Friends, Families Like To Visit Kartarpura For Sehri

Outdoor tradition to go for Sehri is gaining popularity as people especially visit Kartarpura, a food street in Rawalpindi, along with family and friends for eating a variety of foods like sri paye, nihari, brain, choley and lassi.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2018 ) :Outdoor tradition to go for Sehri is gaining popularity as people especially visit Kartarpura, a food street in Rawalpindi, along with family and friends for eating a variety of foods like sri paye, nihari, brain, choley and lassi.

The staff at the two-kilometer long food street starts setting up tables for Sehri soon after dealing with Iftar crowd, besides giving final touches to traditional food items especially sri paye and nihari, which require hours to cook.

"People start arriving right after midnight and you will not be able to find a place to sit after 01:00 a.m.," said Tahir Iqbal owner of a Sri, Paye and Nihari shop. He said all items at his restaurant are sold out well before the time for Sehri because people also place takeout orders.

"We also offer special naans in Ramadan including kulcha, mince filled naan, chicken naan and traditional roghani naan for sehri," he said. Goat sri paye is another popular dish, he said adding that it is cooked on a slow flame with spices.

"Ours is a traditional recipe which we don't share. It also tastes better because of the selection of spices we use. We also cook it on a slow flame," he said, adding that it takes a whole day to prepare nihari and sri paye.

During Ramadan, tea shops are usually replaced with lassi shops with milkmen busy preparing curd for lassi in their makeshift shops. "After having warm and oil laden food like nihari, people like having at least two or three glasses of sweet and namkeen lassi.

Most people believe that having lassi for sehri eliminates thirst for the day," said Mohammad Afzal a visitor at the Kartarpura food street. "It took me two hours to get a table, be served and to be done with my food because of the huge crowd on the weekend," he said.

Unlike other places where waiters offer tables, customers at the food street have to grab a table for themselves as the street is always packed, even more so during Ramadan. "This food street does not have a parking, and customers have to park out in the streets or in the adjacent Kohati Bazaar.

But it is all worth it because the food is so good here. The chefs are familiar with the tastes people prefer in the area. While other markets may offer better seating, its all about food in the Kartarpura food market," said a visitor, Numan.