Venus Cafe, Carlton Hotel, Defence phase 8

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Sometimes one wants to go to a quiet place for a simple bite to eat. A place where there will be no crowds and no noise.

Someone had told me about a cafe at Carlton Hotel that serves decent enough food round the clock, and is almost always quiet, so that one can have a cup of coffee or dessert there in peace.

So we decided to give it a try some months ago. 

Actually, my restaurant reviews have been getting delayed by more than a few months this year. 

Although I try to, I don't always get around to finishing off and publishing my pending drafts as quickly as I'd like.

So, truth be told, I actually visited this cafe in February this year!

The hotel lobby is spacious and sprawling.

And eerily silent. :)

The balconies outside the hotel rooms on the upper floors are clearly visible from the main foyer. 

 

Well decorated with creepers and indoor greens. 

Next to this huge, winding spiral staircase that is clearly visible from the main lobby, lies Venus Cafe.

I always like open interior plans. 

The cafe has no concrete walls, and is located on the ground floor of the hotel just off the main reception area, next to the huge spiral staircase.

  

There are half-walls around it that offer partial privacy.

Wicker furniture adds an informal touch to the whole place.

An indoor tree planted in it's midst, and a short wrought iron fence - all in all, a different ambiance, eh?

There are some tables in the cafe that have couches, which are cordoned off by the short wrought iron 'fences' for a little more privacy, I guess. A small bar is located adjacent to it. (We asked, and were told that no alcoholic drinks are served at the bar) 

Now to the menu....

The menu offers a variety of sweet snacks and savories that you'd find at any patisserie or cafe, such as croissants, brownies, and pizza, in addition to other munchies and main dishes.

There are starters, soups and sandwiches too. I hope you can read the prices - somewhat lower than standard hotel rates.  

More for the sweet tooth..

Hot and cold beverages. 

The coffee prices are a bit on the lower side, compared to other places.

Apparently they have a hi-tea buffet as well.

Call them before going though (+92-21-111-727-272), as this review is not based on a recent visit.

  

We ordered a club sandwich - Rs 295 plus tax.

Cheese Cigars (Sticks) - Rs 190 + tax

Check out the melted mozzarella oozing out of that crumbed stick!

It was good. 

Accompanying condiments: a mustard-based sauce and mayo (or was it tartar sauce? I can't recall).

Cold Coffee and Fruit Trifle.

The cafe seemed quite short-staffed. There was just one waiter in attendance, since no other customer was there besides us. Heh!

This was actually quite yummy, as it was fresh. I remember that much. :)

Verdict: A small, quiet place that offers a chance to have a quick coffee or snack-like meal if one wants to avoid crowds and the hustle-bustle of busy and cramped cafes and restaurants. Not to mention, the washrooms near Venus Cafe are very clean. The food is above average but nothing out of the ordinary. 

Keep in mind that Carlton Hotel lies way off in one corner of the city (further ahead on the same road as DA Creek Club and DA Marina Club), so you'll need extra fuel to reach there, unless you live in or near Defence phase 8. 

Tutti Frutti, Zamzama

It is quite obvious now that in Karachi, ice cream seems to be going out of fashion, and frozen yogurt (known colloquially as "froyo") is taking its place as the next "in" dessert thing.
International brands such as Snog and Tutti Frutti are endorsing this phenomenon.

Tutti Frutti is located on main Zamzama.

Here is how it looks from a distance at night. Can't miss it.

And here it is during the day. We chose to visit it on a Saturday morning since at night it is almost always full to capacity.

The family friendly outlet is done completely in white inside.

You can see how a child would instantly love this place on stepping inside.

Colorful fruit shapes adorn the white interior.

The hanging lights are white too. 

The frozen yogurt dispensers are embedded inside the walls. There are four in all. 

By the way, I LOVE the gigantic fruit photos on the walls! 

The "build-a-froyo" process is step by step. Customers use these machines on the walls to extract smooth, sumptuous flavored yogurt into cups.

For the ignoramuses or first-timers, the process is described on this instruction sheet, mounted strategically over the table from where they come to fetch their cups to start getting their froyo. 

1. You select the size of your cup, depending on how much frozen yogurt you want to eat.

2. You pick the flavors you want, then go to the associated machine and dispense your yogurt. Remember, it'll keep coming into your cup, so don't go overboard otherwise you might end up taking more than you want!

3. Top the frozen yogurt with the different dry goodies (pictured below) and sauces you like. 

4. Weigh your cup on the digital weighing scale and pay (it is priced at one rupee per gram, so do the math and figure out how much, say, a quarter kilo would cost!) :)

Now, the flavors: there are 2 flavors available in each wall-mounted machine. Chocolate and Cookies n Cream in this one.

For the fruit and bubblegum lovers: Tutti Frutti and Pomegranate. 

For those who are nuts about nuts, Pistachio and Mango. One word here: we were sorely disappointed to know that they were out of mango yogurt! Since it is the season of mangoes, this was a major let-down. 

Finally, Vanilla and Strawberry Banana flavors are available from the fourth machine.

Once you have the yogurt in your cup, make a quick dash to the topping counter. Why? Because it is smoldering hot in Karachi nowadays and the frozen yogurt melts fast in the heat. Besides, as I said, the outlet is almost always crowded, which means having to wait in a queue before paying.



The dry toppings. Warning: children go crazy and amok near this counter...my 4-year-old son kept grabbing at the "smarties" (M&M's) and wouldn't stop!



Desiccated coconut, marshmallows, chewy candy, M&M's, Cocomo, chocolate chips, chunks of chocolates (such as Bounty, Toblerone and KitKat), wafers, sprinkles, walnuts....you name it!
Er, can we blame the kids for going "nuts" near this counter (pun intended)? :)

My significant other dispensing the yogurt for the kids, much to their chagrin, because they wanted to dispense it themselves.

This conflict caused Fight number one. :)

My daughter had chosen the Strawberry Banana flavor in the medium cup (capacity 250 grams).

The counter displaying the wet/soggy toppings.
Lots of fresh and canned fruit, in addition to jelly.
A fruit-lover's mini-paradise, eh?

The various sauces customers can drizzle lusciously over their frozen yogurt desserts.
The bottle in the end has Caramel. Notice the condensed milk (Comelle)?

Fight number 2 broke out over this counter when the kids, again, wanted to put the toppings on their frozen yogurts themselves. That went fine until we noticed that they kept putting more and more toppings, not stopping (the staff at Tutti Frutti is immensely kid-friendly, so much so that the whole outlet is full of the din created by super-excited children! No one tells them off at all.)....so uh, you can guess the rest of the story. :)

You can see almonds, peanuts and chocolate sprinkles in this photo as well.

The blueberries in their gooey sauce taste just awesome over the froyo!
There were also cherries, lychees, pineapples, peaches...all drenched in their dense, oozy, puree-like sauces.



Finally, the kids' desserts were done. And us, the parents, were quite tired. Heh!
Isn't it obvious which one is the girl's, and which one the boy's? :)



Here is my finished froyo. I went for oodles of topping over just 100 grams of Cookies N Cream flavored froyo.

Once your dessert is ready, you weigh it on this machine, and the server charges one rupee per gram (make you keep change handy).

Verdict: Awesomeness! I just hope you get the mango-flavored froyo if you visit Tutti Frutti any time soon....which you should. Much better for health than ice cream, the whole frozen-yogurt experience at Tutti Frutti is exhilarating, not just because it beats the stifling Karachi heat, but also because the whole do-it-yourself process adds to the fun of eating the finished creation of your own personal, customized dessert.

A great place to take your family or friends for a sweet summer treat!