Fried crab with black pepper
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.