If your office is located near I I Chundrigar Road (or Zia-uddin Ahmed road for that matter)and you are meeting friends for lunch on a working day, then choosing a place which offers quality food at a reasonable price, yet has a cosy ambiance where one can catch up on gossip, yet get back to office on time, can be a quite tricky.

An eatery like Elbow Room does the make the task easy. It is a small café tucked away on the lane adjacent to Faysal Bank on I I Chundrigar Road and is easy to miss if you take the wrong turn. Replete with flower beds under the windows on the brick wall and Victorian-style street lights, it also offers valet parking and WiFi. Stepping inside, the décor and ambiance were a pleasant change from the hum and drum of the nearby fast food joints. The café offers continental and Pakistani food items on the menu which can be viewed here.

I’ve just recently seen this new Arabic restaurant spring up in Clifton, just beside the China Town Restaurant near Bilawal House. So last night a few friends and I decided to pay a visit to try it out, since there is a real dearth of good Arabic restaurants in the city.

To be honest, this addition isn’t much worth the hype either. For starters, walking in the room with one female companion whose first remark when we sit down is “i’m the only girl in here” doesn’t make for a good first impression. However, the menu’s looked appetizing, and they had a large list of sheesha flavors (exorbitantly priced, Rs. 250 for single flavor, and mixed flavor was Rs. 500!) So we skipped the sheesha and headed for the meals. I ordered the shwarma platter, which promised an addition of hummus and salad, I got a small serving with garnish and a spoonful of hummus.

The food was passable taste wise, despite the false advertising (the menu has a picture of chicken broast and fish, neither of those items are on the menu). That’s not all. I’ve seen poor service, on average, most restaurants in the clifton defense area have very poor service, save for the really classy places like Okra, but never have I seen a waiter so spaced out (or high on something is more like it) then here.

I could go on an complain about the fact that the music was skipping, and they simply let it skip rather than correct the problem, however I think that by now, you can get a sense of my disappointment.

Why do these new ventures invest so much money on making an ambiance and theme (that is obviously in demand in the city) and then spend nothing on training for local waiters?

Part ‘restaurant review’, part ‘oh my God, what happened!” - I drove into Barbque Tonight (Clifton) earlier this evening shocked to find lots of space for Parking, no tables set up outside and no sidewalks. Upon asking a few of the waiters, I was finally told that some influential mate had entered the premises a while back,
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I had forgotten that little place that has seen more seats in it’s seats than most other places around town. Old fashioned and almost historical, Ampi’s is perhaps best known to people of the generation older than ours, who used to swing by Metropole Hotel for that quick dance gig and hop over to Ampi’s for quality cuisine and cold coffee. Aah yes, Ampi’s is still around, alive and well, and adds to the superbly thrilling day I have had!
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Nawab is located on main Zamzama Blvd (again), right next to Deevan motors. You can’t miss it.

The resturant claims to serve authentic mughlai food, but there is no way to verify this claim as none of us was alive in Mughal era to testify the authenticity.

Nevertheless, I liked the place. Rather, I liked the food. Very rarely I prefer cuisine over BBQ, and that’s what I did at Nawab. Their Chicken Makhni was amazing. I was also tempted to try out Chicken Badami but we had already ordered two much stuff, including Daal Makhni, Chicken Boti and Beef Boti, and all of them were really good.

They also served mango and strawberry flavored lassi and masala milk, very different from carbonated drinks that we have at other places.

The only downside was the turnaround time. It took them 40 minutes to serve the 4 dishes we ordered.

Economically, they are no different than other places in Zamzama. Starters between 150 and 300 rupees, and main dishes above 400 rupees, add that to drinks and naans and parathas, you are easily looking at 700 rupees per head.

But that’s worth it if you want to eat something other than pizza and steaks and be satisfied in the end.

its all very well to talk about eateries on zamzama and boat basin and other “high-end” places, but when you’re stuck on a factory visit in site area with only one hour for a lunch break, it gets tricky. binoria is the only half way decent eat out place in the whole of site area unless you choose to include kfc (which i don’t, but then thats another story). paradoxically, its not a case of the one eyed man being king in the kingdom of the blind. the food at binoria is actually quite good, the ambience is typically “desi restaurant” but neat, clean and airconditioned and the service is on the higher side of average.

while the menu boasts of a variety of “exquisite” afghan, pakistani, chinese, continental and fast food ranges, most of the regular patrons order the handis. and the handis are truly exquiste. the chicken chinioti handi in particular is to die for and the chef’s “specialty”, thai pepper chicken, is also highly recommended. apart from that, most of the food is very good considering the fact that the price range (per head) is in the rs. 150 - 300 range. of course, you can’t compare it with places like lal qila, nawab and barbecue tonight, but when you’re stuck at lunchtime in shershah - there’s no better place to go.

rating: 6.5/10

I have been to Lal Qila many times and I got another chance to eat there last night.

For those who don’t know, Lal Qila is located on main Sharae Faisal across the road from Awami Markaz. The dinner was organized by my employer organization so I don’t know how much they charged for the buffet, but if I remember correctly from my previous visit, it was around Rs. 500 per person.

The restaurant serves food based on authentic theme, and although I noticed some deviations, (like a pasta dish which is by no means authentic indian/pakistani), the variety of the food is pretty good. There is everything from haleem to paye to prawns and BBQ. There were some key items missing like behari kabab or traditional chicken tikkas, but at the same time you will find many dishes that you’ve perhaps never tried before.

In short, this is the best authentic food you can find under one roof, and at half a thousand rupees you can try each and every dish that they serve.

Rating: 7/10

Cafe Mediterranean is one of the several places in Zamzama that offer a nice ambience, wierd music, and expensive food.

How expensive? Well, that depends on you. Main course between 400 and 600 can mean a lot to some, but if you are dining in Zamzama expect to spend that much anywhere you go.

I would rate the food above average. The delivery time was excellent, perhaps because there weren’t many people at that time (I went there early, at 9 PM). However, their food wasn’t as scrumptious as places like Roasters and Arizona Grill. We had chicken steaks and that’s what I am comparing it with at other places. We didn’t have any starters or side dishes, just main and drinks. The bill came out to be around 1100 rupees, not the most I have payed at these restaurants.

So the bottom line: try it once, and move on. Or perhaps go there when there is nowhere else to go.

Rating: 6/10

The Second floor (T2F), originally announced here, was scheduled for opening in March, however due to certain unavoidable (read: construction related) concerns, the inauguration was postponed till Saturday, May 12. However, due to the incidents taking place that day, the opening has been further re-scheduled to Tuesday, May 15, 2007.

A few friends and I had the opportunity to take a sneak peek at the place, on Friday May 11 for an evening coffee.

T2F has something for almost everyone. Great food and drinks (do try the green apple juice), WiFi, a book shop, a mini library so you can take a book of your choice and lose yourself in it while you are at the place.

Whats more, unlike almost all other coffee joints, the ambiance is brightly lit…and has chairs….that make you sit up and conciously think. Botoom line, the ambiance keeps you awake, and pushes your mind to work.

While some may seriously feel the lack of couches, I guess its rather ok to skip them. The space is more focused towards functionality and keep people attentive.

The best part, this place has its own digest. Hoping that it would be available on subscription, the T2F digest is a compilation of interesting reading material from across the world.

As its inaugural, T2F will be hosting a graphic design exhibition by Mariam Asif, a graphic design student from Indus Valley.

The second event, dates or which will be announced shortly, is a local edition of Cafe Scientifique, which basically involves a scientist answering normal questions from daily life. A famous scientist and social activist wil be conducting the session at T2F later this month.

Drop in, experience it, share your opinion.

For more details, blogs etc: click here.

Its about time we put all those speculations about whether if, the new Al-Baik restaurant in North Nazimabad is the original world famous Saudi chain or not, to rest. Sadly it is not as the original Saudi Arabian owners have recently published a legal notice in a local newspaper clarifying the mess.

I had the fortune / misfortune to have visited the outlet a few weeks back, could not say that it was anything to write home about. They were charging somewhere close to KFC prices with not much of a difference in quality. Personally I won’t quite as much miss this restaurant even if the fake owners are forced to close up shop or switch name after having been served with a legal notice.

Correct me if I am wrong, but was it not a few years back that Al-Baik had opened up shop somewhere near Nihari Inn at Boat Basin which soon had to close up shop probably being unable to wad through the competition on boat basin strip, it could be the same group that chose to resurface at a new location in hope of sneaking past any formal franchise agreements with the original chain and trying to cash in on the popular name. Any idea who is behind all this?

Story & Image Credit: Adnan Siddiqui