Conquest by cuisine – a taste of Pakistan
By Sara Hasan
When the British left India in 1947, little did they know that those they had once ruled would follow them home and exact vengeance. As fate would have it, the South Asians served revenge as piping hot savoury and sweet dishes, without which the capital of the former British Empire, the city of London itself, would remain a bland place of shepherd’s pie and roast beef.
Pakistanis represent the second largest sub-group of British Asians; they range from students to working class expatriates to the second generation of pre-settled British Pakistanis. Needless to say, culture for Pakistanis is majorly influenced by our grand appetite, spice appeal and culinary delights, and we tend to bring these with us wherever we go.
But it would be unfair to state that Pakistani cuisine is available at only a given zone or street in London. Our generously-sprinkled spices spread their aroma across the city from the southern area of Tooting to the western parts of Hounslow; from the eastern zones of White Chapel and Green Street to the central hub at Piccadilly Circus.
“Being a food lover, I have more than one personal favourite. There is nothing like cherishing the weekend with a brunch of chanay and puriyan at Illford,” says Umair Atta, a Pakistani expat. “Then of course when it comes to having a desi dinner, Lamb Karahi and Charsi Karahi, served with piping hot naan and mango lassi, top the list at Hounslow”.
Most Pakistani restaurants in London are very particular about preserving their Pakistani identity, as opposed to being just another curry server from the subcontinent. Most places mention specifically that they serve “authentic Pakistani cuisine.” Another key element that Pakistani restaurants tend to highlight is the fact that they offer halal food. Most restaurants tend to mention this fact in big, bold fonts so as to avoid any misconceptions.
“I discovered my strong association with Pakistani food and my potential to crave for hard core desi food, jalebis and mithai only after I arrived in this part of the world,” says Sidra, a Pakistani student studying in London. “Eating Pakistani food satiates me like nothing else and makes me feel close to home. I find myself relating the taste of food in restaurants here to my mother’s home-cooked food, and whichever one is the optimal match for me, finds me as regular customer.”
The proudest moment for a Pakistani though is seeing people from western backgrounds queue up outside Pakistani restaurants, especially at Khana Khazana, Tayyabs, Lahori Kebab and Salt & Pepper. Truth be told, when you look at the clientele of these eateries for the first time, it is hard to digest their popularity as we are not too used to being in demand for anything positive on an international level.
But compete we do and proudly so. While London’s pubs may boast of making countless people woozy and insensible, Pakistani mango lassi coupled with a heavy helping of nihari, haleem or payay, can also leave you in a state where making your way home after a meal takes quite an effort.
“Haleem and nihari served in Hendon reminds me of our Burns Road nihari. What more could one ask for than to cherish desi taste in foreign lands?” says Mahvesh Perwaiz, who works in the financial hub of London.
When winters come along, the desire for warm comfort food and Pakistani barbeque top the list. Coupled with a range of mint, chilli and mango chutney, freshly-grilled barbeque served with oven-fresh naan or parathas are personal favourites of many London-based Pakistanis.
“There is nothing like being served a freshly-grilled Pakistani barbeque sizzler while sitting outside a desi restaurant, with complimentary shawls to enjoy the chilly weather,” says another Britisher of Pakistani origin, Ramisa.
“The lamb chops served at Lahore Kebab House in Aldgate East are to die for. I normally don’t eat red meat in London, but these lamb chops are char-grilled to perfection! These tender treats come in generous helpings at a great price, and remind me of our family barbeques we had as kids on Bakr Eid,” says Fatima.
“There are some great food places with authentic Pakistani food in London, but my favourites are not those fancy places everybody raves about; it is those small food shops that will take you right back to the streets of Karachi and Lahore,” says Dania Siddique, who ventured to London on work placement.
Just in case one feels too lazy to step out for Pakistani food, you can very easily hibernate in your centrally-heated apartment and opt for home delivery as well.
But the most Pakistani feeling tends to come at the restaurants themselves, where hospitality, a heavy helping of desi charm, and a natural association with one’s language and identity seems to be overwhelming.
Most owners and waiters seek immense pleasure in identifying with you if your area of origin is the same as theirs. If not, you are likely to still be greeted with, “Never mind, you are still our Pakistani bhai or behen.”
Now if we could only re-export that feeling of fraternity back to Pakistan.
Authentic Pakistani bites in the Big Apple
In the maddening rat race and consumerism of New York City, traditional and original Pakistani cuisine is found in unexpected corners
By Azeem Haider and Faryal Zaidi
Quantity definitely triumphs quality when it comes to Pakistani food in the five boroughs of New York City. One of the world’s most populous cities, New York is home to a sizable Pakistani diaspora, which started settling here mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. Pakistani food and its various pass-through variations are not only easily available in the radius of South Asian neighbourhoods but it is also splashed in various forms in the mainstream New York food spectrum. However, there are very few places where one can find “authentic” Pakistani food.
This place has everything a spice craving Pakistani can wish for: from nihari and payay to biryani and kebabs. Gourmet also offers extensive varieties of traditional sweets and halwas. One warning though: it is very likely that eating here will upset your entire weekly calorie budget, as everything served in this restaurant is extremely rich in saturated fat. But what good Pakistani food isn’t?
This place probably beats every other Indian and Pakistani food outlet in price and quality; it is also dirt cheap compared to any other South Asian eatery in Manhattan. There is no other place where one can get samosas under a dollar in Manhattan. In addition to being a favourite spot for a lot of cab drivers, this place also attracts many tourists and other mainstream New Yorkers.
The only downside about Lahore is its shabby appearance, from both outside and the inside. When you enter the restaurant, it is very likely that you may end up bumping into big pots of food on the floor. If you can get over that, then you are in for a treat.
But perhaps the most authentic Pakistani restaurant in New York is Kabab King. It is located in the Queens borough of New York in a neighbourhood called Jackson Heights.
The only downside is that apart from kebabs, any other kind of Pakistani food is average at best, and one should probably just stick to ordering kebabs.This place is best for takeout as the restaurant proper is extremely cramped and crowded.
The Pakistani Tea House is another hole-in-the-wall takeout spot in “TriBeCa”, which gets pretty packed with office workers, car service drivers and students during regular lunch hours. This restaurant is one of the oldest Pakistani restaurants in Manhattan and has also been widely covered in New York’s mainstream press. The New York Times gives the restaurant a rave review; as per NYT’s Eric Asimov, Pakistani Tea House’s “…mildly spicy tandoori chicken is terrific, kept moist and flavourful by the yogurt marinade that layers the surface of the chicken. The vegetable curries are even better. Apart from the hubbub, the other thing you may notice in Pakistan Tea House is the delicious aroma of fresh-baked Indian bread…”
All in all, New York City has ample variety of Pakistani food but only about a handful food joints can offer authentic and tasty Pakistani food. Happy eating!
Tikkas and paan in Toronto
For anyone missing home in the heart of Toronto, Gerard Street has a solution
Popularly known as Little India/Pakistan and Gerard India Bazaar, this is the desi neighbourhood of Toronto where you will find restaurants, cafés, grocery stores, and clothing outlets run by Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Afghans and Sri Lankans. Located along a portion of Gerard Street, between Greenwood and Coxwell Avenue, this is one of the largest South Asian marketplaces in North America.
The surrounding residential area may not be predominantly South Asian, yet the area is a one-stop shop for any cultural, culinary and gastronomic delights of the South Asian community. Whether it is Eid or Diwali, the street comes to life with lights, celebration, and song and dance.
As you walk down the street, you can’t help but feel that there are more shops of Indian origin than Pakistani. One of the reasons is the sheer size of the India diaspora, but if you Ask M. Ahmed, who works with his brother at Ahmed groceries on Gerard Street, there’s another reason as well: “There is no unity among Pakistanis. Wherever they gather, they always have a problem. They are not interested in the prosperity or a good image of the community as a whole. By contrast the Sardars (Indian Sikhs) are a united front and also prominent in politics in Ottawa.”
The Ahmad brothers have been running a grocery and halal meat business in Toronto for the past 30 years but have not seen a united Pakistani representation.
“Our customers are mainly Pakistanis, lots of white people and a few Indians,” he added, “White people make the best customers as they are honest, supportive and friendly”.
Shahid at Ali Baba restaurant endorses what Ahmad says. “If something bad happens in the Indian community, they all help each other, but in our community, people don’t help each other. Indians outnumber us plus there is no unity among us.”
When Shahid came from Sialkot to Toronto some 12 years ago, Gerard Street was the lone sub-continental stronghold. “Now it is different,” he said, “Our clientele which includes mostly people from the subcontinent like Pakistanis, Indians, Bengalis, and Sri Lankans are scattered. There are restaurants in Mississauga, Brampton and in other places in Toronto. People have slowly sold their cafes and restaurants and now you find more clothes and jewelry shops here than eating places.”
Shahid is the chef, while Salma manages the restaurant. According to him, “Biryani, butter chicken, chickpeas and kebabs are our specialties which are enjoyed by South Asians as well as goras who are about 35pc of our clientele”.
Most businesses on Gerard Street seem quite clear about representing their identity but Tandoor is one Pakistani restaurant which proudly claims to deliver “authentic Indian cuisine to your door’. Owned by Khan Sahib, Tandoor has been around for 30 years now. “It is still early for people to arrive but they will start pouring into the restaurant which opens from 4pm to 10pm,” says Mukhtar who has been working since 10 years along with Imtiaz who has been at Tandoor since 25 years. Together they handle the kitchen, take away counter and the cash till.
Clearly Lahore Tikka House seems to be the busiest eating place on Gerard Street. When the late Alnoor Sayani opened the Lahore Tikka House in 1996 with just a couple of tables in a courtyard, little did he know that a large clientele belonging to diverse cultures and nationalities would queue up every evening to devour the mouth-watering food in true Lahori style. The interior is adorned with colourful saris, dupattas, and swings while a colourfully painted auto-rickshaw is parked outside which adds to the total desi ambience. Bollywood music plays while the aroma of cooked meat fills the air. Young waiters and waitresses who speak Urdu and heavily-accented English run around the place in T-shirts that say “Try our kababs”. They serve lamb chops, chicken tikka, seekh kababs, butter chicken and fluffy naans to adventurous desi food lovers who sit in the shamiana type marquis.
Sayani’s wife Zarine is an Indian by birth, but whose father hails from Pakistan believes that the South Asian community has grown in numbers and so have the neighbourhoods around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
“There are lots of choices now available in Mississauga and Brampton but people keep coming back to us for kulfi on the stick, biryani, naans, and butter chicken, karhai, daal makhani… you name it!”
And after a huge meal, one simply has to go to the Lahore Paan House. “My paan is known all over Ontario,” Mirza Baig says. There are other paan places at Gerard too, so what is so special about Baig’s paan? “All my ingredients are 99 per cent from Pakistan. Other people on Gerard Street make drier paans because of the ingredients they use. My paan is juicier, just the way it is back home. I use magai, kapori, banarsi and Calcutta paans,” he says while making paans on an auto-pilot. He stands behind his paan counter with dozens of intriguing jars and pots with colourful, aromatic ingredients. Around him are stacks of paani puri, sugar cane bundles, chandeliers, life size posters of menus. Customers kept trickling in for chaat, kulfi, sugar cane juice and meetha or saada paan.
Baig came to Canada in 1992 with no plans to go into the food business. Somehow he got into the paan, tea and kulfi business. “We started with a little shop that became known all over North America. Now we have added bun-burger which is like the bun kebab back home, there is chaat, tea and bhutta, sugar cane juice and falooda which is our best selling item and done just the way you get in Lahore because unlike others we make our own noodles.”
Baig feels food is a good business to be in. “Everyone follows the rules here and Food inspectors come in regularly because food handling has strict laws,” he said, “New people sometimes make copies of someone else’s license and carry on but they can’t do that for long and will get caught sooner or later.”
With time, prices of raw material, utility bills and rents have gone up while other establishments have mushroomed as the South Asian community has moved to other areas outside of Toronto.
“When my family comes here, we don’t spend so much on a proper dinner as we do on snacks and bhuttas because everyone wants to have one. And in winter, Kashmiri tea is a fabulous option when it is minus 30 outside. Aankhen khul jaati hain!” said Tahir, a customer.
A lady, who was getting some paans made for herself proudly added, “I can vouch for what he is saying, I love bhutta here. In summer there is not one person on the street who is not walking around eating a bhutta.”
Dil Dil Pakistan on Damascus Street
Dubai’s Al Qusais area is renowned for Pakistani barbeque, nihari, haleem and even faluda
How many times have we heard ourselves think: “Pait To Sirf Pakistani Khanay Say Hee Bharta Hai” (Only Pakistani food shall satiate you)? In the deserts of Dubai, the oasis of Pakistani food lies on Damascus Street, in the community of Al Qusais.
In a recent article published in Gulf News, Damascus Street was named the food street of Dubai because it has the highest density of restaurants for any street in Dubai. Bordering Sharjah and with a large Pakistani and Indian population living and working in the area, a good number of the 84 eateries on Damascus Street are essentially Pakistani (even if to boost clientele they are also selling Indian and oriental dishes as well).
Leading the way is most certainly the Daily Restaurant — of its two branches in the emirate, one is on Damascus Street. This eatery, which is reasonably priced but sells top notch Pakistani barbeque items, nihari and haleem among others, has gained such popularity that the owners were compelled to open a third outlet in Karachi, which is kind of like coming full circle.
Operating since 2001, the Daily Restaurant caters to as many European, Arab and Indian customers as it does Pakistani. “You’d be surprised, the Arabs and Europeans like their food spicier than even some of us (desis) can handle!” exclaims the manager.
In order to maintain a distinct Pakistani flavour, this three-people partnership ensures that they only hire cooks from Karachi. It is no wonder that most evenings, one is hard-pressed to find a vacant table but that doesn’t prevent loyal customers, looking for an excellent meal out, from waiting outside, sometimes in the terrible heat and humidity that’s signature Dubai.
Karachi Darbar, operating with 41 outlets, is the largest Pakistani restaurant chain in Dubai, and it doesn’t fail to deliver on variety or quality either. Opened in 2009, its Damascus Street Branch was the 28th and has a capacity of 400 people. “There are a lot of offices in the area, as well as a large Pakistani population residing here and in neighbouring Sharjah,” explains Ms Sobia, Karachi Darbar’s customer relations officer. “We felt there were not enough Pakistani restaurants around at the time. Since we opened shop, our customers have only been growing.”
Owned by Mohammad Farooq and Ayaz Farooq, a father and son team, Karachi Darbar’s menu comprises over a 100 items from Pakistani, Indian, Mughlai and Chinese cuisine catering to Europeans, Arabs and Fillipinos in addition to South Asian customers. “We have specialised cooks so that each cuisine has an authentic taste,” adds Sobia. “We thus have cooks from Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.”
In close proximity to Damascus Street is the all essential Pakistani fast-food brand, Emly Chilli, which specialises in the perenially favourite Pakistani street foods: bun kebabs, biryanis, and a variety of paratha rolls.
Pak Sufi Restaurant is a much loved dhaba-style eatery that draws customers from all strata across Dubai. “If it is meal time, no Pakistani taxi driver passing by without a customer fails to stop at Pak Sufi to grub,” says taxi driver Zahid. With one standard menu and a daily specials menu, comprising food from all parts of Pakistan, one always finds something they fancy. Its patrons swear by its taste and quality.
Its neighbour is the relatively recently-opened Pakistani Dhaba Restaurant, which has gained its own clientele but hasn’t been as successful in giving Pak Sufi stiff competition.
Billo Ice-Cream is the new kid on Damascus Street. According to its enterprising young owner, it is the world’s first and only truck art-inspired ice-cream parlour —its unique selling point is as much its interior as its home-made ice-creams, milkshakes and faludas.
In keeping with the theme, the items on the menu are very interestingly named after popular truck art inscriptions: Dekh Magar Pyar Say, Naseeb Apna Apna, and Dollar Ki Talash Mein, among others. With western ice-cream parlours done to death in Dubai, Billo Ice-cream is an excellent addition to Pakistani eateries in Dubai and Damascus Street in particular. Serving 100 per cent vegetarian ice-cream, it is as popular among Indian patrons as Pakistanis, while its faludas are very popular among Iranian and Emirati clients.
When it comes to food, an expat or a tourist can easily forget they are not in Pakistan if they remain on Damascus Street. Close proximity means that one can very easily find Pakistani meat (mutton and beef) and fresh vegetables, and in some cases cooked foods such as mithai, which are airlifted on a daily basis from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. Pakistani brand spices and other grocery items are also easily available at most grocery stores. Since most Pakistani eateries primarily use Pakistani produce, the selling price is as Pakistani as it can get.
The writer is former editor of Gallery and very fortunately now lives on Damascus Street, Dubai.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 9th, 2014