Indian Pakwaan — Restaurant in Leeds

A bit of a Hidden Gem for food, this Indian Restaurant in Leeds is based on Merrion Street, (above The Social bar). Est. in 2022, Indian Pakwaan serves authentic and delicious Indian Food and Street Food

Although the décor is slightly dated and slightly unusual to say the least (back wall is like a comic strip of what seem to be world dictators??, this may put people off), the food here is great, and the cocktails & mocktails also superb.

We really enjoyed;

Poppadoms & Pickle Tray – the only way to start in our opinion Pani Puri – these delightful mouthfuls are becoming a new fave of mine, a bit of fun and a must try. Lamb Chops – delicately spiced, these were delicious and melting Lamb Rogan Josh – Ben loves a good lamb curry and this was top notch. Paneer Makhani (Butter Paneer) – I always want a Paneer curry when it features on a menu, and at Indian Pakwaan there is a large selection of Paneer dishes. I asked for it to be made spicy. The chef cooked this with fresh green chillies, and the slap of spice was just right for me! Cheese Chilli Naan – now this was one of the best parts of the meal. Oh my god it was SO GOOD! Melty cheese in a fluffy, freshly made naan with fresh green chillies. I want this with every curry now. Rose Lassi – we were too full for dessert, but I couldn’t not try this sweet, pink, thick yogurty goodness to finish it all off. I also tried two mocktails, and both were fabulous; Mango Sunrise; Mango juice, coconut water, ginger, mint & rose syrup – this was lovely and refreshing. Mirchi Mumtaz (Spiced Lady); Green chilli, black salt, orange juice, lime juice, and rose syrup – I was warned it was spicy and it was! But it was intriguing… unusual but not horrible, I slurped it all up.

Mocktails are 2 for £8 and the selection of cocktails is 2 for £12.

I can’t comment too much on the service as we were invited, but we were looked after. The restaurant is fairly big and I was surprised how quiet it was. We enjoyed great, inexpensive food here, so one to tick off if you like trying Indian Restaurants.

💷 Spend: Approx £30pp full meal & drinks ⏰ Open Hours: Daily from lunch until late 🚗 Parking info: close to multi-stories 📦🚚 Takeaway/Delivery: Just...

Wow!! Amazing food and service, great value too. Highly recommended and some fantastic unusual traditional dishes.

We took the restaurant a little by surprise on Friday evening, arriving with a party of 11 having only booked online half an hour earlier, but they were quick to adapt, sorted a table and we were seated within just a few minutes.

They explained that they were operating their festive menu, and not the regular menu, and appologised that due to the short notice booking they hadn't had an opportunity to call and let us know in advance. We were under no pressure to stay if we didn't want the special menu.

However, a quick look at the festive menu was enough to realise that there was plenty of choice and it was great value so we wasted no time ordering drinks from the well stocked bar while enjoying the poppadoms and pickles.

Presentation of all food was amazing, and it tasted every bit as good as it looked, with generous portions. Meats were so tender, with the lamb rojan josh and the special railway chicken (on the bone, and not as hot as the madras) being my favourites.

I don't generally have desserts, and did consider asking for the option to skip it and pay a bit less, but actually as simple as it sounds the brownie and ice cream were also amazing.

This is one of the very best meals I've had this year. Will definitely be returning in the new year to sample the standard menu.

Excellent friendly service, hats off to the kitchen too. They catered for our fair size group, effectively as a walk in, without hesitation or fault. Great job!

Worth noting there is a nice, quite private, area to the side of the main restaurant floor ideal for group bookings. It was already reserved by quite a large group, but we were easily accommodated, and there was another lovely table for 8 at the other side of...

We visited Indian Pakawan in Leeds on 21/09/24, having pre-booked a table for 19:00. We arrived a little early and were seated promptly. The start of the evening seemed promising—drinks were served reasonably quickly, and the popadoms with the pickle tray arrived shortly after.

However, things quickly went downhill from there. We were ready to order, but it proved almost impossible to get a waiter's attention. The staff seemed focused on seating other guests, and despite multiple attempts to signal them, we were ignored. I eventually approached a waiter to ask if we could place our order, and he assured me that a colleague would be over shortly. Ten minutes later, we were still waiting.

After more time passed, I went up again, and the waiter finally took our order along with another round of drinks. We thought this would be the end of the issue, but unfortunately, we were wrong. As time passed, it became clear that the service problems were affecting other tables too—guests were left waiting for drinks, menus, and attention. Some diners even decided to leave out of frustration.

After waiting a significant amount of time, the waiter brought out warm plates, which we hoped meant the food was on its way. Ten minutes later, only our drinks arrived, despite the fact we'd ordered them with the food. When I asked about the food again, the waiter simply disappeared. After another five minutes of waiting, we gave up and left.

The lack of communication was appalling. If they were experiencing issues in the kitchen, it would have been helpful to let us know. Instead, we were left waiting without any explanation or update. This was easily one of the most frustrating dining experiences I've had. I won't be returning and can't recommend...