The Cakery, Tauheed Commercial, Defence Phase 5

The Cakery is the brainchild of Aamina Jehangir, a young entrepreneur and extremely talented baker, which is located right opposite the famous ice cream parlor called The Hot Spot in Tauheed commercial area, Defence phase 5. 

I first chanced upon the Facebook page of The Cakery and was immediately smitten by the photos of Aamina's delectable-looking cakes.

The Cakery is not a spacious cafe or hustling bustling eatery full of staff and customers.
It is a quaint, quiet little nook where you can enjoy some delicious baked sweet goodies, savory snacks and beverages in peace and quiet.

The undisputed "champ" of The Cakery - Red Velvet cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting, priced at Rs 140
Undoubtedly, Red Velvet cake (also available in bigger sizes) is the star of the menu at the Cakery. 

A slightly melted Red Velvet cupcake and a Peanut Butter cupcake. Rs 140 each.
The cream cheese frosting on the Red Velvet cupcake didn't stand much chance under the Karachi June heat. Who does? :)
I tasted the Peanut Butter cupcake and found the icing too sweet for my taste. However, I admit that I have never been a big fan of peanut butter any way.

Chocolate Ganache cupcake (left) and Hazelnut Stuffed cupcake (right) - again, Rs 140 each.
The latter has a blob/core of Nutella inside, which you get to eat as you break apart the cupcake while eating it. Hence the name. :)
I love the Cakery's Hazelnut cupcake! It is truly one-of-a-kind!

The slightly melted frosting is because of the excessive June heat of Karachi (yes, this post got a bit <*cough*> late in getting published).
By the time the cupcake box reached our home, it had to be instantly placed inside the fridge!

Double Chocolate cupcake - Rs 140

The cupcake box carries a menu of all the cupcake flavors available at The Cakery. The Chocoberry and Mint cupcakes are the only ones left for me to try.

Verdict: The Cakery's baked goods are definitely overpriced, but the great taste and superior quality of ingredients used, are guaranteed. If you want to support a young entreprenuer who works hard upon each product and regularly creates new and interesting culinary innovations, then do head over to the Cakery in Tauheed Commercial area, or pick up the phone to place your order.

For more details (and to view tons of delectable, mouth-watering product photos, check out the Cakery's Facebook Page). You can also view more details about it over at KarachiSnob.

S Abdul Khaliq's Mithai and Bake Shop, Clifton

S. Abdul Khaliq Sweets is a famous, household name in Pakistan that is now synonymous with "sweetmeat", or mithai.

One of its branches is located in Clifton behind the prominent Jan's Broast that is clearly visible on the main road as you go towards Boat Basin.

The spacious outlet is brightly lit and houses wide counters tantalizingly displaying their large variety of sweet products. No surprise that it does thriving business. 

On one side, lining the walls, are the different eye-catching and decorative packages that you can gift your purchased sweets to others in.

Think engagement, wedding and baby birth announcements that are customarily announced with a box of mithai in our culture!

There is a small bakery too, within the shop premises.

It offers everything a traditional Pakistani bakery would, from cookies and cakes, to packets of nimco.

 

As you can see, some of the cakes are pretty avant garde. 

You can view more of the cake variety offered at S. Abdul Khaliq by visiting their Facebook page.

Pateesa (the white, flaky rounds packed in plastic, visible in the top left corner of the above photo) is a vintage specialty at S. Abdul Khaliq.

Interestingly, they offer several flavors of pateesa and barfi, for example orange, rose and coconut (check out the trays at the bottom in the picture above).

Luddoo's, quintessentially sunflower-yellow coconut barfi, and other goodies. 

More decorative, aesthetically appealing boxes to gift sweets in.

Incidentally, we used the pink ones to announce the recent birth of our second daughter. :)

Its obvious the blue ones are for baby boys.

Round, syrup-drenched dollops of decadent dessert-delights: Gulab Jamuns, and Chum Chum. 

Drooling yet? :)

More variety of Pateesa.

Sohan and Habshi Halwa are another specialty of S. Abdul Khaliq, which keep their customers repeatedly coming back for more. These can also be bought in tins.

They also offer Ras Malai.

I was offered to taste this as part of my feature review of S. Abdul Khaliq for FCPakistan.com. You can read it here.

The Ras Malai was very light and sweet in flavor and the cottage cheese balls in it did not break apart, yet were perfectly soft.

It is true that as far as signature Pakistani desserts go, S. Abdul Khaliq really takes the cake (pun intended)!

I was also asked to try their different kinds of pateesa and barfi. 

They keep experimenting with their products to come up with new innovations by combining different types of mithai e.g. new flavors are added to barfi and pateesa, then both are layered together by sandwiching them with a rich filling of nuts.

In the picture above, you can also spot the tasty Sohan Halwa on top.

Verdict: The pictures above are worth a thousand words, aren't they? In my opinion, the mithai  at S. Abdul Khaliq is one of the best in the city. In particular, just by tasting their products, you can see that the ghee (clarified butter) that they use to make mithai is of high quality.

Their hasbhi halwa (which I couldn't photograph) is also one of the best available in K-town.

They now offer free delivery as well. Check out their website for more details.

Dunkin' Donuts, Clifton

This outlet is located in Clifton near Schon Circle.

It was this deal that caught our attention. And, admittedly, we realized that we had never visited any Dunkin' Donuts outlet (!), so it was high time we tried it out, especially with two children aged 4 and 2.

I really liked the spacious ambience. It combined cafe style seating with a la carte restaurant dining. The perfect combination for a place that attracts all: families, executives, couples and the elderly. Notice the flat-screen television that is a part of all eateries nowadays.

This section offers a more "restaurant style" dining experience.

Did you happen to notice the lights? They are shaped like doughnuts. What a classy idea!

There is self-service.

Needs no caption! Except perhaps......drool. :)

Children get really excited in front of this doughnut display; sort of like "Alice" in her "Wonderland".

Cinnamon Roll, two Chocolate Doughnuts and Cappuccino. This fare cost us a modest Rs 250. We ate our fill of dessert for the night, satisfied. Everything was great in taste and quality!

For a place with such a great ambience, the food is not pricey at all - well, that is, if it is compared to the other, more "cramped" eateries in the city's so-called "posh" locales, which charge an arm and a leg for a few imported artichokes and baby corns that they throw in with their steaks! At least, here, you have the option to sit and dine in such a way that your conversation is kept private and the adjoining dining table is not within arm's reach.

Verdict: I don't know why I never went to Dunkin' Donuts before with my children! I guess that means we will be going there again, insha'Allah. :) It is also a good place to take a friend visiting from out of town, for a quiet mid-morning coffee, dessert and chat.

Chatterbox Cafe/Pie In The Sky, Zamzama

Located in the corner of 9th Commercial Lane, Zamzama, in Defence Phase 5, Karachi.

The plants outside add to its quaint, cozy touch.

The Pie In The Sky bakery is inside Chatterbox.

The menu has soups and snacks such as sandwiches, wraps, in addition to beverages and desserts. A bit pricy.

The wall was lined with books to allow customers to read for free whilst at the cafe. I liked this idea! They even had children's picture books.

The cafe's decor is very warm and cozy.

Grilled Chicken on Brown Bread, Rs 295. It was quite good!

Hot Chocolate for ~ Rs 150

Blueberry shake

Verdict: more a girly/family kind of place where you can relax and have a cuppa. I liked it. Might go there again when a friend visits from out of town.