Nishaan
Halal restaurant · East Village ·
Pakistani-American street food: chopped cheese, tacos, elotes chaat
Pakistani-American street food: chopped cheese, tacos, elotes chaat
"A former food truck that’s now a Pakistani restaurant the size of a parking space in the East Village, Nishaan specializes in infusing fast food/street food classics with South Asian flavors. That approach works especially well in a chopped cheese that swaps sazón for the spices typically used in a chapli kabab: cumin, coriander, and chile just to name a few, and swaps ketchup and mayo for lime-cilantro sauce and tamarind chutney. That chopped cheese is the big-ticket dish here, though we like some of their other takes on fast food too, like disco fries topped with elotes and bhel puri, and dusted with chaat masala. It's cramped inside, so take your order to go—and grab a Rooh Afza, the iconic rose-flavored drink, while you're at it." - Bryan Kim, Molly Fitzpatrick, Willa Moore, Will Hartman, Sonal Shah
"Glorious Pakistani chopped cheeses arrive in New York courtesy of this spot, where owner Zeeshan Bakhrani builds a halal menu from his upbringing — the sandwich is made of a patty-shaped kebab and a chopped cheese, taking chapli kebab spices like adobo and cinnamon, cooking the meat on a griddle, mixing in pepper jack and American cheese, and dropping it all in a hoagie." - Nadia Chaudhury
"At almost any deli or bodega, a chopped cheese is a gooey, delicious mixture of ground beef, american cheese, mustard, and ketchup, all heavily seasoned with adobo or sazón. At Nishaan, a former food truck that is now a Pakistani restaurant the size of a parking space in the East Village, it’s the cumin and coriander spices of a chapli kabab that infuse the well-seared halal ground beef. Plus, the lime-cilantro sauce and sweet tamarind chutney are way more exciting than the usual condiments. photo credit: Will Hartman photo credit: Will Hartman photo credit: Will Hartman Pause Unmute That chopped cheese is the big-ticket dish here, though we liked some of their other takes on fast food too, like disco fries topped with bhel puri and dusted with chaat masala. You might encounter a bit of a wait to order, but once you do, get your sandwich to go and take it to Tompkins Square Park—the seating inside the shop is pretty cramped." - Will Hartman
"As new-wave chopped cheese variants emerge, the latest is a Pakistani take at Nishaan, coming later this year to the East Village." - Melissa McCart
"A new East Village counter-service restaurant at 160 First Avenue (between Ninth and 10th Streets) is slated to open sometime this summer; owner Zeeshan Bakhrani frames the concept as born from his background and a desire to meld cultures: "Looking at the dishes I enjoyed growing up as a Pakistani kid and an American kid," and figuring out how to "combine them in a way that honors both dishes and it’s not just two dishes slapped together," he says. The menu’s centerpiece is a South Asian take on the chopped cheese: Bakhrani didn’t just want to take a chapli kebab and place it into a burger bun. He thought about the DNAs of the patty-shaped kebab and a chopped cheese, taking the chapli kebab spices like adobo and cinnamon, cooking the meat on a griddle, mixing in pepper jack and American cheese, and dropping it all in a hoagie (he considered swapping in a paratha, the flaky South Asian round bread, but decided it would be too much). There’s also a Buffalo chicken iteration with tandoori spices. He explains the philosophy simply: "I like combining cultures," and that "The invention of the dishes themselves is through some sort of limitations," using what is available. Other savory highlights include bihari barbacoa tacos — tender, smoky shredded beef cooked with bihari spices and topped with a tamarind salsa, resulting in a "smoky chipotle taco," he describes — and an elotes chaat that tops corn with tamarind chutney, chaat masala, a lime-cilantro sauce, bhel (crispy rice), and cotija ("the greatest thing I ever made," he says). The forthcoming spot will also offer loaded fries like the Noom Dhoom masala with an achari mayonnaise and a chopped-cheese iteration. For dessert he’s riffing on the viral Dubai chocolate paratha, a "funnel cake-ish" approach: deep-fry the paratha, add powdered sugar, pistachio sauce, hazelnut sauce, and kadayif (shredded crispy filo) — "nutty, chocolatey, flaky," he says, "We describe it as a flash croissant." Drinks include a gulab jamun cold foam — cardamom coffee topped with saffron cardamom rosewater cold foam and dehydrated gulab jamuns — and a strawberry rosa sago milkshake made with strawberry coconut rosa jellies mixed into strawberry ice cream. Bakhrani’s food history informs the project: he worked in finance product management, collaborated with halal mini-chain Namkeen on the garam masala hot chicken in 2023, ran pop-ups in Chicago and Dallas, and after being laid off in 2024 applied to and was accepted as a Smorgasburg vendor, launching a stall in late August 2024 whose signage proclaimed the stand the "home of the Pakistani chopped cheese." He recalls a passerby saying, "Oh, I don't know what Pakistani food is, but I've had a chopped cheese. I want to try that," and responding, "Yes, that's exactly what I wanted: food that is familiar but different." He also told Eater, "I know how to cook, I know how to sell food," and describes himself as "the kid of immigrants" who feels there is "nothing but work in my brain." The small, roughly 10–14-seat counter-service space will take design cues from the Wazir Khan mosque in Lahore, emphasizing floral geometric shapes, and it retains an inherited arch structure from the address’s predecessor, Sabor A Mexico Taqueria. The restaurant's name means "mark" in Urdu, reflecting his aim that the food leave an impression: he wants people to feel, "Hey this is going to be my comfort food spot, when I’m hungry; when I’m thirsty; when I want something that satisfies the soul; I come here and eat it." - Nadia Chaudhury
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