Pakistani Cafe

The other night I arranged to meet a couple of friends for some tea. Normally I'd have planned to meet at Tchai Ovna but now that it is no more I had to come up with somewhere else. I decided to give the Pakistani Cafe a try as it seems to embody a similar attitude to Tchai Ovna . From the outside I'd always thought the cafe appeared to have a pretty relaxed and unusual atmosphere and looked like the kind of place you could happily spend a few hours with friends chatting away. A sign on the door made me smile and I knew I would enjoy the place - it very politely advises that they are sorry but that they don't serve Nazis.

We wandered in to find the small spaced packed with people - it only has a dozen tables. The owner made clear that this was not a problem and indicated us to a table near the rear covered in CD's. The owner welcomed us in and simply swiped all the CD's to one end the table and let us sit down.

The inside of the place is extremely bright and slightly wonky but wonderfully welcoming and I really enjoyed all the colours and the fact everything has a great hand crafted quality. It may be small but the cafe has a lot of character - our table for instance had one short leg and the bathroom had a sign apologising for the smell from the neighbouring close. There are also piles of books to read, and short poems written on cards on the walls and when we first sat down I noticed a sign that said Salman Rushdie had been in to sign copies of his new book??

We had planned on just meeting for a cup of tea but a scan of the tasty menu put some doubt in our minds and we decided to give one of the fresh fruit milkshakes a go. I went for a tall glass of banana and mango and I can honestly say it is one of the tastiest things I've had in a long time, it tasted fresh, healthy and was very, very refreshing. We had just finished these drinks when the smell of the kitchen started to really grip our attention. Spurned on by the delicious drinks we decided to splash out and share some food between us but couldn't come to an agreement over what to try - so ended up getting a dish each. We tried the Chicken Korma, the Hallem with chapatis and some mango's with ice-cream. All were very good value and very tasty. It was all pretty cheap too - for instance a lamb cheese burger is just £1.60. I really fancy trying the Punjabi breakfast next time or popping in for a "Curry out".

The owner Jimshaed Sharif was as full of character as his cafe - when we asked him about Salman Rushdies book signing he just smiled and said that one day Salman might come but he hadn't made it that day which was rather mysterious. I also suspect quite a few of the poems on the walls may well be his own work. Several of these poems deal with the empowerment of Muslim women and an interesting idea that the cafe is planning on trying is a woman only Thursday to allow women who normally spend all their public life covered up, a place to go and meet their friends with more freedom. It seems to be a place designed to encourage discussion and debate over some tasty food.

To demonstrate the relaxed nature of the cafe when I asked Jimshaed about the opening hours he said 11am til 8pm but if people want to stay longer then he just stays open until they go (It was well after 9pm by this point) sometimes he ends up there til after 11pm.
It is definitely an odd place - but if you are in the mood for tasty food, in a relaxed, friendly and enjoyable atmosphere then it is very recommended.