Ten Flew Into The Cuckoo's Nest

February 26th, 2010: It was Misbah's last day in the office and we all wanted to take her somewhere special for her final farewell lunch. The destination of choice: Cafe Koel. It was 10 people from the office who were part of the goodbye lunch.

I called ahead and asked them to hold a table for us, which they did despite the fact that they don't reserve tables and they were nice enough to call up while we were on our way there to check if we were still coming.

It was a nice place nestled away on the same road as Cafe Flo. I would have missed it if my friends didn't already know where it was. The courtyard was pretty cool but our table was inside and we found that our long table was occupied by a group of our own people who had gotten there first and two complete strangers. In all fairness, the table was divided by some sort of fishbowl.

For starters we had Strawberry Salad, Artichoke Dip, Chicken Potato Salad, Sesame Chicken and Chicken Bites. The strawberry salad was simply awesome! There is no other way to describe it. The sesame chicken had a hair in it which was promptly removed when pointed out. Overall the starters were very well made and then came the famous 'Shikanjbeen' which actually made me a fan of the place. It's something you have to try out for yourself.

The starters had given raised the bar that I was finally hoping that I had found the one place with absolutely nothing wrong with it. But, alas, no such luck. I had ordered the grilled chicken in mushroom sauce, it came looking superb but tasted a little flat. The chicken was oddly tasteless even with the mushroom sauce on it. The strongest flavour in the entire dish was the pepper.

I thought that I was the only one who felt like that but most of the people were not fans of the main course meals. All of which looked fantastic in terms of presentation and there were healthy servings of each dish. Shazia couldn't finish the prawns she had ordered because they were too tough.Faisal our GM could not finish his fish and called for a drink called Fire and Ice whic came out looking very cool with a red chilli on to of it and according to Faisal it tasted spicy.

Overall, I'd recommend Koel for the starters and the 'Shikanjbeen' but the food really did not make an impact. However, it was a good experience eating there but I have a fun gang that I hang out with and we'll probably make any eating experience fun.

But, this lunch was about sayng goodbye to ojne of our own. Misbah is leaving us for a bigger task that life has offered her. I believe I speak for everyone when I say, Misbah, best of luck for the futre and I hope you have a wonderful life ahead of you. Remember us in your prayers and keep reading my blog!

Cheers,

Z

Qulcha Sandwich

Grilled Chicken With Mushrooms


Fire and Ice

Going With The Flo!

Tuesday 19th January, 2010: We threw a farewell party for one of my good friend Aisha,who is leaving Ogilvy, at Cafe Flo. It was just me with 5 chicks at Cafe Flo! Yes people! It is so!

The place was a little hard to notice, being nestled away inside a 'gali' past Abdullah Shah Ghazi Mazar. It was actually pretty nice in terms of outlook, it was pretty cozy. I decided to order a "Number 31", its a name I still have trouble pronouncing, Paupiettes Du Poulet Farcies (saved the name in my phone at the bequest of Mahreen). Smoked veal wrapped inside chicken breast with musrooms and for my drink I had a 'Bango', just because the name has a certain ring to it :)

The Bango came early, and I have forgotten what it tasted like. Why, is probably what you are thinking and believe me I have a pretty darn good reason.

It took forever for our food to arrive and we had a bit of a run in, over the extremely late starter salad, with a waiter who seemed to be in a bad mood. Points subtracted immediately! The STARTER salad actually came after the main course was already on the table and people had already started eating.

With all the grief we endured waiting for our food, the taste of the Bango, it all disappeared when I dug into the steak. It was heavenly! The mushrooms, the veal and the chicken blended seamlessly to make this beautiful creation which I recommend everyone to try atleast once before they die. The sweet potato on the side, should have been replaced with more of the steak! The meat was very well cooked all the way through, and properly marinated, and did not have that fake "steamed chicken" texture that other places have.

It is refreshing to finally have eaten a meal which I can find absolutly nothing wrong with. Bravo to the cook! Flo can try paying their staff a little more just to keep them in a good mood. That is the only territory where Flo loses points.

Cheers,

Z