Why did the chicken cross the road? To be broasted to succulent, juicy, crispy golden perfection, if you ask me!

The ‘road’ in question is Sharae Pakistan, and the crossing is from the Water Pump Chowrangi [roundabout] to Federal B. Area, Block 13 in Karachi’s Gulberg Town, where the new Khan’s Broast & Snacks is located.

Mind you, Khan’s Broast has been around for a long time. It started operations some time in the mid-eighties, and has built its rock-solid reputation on one thing and one thing alone — its broasted chicken.

Broast is a relatively ‘new’ phenomena in Pakistani cuisine, having been introduced to Karachi during the eighties. But it caught on quickly, with a string of establishments opening their doors — Khan’s Broast being one of them.

Khan’s Broast started soon after broast was introduced to Karachi four decades ago. Its legacy is built on its original crispy and succulent offering…

Entire food empires and legends were created on this new manner of eating fried chicken, and while some continued the legacy — long before KFC opened its doors here — others simply crumbled or withered away.

A few such fast-food eateries still remain, but they have extended their menus to include barbecue and Chinese food. Only a select few deal exclusively in broast and its variants, such as chicken zinger burgers. Khan’s Broast is on top of that list.

If you’re looking for variety, then you better look elsewhere, for here you get chicken broast with options of chicken burgers, zinger burgers, fries and soft drinks, and that’s about it.

And apparently, the crowds that throng Khan’s Broast & Snacks, both on weekdays and weekends, are a testament to the fact that, sometimes, keeping it simple is good and makes for the best business plan.

Back to the chicken: our order of two quarter broasts (both chest and leg pieces), with an order of zinger burger, fries and soft drinks came to a meagre 1,500 rupees, which is quite the bargain.

The broast was crispy golden on the outside and succulent and juicy on the inside, and done to perfection. Just the way God meant it to be when he put chickens on this earth!

The writer is a member of staff.
X: @faisal_quraishi

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 18th, 2024