Chinese menu for Pakistani palate

Chinese menu for Pakistani palate

PC Hotel’s marketing and PR departments seem to be keeping themselves busy as every few days there is some promotional activity or the other taking place.  If it is not a regional week they are celebrating, then it is an international one, and each is accompanied by great fanfare that includes inviting dignitaries and the media at their inception.

A case in point is the recently concluded Chinese Food Festival.  With all the Chinese consulate representatives present including their CG, not to mention the Consul Generals of Switzerland and Russia, and the cream of the media industry, the Festival opened with a bang. Tai Pan, PC’s Chinese restaurant where buffets are served regularly, had undergone a transformation of sorts with an LCD TV playing images of Chinese, cultural, architectural and historical importance. Special spices and vegetables had been flown in to facilitate the chef in preparing mouth-watering dishes that had been given a Pakistani twist to appeal to our palate.

The meal, comprising around 30 dishes or so, was delectable to say the least and boasted a vast variety of starters, entrees and desserts. Beginning with Chinese Gruel, the only soup on the menu that day, and an unusual offering in a country where Chinese soup normally spells ‘chicken corn’ or ‘hot and sour’, there were the usual array of tantalizing starters like freshly fried jumbo prawns, chicken and egg rolls and dim sum. The entrees included chicken string with spicy Schezwan sauce, Hong Kong fried noodles, fried rice, fried crab with garlic, prawns with orange sauce, dry beef with chillies, and pancakes stuffed with marinated mutton, all of which were delicious.

As for the desserts – not all of them were Chinese which was just as well, as we still have to develop a taste for authentic Chinese sweet meats. Among the non-Chinese array on offer were the most delectable leechy and cherry tarts, red velvet cake, chocolate cake, banana fritters and ice cream among many other items. 

It would perhaps be a good idea to extend these festivals over longer periods so that more and more people get the chance to avail of them.  Having them for a few days or at the max one week doesn’t give enough time to foodies in Karachi, who normally have their social calendars brimming anyways, to experiment at such festivals.  Maybe the next one could go on for a fortnight?

   Translation to appear in next month's issue of Masala TV Food Mag