavor added to it. Overall, the kabob was decent but not outstanding.

CURRY:

BUTTER CHICKEN:

4/5

The Butter Chicken Curry consisted of boneless chicken thighs, creamy butter sauce, spices, and dried fenugreek leaves. This dish was pretty familiar to similar butter chicken dishes you may eat at your local takeout restaurant. I did find the spices and flavor to be more pronounced with this dish. Like all the other poultry dishes at this ambiance, the chicken was juicy, moist, and tender. Overall, this dish was delicious, and I enjoyed eating it. This dish is great for customers who want to try Desi cuisine but are a bit nervous about its spices and pungent flavors because it has so many familiar components to the dish.

SIDES:

GARLIC NAAN:

4/5

The Garlic Naan is a flatbread made through a tandoori oven and flavored with garlic, cilantro, and butter. We received a large portion of the bread that was shareable with the table. The bread was flavorful because it was charred and contained lots of air bubbles, indicating a nice fluffy bread. This bread is a must-have on your table because it allows you to soak up the flavor of the curries with all the garlicky-bready goodness!

OVERALL:

Overall, as a Desi girl who has grown up surrounded by South Asian food from various cuisines, I truly enjoyed everything about Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen. The attention to detail through the décor, menu, service, and use of high-quality ingredients in their cooking was outstanding. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone interested in learning more about desi food and culture, and I will be back here again to try out other recipes from their menu!