Food Trail Pakistan: Karachi

So you know how you aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover? When it comes to restaurants, that saying often stands in abeyance. After all, in a restaurant market where the premium segment, despite being under served, has plenty of viable options that vie for the diner’s affections, you have to really put together a compelling proposition to stand out, and entice customers through your door. Into this very same premium segment, strides an intriguing new entrant, An Argentinian Grill by the name of El Rancho. Meaning “The Ranch” in Spanish, the name evokes images of gauchos striding about the pampas, with copious amounts of high-quality beef on the menu. The restaurant also has a first-mover advantage, opening its doors ahead of other competitors in the ‘South American Grill’ segment – restaurants in Karachi tend to be like London buses, opening in waves; as the ‘Pan Asian’ wave appears to have crested, the newest cluster appears to be South America. So, a unique customer...

I must confess, I am one of those people who feels that the winter is the best time of the year for ice cream. As a result, to me it makes perfect sense for someone to be opening a gelateria in December. After all, how cold does it ever actually get in Karachi? As it turned out, the soft opening of this place coincided almost perfectly with a cool snap in the city of Trumpian climate change tweet proportions. Which worked perfectly for me. Amiamo (Italian for 'we love') Gelato is situated on Lane 1, Bukhari Commercial. In the best tradition of Karachi directions, it is the same galli as Neeco's and Bina Khan, a couple of doors before Dialogue. I wanted to say it's 'tucked away', but it isn't really - the way DHA's commercial areas are structured, everything feels tucked away, this is actually one one of the larger lanes and not at all difficult to find.  It's a small space (think the original Zamzama outlet of Espresso) - most of the space ...

Normally, when you (grudgingly, and with the right level of embarrassment) admit that you like your coffee black, with no sugar, in a nation of tea drinkers (preferably with enough milk to turn the complexion of the drink into a shade that would be acceptable to rishta aunties when screening prospecting spouses, and just as sweet), you are met with a response that would not feel out of place in that scene from a 70’s Nadeem / Shabnam blockbuster where the “side heroine” learns that her spouse has tragically died in a car accident, and proceeds to smash her bangles at the nearest doorway. This disbelief / anguish is rapidly followed up with revulsion: it’s so bitter! How can you countenance pouring this poison down your throat? Plus, don’t you know coffee is bad for you? As a result, it takes a special kind of resilience (read: dhitai ) to be an avowed coffee drinker in these parts. It also takes skin of elephantine thickness to be able to smile through a conversation where o...