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

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

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