When a friend first told me about La Mexicana Dhaba at the Defence ‘A’ Commercial Market walk-in food street located in Karachi’s DHA Phase 2, I made a mental note to visit it soon. And then, one day not soon after, the opportunity presented itself while I was driving by with a friend.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the entire area has miraculously been transformed into a food street with a cosy sitting area, flanked by popular fast-food outlets such as Kaybees III, Eaton, Mr Burger, Subway, and even Student Biryani and Dunkin Donuts, with the popular A-One Snacks also within arm’s reach.

But let’s stick to La Mexicana Dhaba here, which is operated and managed by the mother-and-son duo of Mrs Malik and Sherjan Malik, a Szabist business graduate, since February 14 this year.

The first thing that strikes you is the cleanliness of the place and attention to detail while preparing the food on the menu. Both mother and son share the tasks and, while she takes care of the cooking process with her very neat white chiffon dupatta placed firmly on her head, he preps the order and presentation while wearing a sombrero (traditional Mexican hat). Together, they present a formidable food force indeed.

Mexican fast-food just got an upgrade, thanks to Karachi’s La Mexicana Dhaba... and, who knows, it could be the next big thing

We decided to give the ‘Chicken Tacos’ a try. With their juicy homemade chicken, fresh veggies cut julienne-style, and a special taco sauce infused with sour cream wrapped in two soft tortilla wraps, both my friend and I agreed that it felt like a Mexican-themed party in our mouths.

Next, and already feeling half-full, we decided to give the ‘Loaded Messy Nachos’ a go. These were crunchy tortilla chips layered with hot homemade cheese sauce, some zesty Mexican sauces, veggies, juicy chicken and jalapenos. The meaty, cheesy sauce did things to our palettes that we had never experienced before.

Too full to even look at another food item now, we nevertheless both gazed longingly at the ‘La Mexi Burrito’ on the menu, made with a soft tortilla wrap filled with juicy chicken, Mexican rice, beans, fresh veggies and zesty Mexican sauces. Then, there was also the ‘Pizza Quesadilla’, with its crispy tortilla shell, loaded with tender fajita chicken, mozzarella cheese, caramelised veggies and topped with oregano. Alas, we both agreed that gazing was the most we could do and trying these items was a task best left for another day.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that all the food at La Mexicana Dhaba comes with an extremely reasonable price tag, as our total bill for the binge hardly reached four figures. As the extremely lovable and adorable Mexican mouse character of Speedy Gonzales from Looney Tunes would say: “Arriba, arriba... Andale, andale!” [Up, up… come on, come on!].

The writer is a member of staff. He tweets @faisal_quraishi

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 25th, 2025