Karachiites are exposed to a wide verity of cuisine ranging from Italian to Chinese food and Spanish to Mexican food, the pizzas, the BBQ’s and the burgers. If you are visiting Karachi, you will find every kind of food there.
But wait!
Have you heard about something other than these sophisticated items? Something like the ‘gola ganda’, the ‘bun kebab’ and the ‘falsas’! What I am going to introduce to you today might seem to be a bit different, but if you want to enjoy your stay at Karachi, you must try these out!
Gola ganda:
Dhora jee is the right place where you can have the best taste of this heavenly sweet dish that has lots and lots of crushed ice along with yummilicious topping. Wonder what the topping really is? Well, it is not just one or two things; in fact, there is a huge list that includes Rooh afza (sweet red colored syrup), pineapples, bananas, raspberries, canned and dried fruit, condensed milk and ice cream syrup, chocolate and coconut flakes. Depending on how much you can afford, just request the vendor to make gola ganda according to your desires. You can have it on a stick for the low price of Rs. 50. A bowl rich in toppings can cost up to Rs. 150. The choice is all yours!
Bun kebab:
When it comes to addictive specialties of Karachi, nothing can beat the most famous and traditional; mouth watering “Bun Kebab”. The street vendors busy in preparing and selling this most favorite (as well as reasonably priced) food item can be seen throughout Karachi. Whether you are at Gizri, or at Burns Road, it’s Bahadurabad or the Tariq road- you can easily get your hands to one. The cooking style is the same which includes toasting the buns and putting a fired kebab patty inside. Addition of the special mint chutney and the sliced onions gives an irresistibly delicious taste to the bun kebab. And yeah, you can have the patty as per your taste i.e. potato patty (aaloo ka bun kebab), lentils and egg patty (daal anday ka bun kebab), meat patty (chapli kebab wala bun kebab). If you happen to visit Karachi, keep the bun kebab on top of your must-eat food items list!
Falsa:
If you have grown up or lived in Karachi, you must be quite familiar with this: “Khattay meethay falsay” (sweet and sour falsay) What they call Falsa in Karachi is actually Grewia asiatica in English language. This a small, round-shaped, black, red or dark purple colored fruit, native to Pakistan. This fruit offers an extraordinary sweet and sour taste and makes summer worth waiting. The sight of falsas gives a tingling sensation to taste buds thus forcing you to grab and eat a handful of falsas mixed with salt. Not only does it taste good, but is also very beneficial in terms of health.
Bon appetit!
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