Pakistani food trend US
A social post notes a new wave of Pakistani cuisine gaining traction in U.S. dining, surfacing as naanwiches, heritage supper clubs and reimagined desserts. (The post recorded about 958 views and 12 likes, signaling grassroots interest and growing exposure.) (x.com)
Pakistani food is turning up in more United States dining rooms as chefs and pop-ups move beyond kebab strips and into sandwiches, supper clubs and dessert counters. (newlinesmag.com) New Lines Magazine reported on April 9 that restaurants in New York City are serving Pakistani chopped cheese, “naanwich” sandwiches and gulab jamun doughnuts, while pop-ups are recasting halwa in pastries and ice cream. In the East Village, Nishaan opened a few blocks from Kolachi with a menu built around Pakistani-American street food. (newlinesmag.com; ny.eater.com) CNBC reported on April 10 that Nishaan founder Zeeshan Bakhrani, 34, opened the restaurant after a second layoff and said the business now brings in as much as $140,000 a month. His menu includes a Pakistani chopped cheese, Bihari barbacoa tacos and a buffalo tandoori chicken sandwich. (cnbc.com) The shift is also about naming. New Lines said younger chefs and cookbook authors are asserting Pakistani food as its own category after years of being folded into the broader “Indian” label in American dining. (newlinesmag.com) That push now reaches beyond restaurants. Penguin Random House says “Zareen’s Pakistani Kitchen,” published March 18, 2025, adapts 95 recipes from the Bay Area restaurant group Zareen’s for American home cooks, mixing family dishes with Karachi street food. (penguinrandomhouse.com; amazon.com) Some of the clearest examples are on menus that pair familiar American formats with Pakistani flavors. Kaafi in Harlem lists a $12 naanwich and a $6 gulab jamun doughnut, while Halwa NYC says it sells halwa stuffed cookies and folds halwa into croissants, pies and ice creams. (kaafiny.com; halwanyc.com; halwanyc.com) Supper clubs are part of the same expansion. New Lines said hosts are using homes and rented spaces to serve Pakistani food outside standard restaurant formats, and Dunya Digital pointed to New York chef Zainab Sadia Saeed’s Gathering Table as one example of diaspora dinners that include Pakistani dishes. (newlinesmag.com; dunyadigital.co) Older Pakistani strongholds still matter in this story. The American Pakistan Foundation’s New York guide from 2021 pointed diners to Lexington Avenue staples such as Haandi and Lahori Kabab, showing that the newer wave is building on an existing base rather than starting from zero. (americanpakistan.org) The result is a broader map of Pakistani food in the United States: late-night rolls in the East Village, chai and naanwiches in Harlem, burgers in Brooklyn and Karachi recipes in a 2025 cookbook. The common thread is that more of it is now being sold, labeled and recognized as Pakistani. (newlinesmag.com; penguinrandomhouse.com)
