If there is anything that is common between me & Germans that is the love for Cheese & Meat. They sure take their food seriously. Did you know a usual German breakfast consists of Cereals, Bread with Jam, Cold Cuts & Cheese? Oh yeah. They are fond of soups and gravy too. Now let’s take you on a visual tour and prove these statements true.
Before I delve in the discussion, you should know where I got to try these German delicacies. I’m sure all of you know Avari Towers, right? So Asia Live is a restaurant there (which is pretty famous too). These guys started having International Food Festivals weekly. I completely fell in love with the idea especially when it brings you authenticity with the taste! That is one thing which sets this place apart from other eateries who love to blend the taste as per our Desi tastebuds. I mean okay, I might not like some of the stuff which Germans eat, but honestly I am here for the experience. If I wanted to eat spicy chatpata desi food, I’d go and grab something from a local eatery. So you see the point of International food week is to celebrate food from around the world.
The orange, yellow & black theme awaited us. Every table was draped with the same color and even the welcome drinks were dressed up in German.
Okay let’s talk business food now. ❤
Starter: Let’s start with Salad & Soup
As it’s still hot in Karachi and there’s no chance of winter anytime soon, I won’t be trying soup at any of my food expeditions. I think the chefs kept that in mind and only presented two flavors of soup: a) Clear Vegetable Soup & b) Cream of Fennel Soup. The latter one had good aroma but I had so much meat, I mean food to try, I skipped it altogether. Moving on to the Salad bar, a good variety of Cheese & Meat was there along with lots of different combination of fresh veggies & a mix of sauces.
One thing which you should know, I think overall variety of Salad had presence of pickles in almost every dish. Most of the items were too salty for my taste. However, these are my favorites from the Salad Bar.
Salad Bar
Smoked Beef with Gherkins
Salmon with Apples
Sausage Salad
Variety of Cheese
Salad Bar
Salad Plate with variety of cold cuts, cheese, some greens & olives.
Main Course: It’s all about Meat & Carbs!
Okay I know main course also have a portion of veggies but seriously, it’s German food. So judge me all you want, but I’d like to brag I had two servings because there was THAT MUCH MEAT to devour lol. Okay jokes apart, I went for seconds especially because I LOVED Rindfleisch Stronganoff (Beef Stroganoff). Some of the dishes like Rindfleisch & Zwiebelsauce (Beef Sausages with onion sauce), Kuchen mit Lachs und Schnittlauch (German Cake with Salmon & Chives) & Kartoffelknödel (Potato Dumplings) tasted really good. Panierte Gefüllte Hühnerbrust (Breaded Stuffed Chicken) was a little too dry for my taste. Meeresfrüchte & Käse Ravioli (Seafood Cheese Ravioli) was good too but the star of the evening for me was Beef Stronganoff!
I feel Beef Roulade, Roasted Mutton Leg & Pan Fried Duck could have been better. I was really looking forward to tasting duck but it was too dry and not properly cooked for my taste. Tasted too bland. Beef Roulade was very ordinary and Mutton could have been perfect with some more flavors. Apart from these dishes, the other ones I tried are a must have if you are up for some adventure!
I should also mention here that these were not at all spicy and tasted really mild on the tongue. As I am not into spicy food, I loved the combination of Potato Dumplings with both Beef dishes I mentioned above. I also added some carbs on my plate but forgot to take a picture of the beautiful breads. I chose a piece of multigrain Brand bread which went well with my main course. It would have been great had they also added “Brezel” (soft white prezels) in the bread section as they are a German speciality.
Seafood & Cheese Ravioli
Potato Dumplings
German Cake with Salmon & Chives
Breaded Stuffed Chicken Breast
Beef Stroganoff
Beef Sausages with Onion Sauce
Beef Roulade with Mushrooms
Pan Fried Duck Breast with Orange & Honey Glaze
Sea Scallops
Mutton Roast
Main Course
Desserts: Always end a good day on a sweet note!
I was in a food coma. “Yes, that’s it. This is how I am gonna die.”, my mind kept telling me but I didn’t dare stop tasting every single bit of it. Whoever recruited that new pastry chef at Avari has done a huge favor to the hotel. No, I am telling you. This guy knows where to hit where it hurts the most. I tried almost everything from the dessert bar and it tasted amazing. Apple pie with vanilla custard, German flag colored 4 layers cake, Coffee cake, Pineapple cake paired with the lightest pineapple mousse you could get your hands on and the list goes on. Here I’d like to mention that I am a chocolate person and despite of that statement, I loved the desserts which didn’t had chocolate. That says something about the brilliant chef! (Also, I am not sure if they added any specific German dessert because I couldn’t spot any German names over these. I guess that’s because desserts are loved equally over the globe & they might not just bother with the names lol)
Variety of Dessert
Because one picture isn’t enough!
Overall, my experience was really good. The German food festival ends on 28th October but I’d suggest you to check out Asia Live and keep a tab of their upcoming International Food Festivals. My wanderlust isn’t satisfied to the core but I feel really good that I got to try the food of the place I have been wanting to visit. And honestly, this only cost a tiny faction of an airfare lol (It’s Rs. 2,150 + tax/person) plus no jet lag, yeah? 😉
Rating: 8/10
Until next time.. signing off. ❤
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sadiyazhar 