Revenge of The Patio

March 9th, 2010: Let me start off by saying thank you to all my friends for this day. It was my birthday and they all took me out for a birthday lunch at a place called The Patio. Smita who drove us all around, Mahreen who bought me a wonderful book on Karachi title Karachiwalas, Yasir, Aneela and Hufsa. It was a day like none other, I did not know any better, I'd say birthdays seem to get better the older you get! Thanks guys for a great Tuesday!

Anyhoo... Down to the eating part!

The Patio is located down the street from Flo and Koel. It's a nice place when you first walk in, with a nice and sunny environment, something like a cafe in a tropical island. We ordered starters, the Honey Lotus Stems, the Melting Mushrooms and Calamari Rings, which were actually quite nice and set the stage for a fairly decent meal to come.

Little did we know.... I ordered the Veal Medallions with Mushroom, Yasir had the Vegetarian Platter, Mahreen and Smita had the Grilled Chicken Tournedos, Hufsa ordered the Mushroom Crepes and Aneela had the Quesadillas.

The food was actually a little decent, at first. I actually liked my veal medallions even though they were not cooked all the way through, which made them slightly chewy. Hufsa hated her crepes which were basically pancakes. There were no major complaints while having the food. Even the "Limupani" we had was ok even though it was Mitchell's Squash with pepper ground into it.

I cannot tell you how much it cost, because I did not pay! A perk of being the birthday boy!

Let me now explain the "Little did we know" which is above. When we got back to the office Smita started feeling slightly uneasy. Mahreen had the same thing and upon coordination we found out that they both were feeling uneasy. Smita did not come in the next day and Mahreen was really sick after wards. On top of it all, me, the birthday boy, who had an interesting dinner planned, had tummy issues!! Later on we found out that Yasir was in the same boat as us. Hufsa did not finish her pancake roll and Aneela has not had any complaints... yet!

Even though that was a very good day for me, but I have had no complaints from the gang about this, The Patio very easily makes the blacklist. Never will I go there again nor will I suggest it to anyone else. If you are in the neighbourhood and feel the munchies, go to Flo or Koel. That is the best advice I can give anyone, stay as far away from The Patio as possible.

You have been warned!

Regards,

Z

The Patio's patio

Veal Medallions

Vegetable Platter

Grilled Chicken Tournedos

Quesadillas

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