The East End - Restaurant Review/Interview

Bringing Authentic Karachi to your Table

Food is meant to excite the taste buds, cooking is a form of art, and cuisine is a reflection of the people that make a city. The founders of The East End understand this well, and promise to offer you the familiar flavors of Karachi with a twist.

Left: Me, obviously. Right: Mufadal, Adil, Gulnaz, Fawad

As you turn towards the red wall that’s the hallmark of the East End Restaurant, you can’t help but notice a wall-size poster of a cawing crow. With the very familiar image of the bird welcoming you inside, you are reminded of its perpetual chattering up the air of the happening Karachi. The restaurant nests peacefully in a quiet part of Clifton and its doors open to a dimly lit, cozy little place, perfumed with the smell of South Asian spices. It screams Karachi inside out – from the flooring to the rickshaw wallpapers; from the recipes to the die-hard Karachi walas that run this place.

Why should you come and dine at the East end? You will be served recipes, which make up the multi cultural, pan ethnic, colorful and exotic cuisine of Karachi, the European way, giving you a dinner experience that spans over 5 courses. Unlike any other eatery, The East End offers you a chance to savour Karachi’s bites with class and sophistication.

I had the chance to have dinner and chat with the founding members, Adil Moosajee, Muffadal Halai, Fawad Arif and Gulnaaz over some succulent mutton leg and flavorsome black pepper crabs. Want to know more about the restaurant? Here goes!

Why did you choose Pakistani Cuisine and where does your menu take inspiration from?

Adil: I will give you multiple reasons, the first one being that I was really bothered by the fact that people are willing to pay 3000 bucks for Japanese cuisine or an Argentinean steak but when you ask about Pakistani food they say “saath rupay ki nihari honi chahiyay”. We really under-sell our food, which is why I wanted to introduce the idea of fine dining with Pakistani cuisine. I was sure that we can create the same experience. When you travel abroad and you take foreigners out to a desi joint, they will love the food but never tell you what a great experience that was. I wanted to change that. Before my grandma passed away my household used to be thriving with hard core old bohri recipes. When she left us, I started missing those dishes. That’s when Gulnaaz, who used to be the cook at my place at the time, and I started developing some of the recipes I loved. I wanted all of Karachi to try out some of the dishes I grew up with. Also, I was upset that the Kemari crabs were dying and I really wanted to keep that recipe alive. Hence, the Kemari crabs are also on our menu! Basically, what you find on our menu is a celebration of the food that contributes to the very fabric of this city. You will find Sindhi, Parsi, Bohri, Memni and Afghani items here. Our restaurant is dedicated to the people of Karachi.

Ghaatia Mirch, Aaloo Paparh, Jumbo Prawns, Kemari Khattay Aloo

Why ‘The East End’?

Adil:  ‘East’ comes from this part of the world where we are at. ‘End’ comes from the word ‘anth’ when we want to describe a killer experience the desi way – “yaar! ye end hai!” You know? We found this name to be catchy as well!

Why is a ‘crow’ a part of your logo?

Mufaddal : Well, the crow is a Karachi bird. No where will you find so many crows!

Adil: Plus, it is a resilient bird, and Karachi is all about resilience!

Your favorite items on the menu?

Adil: It’s got to be the crabs!

Mufaddal: Daal chawal paleeda.

Fawad: Currently, peanut chicken.

Tamarind Fish

Daal Chawal, Paleeda and Lal Raan

Black Pepper Crabs

Peanut Chicken

Did you hire somebody for the décor or are these all your ideas?

Adil (after a big laugh): Nope. Mufi and I started our first business, which was furniture based, when we were about 19 years old. So we have designed the furniture ourselves and a lot of the features here are experimental and accidental (laughs again). This place was an old tile warehouse and we have not done many changes to the ceiling. We had this particular flooring style in mind and spent two days digging out these old pieces from a plot next to a tile factory in scorching heat. Some of the decoration is from my home. The radio gramophone was my dad’s matriculation gift given to him by my grandfather. The achaar bharnis are my grandmother’s. The suitcases are my grandfather’s. He used to carry them to London back in the day.  So most of the stuff here has a lot of connection with us!

Who is your target audience?

Adil: We are catering to people who have Karachi nostalgia and love for the local cuisine.  We get a lot of customers who are visiting from Lahore or abroad who want to taste what Karachi is made of. Our target audience includes people who travel and know what a 4-5 course meal is like, who enjoy Spanish Tapas or those long, lazy lunches in Florence. So, when you come here, be sure to have about 2 hours at hand.

Mint Drink

Is it difficult working with friends?

Adil: Our work is divided. Fawad is the systems guy – looks after the hiring, firing, audits, costing, training, policies etc. Mufi’s job is the food; he has to ensure the food tastes amazing. Gulnaz develops recipes. My job is the aesthetics part – food plating to be exact. So yeah, we are sorted that way.

Date Halwa, Maal Pura, Kulfi Falooda, The East End Infused Water

Do you plan on expanding the menu or the premises?

Mufaddal: The place will stay nice and cozy.

Adil: We are starting a breakfast menu, most of which has been tested during Sehris this Ramzan. We are hoping to serve brunch Friday through Sunday soon. We are adding something called The Feast at dinner time – the concept is like a king’s table in Game of Thrones! We are also looking at a crab shack and a tapas bar. So there is a lot in the pipeline. Wish us good luck!

Proudest moment at work?

Fawad: We got to host the celebratory party for Raza Rabbani Khar, chairman of the senate

Mufi: When Sharmeen Oaid came here after her first Oscar to celebrate

Adil: Fawad and I were in Dubai and ran into some Karachiites at a restaurant. When introducing ourselves we mentioned we run a restaurant called The East End and everyone there knew about us! That was a happy moment. When I meet Karachiites while travelling all over the world and they know about The East End and tell me how awesome their experience was when they visited, it makes me really proud.

Challenges of running a restaurant in Karachi?

Fawad: I see three main challenges – consistency of ingredients sourced, training and retention of skilled labour and managing the expectations of guests. To sum it all up, maintaining the high standard against all odds every day.

* Photography: Locura by Faizaan Ahmad. You can see more of his work here.

**This story was published in TGIF Magazine, The Dailly Times, with some edits