Os's Kitchen is a Pakistani restaurant on Beachville Road in Redcliffs, Christchurch, holding a perfect 5.0 rating from nine Google reviews; customers single out the biryani, the generous servings and the careful spicing, describing food to enjoy at home.
Pakistani cooking stands apart from the bland, homogenous 'Indian' food common on New Zealand menus, favouring home-style regional dishes, freshly ground spices and slow cooking over a standard run of kormas and butter chicken. Biryani is the dish to judge such a kitchen by — rice and marinated meat steamed together in layers so the grains stay separate and the chicken stays moist. Servings in this style of cooking run generous, built for sharing or a second meal the next day. If chilli heat concerns you, ask when ordering; a good cook will temper it without flattening the flavour.
In seaside Redcliffs, Os's Kitchen puts that kind of home-style Pakistani cooking within easy reach of Christchurch's eastern bays.