Burger King, main Seaview Road

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

The silence after the storm - oh how peaecful it is. :)
I am so happy that the hype around the launch of Burger King Pakistan is finally over!

There are no long queues and crowds outside the Burger King outlets any more, as you can see.
Pictured above is the BK outlet located on main Sea View Road or Beach Avenue, right next to McDonald's.

Few eateries have managed to thrive previously in this very building (such as the Dip Shop, KFC and Ponderosa); let's see if this outlet of BK has a better fate.

Once again, I found myself at this outlet of Burger King a couple of months ago only because someone else in the family wanted to have the famous Whopper. Yawn.
Actually, truth be told, I too wanted to try out their onion rings. :)

Thankfully, we were able to place our order immediately. Cue: no queues. :)
You can see that the Angus SteakHouse Combo is priced at Rs 650, the Whopper Combo at Rs 495, and the Chicken Royale at Rs 540.

Too bad I couldn't take a better shot to capture the complete menu of Burger King (by the way, isn't it about time they launched their own website? They are still operating on social media via a Facebook page).

 Here is a closeup shot of the above photo, to help you see the prices.

Basically, every burger combo at Burger King will cut you back Rs 400-600.
Lone, single-patty burgers cost ~Rs 295 each (without fries and drink).

The Burger King outlet on main Sea View Road has two upper floors where customers can dine. I think there is a basement too, but I'm not sure.

The view from the first floor ↑.

The booth style seating arrangement on the top floor.

Spacious and well-lit.
Unlike Hardees, which is still conspicuously missing an outlet on this side of the Clifton Bridge, Burger King has done well to not compromise on space for it's dine-in customers.

We ordered two combo meals.

Single patty Fish n Crisp (fish burger).

A small and crispy fish fillet sitting on mayo and topped with lettuce occupies the inside of the burger.
A nice and light burger, especially a good option for those who do not like beef.

The soft and piping hot BK Fries are always a hit.
Even when I had Burger King for the first time in my life, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia (back in 2002), I loved their light French Fries the most.

The Whopper! Enough said. :P
You can see how fresh the sesame-seed-topped bun is.

Tomato, lettuce and sliced onions top a beef patty.

A combo meal at Burger King (burger, fries and drink) costs Rs 450 per head, if you skip additional sides and desserts.

Verdict: I think Burger King should launch it's own website, for starters. It has done well with it's hype-creating, media-frenzy-driven launch in Pakistan with the simultaneous opening up of multiple, spacious outlets. It got the initial market share, now let's see if it goes the distance with quality that garners long-term customer satisfaction. 

Will we be finding stale lettuce and flat, crumbling buns in the burgers at Burger King after, say, 4 years,- just like we now often do at KFC and McDonald's? Time will tell.


For now, Burger King sure seems to be enjoying it's fifteen minutes of fame in Karachi.

Burger King, Nishat Commercial, Defence phase 6

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Similar to the hype surrounding the launch of Hardees and Fatburger, Burger King has also finally opened it's doors to Pakistani customers with the simultaneous inauguration of 3 of it's outlets recently in Karachi. 

One of these branches is based in the Nishat Commercial area of DHA phase 6, a stone's throw away from the crossing of 3 major double-roads: Khayaban-e-Shujaat, Khayaban-e-Shahbaz and and the diagonal Khayaban-e-Nishat. 

It is right opposite a prominent supermarket; hard to miss:

Burgers from abroad arrive with a bang in Karachi, for some reason, with boys (of all ages) turning into salivating burger junkies as soon as they hear of a new joint about to hit K-town. :)

You should see the crowd of boys always standing outside Burger Shack as proof (a review of which is due, yes I know).

So, on the readily accepted request that I wouldn't stand with hubby this time in the long queue outside with the kids, we found ourselves outside this outlet of Burger King 2 days after it's reported launch (5th october 2013). 

As you can see, mostly men throng the long queue while the women and children are allowed to take up seats in the outlet, conveying their orders to them via cell phones. Feminism, anyone? ;)

A life-size wall mural announcing the arrival of the King of Burgers all over Pakistan. 

The furnishing and layout of the outlet reminded us eerily of the one at Hardees. 

Excuse my children's water bottle spoiling the photo above. :)

 

The walls, couches and chairs have the same color theme: red, orange, white and beige - with a few more colors thrown in here, there and every where. 

All in all a nice layout for a junk food outlet. 

Thankfully there is enough space in this Nishat commercial outlet of BK to maintain privacy and prevent that feeling of "too-close-for-comfort". Not cramped at all. 

There are booths next to the windows (we were able to get one), as well as smaller round tables.

Spotlights and other kinds of lights. Nice lighting overall, except that our "city of lights" is usually without these said lights due to frequent power outages. 

Our business franchises should therefore go easy on the large number of lights in their outlets. 

The coveted tray that you lay your hands on after a wait of around 45 minutes (nowadays), starting from the time you arrive till the time you take your first bite. 

The Mini Whopper (without fries and drink), Rs 270 + tax

 

It was full of this dark sauce, which looks like BBQ sauce. It probably was.

The children liked it, but after they had pulled out all the veggies. 

The famous Whopper (single patty) with fries and drink ~ Rs 440 + tax

I liked the fresh and soft, sesame-seed-sprinkled bun.

The patty was thin and tender, crisply charred on the outside. 

The vegetables comprising of sliced tomatoes, onions and iceberg lettuce were fresh and crisp as well.

All in all a very tasty meal, alhamdulillah.

Hershey's Sundae - Rs 200 (from a subsequent takeaway visit)

This dessert was decadently indulgent and rich! Any chocaholic's dream come true. Have it if you are willing to ingest the extra calories. :)

Verdict: We think the burgers at Fatburger and Hardees are better, but we weren't expecting anything out of the ordinary. The last time I had Burger King was back in 2002, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, so I knew what to expect. 

For now, Karachi-dwellers need to take a chill pill and can probably afford to take their sweet time in visiting Burger King (especially if they've already had it abroad), not just to join the race expecting a burger from heaven, or solely for the pleasure of telling their friends that they've had it already. 

I personally wanted to go after the initial BK hype in the city (as well as the length of the long queues outside every outlet) had diminished, but my husband wanted to go earlier. 

So enjoy your Eid barbecues next week. :) Then visit Burger King when the weather gets more pleasant, because, as I forgot to mention, they don't have any of the other burger flavors on the menu yet - they have just the whopper. They also do not have wifi yet.

Go and try Burger King once the full menu arrives for your choosing (including the chicken and fish burgers). Business timings are from noon to 2 a.m., or so the guard stationed outside the outlet told us. 

Bon appétit!