Low Hanging Olives!

February 22, 2011: It's a strange thing to turn 30, but Mahreen did it with so much flair. It is in honour of her birthday that I come out of my usual laziness to update this blog.

After huge debates and lots of tantrums we went to a place called Olivetto which is right next to the Russian Consulate.

We seemed to scare the guy at the desk when we told him the population of his new restaurant was about to hit double figures (12 people). But they managed to pull some tables together. Olivettos had a lunch time deal which was actually pretty reasonable, Rs. 750 for a choice of soups as a starter, a main course and dessert.

I ordered the Tomato soup, Sirloin steak as the main course and dessert was the creme brulee with a shikanjbeen for drinks.

They eventually brought the soup, which was actually pretty nice, not a Knorr soup as we were expecting. Danish got a 'complimentary' soup which he was charged for later.

Then came my steak, finally a place that did not forget my order. The steak was a little too well done to the point that it was too dry, and it seemed unmarinaded. Being very hungry I ate the entire thing but was left quite disappointed due to a thorough lack of flavour.

The creme brulee came after a 10 minute wait, I'm not a sweet-ivore so I'll hold back my comments, however, my team seemed to like it a lot.

Overall, other than the company, it was a disappointing experience. The service was slow, but they did not mix up any orders. The main course was weak and the shikanjbeen was a tad bit of saving grace, but not by much. I will never willingly go back to Olivetto again, however, it avoids the blacklist out of respect for Mahreen's big day!!

Bon Apetit,

Z

Shikanjbeen

Sirloin Steak

Room Service At The Office

June 17th, 2010: This is just something I have to mention, I ordered in with a couple of friends from a only place called 'Room Service'. I had tried it out with some friends when it opened up and had some consistency issues, but, people had been telling me for a while that the place had gotten it's act together. It was about time I gave it another shot.

They have a menu that has a good range, pastas, burgers, salads, soups etc. The Prices were not exactly very cheap but considering the serving per order they sent over, it was pretty reasonable.

I found the Beef in Oyster and Mushroom Sauce to be an interesting option, but, on recommendation by Hufsa I ordered the Beef Teppanyaki. They said they would deliver in 30 minutes and they lived up to that promise. The food got here warm and on time.

The Teppanyaki looked brilliant even in the food saver, I'm sorry there are no pictures because at the time it just did not cross my mind, I was more focused on eating the food.

Enough about the setup, lets talk about the food itself.

My greatest fear with beef is that some chef's out of an attempt to churn out food at a quick pace, leave it slightly undercooked, no such worries here. The food was very well cooked and the balance of meat and vegetables was pretty okay, I can't even complain that there were more veggies than meat.

The food tasted fantastic, there was a very healthy serving and I finished it all. Nothing was under or over cooked, even the rice and the vegetables and there wasn't too much or too less of any spice. It was all just right. The proportions of the ingredients was balanced out very well. Points scored for Room Service that gave me a pretty good meal.

Overall, a marked improvement from the last time, this time I was impressed. I just have one question and one recommendation. The question is: what is up with all the asterisks in the menu? The recommendation is: Punh-leeze send over some better cutlery! The plastic forks and knives are just sad!

Menu below! Give it a whirl and leave a comment!

Cheers,

Z

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

Gyro-scopic Stability

March 1st, 2010: We found this new place, well new to us, Pitacos. We wanted something new delivered to the office and this place kinda fit the bill. The menu was pretty interesting ranging from salads, tacos and sandwiches. The price was pretty reasonable too, Rs. 170 for a gyro seemed like not too bad a deal.

The menu that we found was nicely worded, there was a fair bit of humour involved in the ordering process. It was quite a huge task ordering a gyro called the "Al Pachino Beef" and not making it sound gay. Everyone had their fun with their orders.

Pitacos has a policy that entitles you to a 10% discount if you order before 12:30. Needless to say the ordering was timed to perfection that we availed the said discount. The food took around an hour to arrive and it came to roughly Rs. 200 per head.

The food came with its own set of challenges, the first was deciphering which meal was which. The tacos were the easiest to figure out but the gyros were simply labeled beef and chicken. Yasir had to call up the Pitacos for a tutorial on figuring out the orders. After substantial amount of confusion, we all dug in, much to our disappointment. They were all completely flat, no flavour whatsoever!

It seemed that the meat was simply boiled and stuffed in. Not to take away from Pitacos, the gyros were pretty well stuffed with meat, vegetables and sauces, but the overarching problem was, nobody could taste any of it! How they managed that... I do not know. Even the tacos were "Nasty and tasted a couple of days old!" complained Shazia. It was so bad, that Hasnain and Mahreen did not even finish their gyros. I did not hear a single good comment from anyone who was part of the gyro party.

We all unanimously decided that we were not ordering from Pitacos any time soon. This has proudly landed Pitacos on the blacklist. So people! If you are thinking Pitacos... Change your minds!

Regards,

Z

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