Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen

It’s easy for an Indian or Pakistani restaurant to call itself “royal” or market itself as unique, but considerably harder to actually deliver an experience that looks and tastes elevated. Without resorting to white tablecloths or merely placing classic entrees on fancy new plates, Fullerton’s Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen actually succeeds in stepping beyond traditional boundaries by rethinking the experiential side of meals. This is a restaurant where many dishes stand on their own rather than requiring rice to tie everything together, but also a place where you can order a traditional Indian meal of naan, curry, and rasmalai without receiving plates that are deconstructed or abstract.

Part of Khan Saab’s appeal comes from taking Indian items – such as pani puri spheres filled with potato, onion, and chickpeas – and making them beautiful and surprising (as shown above) by placing the balls atop shot glasses, so you can fill the spheres with tamarind and mint water before popping them in your mouth. The pani puri was perhaps our least favorite course of the meal, yet striking enough that we haven’t forgotten the spheres many moons after they were served.

The menu also includes nods to southern India and neighboring countries, including Chennai’s chicken 65, Afghan seekh kabob, and Pakistani spiced, American-cut beef steaks, served rustically on cutting boards. In one particularly cute fusion plating, a “Sloppy Khan” arrives with the decidedly non-Indian ingredient wagyu beef served spiced and on a bun, radically upgrading the classic American sloppy joe.