Bite Of The Day: Pakistani Treats From Coney Island Avenue’s MashAllah
With the recent massive celebrations happening on Coney Island Avenue to celebrate Pakistan’s independence, we thought it would be a good time to check out a place we’d routinely passed by but had yet to go into – MashAllah Sweets & Restaurant.
And we’re gonna go ahead and give ourselves a pat on the back for this decision – though perhaps we get demerits for never going in before now. Located at 663 Coney Island Avenue (between Avenue C and Cortelyou Road), MashAllah is a veritable haven for Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshi food.
As soon as you enter, you’re faced with a series of difficult choices: chicken tikka or chicken tandori? Keema samosa or kachori? Samosa chat or vegetable pakora? Chicken curry or goat palao? As you debate, you can easily glimpse what could soon be on your plate – standing before you is a display case boasting a long line of curries, samosas, naan, and, of course, the sweets: row upon row of brightly colored fried dough that, when you take a look around the restaurant, everyone seems to be downing.
After staring at the expansive menu, our gazes no doubt giving off a deer-in-headlights vibe, we finally decided on the butter chicken, lamb and squash, mango lassi, and malai jamun – all of which cost a total of about $20.
And, even after feeling as though we had feasted and would never again be able to eat, we still had enough left over to put in the fridge for the next day’s lunch.
MashAllah, we’ll be coming back!
MashAllah is located at 663 Coney Island Avenue. It can be reached by calling (718) 287-0090 or (718) 287-0093.