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

Quick Recipe : Breakfast Burrito

(Note: Those who want to skip my rant can scroll down to the recipe directly)

The only thing that has the power to make me smile in the morning (even before my tea) is a hearty, delightful breakfast. I love my waffles, pancakes and parfaits but all of that comes after an “eggcelent”, “eggstravagant”, and “eggsolutely” “eggceptional” meal.

(Are you as impressed with my creativity as I am?)

Breakfast Burritos -  a favorite, yet personal and touchy dish. I get why the question “What is the perfect breakfast burrito” can stir up a lot of disagreements and conflicts. To some, it is complete with beans, sour cream and Spanish rice and to some, only the eggs can light fires!

In my opinion, a perfect breakfast burrito is the one you dream about and hope for the dream to never end. It is the one you drool for as soon as you wake up, oh, it is truly the one, which performs a synchronized ballet in your mouth with that moist, fluffy texture.

I’m lucky to be surrounded around those who care for my creepy feelings for a “breakfast burrito”. As I’ve mentioned before, I come from a line of foodies, professional chefs and home chefs – in spotlight here are my sister and brother-in-law.

These two are always on some kind of a cooking spree or a food mission. From healthy to outta control, this duo really knows their palates; in fact, my sister once had her own food recipe blog: “Never Stop Eating” – some of the recipes in here are quite amazing!

Anyhow, in order to cater to my emergency, eggly hunger pangs, my brother-in-law fixed up this super easy breakfast burrito in a span of only 11 minutes! As simple as it may look to you, this was one of the most delicious and melt-in-the-mouth egg whips I’ve ever had.

Surprise! Surprise! We have the recipe here too – woo hoo!

Watch the video (smile if you love the music):

Click here to see the video in HD.

Breakfast Burrito.

Yield: 1 portion

Ingredient	Amount (U.S)	Preparation
Eggs	2
Milk	2 Tsp (per egg)
Basil	6-8 large leaves	Ribboned (click here to see "how to ribbon basil leaves")
Cheddar Cheese	¼ Cup + 2 Tbsp	Shredded
Turkey Bacon (or any other type of bacon)	1	Pan-fried or Baked
Salsa	2 Tbsp
Butter	1 Tbsp
Flour Tortilla	1

Procedure:

•   Melt butter on very low heat.
• Beat the eggs lightly with milk and pour into the pan
• Stir the eggs very (very) slowly till they begin to appear fluffy. Note: Don’t “scramble” the eggs – the keyword is ‘stir’
• Add the ribboned basil leaves and mix in with the eggs.
• Put the pan aside and add ¼ cup cheddar cheese. Stir a little and bring it back to the stove.
• Once the eggs seem fluffy enough, keep them aside
• Heat the tortilla on a pan

Assemble:

1. Lay the tortilla flat on a plate
2. Spoon the prepared eggs down the center of the tortilla
3. Add the turkey bacon and salsa on the sides of the egg and sprinkle with approximately 2 tablespoons of the shredded cheese
4. Fold the bottom of the tortilla first, followed by each side to make it a wrap
5. Devour, moan, get emotional, smile, die – whatever the sentiment projects at the time and most importantly, thank God!

The best part about the recipe is that it can be completely modified to your preferences. The eggs can include tomatoes, more greens, seasoning or salt.

As a matter of fact, you can really play around with the filling – you can add refried beans, cilantro, more bacon, different cheeses, and sour cream!

Breakfast Burritos – FTW.