Reviews 786 Halal

Délicieuse nourriture vraiment peu dispendieuse. Ce restaurant est excellent pour les végétariens et pourquoi pas, même les carnivores (en effet, le copain a adoré)! Vous pouvez commander le riz biryani, le plat d'épinards et le plat de pois chiches, les yeux fermés! J'y retourne c'est sûr!

Absolutely the best tasting Indian restaurant in Montreal.
I am of Indian descent, this is the real deal
Even beats many restaurants in India.

Not the place to go out on a date decor/ambiance is ordinary so either you go out for the pure culinary experience or do a take out for home which is what I usually do.

As far as authenticity nothing more can be said better than my mother's cooking

The hidden jewel of Indian cuisine

This is the best biriyani I had in Canada. It's just too good. Authentic , portions are good and the price is reasonable. I would go there again and again for sure!

Great service, delicious food. Tried 786 Halal on the weekend and it was really, really good. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. We tried the small fish, bbq half chicken, butter lamb and veal shahi karahi. All were excellent. Can't say enough about the service - extremely friendly. Can't wait to try it again. And they deliver to the Mile-End area. Bonus!

Delicious. I like it ...that was my favourite place to eat during Montreal visit.

786 ==> In the name of Allah. 786 Halal is a Pakistanese restaurant that is open to the general public. Halal means this is a restaurant that is respectful of the Islamic code of conduct with food and beverages (there is no alcohol or any other intoxicants). To the Muslims of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, 786 has a symbolic value because the opening phrase of the koran have the numerical value of 786. 786 is used as a substitute for Bismillah "In the name of Allah" or "In the name of God".
The restaurant has a strong religious, non-commercial feel. The restaurant is closed during the afternoon prayers between 14h and 14:h30. It does not show externally because the owners have kept a lot of the decorations of the Greek restaurant that preceded them. Nevertheless, you can feel this special headspace and presence, among the people and a few details about the place like the trunk for donations to the mosque besides the cash register and the small division that separate the front tables besides the window from the rest of the restaurant. These tables near the window are kept for guests with families (man, woman, children).
There are four items on the menu that standout as unique and well worth the trouble of getting there.
The food offerings that are cooked marinated Lahori style. Lahori is the Pakistanese variation of BBQ with a meat & fish that are marinated in a masala mixture of different spices. The big fish, (a tilapia) is among my favorite preparations for fish in Montreal, also one of the least expensive at $ 15 a piece.
The chicken tikka masala is also unique, I believe. Tikka means the meat is marinated and cooked in oven; masala means there are different spices in the sauce. Usually in Indian restaurants that abides a similarity with this pakistanese restaurant you have Tikka dishes and masala dishes separated but two recipes are never found together. This is what is surprising with this offering: both preparations are brought together in the same dish. Some people may find this overwhelming in flavors but we find it extraordinary!
Pakistanese on average will eat more meat than the average Indian People. It is not surprising this restaurant put more emphasis on meat rather than the vegetables. The menu have some interesting vegetables to offer. Saag, means Mustard leaves and are offered in two variations. My favorite is Sarsoon ka Saag .
On the week end, the chef prepares special dishes. NIHARI is prepared on Saturdays. NIHARI is made from the shank of beef or lamb and is tipically cooked for many, many hours. How many ? Wikipedia explains there are 6-8 hours of cooking. The gentleman who served us at Halal786, explained the chef slowly cooks the meat for about 24 hours, maybe I did not hear well, except, I would not be surprised if this was truth!.
How could we tell? Because of this texture where all the fibers of the meat are separated one from another with a granular dry-ish texture hard to explain, but kept moist at the same time because of the addition of vegetable at the end of the cooking. Again, very special and unique and perhaps, with images of my imagination, one of the oldest recipe in parts of the world where meat is scarce, expensive, precious with little ways to keep the meat edible without spoils.
The NIHARI tasted here at this restaurant is one of the strongest food experience I had in the last 15 or 20 years.