Anyways, all your points are well made and accepted.

I am agree, totally

Your comment on Pakistani restaurant owners or entrepreneurs that, “they want to earn the highest profit margins with the lowest efforts and that too in the shortest time…..” are correct to some extent but, that is not all. Taali ek hath say nahee bajti. The people (customers) also don’t want to pay a decent price. They want to get the food at a restaurant cheaper than the price they can make it at home. They don’t want to pay for the ambiance, decor, atmosphere or a clean hygienic place.

What they fail to understand is, at a restaurant someone else has cooked that food for you (which saved the trouble of shopping, cutting, cleaning, cooking which saves your several hours) and somebody else is serving you while you are sitting at a table. Plus, you and your family or friends are enjoying a good sit down dinner at a place where, after you have created and left the mess you don’t have to clear it or do the dishes. Why not let the poor chap make a living? After all he too has to make some profit to survive.

Restaurant business looks great from outside, but its a very tough and demanding business, it needs the owner’s or proprietor’s total attention 365 days and its a thankless job. One day, one dish if it is not up to your standards, you not only yell at the guy (which you wouldn’t dare if its a posh restaurant) and you don’t want to pay for that dish and then you talk about it among your family, relatives and friends.

There are some well to do people who don’t want to pay more than 5 dollars for a meal and if its more than that they say “mehenga hai” (its expensive) whereas, the same people when they eat at a 5 star hotel’s restaurant where the food may be bland and tasteless they end up paying 15 dollars in tips to the waitress.

The concept of tips does not exist in most cheap Pakistani restaurants, you go and pay the bill at the counter, in the meantime, you grab a tissue – which is more like a butter paper – wipe your mouth throw it in the big trash bin which is right there near the cash counter. Then, burp loudly then grab a pinch or a fistful of “saonf” (aniseeds) and ask for a “toose-pick” from the couner, collect your change and walk out with a toothpick in your mouth and after a few quick strokes to remove the stuck up food between your teeth, you even spit a bit inside the restaurant before walking out or, if you are very civilized then you may spit on the pavement and throw the “toosepick,” burp even louder and say Alhamdoliallah and there you go.

Well, there are certain restaurants where the bill comes to your table and you pay either by cash or by credit card, but such Pakistani restaurants are extremely rare. But, over there the common man doesn’t go and neither the rich misers go because they don’t like paying a high price for desi food or pay taxes and service charge for desi-food. I remember a desi guy was arguing with the restaurant owner by saying I don’t want to pay taxes. On food items we have to pay “goods and harmony tax of about 13.75% “tax and its not to be confused with service charge, which is separate and its added prior to the taxes. So, that guy was saying I am an accountant and I know you guys don’t pay taxes so why do you charge from me? What a stupid person and what a stupid argument.

Nice entertaining storey about that Gujju lady, it made interesting reading.
So you are blessed to have good home cooked food, that is great.

About our PCB, it’s Phirwohi Kahani.

That reminds me of Phirwohi, so where is he these days ?

Javed Khan …

You are damn right about the attitude and business ethics of a lot of our Pakistani eateries.

I guess the problem lies in ‘short-cut’ mentality of our general public. Now you yourself, being a perfectionist that you are, must be knowing that almost all of our Pakistani brethrens are short-sighted when it comes to business. They want to earn the highest profit margins with the lowest efforts and that too in the shortest time. Now this theory could be very well working for some of the ‘products’ we have in our NWFP areas, but it does not go well in the international market where you are competition with the best of the best.

I can imagine your inability to find a good Pakistani restaurant where you would have loved to take your non-desi friends or even visit with your family for a special occasion, as I am exactly in the similar situation myself here in Sharjah/ Dubai.

There are a many Pakistani restaurants where food is generally good, but most of them does not family sitting areas, while others are unhygienic, and are located in cheap areas. So I end-up at Indian restaurants and tell my friends that this food is almost similar to our Pakistani cuisine.

Another troubling area is that, in spite of its fabulous taste, flavour and aroma, Pakistani food is the least presentable and not good looking at all.

There is a proverb in Arabic and it says that, for a food to taste good, it have to first look good.

I guess, we do not have the concept of Fine Dining in Pakistan, so very few peoples know about décor, ambiance, service, hygiene and presentation.

The atmosphere of Lal Qila was jaw dropping as well although I was quite greedy so my only focus was the food.

As usual, very good informative “tit-bits” from you. Also, I have read your latest comments on PakSpin. But, I have no urge to write about that boring subject of “reverse sweep” and thanks for enlightening the bloggers about who invented the reverse sweep. Also, I am glad to hear that you got Javed Miandad’s autobiography by Dr. Saad Shafqat.

About the Pakistani restaurants I would like to add something more i.e., from my experience.

In Karachi there are plenty of restaurants from BBQ Tonite, Lal Qila
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/112165211_d57d54a005.jpg?v=0

to something like this, please double click on this link to see the pic:
http://karachi.metblogs.com/archives/images/2007/09/chenchi2.jpg

But, when we are out of Pakistan the standard of Pakistani restaurants in general is below par i.e., if you compare them with all the international restaurants that represent their national cuisine. Indian restaurants have excellent decors they are in the posh areas and some of them are extremely expensive. In one of the Indian restaurants in Old Montreal, a tandoori naan costs $5.00 a piece. Whereas, the Pakistani restaurants wherever I have been in Europe and North America their decor, ambiance, service is either plain, gaudy, very boring or absolutely pathetic.

Some of the low budget restaurants which are very popular among masses do have some good food. But, there is no consistency, one day its good the second day its not. Once we order lamb Karai, it was very tasty, asked the guy to bring one more plate. First it took 30 minutes for him to bring when we had already finished eating and the lamb karai was totally different from the first plate as if its been cooked after the order was placed and the meat was hard like rubber.

Toronto has a few fancy restaurants but again, nothing to write home about. The reason is, the niche of all these restaurants are ONLY Pakistani customers. They don’t serve alcohol, its fine but you can still improve the ambiance and service so that one can take some non-desi friends and introduce them to Pakistani cuisine.

They like the food and the price, but in general the place is not clean, the toilets and wash basins are so yucky and filthy that you don’t feel like entering inside even to wash your hands there. Even if you complain to the owner, the response is: Sir jee we cannot educate our people. Its true to some extent. Because, people have no civic sense.

In downtown Montreal, eating out is normal and people love dining out and there are streets full of restaurants, every single Mall has food courts and you can feel the fervor and the passion with which the people eat out from the number of restaurants here. There are total 7500 restaurants in the Montreal Metropolis. But, within two square kilometers of core downtown, there are 4400 restaurants

And they represent from all nationalities and cultures and there must be at least two dozen Indian and two dozen Bangladeshi restaurants but, not a single Pakistani restaurant. Because, the rents, taxes and overhead cost in downtown is high, hence they operate in low lying areas or in ghettos were there are lower middle-class desi population is dwelling. Its a shame that not a single Pakistani entrepreneur has come forward to open a single restaurant like Lal Qila or BBQ tonight or Copper Kettle etc. The BBQ tonight of Toronto has horrible service and its not a big place, so the waiting time is long and there is always smoke in the dining area which is very irritating.

You are right Shan Masala is like order of the day, these days if you go to someone’s house for a dinner the taste of the food is exactly the same at everyone’s house. Its either Shan Masala or they all order food from the same restaurants.

There are obviously lots of Pakistani restaurants and eating houses around but, again, it is the same Pakistani mentality and a certain mafia is working.

Most of them hire this group once a day and have them cook for the entire week and the taste is the same because of Shan Masala. And thanks to Microwave Oven, you get hot meals!!

Only few are known to have real cooks and kitchens and they charge for it (naturally), since they dont cook extra and give away left overs, if any, to their employees.

Fortunately, we never go to any Pakistani restaurant, except, of course, when invited, since my wife, daughter and daughter-in-law are excellent cooks.

We do, however, enjoy Halal Chinese, Veg. Korean, Thai, Seafood, South Indian Specialities and abve all, Mediterean Lebanese/Turkish Food.

Since when have you been hanging around with Memons? Your analysis that it is 65% cotton 35% synthetic smells Memonic!

There is a big thoroughfare in Houston called Hillcroft. It is full of Desis of all sorts.

Once I went into an Indian Grocery store to buy something and asked “Do you speak Urdu?”

The lady said “No, I can speak Hindi”

Being a Pucca Pakistani, I said “I am sorry, I cant speak Hindi” and started to come out of the store.

Thereupon, the lady said “Bhai saheb, main bahut acchhi Urdu bol sakti hoon!”

“Urdu aur Hindi sautaili bahnay hain”

“Kis Nay Kaha?” I asked her.

“Javed Akhtar Saheb nay”

After buying what I needed, I picked up something and started reading the ingredient in Gujrati, the lady exclaimed ” Can you read Gujrati?”

I replied in Gujrati that I am a Memon and can read and write Gujrati.

She said I am a Gujrati too and we are Sautaley Bhai Bahen!

By the way, I can speak and understand Sindhi and a little bit of Punjabi and Bangla since I lived in my beloved East Pakistan for couple years.

Let us not waste our energy discussing cricket and focus on something funny and entertaining!!

English is a second language for most of us around, therefore, at times, while reading these comments, it is not easy to maintain the same wavelength that the writer had in his mind while writing those comments. So in any such cases, please note that I make all my comments in a lighthearted and cheerful way (this is why I always put / in front of my comments). I really do not have any intention of degrading or hurting anyone intentionally or unintentionally.

This is a specially privileged blog and I feel we are like one small family here. I enjoy being part of this blog and being around all of you guys.

By the way, my bank have de-blocked this website and now I can access and write comments from my office too – (where I have more time than at home)

Awas …

You are not to be seen these days, hope all is well.

Chup Chup ‘Baithay’ Ho Zaroor Koi Baat Hai

Khan Sahab …

I guess you can call me ‘Sir’ once in a while (due to your ‘Baali Umariya’ only). However, out of respect for them, I would not like to be called ‘Sir’ by my seniors.

On a second thought, you have not updated the “Gals” section for some time now

Javed Khan …

LOL @ theossa’s Sala.

It’s a bit strange though that you have straightaway asked about theossa’s ‘SalA’ and not ‘Sali’.

I hope it has nothing to do about your change of taste

Or is it a case of, “Sitaaroun Sey Aagay Jahaan Aur Bhi Hain”

theossa …

Wow man, you are one lucky guy, now I have stated to envy you.

I mean, I get nicely cooked foods of all types as my wife is one of the best cooks around and she also does enjoy cooking for me. But I am not lucky enough to do all these activities with ‘Mairay Bachoun Ki Maan’.

Therefore, I think is it only fair that like you get your cooking done from a desi Lahori aunty, I can also have part-timers (from Lebanon, Morocco, Russia etc.) for all other activities that you mentioned

About your and my situations, I remember this following ‘Misra’:

Kabhi Kisi Ko Mukamal Jahan Nahin Milta
Kissi Ko Doosari Activities, Aur Kissi Ko Desi Khanaa Nahin Milta

Yaar, I am now compelled to ask this question from you: “Do you have any sala?”