Pub Crawl, Karachi Style: Bukhari Commercial

Pub crawl: noun [ C ] UK informal: A visit to several pubs, one after the other, having a drink or drinks at each one

While a traditional pub crawl, requiring the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol while getting progressively more and more drunk, it not logistically possible in Karachi, there is a variant that I have been toying with for a while, and it goes a little something like this: Visit an area with a lot of eateries clustered closely together, and sample one dish from each outlet; this would result in the consumptions of copious amounts of food, while getting progressively more and more stuffed in the process. 

A few days ago, with the takeaway that we wanted to place our order with not being available, I decided to put my plan in action, and headed for the Chhota Bukhari street food hub, with the objective of covering a sample of the places open there. We arrived from the far side of the street (i.e. farthest from Saba Avenue) and, basically at random, picked from the places nearest to where we had parked. Given that we only needed enough food for 3 people, the amount of food that we could order had to be restricted, meaning another similar run (or two) might be needed to cover all of the options available in this strip.

How’d it go? Here is the lowdown:

Burridos: Chicken Burrito (Rs. 350)

I must confess to being a bit of a sucker for Mexican food, so the first choice in the list was a no-brainer for me. This is also the item that arrived the fastest, served with a little tub of dip (mayonnaise with a dollop of sriracha sauce, I guess – didn’t need to use it). The wrap was well constructed, held its shape well and visually called to how one would expect an offering from, say, a food truck in the Western Hemisphere. The description, too, was spot on, covering all the usual components of a good wrap. 

The flavours, though, I must confess, came up a little short. Firstly, the balance of ingredients didn’t quite work. The amount of chicken in the wrap, whilst generous, threw off the balance. As a result, the other elements, particularly the beans and the Pico de Gallo, didn’t really get an opportunity to shine. And the guacamole was entirely absent, so there was really nothing there to counterbalance the heat coming through from the rice. 

Ah yes, the rice. It was like the arranged marriage of a Mexican with a Pakistani, officiated by crushed red chilies. What I mean to say is, that stuff was spicy. Like, it will burn off the top layer of your tastebuds. Had there been a generous helping of guacamole in there, or had the beans and salsa played a more prominent role, perhaps it would have been better, but in its current form it was a case of missed opportunities. 

Verdict: Being the least bad of the available options in town is a dubious honour, but it will have to do for now. 

Afghanish: Afghani Beef Boti (Rs 500)

The Other Half is a huge fan of Afghani Boti, so this one was, again, a pretty easy selection to make. First impression was that the portion was quite generous, justifying the price tag comfortably. The dish was wrapped in aluminum foil, which kept it warm on the ride home, but was placed upside down in the carrier bag, resulting in the juices dripping into the bag – no mishap, luckily, and one of the occupational hazards of the takeaway endeavor. 

In terms of flavor, I was personally disappointed. Although the meat was very well cooked, and extremely tender, my expectation from Afghani Boti is for there to be no spices other than salt, and this one had an extremely generous dose of black pepper as part of the marinade. To my taste, the black pepper completely overwhelmed the dish, and took away massively from how well the meat had been cooked. 

Verdict: A miss, for me. Well cooked meat let down by the overly enthusiastic use of black pepper.

Things not looking good, so far…

Cloud Naan: Dum Qeema Naan (Rs 265)

A warm naan, stuffed with the smooth flavours of dum ka qeema, melting in your mouth with every bite. A pretty irresistible proposition, right? Once again, though, the execution left something to be desired. The naan itself was nice, not too elastic and robust enough for the filling to not spill out, but it was basically a conduit for the stuffing inside. 

Unfortunately the stuffing inside was a bit disappointing. Dum ka qeema is supposed to be tender to the point of creaminess, and with a base of subtle flavours punctuated with some punchy ginger action. In this offering, the qeema wasn’t tenderised enough, and the meat itself was a little overcooked. As a result, the naan was a bit dry, and needed the accompanying dip to keep things interesting. The spice balance was also off, with the meat being a little too salty, and the garam masala being the dominant flavor. 

Verdict: This isn’t turning into a fantastic food experience to tell stories to future generations about, is it?

Cloud Naan: Creamy Chicken Naan (Rs 345)

Full disclosure: I only ordered this because my preferred option, the steak and cheese naan, would have taken 30+ minutes. Asked for the server to recommend something in chicken that won’t be too spicy (as my sister has ulcers) and went with his call. The naan was, again, a perfectly good vessel for the stuffing, keeping its shape and with the right texture. The filling, this time of shredded chicken in some sort of masala and some cheese, was once again almost nice. There was good moisture to it this time, but the chicken tasted like it had been boiled and shredded separately from the spice mix. Not sure where the ‘creamy’ component was supposed to come from, but the thing wasn’t very creamy, and could have done with a bit more generosity on the cheese front. And once again a little aggressive on the salt.

Verdict: Almost Nice. Not so bad as to be an outright miss, but wouldn’t order again

Note: Cloud Naan seems to be on the cusp of cracking it. I will give them another shot, but this time go with their western topping combinations. Maybe the stuffed naan thing needs a bit of a remix, to make it work. 

Chhotu Chaiwalla: Chicken Cheese Paratha (Rs 230)

Finally, we come to the reason that this whole area is such a buzz about it. The roadside chai and paratha joints gave this area its popularity, so we decided, almost as an afterthought, to order a paratha for good measure. The establishment was selected, as before, by the simple fact that this was the first paratha place I spotted. Quick ordering process, and quick turnaround (from order to on your way in 5 mins flat). 

Finally, an offering worth writing about (not hat it stopped me for the preceding 1,100-odd words). Crispy paratha, big helping of cheese, strong flavours in the chicken, good balance of spiciness in the paratha and creaminess in the cheese, and balanced seasoning. By a big margin the dish of the day. Simple food, well executed. On the basis of this (and it was my first time ordering anything from any of these places), this joint deserves a repeat, and detailed, visit. 

Verdict: Doing the simple things well is deceptively difficult. And this was exactly that. 

Overall, I had fun doing this. Ok, so the food could have been a lot more mind-blowing, but it was fun to try a bunch of different things that all kind-of went together (as we stuck to a desi influence throughout, barring the burrito). Would I try this again? Absolutely. There’s still a bunch of places just in this street that I haven’t sampled, and the whole “casual dining clusters” thing is only expanding, so there’s a lot of room for future pub crawls. 

Now, all I need to do is convince a group of friends to do this kind of thing from one end of Burns Road to the other…