Lazeez Pakistani Indian Mediterranean Grill

FOOD

Food at Lazeez begins with Pakistani and North Indian cooking, then expands toward Mediterranean dishes on the broader menu. The buffet keeps that range selective rather than sprawling. A typical lunch is organized around several curries and hot entrées, basmati rice, fresh naan, fried appetizers, lentil soup, salad and condiments, then a small dessert finish. The exact tray lineup can rotate, but the recurring pattern is built from slow-cooked gravies, tandoor cooking and rice.

The hot line can put nihari beside chicken tikka masala, chili chicken and spinach-based saag. Nihari brings slow-cooked beef and a deep, spiced gravy meant for rice or bread. Tikka masala moves in a creamier direction, while chili chicken adds bell peppers, onions and a sharper heat. Saag brings the earthy weight of cooked greens, giving a plate a useful change from tomato-rich and meat-heavy dishes.

Chicken biryani gives the buffet a rice dish with enough seasoning and substance to stand on its own, while plain or lightly seasoned basmati is the better vehicle for curries. Tandoori chicken is drier and more roasted than the sauced dishes. Naan, fresh from the tandoor, is part of the buffet experience without being reduced to bread sitting under a heat lamp. Butter or garlic naan arrives fresh enough to be used as intended: torn, shared and dragged through the gravies left on the plate.

Samosas and pakoras make the opening end of the meal easy to build in small pieces. Vegetable samosas pair crisp pastry with potato and green-pea filling; pakoras use chickpea-flour batter around vegetables and spices. Lentil soup can precede the heavier curries, while the salad and condiment area adds greens, onions, tomatoes, chickpeas, sliced chiles, lemon and sauces. Those fresh, acidic and cooling elements become more useful as the plate gets richer.

The Mediterranean side of the restaurant is broader than what any one buffet lineup can show. The regular menu includes falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, shawarma and gyros alongside Pakistani and Indian dishes. Falafel can also surface in the buffet rotation. That crossover explains the restaurant’s long name: Lazeez folds familiar dips, wraps and grilled meats into the same halal kitchen rather than separating them into another concept.

Sunday brunch pulls the food more firmly toward Pakistani tradition. Halwa poori, cholay and nihari give the buffet a different shape from the weekday curry-and-rice lunch. Puffy fried poori belongs with chickpea curry and warm semolina halwa, while nihari provides the slow-cooked savory side of the spread. It is a meal built as much around bread and accompaniments as around trays of entrées.

Dessert stays concise. Kheer is the most natural finish: slow-cooked rice pudding enriched with milk and nuts, with versions at Lazeez finished with pistachio, almond and coconut. Suji halwa offers a warmer semolina sweet with gentle spice. By then the sequence of the meal is clear enough to remember dish by dish: a crisp samosa, nihari with rice, tandoori chicken, naan into tikka masala, then a spoonful of kheer before leaving the buffet behind.