“There is no sincerer love than the love of food” George Bernard Shaw

Truly, for every Karachite food is the ultimate love, from fancy fine dining restaurants to road side café’s and the unhygienic,  yet on several occasions absolutely delicious food from ‘thelas’ or the Food handcarts; everything is popular! When you go on the internet and search for places to eat, you’ll get a zillion lavish restaurant names that deliver food to you from around the world. So even if you live here in Karachi, you’ll still get; Irani Kebabs, Lebanese Shawarmas, Japanese Sushi, Thai Noodles, Chinese Manchurians, Rajisthani Thalis, and what not! But that’s not what we talk about here today.

Today we explore the food that you get for real cheap, and food that’s really yummy and really filling, the only downside is the hygiene. But if you have the guts and a great immune system then there’s nothing to fear just stop you car next to a ‘Thela wala’ and eat all the ‘bun kebab’s’ or ‘gol gappays’ you want.

Winter in Karachi brings the desire to have warm and spicy things to eat and drink, a common coffee gets grand hype and becomes the talk of the town. Soup gains popularity and ultimate attention from everyone. Several carts come up during the winters around restaurants and food places that sell soups bowls for Rs. 100 or less. They serve several flavors ranging from ‘chicken corn’ to ‘hot and sour’ with anda or without anda (with or without egg) this is hard-boiled egg in the soup when served, kind of gives the soup more substance; and for egg lovers a delight!

In my exploration of yummy street food I decided my first stop should be a soup to celebrate the winters. So I picked up a friend, who lives Gulistan – e – Johar where the roads are lined with food kiosks, actually, that whole area is like a huge food square. I asked him to take me to best soup place around, and he took me to the area called Rado, it was a little market place with an oval arrangement of food carts that were selling items like;  French fries, soups, bun kababs, fruits, vegetables, and fresh juice and tea.  

We stopped at a cart that read “VIP Soup” and ordered a chicken corn soup each with ‘Masala Zada’. We Karachi walas also have a thing for spicy stuff and anything that’s not loaded enough with spices is too bland for our taste buds (enough spicy is gauged by a watery nose at the end of the meal). A few minutes later two bowls of steaming chicken soups arrived at our window (we sat in our car and had the soup). The soup looked really inviting beside the chicken corn soup there were extra shavings of chicken on the top as garnish. I was told to mix the soup before having it as the guy selling it filled the bowls of soup first with the masala and then the soup, so all the spices were at the bottom of the bowl.  Here’s what the bowl looked like

Yeah I know looks yummy, you just want to drop everything you’re doing right now and dive in? So while my friend talked about the other things available there and the area and a lot of other things my focus remained on my bowl of soup, that wasn’t very spicy, but smooth my taste buds, I had order for on with boiled egg that gave it a fun flavor, and while it was steaming, the soup was easily eatable.  All this for a mere Rs. 40 only, so you see how in expensive a bowl of happiness can be? I’d recommend everyone to at least once try this ‘thelay wala soup’ coz not only is it delicious it is also very low priced, something that anyone can afford. And I’m sure you too will lick your bowl clean!