We ordered some and then hung around the front counter and watched the cooks in the kitchen throwing the big piece of dough in the air like a good pizza crust. Then they slid the dough into the hot steel oven. A few minutes later, they brought the giant flatbread to our table – it was too hot to touch.
“This is the second best bread in Houston,” Francis said as we tore into the crispy-crusted, puffy loaf. (The best, he claimed, is the Afghani nan at Himalaya restaurant on Hillcroft.) The nan resembled a folded over pizza without any toppings. We used pieces of it to mop up some spicy chicken korma.
Kings Chicken is a funky, run-down fried chicken outlet that has been converted into a makeshift Indo-Pakistani restaurant. You can still get fried chicken – with nan bread of course – or you can get a nice plate of curry. We tried the chicken korma for $4.99 and a plate of goat korma for $6.99, and both were excellent. Two pieces of fried chicken are $2.49.
The food is excellent and inexpensive, the service dysfunctional. You might as well order in Spanish, because nobody speaks English – the kitchen crew is a mix of Afghanis and Salvadorans. The Spanish-speaking cleaning crew seems to be on a perpetual break – hence the tabletops are always a tad sticky.
If you are feeling adventurous early in the morning, try one of the wild breakfast combinations. There’s also a fairly normal-sounding egg and paratha bread breakfast for $5.99, and little puffy puri breads are two for a dollar. – Robb Walsh
Kings Chicken, 11300 Beechnut, 281-498-2900
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