During a longish stint in Karachi recently, I was impressed with the slew of new restaurants that have opened. The ones I visited seem popular, although their food was generally fairly pedestrian. It never ceases to amaze me that a city of 20 million plus does not have more outstanding eating establishments. They seem to suffer from both a dearth of ideas and a shortage of culinary skills. Even desi restaurants are more of the same, devoid of innovation and imagination.

Of course, many of them produce excellent traditional dishes but my objection is about how few of them have bothered to go to the next level in terms of presentation and ambience. An exception is the excellent East End in Karachi’s Clifton area. I have only been there once but was impressed by the innovative menu as well as the décor. Bohri cuisine is a wonderful South Asian culinary tradition, with its clean flavours and elegant presentation.

So when I was invited for a tasting at the Funky Crow, The East End’s new cousin, I was intrigued and immediately accepted the invitation. The Funky Crow is located above The East End, and both share a very conveniently located car park. The walls of the new restaurant are lined with old wooden doors that have been scraped clean, and provide a warm, rustic surface.

An innovative way of serving food is being experimented on in a new eatery in town

As the Crow had not formally opened, our party of eight were the only diners there, and were greeted by a pleasant, knowledgeable manager who informed us that we would be getting a fixed tasting menu. The idea was to offer different guests a number of dishes, and gauge their reactions through a questionnaire we were asked to fill at the end of our meal.

Starters arrived in three waffle cones each: beef, prawns and veggie curries were the fillers, and I thought the beef was particularly good. Large chillies with a spiced mincemeat filling arrived next, served on wooden platters. Robust flavour, elegantly delivered. The main course was a dramatic presentation in large glass jars: after placing them on a nearby table, the waiter proceeded to place smoking pieces of charcoal in each before sealing them for a minute or two. The charcoal was then removed and the jars placed before us. Some contained a mixture of rice and prawn curry, while the rest had a meat curry.

The dessert was possibly the best thing on the menu, served in small clay pots and consisting of thickened milk khoya. I could have consumed several, but the restaurant had only catered for the eight of us, alas.

So what did I make of it all? First, full marks to the two moving spirits behind both The East End and the Funky Crow for breaking out of our desi culinary straitjacket. It was a huge relief to find somebody experimenting with the way food is cooked and served. But I’m not wholly convinced that waffle cones provide the best delivery system for starters. Perhaps one would have been ample, but three? That’s two too many for me, especially with more food to come. However, this was a tasting menu, and I have no doubt the owners and chef will refine it further before they open.

The smoky curries are certainly a good idea, and are the direct descendants of North Indian creations where lit charcoal was placed on a shard of pottery before being put inside a pot where a curry or a daal had been prepared. Now, you can use a doubled piece of foil instead of clay. This technique gives a lovely smoky flavour to the dish. But I’m not convinced that the curries should arrive in the same container as the rice: those of us who don’t eat that much rice ought to have the option to have a smaller portion.

These caveats apart, I’m dying to return to Karachi when The Funky Crow will be open and hitting its stride.

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 8th, 2018