Merci, Côte Rôtie!

I’ve woken up many days with the wishful thinking that I can pack my bags and take a spontaneous flight to Paris - I get such feelings from time to time as I’ve mentioned before in one of my blogs: Je t’aime, mon Cafe Rolle.

(somebody take me there already, jeez!)

It’s only a matter of seconds before I peak outside my bedroom door and find my mother not exactly pardoning her french at somebody on the phone. So much for dreaming about Champs-Élysées on a beautiful Sunday morning, really. 

Even though spring has been uber kind to us this year by sticking around since December (winter whah, winter who?), we like to celebrate it in March - just ‘coz. 

My only fix to this specific day was to try out the new french cafe in town: Côte Rôtie. I had a super tough time trying to pronounce that name so I googled it and the first search that showed was How To Pronounce French Wine # Côte Rôtie.

I ended up spraying it, not saying it so I might stick to calling it “that new restaurant in Alliance Francaise”.

Anyhow, so a bunch of us walked in to a pleasant looking bistro, located exactly where the old Cafe Flo used to be. The weather was quite nice and well, the inside was completely packed, so we sat outside and a very welcoming server was immediately available to assist us. We received our brunch menu along with the regular one and within five mins, the server convinced us to order their Grilled Kale & Beetroot Salad.

I’m getting married in a few months and the first thing I order at any restaurant nowadays is a salad, just so I can feel all “healthy” and “fit”. Forget what follows, please. 

To accompany this nourishing starter, we also asked for Truffled Eggs & Gruyere (tee-he-he).

These two arrived on the table pretty soon and after many years, I understood the “art of plating”. Every time my chef brother visits us from Houston, he’s always complaining about the lack of culinary training most of the restauranteurs in this city have. However, as soon as our appetizers arrived, I knew this place was led by a chef and not just a ‘good cook’ or a businessman.

Kale & Beetroot Salad

As beautiful as it looked, the salad was absolutely delectable! There was some char-grilled sort of taste in those Kale leaves which blended in perfectly with the Beetroot, bits of Ricotta cheese and fresh figs. I could do this for a healthy meal, err day!

Don’t even get me started on the Truffled Eggs because i don’t have words to describe my happiness about having this meal in Karachi let alone trying to explain how I felt eating this wonderful variation of eggs. OMG, it was SO DAMN GOOD! Starting from breaking into it with my fork, the perfectly runny yolks that made their way through every layer of fine Gruyere cheese and rye toast, to the truffle sauce that topped this chunk of heaven was definitely love at first bite.

Truffled Eggs & Gruyere

Next up was their super fresh bread basket that totally ended my no-carb game because it was so fresh and so soft!! Nevertheless, I was consistent with my health regime and sipped on the very refreshing ABC juice (Apple Beetroot Carrot - if ya already didn’t know). Loved how well balanced the natural flavors were.

The french music that was playing in the background added to the already soothing ambience, reminded me of a french song I loved while I was in college - Les Champs-Elysées by Joe Dassin. Such a jazzy feel.

The mains arrived and again, the food was an absolute pleasure to look at. It was the kind of presentation that made you want to imagine every flavor you are about to experience.

Croque Madam

Croque Madam - definitely topping my list. I’m so glad that Côte Rôtie actually went out of the box to bring something unique to the table. Typically served with ham, this variation of Croque Monsieur was substituted with turkey and surprises you with a mustard-meets-wasabi kind of flavor in every bite. Loved the melted, quality shredded cheese over the fresh butter bread. Since I’m more into savory than sweet, the cherry in “with a cherry on top” has always been an egg for me, so this was a winner for sure! The flavors that burst through every layer was nothing less than a treat!

French Omlette with Gruyere Cheese

I bit into the French Omelette with Gruyere Cheese and wondered why and how everybody else in the city promotes their eggs when they taste nothing like this one! It was so simple, and you could tell that the chef focused on nothing but the essence of every flavor that made up the dish. A treat for the eyes and tastebuds - a rare encounter nowadays.

Scrambled Eggs with Salmon

Another item on the table was the Scrambled eggs with Salmon & Cream Cheese on toast and was definitely as good as it looked! I haven’t yet acquired the taste for salmon so I only took a bite of those rich, fluffy eggs and since scrambled eggs are my weakness, that was a party in my mouth!

Even though all of us had slipped into major food coma, after that eggs-tremely heavy meal we couldn’t have gone without a healthy dessert. You see how I always sandwich my diet in the middle somewhere?

Nora’s Got Sweet Tooth granola with homemade strawberry jam & vanilla yogurt was such a nice blend of sweet flavors. You can easily tell the top quality of all the ingredients used and it also gave me the energy I needed to get up to go home! This Nora lady has really good granola, by the way!

Nora's Got Sweet Tooth granola with vanilla yogurt and homemade jam

I wish I could say that this was the end so I could conclude this in another over dramatic paragraph, BUT, it was just so good that I had to go back next Sunday! 

Since my father has an extremely fine taste palette and knows his food as much he knows his kids, I really wanted to take him there. 

We sat inside this time and the ambience inside was even more beautiful than the last. The community table is a concept very new to Karachi so it was great to see it enter the scene. I knew there was a trained chef behind the scenes, and you could see the owner completely involved in the kitchen and also peaking out the little window to see his customers from time to time! Very cute!

Besides reordering some of the stuff from my last visit, we gave the Bresaola - Mozzarella - Pickled Chili sandwich a shot and boy oh boy, I couldn’t believe (again) that I was sitting within the boundaries of a bistro in Karachi having such good quality air dried meat. The discussion on the table for the longest time was if this meat could even be from here - it was delicious.

Bresaola - Mozzarella - Pickled Chili Sandwich

 

Like always, my dad always asks the management to suggest their best pick and his recommendation was the French Burger. Pretty risky to suggest a burger to us because we are always on a mission, any where around the world, to find the best burger in every city. This was some fine quality meat, marinated in a splendid manner, cooked to Medium perfection and served between a high-quality bun. The next time I crave a burger in this city, I’m heading straight to Côte Rôtie to satisfy my burger brain! Melt-in-the-mouth would be an understatement… to say the least.

French Burger

We ended with their Chocolate Tart and for the first time in months, I couldn’t care less about the calories I was about to consume because that pure block of chocolate with an oreo crust only promised real cocoa flavors. I gobbled down the strawberry it came with, because it’s fruit - you know… healthy and all!

Chocolate Tart

As you can tell, I had a pret-tay awesome experience at Côte Rôtie. You can feel the appreciation and passion for food in the air of that little place and I would go out of my way to acknowledge the rare places that offer top quality cuisine. 

Merci, Côte Rôtie. You made my day(s)!

Chop Chop Wok : Treats in a bowl!

It’s been quite long and as I’ve mentioned before, my life is extremely dramatic, thus while I decided to take a six month long “detoxing-from-the-world” sort of break… actually let’s skip the tale… I ended up getting engaged – to the best person ever (…who might get palpitations at the lack of focus on health and nutrition in this blog).

Anyhow, after my summer trip to the US, nothing in Karachi really motivated me to continue with the blogging and the food scene was failing to offer anything exotic or unique to my spoilt palate.

However, Ramadan/Ramzan (whichever one helps you sleep at night) kicked off with social media being flooded with attractive yellow and black promotional posts of a new restaurant making way that introduced itself as Chop Chop Wok.

Early Promotions. Courtesy: Chop Chop Wok

Courtesy: Chop Chop Wok

I thought the name was great, especially if they were planning to offer Oriental/ Asian cuisine. Thank God, by the way! Even though I’m all about them burgers, this city went a bit manic with burger joints. Besides that, we were in dire need of a different eatery that fell between the commercial million desi Chinese places and Noodle House!

Packed in a concise (read: tiny) area amidst the hustle bustle of Khadda Market, Chop Chop Wok sports a minimalistic layout with 5 tables and an open kitchen. I think the ‘Wokers’ were trying to work around a take-out concept but we eager beavers like to eat where the party’s at – and so, the waiting time is hardly ever less than 45 mins! (Imagine – aunties were actually hosting ‘kitty’ lunches in this limited space)

I managed to win a place after four months and five attempts!

We waited roughly twenty minutes before being seated and a super courteous server came to assist us three ladies! He skimmed through the menu with us and recommended their limited edition Wasabi Prawns with Salsa for starters, which we ordered along with their Spicy BBQ Wings.

 Chop Chop Wok has a stress-free menu with “make-your-own” options along with their specials. This is exactly how much a restaurant should offer, makes it super easy to decide what one wants. The place itself was so aromatic that I wanted to try everything on the menu and as I scanned the other tables, every dish looked alluring. Unfortunately, I can’t continue with my habitual over ordering anymore or I’m going to make a wok-looking bride myself.

 For mains, I asked our attendant to tap in the best of the best on his iPad which, according to him, was their Jasmine Rice blended with Pan Asian flavor combined with Chicken. My personal preference is always Beef, however, this guy told me to trust him and so I did! My only request was to top it with a fried egg because the table next to us had me drooling!

My mom chose Thai flavored Rice Noodles mixed with Fish, and my cousin went for Oriental style rice noodles with Chicken.

First up were the Wasabi Prawns. Deep fried to perfection and coated with a flavorful Wasabi sauce, these prawns that are sprinkled with tangy salsa are easily one of the best I’ve had in Karachi and I’m being honest – not dramatic!

Wasabi Prawns with Salsa

 The Spicy BBQ Wings were VERY spicy indeed, but for a person who can’t tolerate spices, I was licking the sauce off of my fingers that was very generous in quantity. Loved the wings. Plus, the extremely cool and refreshing Fresh Mint Lemonade helped me devour every bite.

Side Note: This city needs a place dedicated to wings!

Spicy BBQ Wings

Fresh Mint Lemonade

After these two beauties, I was really looking forward to the main course!

My Rice Bowl came looking as pretty as I had imagined it to be and the zestful aroma of flavors was just so appetizing, I couldn’t even wait for the other mains to arrive! I dunked my fork and the steam that waved up from between the rice kernels revealed how freshly the meal was prepared.

Jasmine Rice + Pan Asian Flavor + Chicken + Fried Egg

You know, I’m not exaggerating but I honestly don’t know how to describe the deliciousness of my fierce rice bowl. The spices made my nose run and the hot temperature kept burning my tongue but I couldn’t stop. It was so, so good.

THIS is comfort, oriental food. When you’re strolling down the mall or you just want to eat something “easy and light” but still out of this damn world – this is it.

The Rice Noodles with Thai sauce and Fish were tangy and again, very spicy! Every ingredient in this dish makes its way to your brain and down your spine – that intense but oh my God, that delightful to the taste buds. Even though the level of spice was way beyond my tolerance, I wanted to try it over and over again.

Rice Noodles + Thai Sauce + Fish

The Rice Noodles cooked in Oriental Sauce with Chicken were my favorite after my Rice Bowl. They’ve got that oriental taste spot-on, the kind that has a great after taste and makes you wonder why you don’t have such food every single day of your life.

Rice Noodles + Oriental Sauce + Chicken

It’s not just the kick of flavor that wins the game. In Pan Asian cuisine, every dish is a result of many different kinds of ingredients combined from meat to herbs to vegetables – blending them in complete sync and consistency with the right amount of sauces is what makes it “just right”.

Chop Chop Wok has it on point, for sure.

We ordered their only dessert - Fried Ice-cream, and I would have loved to break into that crispy looking shell if I wasn’t lactose intolerant. Boohoo!

Fried Ice-cream

But, the ladies with me couldn’t help but inhale the entire thing wondering what the shell was made out of – had to be PRETTY good if two women who had recently signed up to controlling their diets were at it!

Chop Chop Wok is a wonderful addition to the Karachi restaurant scene – it delivers more than it promises and excels in the cuisine they offer (I wish I tried their Chili Prawn with Calamari). I hope they grow into a bigger place, or just even maintain what they’ve started because they’ve got it right.

Thank you Chop Chop Wok – not only did you bring to us a different culinary delight but it’s because of you I’m writing again!

Favorite Moment: After I ate my bowl clean, the waiter smiles and inquires about his recommendation “Toh phir? Kaisa?” <3 <3

A-mews-ing Day!

After an extremely unpredictable winter and a humid March, this city finally showed some signs of spring today. My garden looked extra colorful in the morning and the calm, cloudy weather filled the air with a rainy sort of smell. That, by the way, has a name- “Petrichor” meaning the scent of rain. Pretty, isn’t it?

I reminisced my two years of college in London and though I moved back by choice, living there did have it’s own aura of pleasure. The old-school buildings, cozy restaurants, being able to walk anywhere, sigh!

A banging knock on my car window totally interrupted my thoughts by someone dressed up like Mimi from The Drew Carey Show who promised me a bunch of prayers for a couple of bucks! 

My father, cousin, her munchkin of a baby and I headed to the now famous “E Street” in Clifton to grab a good lunch after Friday prayers.

Mews… mews, mews, mews, mews, MEWS! It’s a pleasure returning to this thoughtfully set up restaurant. It gives the feel of walking into one of those little cafes set up in the insides of St Christopher’s Place behind Bond Street, London. 

Rumor has it, Feeha Jamshed is opening an outlet right next to it - can’t wait!

My 16-month-old niece seemed to be famous and a regular there as a server popped up right as we got seated with the menus and a board listing the specials of the day.  Little child even won us a complimentary, fresh bread basket!

My stomach, heart and brain had a nerve-wrenching debate over whether I should order their No Fuss Burger or the Korean Beef Bowl. I could live my life off burgers. Really, if I had to choose between lifelong love and burgers – it would be the latter (medium rare with extra cheese… just incase my fiancé decides to use this as an opportunity).

Since I’m being adventurous nowadays and having tried their top-class burger before, I opted for the beef bowl which arrived along with the others’ club sandwiches and hot & spicy flatbread.

The flatbread was so hot and fresh, so easy on the tummy. My cousin, previously a fan of a similar pizza at Xander’s said that she didn’t even go there since Mews blessed us with its existence. I loved the gigantic platter it was served on.

According to my father, a publicly acclaimed foodie, the cold cuts in the sandwich gave it more of a generic club sandwich taste than a signature Mews' standard one. I tried it too, and agreed that maybe it isn’t not the best one in town.

He has yet to eat a good club sandwich in this city – until now, his own tops our list.

I seem to be having a fantastic culinary week, and the spicy Korean bowl did not disturb my pattern. So full of flavors and a very authentic, oriental taste indeed – I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing with a perfect egg, sunny-side-up.

Paired with the mint lemonade (Sparkling Mint, I think) and the birthday milkshake our food was a pleasure on the taste buds.

Mews is the pandora’s box of goods in Karachi’s food scene. From the ambience, to the food, and contrary to popular belief – the service was pretty good too.

PS: Don’t be buzzkilled when you exit the London zone and instead of a tube station, you collide with an eager beaver valet guy arguing with a Sindhi security guard in Pashto! 

Aakhir, Karachi toh phir Karachi hai hee…..

Dear Pasta Lady.....

Home-based chefs, where have you been all my li(i-i-i-i)fe? No, seriously… Where were you?

We, “delhi walas”, have extremely stubborn taste buds and there’s no compromise when it comes to food, like being served ginger that is 1mm thicker than it’s supposed to be is no less than a sin. Oh, and we don’t believe other people’s reviews about food either because I mean, what do they know?

I have this extremely specific flavor for pastas stuck in my palate and even though Karachi is pretty good with Italian varieties, it lacks the knack of perfecting a Spaghetti Bolognese or Lasagna.

Unlike my usual self, today I decided to lift my egoistic, self imposed food standards and order from the most talked about “lasagna girl” in town. Yes, I jumped on the Maria Khan-Syed bandwagon.

 I was guilty of sending my car later than the time I had promised her, but she was sweet enough to give me heating instructions. I wasn’t too eager to taste the lasagna initially to be honest; I had bet it would be like the home/bakery mini “peezas” served at my first 11 birthdays!

My heart melted at the first look and okay fine, my mouth did water a bit (read: dog drool). I was able to cut a perfect square piece for myself without it slopping out of control and bit into my first, still doubtful, bite. Damn! This isn’t me being all Taylor Swift on food, but I think that piece of lasagna really was why I had waited all these years – totally writing a song about it. 

                               (For the first time, the actual thing was exactly as shown on the eatery's page)

The endless cheese oozed out from the layers every time I cut a bite out and every layer had a different flavorful story to tell. I’m not lying, this pasta lady really knows her way with the trickiest of flavors. I’m still staring at the leftovers wondering why my stomach won’t allow just ONE more bite. I’ve never appreciated minced chicken this much being a “gosht-khor”.  

These ladies are setting a trend - first Saniya’s Khao Suay and then this masterpiece of a lasagna by the Pasta Factory.

Splendid days beginneth.

Dat cheese tho.

Khao Suay To Remember

When I get mad cravings for Khao Suay, I always want them homemade. Let’s face it, no matter what new tastes and variations exotic eateries bring to the dish – it doesn’t have that kick of “ammi ke haath wala” flavor, just like iftar pakoras.

Anyway, so with the mother goose out of town, I somehow needed to cater to my stomach growls that were hankering for some memoni delicacies! I have already tried all the famous Khao Suay deliveries and take-outs but wasn’t too satisfied with life. From a recent socialist food festival in Karachi, I had heard of this girl Saniya and her famous homemade Khao Suay that apparently sold out like hotcakes!

                          Side Note: Couldn’t have agreed more…LOL

                                     

Placed my order to this girl with the sweetest voice ever, and confirmed to pick it up in the evening. I kept my expectations low, even though all our honorary critics raved about it in the “qaumi” food bickering page on Facebook. This page has become delight of every Karachiite in the past 2 years including mine – not gonna lie, I’m in the “creepy likers” department.

Everything included in the Khao Suay was packed neatly in separate, plastic containers. One yellow curry, one chicken curry, a foil box of noodles, and very generous amounts of assorted condiments packed in small Ziploc bags.

The exceptionally aromatic curry got me pumped to quickly mix everything together to my liking and devour into the flavors.

OMG! Did I want “Ammi wale khao suay”? Eureka!! What a flavorful mix of ingredients – I don’t know what she used but it was divine. This is what Khao Suay’s should taste like – they don’t need variations, they just need that zest. I inhaled my first, decently portioned serving bowl and went dog-nuts for the second one. I love that it’s served in different containers so I could prepare it according to my taste buds.

I don’t know how authentic the flavor is to its Burmese origin, but the best of the lot in the Khao Suay culture in Karachi for sure. I think I can do more without my mom, now that my hunger pangs have been treated.

I added the boiled eggs myself by the way, you know, because I’m the infamous new “self proclaimed foodie” in town ;).