Top Karahi dishes in Toronto

The house centrepiece: bone-in chicken in a dense, reduced tomato-ginger sauce with visible char from the open flame and a slick of clarified butter pooling on top

Bone-in chicken cooked to order in a blackened wok with tomatoes, ginger, and green chili — the sauce is thick, oily in the right way, and builds heat slowly

The defining dish — slow-cooked bone-in mutton in a thick, charred tomato-chili gravy with fresh ginger and a knob of butter finishing it off

The restaurant's namesake dish: bone-in chicken cooked down in a wok with tomatoes, ginger, green chilies, and whole spices until the oil separates and the sauce clings

Bone-in chicken cooked down in a cast-iron wok with tomatoes, green chillies, ginger, and a heavy hand of spice — the defining dish of any serious Lahori kitchen

Bone-in chicken cooked down in a wok with tomatoes, ginger, and green chilies until the sauce is thick and glossy — the restaurant's defining dish

A classic Karachi-style wok curry cooked down until the oil floats and the tomato-ginger masala is nearly dry — intensely aromatic and best scooped with fresh naan

The restaurant's namesake-adjacent signature: a thick, oil-slicked tomato and ginger reduction with bone-in chicken that picks up deep char notes from the wok-cooking technique

Wok-cooked in a thick tomato-chili gravy with whole spices and finished with ginger julienne — the dish the restaurant is named for

Tomato-forward, high-heat wok curry with separated oil on top — the benchmark by which Pakistani restaurants are judged, and Zauq does it right

Bone-in chicken cooked down in a tomato-onion base with charred green chilies and fresh ginger, served sizzling in the wok — the single best reason to visit

Bone-in chicken stir-fried in a karahi pan with tomatoes, green chillies, and ginger — oily in the best way, meant to be scooped with naan

Slow-cooked chicken or mutton in a cast-iron wok with whole spices, tomato, and ginger — sauce reduced until rich and glossy

Bone-in chicken cooked in a cast-iron karahi with tomatoes, green chilis, and ginger over high heat — bright, juicy, and the dish that defines the menu.

Tomato-forward, deeply reduced gravy finished with ginger julienne and green chili in a blazing iron pan

Rich, reduced tomato-and-ginger sauce cooked in a wok over live coal — the char on the edges is the whole point

Slow-cooked bone-in goat in a charred tomato-and-green-chili base, finished in the wok with whole spices — the essential Lahori dish and the one to judge any Pakistani kitchen by

Wok-cooked chicken in a tomatoey, ginger-forward gravy with visible whole spices — charred at the edges the way it should be

A thick, tomato-based curry cooked fast in a steel wok — more rustic and punchy than the milder restaurant-circuit version

Wok-cooked chicken in a tomato-and-ginger base with cracked black pepper and green chilies — the benchmark dish at any Pakistani restaurant worth visiting

Wok-finished chicken in a concentrated tomato-ginger base with cracked black pepper — the dish to benchmark any Pakistani kitchen against

Chicken or beef cooked in a wok-style tomato and ginger base with a bright, slightly charred finish typical of the Pakistani karahi tradition

Bone-in chicken or lamb cooked down in a wok with tomatoes, ginger, and green chillies until the sauce is thick and clinging — classic Pakistani technique, served bubbling in the iron pan.

Wok-fired chicken in a tangy tomato-based gravy with ginger and green chili — the benchmark dish of any Pakistani kitchen worth its salt

The house backbone — wok-cooked in a reduction of tomato, ginger, and whole spices with a glossy, ghee-enriched finish that coats the tender chicken pieces

The backbone of any Pakistani diner — wok-cooked in a high-heat karahi with tomato, ginger, and green chilli, best eaten fresh off the fire with naan

Bone-in lamb cooked down in a wok with tomatoes, ginger, and green chillies — the dry-ish, intensely spiced preparation favoured in Pakistani-influenced kitchens

Wok-cooked chicken in a tomato and ginger base with cracked black pepper and green chilli — meant to be scooped up with naan

A classic, robust curry cooked in a traditional wok with tomatoes and aromatic spices.

Stir-fried chicken cooked in a wok with tomatoes, green chilies, ginger, and whole spices — the sauce is thick, oily in the best way, and deeply savory

Bone-in lamb cooked in a wok-style preparation with tomatoes, green chili, and whole spices — bolder and less sweet than the butter chicken

A Pakistani-influenced clay-pot preparation of lamb slow-cooked in tomato, ginger, and green chili — rich and deeply savory with a slight char from high heat