hen the drama in your own life becomes too overwhelming and the intelligent voice in your head goes silent, and you start getting down on yourself for all the unnecessary ridiculousness you allow into your space, try this hack, and trust that it works: open up your local food review group on Facebook and discover grown adults battling royale over food.

That’s it. That’s all it takes to remind you of the strong, resourceful person you are. Sure, you tend to procrastinate and never saved 10% of your paycheck a month in your life, but you’re not quite fighting over kebabs just yet. Please note the ‘just yet’. None of us is above feuding with complete strangers online over personal taste.

That said, sometimes a restaurant on the food group will get so much hate for no reason. The latest restaurant to pull apart an online food community in Karachi is Dehliwala Kabab House, and to give it all away, the drama is just as delicious as the kebabs themselves.

If you like your Pakistani barbeque and other heavy-on-the-ghee dishes, this is a must-visit. If you’re eating Pakistani, you may as well go all out and eat the most fried and decadent version of everything. That’s why you’re not at home trying to cook bihari boti. You’re out, seeking the spiciest, greasiest version of the boti. You’re looking for the flakiest paratha to eat it with. Yours is a noble quest. We see you. Now, if you’re in Karachi, or visiting, add Dehliwala Kabab House to your list of restaurants to try. You won’t be disappointed.

Dehliwala Kabab House is bustling for sure, and for good reason: their food actually - and it feels like almost a sin to say this - outshines BBQ Tonite’s. It’s a smallish space in Badar Commercial, and can maybe accommodate maybe up to 30 people at the same time if no one minds being in such close quarters. Luckily, their staff is very polite, and if you have to wait to be seated, which would inevitably be on the curb outside the restaurant, they will try and provide enough chairs for the entire party to sit down.

Once inside, service is quick, if a little flustered. Again, you can’t really blame a new restaurant for having a few teething problems, especially while being absolutely inundated with customers.

The food, when it arrives, makes up for everything and anything else. The beef kabab fry is buttery and spicy and completely satisfying. For reference, Daily Dubai’s kabab fry is decent in comparison but cannot measure up, and Sirf Meeruth’s comes close.

The Chicken reshmi kebab are okay, and generally the same-ish everywhere. The gola kabab were the other massive winner in my opinion, on this particular meal out, while the Labnani boti was juicy and flavorful. We also ordered a plate of nihari which was also quite good, as far as decent niharis go.

To sum up: Dehliwala Kabab House is several thumbs up if you like desi food, like it super buttery, well-spiced but not spicy, and don’t mind walking in, eating, and jetting out, because why else are you at a tiny shop with a kitchen in a commercial area, except to eat the very very incredible food they’re offering? Definitely don’t go if you also want to linger and have a conversation with your friends and family, but definitely do go with an almost empty stomach.