Zam Zam

The Best-Value Restaurants in West London Are Cheap, Not Cheap Eats | Eater London

"Only the Creator truly knows where London’s best biryani lies, a vibrating golden degh on a stove somewhere waiting to be opened up. Most likely, it’s at someone’s mum’s house. But the best value is at Zam Zam, in Cranford where the planes come in so low it’s possible to see passenger’s faces. Zam Zam is almost entirely unknown east of Hounslow but for the south Asian communities around Heathrow it is a legend: a small shop opposite a Hilton hotel staffed almost entirely by Pakistani women honing a chicken biriyani. The response from locals is queues out the door and improbable sequel shops dotted around: Holy Zam Zam 2, Zam Zam 3 Gift of God, Zam Zam 4: Karachi Drift. The biryani costs £3.50, £5 with curry, and is everything a biryani should be: simply a Goldilocks perfect bowl of rice, not too dry and not too wet, steaming hot from the degh, layered, subtly spiced with a building burn that can be cooled with raitha. It’s too far for most people to make the trip out, but it’s possible to sleep easier just knowing it exists." - Jonathan Nunn