I remember there was time when we wanted to eat chaat and all, we had to sit in the cars, balancing the plate on our lap, while trying to ladle yogurt or spicy water into our puris. However with all these restaurants cropping all over the city, chaat houses too, have evolved into full-fledged eateries.
One such ‘chat’ joint is ‘Mirchi’ located on main Khayaban – e – Badban in Defence Phase V, Karachi. A quaint place, it has an inviting appeal with a green door and large window flanked by planters since the restaurant’s name is Mirchi, the green door is inspired by the mirchi’s color. The interior is warm and friendly, done up in greens, rust and beige, with textured walls rugged tiled flooring and wooden beams along the ceiling. The wooden tables and chairs are also painted green keeping in mind the restaurants color theme. A plasma TV keeps the guests quietly entertained.
Now this place is opened by those people who are actually running Flamingo at Boat Basin which is a very successful chaat house. Following her mother’s example, the owner says that she prepares all the chutneys with boiled water. Although the fair at the moment is limited to just chaat, they claim that they’ll be introducing some new dishes like masala dosas, idlis, bun kebabs, samosas. Shami kebabs, etc. soon. In fact, they will be the only eatery to be serving chilled pani puri and dahi puri, for which they have already bought equipment.
From the chaat selection, currently on the menu, there is sev puri, dahi puri, papri mirch and gol gappas, and were by and large pleased with our choice. The sev puri was so very crispy and was filled with up with potatoes and sev. The dahi batata puri was different from the meethi puri normally an offer at more chaat places. Crisp Gol gappas which are one of my favorite had a potato filling and was doused in sweetened yogurt with tamriknd chutney. The papri mirch was much like chana papri at most places except that it was served warm, which made it that much more appealing.
The gol gappas come up with two kinds of amazing chutneys— thought both are tamarind based, one has green chutney added to it. In fact generosity seems to be the eatery’s key trait for the portions of all the dishes are generous. The service here is very quick, and colorful one may add, as the waiters are tied in red shirts with checked pants and bandanas. So all in all, this place has a different ambience and one should definitely try out this place. Currently only soft drinks and ‘doodh pati’ are available, though I believe they should introduce some more beverages. All and all, go for it. You won’t regret it!!
Author: Sarah K writes articles on food and drink for The KM Network’s websites. She has diverse interests and also writes articles on fashion and articles on home and family. This article is the property of The KM Network and prior approval is required for republishing this article.
Leave a Reply