BK Jani - Love of Pakistan, Brooklyn, and Food

"Brooklyn is for lovers" that's the motto of Brooklynites. So it is only right that the new halal spot that I discovered is called BK Jani. Opened by a Pakistani, Sibte Hassan, straight out of the beautiful city of Lahore, this new restaurant combines the best of the Pakistani Love of food with the Brooklyn Love of all cultures. If you havent guessed it yet, Jani is a word for lover in the native language of Pakistan. 

Located in Bushwick, you can easily miss this place due to a small storefront among a very busy block of restaurants and grocery stores. There is definitely a very inviting look to the storefront, which features welcoming writing in the window and attracts attention to the murals on both sides of the restaurant walls. 

As you enter the space, the restaurant is setup very much like your last prospect park bbq outing. There are benches lined up against the wall, ready for you to sit down and enjoy some grilled veggies and burgers. The mural against the left wall is extremely intricate and drawn by a very talented local artist as stated by Sibte. There is another mural on the right wall that features two faces. The painting on the wall closer to the cashier was also very intricate and reminded me of Arabic calligraphy.

On my first visit, I looked over the menu and decided to go with the recommendation from a food article I had read about the restaurant and ordered the BK Jani Burger. I also noticed that they were advertising wings as their special for the day so I asked about how many were in an order. To my surprise, Sibte said that they are meant to be ordered by the wing, not by an order of x amount. So I just asked for one wing and the woman sitting by the cashier told me "good choice." It wouldn't be until weeks later looking back at the pictures that I realized she was the chef, Tara Boyle. Sibte asked me how spicy I wanted my burger and I told him to make it real spicy since I can handle it.

BK Jani Burger

I settled into one of the benches and waited for my food to arrive. I could hear the sizzle of the grill and the aroma of the seasoned meat cooking on it. This only made my appetite grow even bigger. After sometime, the burger was brought out to the bench for me. I had not idea that the burger came with these smashed potatoes. So after the burger plate was placed infront of me I decided to go up and ask for a fork to eat the potatoes with, thinking that they had just forgotten to give it to me. On my first request, the server refused to give me a fork, which I was quite taken aback by. And then Sibte explained to me that the restaurant was a utensil free environment, he wanted his customers to enjoy the food with their hands, just like we do in Pakistan. I smiled at him and went back to my bench, anticipating the food to be even better due to how authentic and traditional he was trying to keep the whole experience.

BK Jani Wing

Well as you guessed it, the food did not disappoint. The smashed potatoes were topped off with sprinkling of red peppers that gave them the kick they deserved. The burger was seasoned to perfection where every mouth watering bite was filled with the right amount of flavor with the juicy meat prepared just the way it was requested. As I enjoyed every delicious bite of the burger, the wing that I had unknowingly ordered was brought out. What was presented was definitely not what I had expected. Instead of the usual deep fried and possibly refried breaded tiny wings, this was a large size wing that was grilled to a juicy tender state and then served up with choices of two sauces, one yogurt based and the other was mint chutney. Even though I did not think I could eat the wing after the delicious burger, the aroma and taste of the wing just drew me in and soon enough I had cleaned the meat of the wing and the sauce off the plate with it.

With all that delicious and mouth watering food, I clearly let Sibte know that I was a happy customer and a loyal one as well. I promised him, and myself, that I would return to try the other items on the menu soon and I always keep my promises, especially ones involving food and more importantly meat.

On my second visit, I brought along a close friend of mine who enjoys a good meal but always leaves restaurant choices upto me since he doesn't really keep up with the new openings around town. Him and I are really close friends and someone I definitely thought would enjoy the amazing food at BK Jani.

Lamb Chops

After going through the menu, I recommended that he order the burger while I ordered the lamb chops and we decided to split an order of the Seekh Kababs. After chatting a moment with Sibte, we took our seats and my friend could not stop admiring the art and decor of the restaurant and I knew I had won over his approval for this place. As expected, the food took sometime to be prepared since it was coming fresh off the grill so we waited and caught up on what was going on in our lives. As the aroma of the grilled meat filled the air, our appetites increased with it.

Seekh Kababs

Soon our order was brought out to our table. Firs the burger, then the grilled kababs and finally the coup d'etat, the lamb chops. As soon as everything was settled down on the table, we dug in with both our hands, and yes I mean literally our hands since this is a utensil free restaurant. The burger was described by my friend as juicy and delicious as I had thought to myself when I had it the first time. The Seekh Kababs were equally well marinated and seasoned then grilled to perfection so they arent too dry nor too juicy. The lamb chops had been grilled to just the right state, medium rare, where the meat had to be pulled off the bones with just a little bit of tug but then it came right off and the seasoning was just the right amount of spices with a bit of kick to keep us wanting more

Bite after bite, we looked at each other and all we could exchange was look of approval, a grunt of satisfaction, and a nod of the head at how good the food was before returning to our plates for the next bite. I am not much of a veggies guy but the veggies served up with these entrees tasted so good that we finished off those as well. Once we were finished and finally able to speak, both of us agreed that every dish was seasoned just right, grilled just as it should have been, and every last bite had the same amazing taste as the first.

Once again, my friend and I left with full bellies and satisfied appetite to go along with it. I would highly recommend this place to everyone that is reading this. The restaurant is located at 276 Knickerboker Ave in Brooklyn, GO CHECK IT OUT!!!!!

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