Gulzaar Halaal – San Jose, CA
With the International Kabob House still fresh in mind, I remained on the lookout for another tasty restaurant to sink my teeth into. When I first arrived with a friend to Gulzaar Halaal I noticed that there were a number of people seated at the small number of tables inside the shop. The gentleman (whom I believe is the owner) stood behind a glass display case just inside the front door helping customers. Upon entry, he asked us to sit anywhere we like and that he’d be right with us. One of the customers (perhaps a regular?) immediately stood to allow my friend and I to take the table that he was sitting at.
The owner seemed to be very busy with the customers who were waiting for their take out orders. He kept apologizing and telling my friend and I that he’d be with us as soon as he could. Since both my friend and I were in no hurry we told him to take his time. As soon as he was able to, the owner presented us with menus and again apologized for the wait and thanked us for our patience. We ordered chicken samosas (we were lucky they had them that day), a beef kebab wrap, and the famous chicken biryani.
Oh my lordy. Let me tell you. The food in this place is AWESOME. The chicken samosas were deep fried to a golden crispy brown, but did not taste at all greasy. The herb and chicken filling was piping hot and extremely flavorful. We were given a red sauce to dip our crunchy appetizer. These were definitely some of the best samosas I’ve ever tasted in my life, and I am still surprised that they were so crispy without being oily and greasy. As you can probably imagine, these tasties were quickly gobbled down. XD
My friend and I decided to share the beef kebab wrap and chicken biryani so that we could both taste two different entrees. The chicken biryani was SUPER NOM. We couldn’t help but shovel mouthful after mouthful of the delicious rice and chicken into our mouths. There were chunks of chicken buried inside the rice, not small chunks but large chunks! Kind of fun to dig through the rice to find the buried treasures. I also noticed that some sort of crispy garnish (maybe like fried and broken up pieces of the samosa skin?) on top, it added so much texture to the rice and chicken and was absolutely to die for. We were given a green/white looking yogurt sauce to go with the biryani. The yogurt sauce added another dimension of flavor and texture to the biryani, the taste left you eagerly wanting more. Luckily the owner kept coming back to check on us, and he ended up leaving a small pitcher of the sauce on the table for our convenience.
The beef kebab wrap was also delicious, the beef was not at all dry or tough, it was in fact very tender and flavorful. No burnt bits, it was roasted evenly. The beef was tender to the point of almost melting in your mouth. The fresh lettuce and tomatoes inside the wrap gave it a nice fresh crisp texture. And yes, we added the delicious yogurt sauce to this as well.
So far, I feel like this is one of the best restaurant experiences that I’ve had in a long time. Not only did they offer delicious food for reasonable prices, but the service was EXCELLENT. The owner of the shop was extremely friendly, he made it seem like you were a guest in his home rather than a customer in his shop. He constantly came over to see how we were doing, he even explained to us how things were made in his shop. He is genuinely friendly. We were told that he used USDA choice beef, and whole chicken. Both types of meat are ground on site in his shop so that he can make sure the meat is of the best quality. You can definitely tell that he puts a lot of heart into making the food and serving his customers. I will definitely be back to this place, and will bring anyone I can drag along for an experience of a lifetime. I’m ecstatic that I found a little mom and pop hole in the wall restaurant to enjoy.
