Unless you live in the neighborhood, you probably wouldn’t notice that a new restaurant quietly opened up right next to the 7-11 on Geary (the standalone one, not the one with the gas station on Park Presidio). Chaska soft opened about 3 months ago in the Outer Richmond and the food has captivated the neighborhood it seems! I’ve been 3 times now and each time I’ve overheard from neighboring tables how psyched everybody is for a legit Indian/Pakistani restaurant in the area with really really solid food.
I excel at describing food and wine I don’t like but when it’s good good my vocabulary is limited to “good as shit”, “crushable” and “yummy” so forgive me for my lack of eloquence.
Service is very warm and very casual. You order at the counter and they’ll bring food to your table. There’s only 6 or 7 tables in the place. The inside decor looks like it used to be a Japanese restaurant.
I’m not going to pretend like I know Pakistani or northern Indian food very intimately but everything I’ve had here has been banging. Just like really tasty. I don’t frequent Indian restaurants and even more rarely repeat Indian restaurants but the food at Chaska is craveable and crushable.
The plain naan and tandoori roti are always piping hot and delightfully chewy. The tandoori chicken leg was tender and seasoned accompanied with a zesty chutney. Aloo Gobi was damn good. Aloo Mutter was also very yummy. Bengan Bartha was like baba ghanoush but spiced up the wazoo…I may try to recreate it at home. Bhindi Masala (okra) was balanced and the almost caramelized onions were hella good.
I don’t know if any of yous are from Socal and around for the ZamZam days but these biryanis put ZamZam to shame! I used to live around the block from Biryani Kabob House on 3rd St in Ktown circa 2015 when they had just opened and both the chicken and goat at Chaska are really really comparably good if not better. Perhaps even superlative in my lifetime biryani consumptions.
Pictured: goat biryani, bengan bartha, bhindi masala
