Chak 51 Restaurant with a Desi Theme

Another restuarant has been opened in it's place.

Chak 51 restaurant is a desi restaurant with a retro Punjabi village theme.  It has decorated rickshaws at the door, Bedford trucks with truck art, a courtyard with charpoy, a 30 foot Ludo board game on the top deck, and patang (kites) pinned to the roof. The doors are beautifully carved and the clay pitchers placed on top of raised shelves is very authentic. Even the stretched seats at the dining table have cushioning done by authentic truck decorators. The best part was the populist Punjabi poetry that resonates with the common man. It is so real that it makes it doubly hilarious.

The moment you walk in, every square foot is a treat to watch. Even the glass on the door panels are pained in dark red and green — very authentic. And did I mention the lollywood vintage movie posters and dialogue lines all arranged in a tasteful mosaic? — Superb.

The theme guys have done a wonderful job.

What the restaurant does not have is good Pakistani food. I ordered mutton karahi and it was crunchy. Probably the meat was not of the best quality or not cleared of fats, properly. The steaks were acceptable but the fish was too salty. We ordered biryani thinking it would be very hard to mess up a simple Pakistani dish, and that too was dry and tasteless.

I told the waiting staff and they decorated the mutton handi with dressings and placed it back with us. I casually told the manager about the average food quality and that I’d blog about it and then the management seemed interested.

Later on I discovered that I am not the only one who has complained about the food.

This Chak 51 restaurant is located at the Northern Western edge Civic Centre roundabout at the heart of Bahria Phase 4. 

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