What’s Eaten Where: Karachi – bun kababs in the city that never sleeps

3,000 Pakistanis live in Cyprus – not a small number, given the size of the island. But, when you look at the wider Pakistani diaspora, it pales in comparison… The 6^th largest diaspora in the world, an estimated 7 million Pakistanis live outside their home country (2.5 million in Saudi. 1.75 million in the UK). Many of them hail from Karachi, the 12^th most populated city on the planet, also known as ‘The City that Never Sleeps’.

The country’s centre of banking, industry, economic activity, trade and commerce, Karachi is a place of contrasts. Here, old (the Empress Market, built in the 1800s on the site of a horrific massacre) and new (the multi-storey Dolmen Mall, opened in 2011) sit alongside rich (one-bed apartments in some of the luxury blocks can go for over €2 million) and poor (with a population of 2.4 million, Karachi’s Orangi slum is the world’s largest).

For the most part, it’s not a wealthy place. On the flip side, the cost of living is cheap, the city is alive with possibility, and the food is divine…

Whether you have 100 or 1 million rupees, you’ll definitely want to try the city’s most iconic food: the bun kabab. A snack food staple, this toasted bun is stuffed with kebab meat, topped with sliced onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and cucumber, and layered with the local chutney (made from tamarind, cumin powder, and whole red chillies). As a Muslim country, the meat is usually ground beef or mutton, but vegetarian options also abound.

Another perennial street snack is golgappa chaat. Originally an Indian food, the Karachi version consists of crispy puffed puris packed with chickpeas and potatoes, topped with various chutneys, sev (fried noodles), and sweet yogurt. And you’ll also find plenty of stalls selling Punjabi katakat, a butter-fried mixture of brain, heart, kidney, liver, and lungs, together with lamb chops.

Also sold on the side of the road, haleem is a thick stew made with various grains, lentils and meat in which each component is cooked separately, then combined for a thick and luscious texture. And for afters, there’s gola ganda – a ball of shaved ice topped with a myriad of wildly coloured and excitingly flavoured syrups.

To be honest, it would take an entire volume to even begin to describe the cuisine of this incredible city. Perhaps better method for those of us living in Cyprus is to befriend a local Pakistani – with 3,000 on the island, you’re bound to find several hundred who hail from Karachi!