They first made a splash at last year’s Lahore Eat food festival where their ‘fusion samosas’ sold like hot cakes. After serving hundreds of customers over the three days of the festival, Awesamosas realised their potential and gave in to the burgeoning demand for more of their sweet and savoury samosas.

Earlier, this Ramazan, Awesamosas opened up a humble little outlet tucked away in a narrow lane besides CSD in Cavalry Grounds. They started off by offering six samosas – three each in sweet and savoury – with unique recipes developed in-house. The menu has now been expanded to include three samosa-based bowls fit for a meal, as well as a samosa-based dessert. Gone are the days when a samosa was just a snack with a cuppa tea; you can now turn it into a fulfilling meal.

The six flavours on offer are apple pie, chocolates’more, Reese’s, dum ka qeema, caramelised onion and pizza. Three palm-sized samosas of any flavour cost Rs250 – a bit steep we reckon.

The samosas are crispy and generously filled. Hot chocolate and peanut butter sauce oozes out as soon as you bite into the scrumptious Reese’s samosa. Then there’s chocolates’ more filled with rich chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows which leaves one in a daze. Perfect balance of sweet and savoury with neither overpowering the other. Apple pie fans would love it in a samosa with tender chunks inside.

Equally delicious are the savoury samosas with my favourite being the caramelise onion one. That’s not to say the pizza and a crowd-favourite at Lahore Eat, dum ka qeema, are any less. Each samosa is filled with heaps of flavour generously packed into little triangles.

One of the samosa bowls I tried was the Dum Ka Qeema Bowl that’s one of their recent additions. Three dum ka qeema samosas sitting on top of a potato gravy topped with a tangy tamarind (imli) and BBQ sauce created in-house. Smoked minced meat from the samosa coupled with delicious potato gravy and the tangy imli together definitely packs a punch.

The Caramelised Onion Bowl is a spot-on fusion of east and west; soft and crunchy with three pieces placed on a bed of steamy, creamy chicken pasta topped with the in-house hari chutney mayo. I’m not a huge fan of pasta but this bowl I wiped clean, and it’s sure to leave your tummy satisfied.

The third bowl has three butter chicken samosas topped with a medley of veggies and butter chicken sauce. Rs350 to Rs400 for each of these bowls is only fair once your appetite is sated.

I next gorged on the samosa dessert bowl – called Awesamosa A La Mode – that is nothing short of delectable. Two of the three sweet samosas, two scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with either mocha or butterscotch sauce. Who wouldn’t salivate at just the thought? I chose the chocolate and peanut butter Reese’s as well as the chocolate, crackers and marshmallows s’more samosas. You can even scoop the ice cream with a samosa and gulp it down with bare hands (might want to be careful: the warm chocolate gushes out of the samosa). This age-old combo of chocolate and/or peanut butter with vanilla ice cream and a chocolaty sauce hits all the right notes (read taste buds). Not bad for Rs300 for what one gets in a bowl.

Awesamosas also offer karak and ilachi (cardamom) tea and special South Indian coffee served in tin glasses. Perfect with one of the samosas.

Recently, they started samosa... BURGERS! Yes, you heard that right! Generous amount of chicken or beef in a samosa shaped like a patty, covered with cheese, (a bit too much of which they could cut down on) iceberg lettuce, topped with your choice of sauce and packed between buns is quite wholesome.

This humble outlet offers a lot of promise; they’ve only been expanding their menu with one novel idea after another, and plan on continuing to. Let’s hope the quality doesn’t suffer.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2016