KARACHI: You are in China, you think. The red theme, aromas and flavours of traditional Chinese dishes, music and images from China playing on the screen pretty much take you over the Karakorum, but then the sparking spoons and forks, chilled bottled water and local faces bring you back to Pakistan.

We were celebrating the culture and cuisines of China on Thursday, the opening day of the Chinese food festival at the Tai Pan restaurant of the Pearl Continental Karachi.

Due to the popularity of Chinese food in Pakistan, the restaurant was jam-packed rather early, even before the inauguration by consul general of China Ma Ya’ou along with consul general of Switzerland Emil Wyss and consul general of Russia Oleg N. Avdeev, and chef Xiao Bing from China was rather pleased. “I’ve prepared 20 to 30 special items and also flown in special spices, including Sichuan pepper and vegetables, specially from China,” he said.

But PC’s executive chef Hussain Shah said despite that most of the dishes had a touch of Pakistan so that they could be appreciated by local palates, too. “We have most of the ingredients used in the cooking of these dishes available right here in our markets, especially the Empress Market,” he said.

Though there was just one soup, Chinese gruel, for starter, the dishes included Chicken string with spicy Sichuan sauce, Hong Kong fried noodles, prawns with orange sauce, steamed rice with sweet potato, dry fried crab with garlic, dim sum and freshly fried prawns. There was only one shredded beef dish and one marinated mutton stuffed with pancakes dish which resembled shawarma. All the rest had chicken, fish, prawns or crab meat.

It would have been nice also if the sweet dishes could carry labels for the ones with a sweet tooth to also be educated about them. Still the fried apples and bananas, which looked like pakoras sprinkled with sugar, were delicious.

Mahnoor Zaidi, public relations manager at the PC, said that it was an ideal time for experiencing the flavours of China just before Eidul Azha. “The festival will continue for another three days, Sunday included, after which we would all be eating meat for sure during Eid,” she laughed. The usual per head cost at Tai Pan’s buffet is Rs1,800 plus tax, but it is Rs1,699 plus tax for the duration of the festival.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2014