Outside of jumping on an 11-hour flight to Peshawar, there are few better options in London than Taste of Pakistan. Sandwiched between a garage and a car rental shop near Heathrow, this Pashtun spot wears its excellence humbly. The room is plain, the Hounslow location suburban, but once inside, feels like it’s spread across a row of houses. It’s almost always chocka which speaks volumes to how good the food is. Groups pile into the white-lit dining room, 4x4s pull up into its drive, and Naseer—proprietor and all-round guv’nor—patrols the room like a smiling bouncer who’s ready to offer, or weaponise, a chapli kebab at a moment’s notice. Just like the airport terminals nearby, Taste Of Pakistan is constantly heaving. Hoping to swing by for an impromptu charsi karahi is a fool’s game. On any given night this restaurant is alive with honking cars out front while friends and families rip at enormous naans and mop up velvet-smooth sauces inside. Groups without bookings are laughed away in person or, unforgivingly, online. Team TOP takes their reputation as seriously as they do their food. Both are outstanding. Northwest Pakistani food takes influence from nearby Afghanistan and the signature ghee-less, blanket-sized naans hang from hooks on every table like taunting sirens for passers-by. In fact, the food and the restaurant share many of the same characteristics. The two-sided dining room bubbles just like the karahis being cooked over flames and another member of your group is always welcome in the same way an extra round of glistening Peshawari chapli kebabs is necessary. Of course, coming here en masse is the move. For ladles and ladles of sweet kabli pilau and sizzling mixed grill platters. That said, a solo midweek lunchtime will guarantee you a table and, to be honest, Taste of Pakistan is a restaurant you should always be leaving with extra baggage.