Good to Go: Gourmet Halal Meat Market in Chantilly

Warm and spicy curries can ward off a winter's chill, and that is particularly the case with the ones made at Gourmet Halal Meat Market in Chantilly.

Housed in the Sully Place strip mall, the two-year-old shop has aisles of Pakistani and Indian spices, Lebanese and Somali coffees and Afghan dried fruits; a freezer filled with goodies from gyros to samosas to shredded filo dough (perfect for Middle Eastern sweets); and assorted Mediterranean cheeses, such as Turkish beyaz peynir. At the back, the butcher shop offers meats (such as beef, goat and lamb) and poultry cut and prepared to meet Islamic standards of halal.

But the real lure is the promise of delightful dishes served from the cashier's counter, where owners Mohammad and Tauqir Meerzaman have posted a photograph-based menu overhead.

"I would have liked to call this place the House of Karahi," says Mohammad, an Afghan immigrant, referring to No. 11, the most popular dish on the menu. It is a generous feast of bone-in chicken stewed in a tomato curry spiced with ginger, garlic, cumin, paprika, and green and black cardamom, topped with a julienne of ginger and fresh cilantro and served with two piping-hot nans. At $13.99, it can easily feed two ravenous people or four moderately hungry ones.

Served in a small metal wok, or karahi, the curry is Tauqir's creation. It is reminiscent of homemade foods in Pakistan, where she is from. "I make everything fresh and to order," she says. "He cuts up the chicken in the back, and I cook it."

Another enticing dish is No. 2: succulent bone-in chicken kebabs ($6.99), grilled in a tandoor oven and served on a bed of basmati rice with a side of gently spiced chickpea curry that is simmered for hours with red chili, cumin and paprika. The dish is served with a small green salad and hot nan.

The kebabs can take up to 15 minutes to cook. If you are in a rush, the store also offers an all-you-can-eat buffet ($7.99) that features meat curries, vegetables, rice and chickpeas.

Mohammad Meerzaman is happy to explain the photographic menu to his customers; printed menus, he says, will be available in a few weeks. Language is not a barrier, as he speaks German, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, English and, he adds shyly, even a little Russian.

-- Monica Bhide

Gourmet Halal Meat Market & Restaurant, 13898 Metrotech Dr., Chantilly; 703-815-7285, http://www.bestkabobs.com. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, buffet 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

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