An eatery with a difference

Published in Newsline

An eatery with a difference

By Shanaz Ramzi

   Tucked in an obscure street off Chaudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman Road, surrounded by apartment buildings on either side and with a huge parking area in front of it, is the newly opened East End, an eatery with a difference – in more ways than one. Although not located in one of the popular food streets of Karachi – in fact, the location seems to be a highly unlikely one for an eatery – it has already become pretty popular with foodies.

   The name of the restaurant too, belies its ambience, and for that matter the genre of food available within. For while East End seems to suggest a restaurant catering to English cuisine, the rugged décor of the eatery with its mosaic, ethnic tiles giving way to a pebbled flooring, low wooden roof, large indoor plants, walls boasting rickshaw prints, jharoka windows acting as partitions, and dim lighting courtesy low hanging lamps over each table loudly proclaim the restaurant to be every bit Pakistani.

   Hardly does one recover from taking in the elegance of the rustic décor that the menu takes the first-time visitor by surprise. Limited in its selection, and basically comprising Bohra specialties, the restaurant offers a choice of three basic kinds of five-course menus – and within each kind or group one can choose from a selection of three to four entrees. Our party of four decided to order three of the five-course meals to share among us: two belonging to the same group but with different entrees, and one from a separate group. Basically, each of the five-course meals comprises a drink – served in miniscule glasses, but you can ask for refills – with two types of starters, an entrée, another drink, and a dessert followed by tea.

   With complementary detox water – for the uninitiated, this is the latest rage among health-freaks, comprising water that has lemon wedges and mint leaves floating in it – setting the tone of our meal, we were individually presented the first course consisting of mirchi and ghatia served with imli aur gur ka pani. Unusual to say the least, the appetizer was appealing with the ghatia fresh and crisp and the mirchi surprisingly not chilli. The drink on the other hand was a little too sweet for all our tastes. The second course in two of our orders comprised Dahi Wagarh which was basically a delectable potato and eggplant dumplings dish with mint yogurt, chutney and paprti, while from the other order it consisted of aloo papri with imli chutney. The latter, far from the aloo chaat we were expecting, comprised mashed potatoes sandwiched between papris and served with tamarind chutney. Needless to say, it was consumed in no time. The third course that came with our menu selections comprised aloo chops (mashed potato cutlets stuffed with mince), shami kebabs – both served with green chutney – and stuffed puris. The latter were small puris with three different fillings – jaggery, potato and tomato. While the latter two were appetizing enough, the former was too rich for my blood.

   The main courses we opted for were prawn karahi served with garlic naan, Bohra biryani meeri gosht, and raan roast in dry red baste with daal chawal and palida. While the prawn karahi was delicious, we wish the service of the naans could have been more efficient for although we had been assured that we would get as many hot naans as we required, they took so long in coming in spite of our constantly asking for them, that the karahi got cold. In fact, if we have to pin-point the weakest link in the set-up, it would have to be the service, for we found we had to repeatedly ask for things and wait endlessly to be served.

   The Bohra biryani was a delicious chicken biryani dish with lots of saffron to enhance its flavour, while the meeri gosht was liver and kidney masala. While I personally found the raan not tender enough, the others enjoyed it. However, the daal chawal served with it was delicious and reminiscent of home-cooked masoor pulao -- with just the right amount of chillies and masala. The palida was a thin lentil dish akin to sambhar, with pumpkin chunks floating in it, which was also tasty.

   The next course comprised a different set of drinks, again served in miniscule glasses, so we managed to get a taste of all that was on offer. From among the three that were served to us – namkeen lassi, mint shot and a coconut-cream drink – we found the latter two very refreshing.

   The dessert choices were surprisingly limited and not too exciting. There was a choice of two – kulfi/falooda, and ghandum halwa with cream, nuts, and pineapples – need I add that they too were served in small glasses?  While the former was nothing to write home about, the latter turned out to be more appetizing than it sounded, but still not really what we were looking for to end a good meal.  

   The final offering in our wholesome meal was a choice of kehwa and tea served in their quintessential glasses, which brought an overall pleasant experience to a warm end. Definitely worth a try, so go for it!