Eating Out

Karachi has everal fantastic upscale restaurants, which serve a huge variety of cuisines. Most of the upper-end restaurants are either located within one of the major hotels in the city (the Sheraton, the Pearl Continental and Avari Towers), or in the trendy shopping district of Zamzama in Defence.

Zamzama, is a place where much of Karachi's trendier restaurants, such as Okra , Cafe Aylanto, Gunsmoke, Pompeii, Baan Thai, Chatterbox and Aqua Lounge are located. Aqua Lounge is most popular for sea food and steaks and is highly recommended. More commercial (and less trendy) eateries include the Copper Kettle restaurant. Coffee-shops are aplenty, with the most trendy being Espresso (it has another/larger branch in Defence) at Espresso they also serve a good breakfast and yummy desserts. Latitute, Ciao and Costa are also popular for coffee, and new coffee places include "The Second Floor (T2F) ," The Avenue and Cafe Coffee Day.

Six most popular restaurants that give diners a chance to sample a variety of mostly Pakistani foods, buffet-style, are Lal Qila , Floating Ship, Revolving Restaurant , Rangoli inside Arena gaming arcade, Sky grill located inside Avari towers and The Village located at Sea View. Built in the style of a 17th-century Moghul fort, Lal Qila offers barbecue, biryani, and a local beef-based delicacy; haleem, in its open brick courtyard. Beware long lines during the peak evening dining hours. Revolving Restaurant offers a very nice view of Karachi, Floating Ship is a Buffet-style theme restaurant with thrilling experiences of Ocean turmoil such as Thunderstorm, Lighting, Shark attack, Kids theater with Fantasy world as depicted in Disney land. The Village is by the beach at Sea View (Clifton) and is very popular.

People with concerns about spiciness and hygiene of the food available, particularly those visiting from abroad, tend to find themselves at BBQ Tonight, which is one of Karachi's most popular restaurants. Spread over four stories of seating, including partly covered rooftop seating, the restaurant is almost completely packed, but the turnover is high, so reservations aren't required. It now serves lunch also. The rooftop at BBQ Tonight is recommended.

If anyone is looking for "chaat" (a local-fare of chickpeas mixed with other things) Chatkharay in Khadda Market (Defence) is good.

For those on a more restricted budget (while Pakistani restaurants do not sell alcohol, most upscale ones will serve bottles if customers bring them; nonetheless, a full meal for two can be as expensive as US$50-100 at the top eateries, but not if you choose carefully), tourists and visitors are advised to try Karachi's Boat Basin, a neighborhood consisting of a mile-long strip of open-air street food/restaurants. Favorites tend to include Karachi Broast, Mr Burger, Qasr-Al-Nakheel, and Tandoori Hut. Boat Basin is where almost all of Karachi's late-partying citizens, regardless of social or economic standing, wind up since food is often available until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m., if not 24 hours. Many remain in their cars and are served by waiters there. Local style breakfast (such as halwa puri) is also served at Boat-Basin from 6-7am onwards.

Visitors hoping to try more authentic cuisine are advised to try restaurants located in the "old city" region of Karachi, known as Saddar. Burns Road is, of course famous locally as the Delhi food district-the variety of Indian cuisine is wonderful. Restaurants such as Bundoo Khan's, Student's Biryani and Sabri Nihari are very popular. Be warned however: hygiene tends to be lax here unless at one the more high-end eateries and Burns Road and Boat Basin may not be suitable for everyone. Visitors should also try kulfi ice cream or peshawri ice cream available through out the city in various local ice cream parlours.

Be warned that restaurants NOT located in either the hotels and/or Zamzama will usually tend to only accept cash payments, and not take any form of debit or credit card. It is a good idea to always carry enough cash to tide on over (at most of these locations, Rs. 1000-2000 [US$20-35 approx.] will be more than sufficient on a per head basis).

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type:	Thai
World66 rating:	[rate it]
tel:	(92-21) 536-3944, 536-3948
address:	E-23, 2nd Commercial Lane, Zamzama, Phase 5, D.H.A.
email:	fuchsia@cyber.net.pk

type:	Lunch
World66 rating:	[rate it]
tel:	(92-21) 583-1350, 586-6616
address:	12-C, 10th Commercial Lane, Zamzama, Phase 5, D.H.A.

type:	Local
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Boating Basin in Clifton
PriceOfMenu:	Rupees 350 ($6) per head

type:	Japanese
World66 rating:	[rate it]
tel:	(92-21) 566-0100
address:	Avari Towers Hotel, Fatima Jinnah Road
email:	towers@avari.com

type:	Chinese
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	nazimabad no.1
PriceOfMenu:	starts 10 to 35

type:	Indian and Pakistani
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Shahra-e-Faisal
openinghours:	Late Night
email:	dinner@lalqila.com
PriceOfMenu:	500 Rupees Per Person

type:	International
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Main Rashid Minhas road, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi
PriceOfMenu:	Rs.350 ($6) per person
accessibility:	Easy (traffic is bad though)

type:	Seafood
World66 rating:	[rate it]
tel:	(92-21) 537-6700, 537-6701
address:	18-C, 1st Floor, 5th Commercial Lane, Zamzama, Phase 5, D.H.A.
email:	mamsa@yahoo.com