Many people sympathized with the organizers of Karachi Eat Food Festival 2017 when Karachi witnessed one of the heaviest rains in recent history on the opening day of the three-day festival.
Karachiites have proven their love for food by the way they stampeded their way to Frere Hall, unfazed by any obstacles.
The massive food festival stood undeterred by rain, delays and other obstacles.
Many people sympathized with the organizers of Karachi Eat Food Festival 2017 when Karachi witnessed one of the heaviest rains in recent history on the opening day of the three-day festival. When the event was postponed due to continuous downpour, people further questioned the outcome of the festival, wondering whether the new schedule would still bring in the same numbers, keeping in mind that the Lahooti Melo was also happening on the same dates. But Karachiites have proven their love for food by the way they stampeded their way to Frere Hall, unfazed by any obstacles.
The first obstacle standing in our way was the traffic- since so many people attend the festival, the roads around Frere Hall are usually jam packed. However, this year, Karachi Eat had paired up with Careem to encourage people to take public transport instead of bringing too many cars and clogging up the roads. Those who did bring their cars were seen parking miles away from the venue and happily walking their way to it. This was perhaps also a clever way of ensuring that Karachiites get some exercise before and after consuming all the calories. However, this did not appease the traffic situation as roads around Frere Hall were still blocked.
Spotted: Sarwat Gilani at the Sensodyne Kiosk.
In terms of food, Karachi Eat of course had a lot to offer. Some familiar names, such as Fatsos, Chai Wala, Chapli Kebab House, Breast & Loin and Jucy Lucy continued to be the top choices and the extremely long lines outside their stalls were proof of that. Saniya’s Kitchen returned to the festival and like always was well worth the wait as their Khaosueys are easily one of the best Khaosueys in town.
However, there were other relatively less popular eateries that were providing some of the best food items. For instance, Naan Sahab served some mouth watering tandoori naans that were stuffed with various fillings, such as chicken and even Nutella. However, the most popular naan was the paneer reshmi naan that was small, light and fluffy, leaving breathing room for your stomach to devour other food items at the festival.
Lady Marmalade was a popular choice amongst foodies as their funnel cakes and fried Oreos, served with ice cream and drizzled with a delectable chocolate sauce, were an instant hit. For those who like their dessert with a small doze of sour flavours, Saydys was serving pomegranate and black salt flavoured frozen sorbets.
The fried Oreas by Lady Marmalade were an instant hit.
No event in Karachi is complete without our beloved celebrities and of course, scores of celebs made their way around the festival, trying to eat their food while being bombarded with selfie requests from surrounding fans. These celebrities included Bilal Ashraf, Zhalay Sarhadi, Sunita Marshall, Feeha Jamshed and Sarwat Gilani.
The festival didn’t lack in the entertainment department either as some of the best live performers took the stage every night and entertained hundreds of roaring fans. Sounds of Kolachi, Sara Haider, Fuzon, Jimmy Khan, and Natasha Humera Aijaz were among the lucky few who got a chance to perform their originals in front of a very large and energetic crowd.
It’s commendable that the organizers managed to successfully pull off an event of such a grand scale. We know that managing events and crowds in Karachi is no easy feat.
However, what perhaps needs improvement next year is the size of the venue, which is something the organizers are already working on. Instep spoke to Omar Omari of CKO Events to find out what Karachi Eat plans to do next year, to which Omari responded, “Yes, we will be shifting next year. The space has reached its capacity. And although we would have loved to continue doing it at this location, we will need to shift so that traffic and parking issues can be addressed.”
So far the organizers have a few options in mind for next year but nothing has been finalized.
