Pakwan: Restaurants in the Mission

Pakwan

3180 16th Street (@ Guerrero)

Tel: 415.255.2440

OR: 501 0'Farrell Street (@ Jones), 415.776.0160

OR: 26617 Mission Boulevard, Hayward, 510.538.2410

Pakwan is as stripped-down a restaurant can be without sitting their customers on the floor, which may present a problem for the few who refuse to set their own tables and pick up their own food from the counter - that¹s right, there¹s no waiters and barely any bus boys.

This no-frills Pakistani-Indian restaurant doesn¹t even have a liquor license, though the staff seems to have no problems with BYOB. What it does have, however, is delicious and cheap ($5-6 an entree) Indian food that is among the best in the city, featuring traditional lamb and chicken dishes like curry, tandoori and tikka masala. Specialties are rare, but although the menu might be fairly standard for an Indian restaurant, the flavor, whether mild or (by request) blazingly hot, is not.

For Indian food, it doesn't get much better than Pakwan, and dollar for dollar, it doesn¹t get much better in the city. Just don¹t expect a waiter to bring you more water.

Josh Drimmer

Reproduction of material from posthoc is prohibited without written permission.