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Eat Ghareeb Nawaz

Posted on November 3, 2022   |   Updated on September 30, 2025
Carrie Shepherd

Carrie Shepherd

Storefront of Ghareeb Nawaz. Images of the restaurants dishes are on the store's windows

Ghareeb Nawaz in Lincoln Park. (Carrie Shepherd / City Cast Chicago)

This Indian-Pakistani restaurant has long been on our bucket list.

Founded by Mohammed Bashir in Rogers Park in ‘93, the original Ghareeb Nawaz and its three other locations are run by son Mohammed Bozai today.

The Lincoln Park spot opened last month, and has been met with a lot of fanfare, a server told City Cast Chicago’s Carrie Shepherd during a busy lunch Wednesday. (About 20 people came in for dine-in and takeout over 30 minutes.)

That can be attributed in part to the Twitter account started by a diner a few years ago, who continues to promote the restaurant with a certain internet humor, she said.

Another reason the restaurant is so popular? Big portions (like enough for lunch and dinner) and affordable prices.

Ghareeb Nawaz is named after a Sunni Islam saint who gave food to unhoused and poor people, and keeping the food affordable is important to Bozai, he told the Tribune. Most dishes are between $6 to $11.

Looking for what to order? Carrie recommends:

For the vegetarians: a chana bowl (~$6) or palak paneer (~$6)

For the meat eaters: boneless chicken biryani (~$10) 

*This is what she hears — she doesn’t eat chicken.

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