Lal Qila Restaurant, main Shahrah-e-Faisal

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Lal Qila is a famous buffet restaurant located on main Shahrah-e-Faisal.
The whole structure has been designed as a fort and constructed with red bricks, hence the name.
We visited it over a year ago, so this review is very late. But better late than never, as they say.

For the current rates of buffet lunch, hi-tea and dinner, please visit the Lal Qila website.

The massive wooden entrance doors lead into the main reception area.

The compact seating area at the reception has been designed traditionally.

Once they get the go-ahead, the customers enter the main restaurant area, which is open-air.

There is an indoor dining room and a play area for little children (both not pictured above) as well. 

An artificial fountain and waterfall on one side provide the pleasant sound of running water - a real bonus for the outdoor diners.

This red-brick building next to the entrance/exit houses the children's play area and office (not pictured).
The play area is designed completely in wood as a small fort! Very nice idea. Children were delighted.

For lunch, cloth awnings are temporarily erected to provide shade to the diners who choose to dine outside.



Since we decided to have lunch here on a weekday during winter, we chose to dine alfresco.

The washroom (where we go to wash our hands) was very clean, but in dire need of some maintenance and repair.
Notice how the mirrors and tissue-box are done up to match the decor of the restaurant?

There is a sitting area on an upstairs terrace as well, which these stairs lead to.
It was not open for lunch.

The drapes/awnings don't look all that elegant for a high-end restaurant, yeah, and they hide the grandeur of the red-brick architecture of the 'fort' juxtaposed against the blue sky during the day, but one must admit that they are direly needed to shield diners from the intense midday heat of the sun (even during winters!).

The view of the "fort" above the awnings.

There is a central 'square' that houses the food area, where customers can help themselves to the food from large bronze/copper-colored pots.

Prawn Tempura

Fried fresh for diners.

Fried Potatoes

I really have no idea what these were or why they were there?!

The BBQ station is off to one side.
 It serves tikka and kababs in chicken and beef, barbecued live.

Live BBQ: Chicken seekh kababs, Chicken Tikka, and Beef seekh kababs, in that order.

The salad, sauce/chutney and dessert bar.
It looks messy in the picture above, but that is the customers' fault. Everything in the salad bar was very fresh.

My child's plate (from top right): prawn tempura, pasta salad, and a piece of fish

Clockwise from top right:

Fried Fish, Prawn Tempura, Chinese Egg Fried Rice, Chicken in Sweet and Sour Sauce, Beef in Black Pepper Sauce, and Vegetable Thin Mien

Samandri Heera - boneless fried fish

There were handi's with Haleem and Nihari, along with their accompanying garnishes.

There were Chapli Kababs being fried live as well. 

Fried fish and prawn tempura again, with sauces (such as tartar sauce) from the salad bar.

From left: Chicken Biryani, Aaloo Bhujia, Cholay (partitioned in the same container) and a tray for fresh Puri's

At this station, the chefs also knead, roll out, and deep-fry fresh puri's and kachori's

The dough balls for the puri's, and a very orange-colored Suji ka Halwa

Khubani ka Meetha, Jelly Mousse, and Chickpea salad

Potato salad, Arabic Labban, Oriental salad and Pasta salad

No traditional buffet at a Pakistani restaurant would be complete without this popular dessert: hot and tender Gulab Jamans floating in their oozy sweet syrup.

BBQ Kababs, Fried Rice and Black Pepper Beef.

Doesn't the barbecued mince look delectable?

Hot n Sour Soup with chicken and shrimps

Soft drinks are provided in cans

A tall glass of sweet lassi for Rs 70

Titled as "Dil ki Thandak" on the menu, this was the best lassi I have ever had! And I am not even a big fan of the drink. 

We all shared this huge glass of fresh wholesomeness. 

Ice cream, khubani ka meetha, and jelly

Lab-e-Shireen, Khubani ka meetha, and gulab jaman

Verdict: I think the above photographs speak amply in favor of the quality and freshness of the food. Sorry if they made you drool on an empty stomach!

The floor of the restaurant was not very clean (I suppose because it is open-air?) but everything else was more than satisfactory, especially the quality of the food.

I would recommend going to Lal Qila for lunch instead of dinner, because at the latter time, the entire restaurant is extremely crowded, especially on weekends, and the platters empty very quickly (taking time to be replenished), especially the salad bar. There are long queues in front of the fried items.

We should try to support our local restaurants in addition to, if not more than, foreign food franchises, because they are making a mark for themselves by consistently providing a quality dining experience and catering services in the face of stiff international competition, rising inflation, and a struggling economy faced with political chaos.

Kudos to Lal Qila for not just surviving, but thriving, in the local food-scape of Karachi.

Nursery Fish Point, Nursery, off main Shahrah-e-Faisal

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ 

Someone recently informed us about one of Karachi's well-kept culinary secrets:

a small, make-shift kiosk off main Shahrah-e-Faisal called Nursery Fish Point, that does delicious, fresh fried fish at affordable rates.

It is located in the side lane off main Shahrah-e-Faisal just in front of the prominent HBL (Habib Bank Limited) building that is almost directly opposite Hotel Faran, which is located right across from it on the other side of the main double road. Hard to miss.

A few street lights illuminate three stalls that discreetly start doing business soon after sundown every day, five days a week. 

The chicken soup selling stall is visible in the picture above.

And this is the main fish-selling stall that does good business. 

The third, Haleem stall (titled "Tasty Haleem") is visible to its right. 

Ad-hoc, make-shift roadside seating arrangements are present around these three kiosks. 

Very few vehicles pass along these dimly-lit lanes at night.

The masala-marinated boneless fish fillets are visible in the large tray above.

You can avail these fillets without masala too, if you want them mild in taste, by specifying this to the seller before they are fried. We opted for masala-less fish for our children.

One-fourth (quarter) kilogram of Finger Fish (a single plate) costs Rs 150

Both White Pomfret and Black Pomfret are available, priced at around Rs 600-700 per kilogram. One kilo yields 2-3 fish. 

They also have Mushka. 

The kiosk is boldly titled "Nursery Fish Point" in Urdu.

Chicken Soup with boiled egg topping - Rs 25

It is hard to believe that such a satisfying bowl of chicken soup can cost so less. Alhamdulillah! I preferred it without the boiled egg.

Single plate of Finger Fish (sans masala) (1/4 kg, or quarter kilogram) - Rs 150

Double plate of Finger Fish - Rs 300

You can see the masala sprinkled on top of the fillets.
The fish was fresh, tasty and really tender. 

Chapati's -Rs 10 each

Chicken Haleem, Rs 35

This was the best haleem I have had in a long time! It had the sticky-strand texture that is reminiscent of haleem's prepared on slow fires in days of yore, without the help of any modern-day short-cuts, such as blenders and food processors. 

Verdict: This is quintessential Karachi street-food dining at its best! Need more be said? Its winter! Go grab that piping hot soup, fish and haleem during the current breezy, chilly Karachi winter nights, before the sweltering summer sets in. :)

The Revolving Restaurant, Caesar's Tower, Shahrah-e-Faisal

I had only heard of The Revolving Restaurant and seen it from my car window as I peered upwards sometimes whilst passing by Caesar's Tower on main Shahrah-e-Faisal. I'd spot a round shape atop the tall building adorned by glittering, multi-colored lights, and wonder if it really did rotate as its name implied.

Finally, on one of the last nights of Ramadan, after the culmination of taraweeh, we decided to give this famed restaurant a try.

The entrance to Caesars Tower boasts of its 'crowning glory', so to speak.

From the entrance to the Caesars Tower building, we were guided to one of several elevators that would take us to the rooftop restaurant.

We seemed to be the only customers, and after entering the restaurant, we were told that indeed, business during Ramadan was very low.

This winding staircase took us to the entrance of the restaurant. I liked how Allah's name was printed on the welcoming placard!

The restaurant is circular, working somewhat like a disk. The seats and tables were on the rotating part of this disk, whilst the glass windows and the central portion, where the food platters are kept, remained fixed. 

This is the central, circular room that remains fixed as you revolve. The food platters are placed along its circular periphery.

The soup counter - there were two kinds of soup: Chicken Corn and Cream of Chicken Soup

The view of Karachi from the windows. The restaurant completes one full circle in an hour and a half, so that your view keeps discreetly changing.

Like I said, we were the only ones dining that night, a rare and unusual occurrence that we actually ended up enjoying because of the added privacy.  

All in all, the decor and ambience was nice.

The salad bar was mediocre - average fare you'll find at any regular wedding or restaurant.

The desserts were disappointingly stale and shoddy. Most of the items, though probably enjoyable when fresh, were either stale or so broken-down in appearance (due to being taken haphazardly) that I did not feel inclined to have anything except the ice cream.
What was on offer: fresh cream pineapple cake, creme caramel or caramel pudding, chocolate cake, jelly, fruit trifle, fruit chaat, chocolate mousse, sheer khurma, strawberry cake, and strawberry ice cream (not pictured).  

The dinner menu, on the other hand, was much better in quality and taste. This was the Mutton Kunna.

Whole fried batair.

Vegetable Chow Mien. This was very well-made and tasty. 

Chinese Chicken Szechuan 

Chinese vegetable fried rice.

Prawn Tempura and Pasta in Creamy White Sauce were also part of the menu, and is visible on this plate. In the middle is the Dry Beef with Chillies that was also on offer in the chinese fare.


Other dishes that were there, pictures of which I could not snap but which I can just quote from memory, were: Soup, Mutton Biryani, Chicken Shashlik, Chicken Tikka Boti, seekh kabab, Arabic paratha, Naan, and spicy Lahori fried fish. 

Doodh patti chai to finish off. 

All in all, I liked the experience, even though some of the items on offer were obviously not freshly prepared. The price per head came to Rs 600- Rs 700. There were extra charges for our soft drinks and tea. Our children, aged 5 and 3, were not charged.

Note: Some people might feel slightly dizzy when the restaurant revolves. Even though, most of the time, you cannot feel the movement, there are some points in its cycle when the floor wobbles more, at which point you definitely feel your stomach become a wee bit queasy. :)

Our children loved the novel, unusual experience of dining high in the sky in a restaurant that moves, with a spectacular view that keeps changing, so families with children might definitely enjoy dining here. The experience and food is worth the money, in my opinion. The staff was very friendly and welcoming of children, a point you can gauge by the fact that my son accidentally broke a glass and they all laughed it off and refused to charge us for it despite our insistence! :) *phew* The waiters, on the contrary, were too busy playing catch with our children to mind their naughtiness!

The Revolving Restaurant of Karachi has its own updated website. You can visit it here.