Hussainabad: Karachi’s other major spot for food lovers

Karachi
The Burnes Road now has a rival; the Hussainabad food street.
Situated in Azizabad, the Hussainabad food street has, during the past decade, emerged as ‘the other’ major hotspot for food lovers in the city.
Just like the famous Burnes Road, the street remains jam-packed with people sitting and enjoying Katakat or Karahi made on coal, which the area has become known for.
The sounds of metal spatulas clanging on the large black pan in its distinctive rhythm hit one’s ears upon entering the food street.
The Tayyabi Hotel, situated just at the mouth of Hussainabad food street, is famous for its “Katakat” — the dish which derives its names from the kat-a-kat sound of the metal spatulas hitting the pan in which it is cooked. The dish is prepared with the meat of goat’s heart, kidney, brains and mutton chops, cooked with spices and tomatoes. As it cooks, the meat is broken down with two metal spatulas, which not only produces the distinctive kat-a-kat sound but also gives the dish its unique mouth-watering taste.
The Tayyabi Hotel boasts that it prepares the best Katakat in the entire city. “We cook it in margarine unlike others,” said Jameel, one of the workers. “Though we also offer other dished, Katakat is our speciality.”
A little father, across the road, is Bolan Restaurant, famous for dishes from the Pakistani cuisine cooked on coal. The most popular dishes of the restaurant are chicken and mutton Karahis, which have also become synonymous with the Hussainabad food street.
“My grandfather opened the restaurant 35 years ago when there was no food street here,” said Mohammad Yasin, one of the owners of the restaurant. “Only till a few years ago, there were a number of small hotels. But since then this place has become one of the most famous food streets of the city.”
The street offers every imaginable dish from the Pakistani cuisine. Shop after shop and restaurant after restaurant sell a variety of barbecued meats, Haleem, Kachori, Qulfi and ice-cream.
Karachi is famous for Biryani, and the street has all its types, mutton, beef, potato, mince, barbecue and chicken biryani, among many others.
The Ghousia Restaurant is also one of the oldest establishments of the locality. “It was set up 45 years ago as a single shop,” said Ghulam, one of the senior workers. “At that time we only served simple food. Now we also offer a variety of Chinese dishes alongside the Pakistani delicacies.”
A little further ahead, a large group of customers throng a small ice-cream stall and shout their orders at the shopkeeper.
“Every time we come to Hussainabad we have Karachi ice cream!” said Mureed, one of the customers. “The prices are nominal but the taste is unmatchable.”
After so much scrumptious food, what more could Hussainabad offer for people who feel they might burst any moment?
It has just the thing to wash all the food down with and ease digestion — Zamzam’s Limka (sodawater) and its many varieties catering to everyone’s taste.
Its proud owner, Muhammad Hussain, said, “We have been running our Limka business here for 15 years. No one can compete with us because.”
Stuffed to the brim and satiated, although a little relieved after sipping the soda water, there is paan for those who want a final finish to orgy of food in Hussainabad.
A sweet paan from the Faisal Paan Shop, is there to further satiate your craving for a food experience. Its customers range from elders to young children who cant leave the food street without having a paan to remember their trip by.
When asked what the secret of his famous paan was, the owner, Faisal, replied,” Fennel, chocolate, sweet rose paste, sugar syrup as usual ... but saffron is what gives our paan its unique lasting smell and taste, and makes everyone remember their trip to Hussainabad.”