Baking Virsa — Restaurant in Shalimar Tehsil

BAKING VIRSA is a classic case of average food married to irrational hype. The establishment has acquired a mythical status among food lovers courtesy social media and word of mouth. That the owner is a reticent guy who refuses to indulge in casual conversation with the customers. That you have to wear deference and quiet while you are seated and not object to anything. That he only fetes you if prior booking is made through a credible reference. I must say I was in awe of the man when I stepped in. The shabby, cramped seating space did nothing to dampen my excitement. In fact it only heightened my curiosity as I looked forward to some gastronomic magic.

It was a crash through and through. Painfully expensive without the taste, presentation and ambience to back up the eye watering prices. It's a three course thing including a rack of 3 mutton chops, one mutton kebab and one chicken quarter, all baked in the makeshift oven (tanoor). Chops came first and with a generous sprinkle of a concoction of spices that only served to hide the meat taste and tasted like chaat masala. I did my best to remove the masala from the chops and my fellow companions happily followed suit. We requested the owner to serve the remaining items without the masala. Kebab and Tikka were equally plain. Satisfactory but nothing that would make you jump. And the owner responded courteously when engaged.

Average food married to hype was my first impression and that lingered till the end. We paid around Rs. 13,000 for 4 people for the meat that had ordinary writ large on it and that certainly did not come from animals fed on wine and milk. Baking Virsa is not a case of disappointment vs high expectations. It is simply very ordinary food that has had people mystified due to its weird pricing. Did I mention the distance and traffic you have to wrestle with to reach interior Lahore? Foodies....Go for the experience or if you wish to waste some money...

Baking Virsa is one of the famous food point of Gawalmandi Lahore. They specialist in making Naan, Kebabs, Mutton Chops & ribs and many more. Although it is located in the interior Lahore but people from all around the Lahore come here to have good food. The owner has got degree from UK but returned to hold this business. The speciality and consistency in the taste of their all dishes is just because they still making everything by their own and do not involve the labour in their recepi. You have to make booking one day before coming to this place so that your order will be ready on the given time. Apart from all the qualities I have reservations that they should upgrade the seating arrangement, enhance cooking range, make a branch in good area or expand the existing system so that they can expand there business to other level. I strongly recommend everyone who is on the visit to Lahore must visit them and taste their food which is unforgettable. But plz keep in mind that u have to make booking...

Went there because of the hype. Total waste of time and money. No hygiene. The owner just puts lots of masala on everything. Food taste 2/10. There are hundreds of places with great quality and tasty food in lahore in a fraction of a price of this place. Ruined our taste buds. Just at the start owner becasue of his greed and to attend more customers asked us to eat bug chunks of meat and finish quickly. Then after repeatedly asking about water or drink, he said that he will serve at the end. It was really shoking that he even charged Rs.100 for the aluminium foil (total 23'800 pkr for 5 persons) he used in packing the food that we could'nt eat because it was tasteless. Please save your time and money and dont fall because of the media hype. This guy is a total fraud. He even first before that the meat he uses is from the goats he raises and gives them milk and almonds as a feed and afterwards he said he bought it yesterday from Multan. Just please stay away from this...