One year – No Okra

Okra – started off about 8 years (or so) back from the same place it occupies now, serving semi-low budget Pakistani food. The place had potential, convenient location (Zamzama wasn’t as crowded 8 years back), great food and moderate price.

The place took off. The menu was modified to cover continental cuisine, the prices went up and the location remained the same. But the MOST significant change that happened in Okra was the change in the ‘attitude’.

You don’t do anyone a favor by serving them food, especially when you charge them the prices Okra did (I use the past tense because it HAS been 1 year since I went there).

I am sure you are now waiting to hear what pissed me off to completely write off the place so here goes…

It was a friend’s birthday and 7 of us made reservations at Okra for 8pm. We got there promptly at 8 and were told that due to back to back bookings “we would have to leave by 9:15”. That gave us with a reasonable 1hr 15mins to have dinner – which isn’t bad or so it seemed. We were waiting for some of the friends to come over so we hadn’t ordered food till 8:15 at which time one of the waiters came up and said “you have to order your main course NOW”. We apprised him that 2 people from the expected group of 7 were around the corner but we got a response that resulted in 5 very surprised faces.

“You need to order NOW, because we will take 50 minutes to serve your order, which means you will have 10 minutes to finish your food!”

50 minutes – Seriously?! Are you butchering a New Zealand Calf to cook me a steak? Are you planning to run off to Malir and get fresh potatoes for the gratin?! Seriously?!
It wasn’t as if he was asking us ‘nicely’, ‘politely’ to ensure that we do vacate our table in time for the next party.

He quite literally had ‘I am doing you a favor by serving you food’, written all over his face.

My friend spent about Rs. 8K that night on great food, elsewhere, because the party of 7 was hungry and wanted great food. Each of the 7 people in that gathering must have very easily spent about Rs 50K each on eating out in the past year. And how much of that has gone to Okra – ZERO!

We all happen to enjoy a great meal – without the side order of attitude. This may have happened a year back – but was harsh enough to remember.

I experimented and got gob breaking pasta!

How safe is it to experiment with new dishes even at ‘relatively safe’ restaurants?

After 2 weeks of trying to meet up with friends, we finally got a chance to meet up last Saturday when we all decided to head over to Aylanto on Zamzama for lunch.

Aylanto is usually a very safe bet for steaks, sea-food dishes and more. My comfort food at Aylanto is ‘roasted sole’ while my wife sticks to steak with béarnaise sauce. But on this day, pasta depravation caught up and I ordered the ravioli.

I am as serious of not over-cooking pasta as the next person and take the 7min – 12min cooking instructions for pasta very seriously and one would expect the chef at a fine restaurant like Aylanto to take them seriously too! Maybe this was is ‘off-day’. Maybe he had a fight with his better half or maybe he doesn’t think that pasta can ever be under-cooked, but the pasta was not just underdone, it was hard!

Maybe I didn’t send it back because I was in a generally pleasant mood, but what should one do when served really bad food at a restaurant? Whatever the verdict on that, I don’t think I will be experimenting at Aylanto – maybe.

‘Transiting’ life savers!

One of the perks of my job is regular international travel. This means I spend some time in departure lounges airport transiting from one flight to another. Over the last few years, I have begun to look forward to specific meals at airport lounges I travel through. Some of these are:

Singapore Changi International –
1. Bar on the first floor before immigration– outstanding fish and chips and probably the only smoking bar inside the airport! (before you cross immigration, take the elevator to the first floor, take a left and it’s the first thing on your left)

Heathrow –
1. TGIF – Thank GOD its there even though it is hidden at the back near PINK. Must have chicken wings!
2. Smoked Salmon Bagel - Bagel Street (centre of the transit lounge)

Dubai Airport –
1. Sushi Bar – 1st floor (NOT the duty free level but the one above that) – same side as the food court. – Small place seating for about 10 people. Serves amazing sushi, smoked salmon and more at all hours at about $50 a platter! A little expensive but worth it!

Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International –
I am still looking for something that’s worth eating twice!!

My Sunday morning ‘pick me up’

I got a call from Khalid at about 11:30 on Sunday asking if Sharleen and I would like to join him and Sara at Espresso....This was a ‘visit the parents day’ so we couldn’t take them up on the offer but about every other Sunday, Sharleen and I do head off to Espresso on Shahbaz to get our dose of morning sustenance. My ‘sin of choice’ is usually their NY Cheese cake with (not followed by, but with) a large Americano Coffee (black coffee that should wire you for the remainder of the day)

I wait for the cheese cake to get to room temperature if it isn’t already there and usually don’t add any sugar to the coffee. At times they serve the cheese cake straight out of the freezer and if they do, I wait for it to thaw.

I am sure will order this for my next breakfast at Espresso, kick back, light-up and let my mind wander…

Voyage of Gastronomic Discovery

The plan was for us (Sharleen - my wife and I), Amna and Sam to meet up at our place and go out for dinner to BBQ Tonight. On reaching BBQ tonight we all felt that our ‘strictly red meat’ carnivorous side (I have friends that would put chicken in the vegetable category!) had taken over and we all started scanning over the well read menu looking for red meat dishes to order.

Before Sharleen could order 2 of our most ordered dishes (Afghani Kababs and Malai Tikkas) I suggested that we order their mutton ribs and 3 surprised faces looked up at me. “Mutton ribs! Are they any good?” I couldn’t believe they hadn’t tried the BBQ Tonight mutton ribs! This had to be a night of gastronomic expansions; and we ordered them.

I have been known to enjoy (more-than) my fair share of food! I am also known to flirt with cooking and experiment with new tastes. Knowing this, Amna suggested that I start up a blog, where I could write about my ‘gastronomic escapades’ and what dishes I had found buried in the various restaurant menus. I could even write about my experiences in various restaurants and what I liked/didn’t like about them. Her idea struck a chord and thus this blog was born!

Cheers,

Ashar