WORLD TOUR: Lawyer brings in global cuisine

Of Caribbean origin, Deena Deen brings unique offering for Saturdays

ISLAMABAD: The beauty of Islamabad lies it its diversity; in the fact that nobody really belongs here, but everyone who comes here belongs to it in a special way. The fact that every traveller passing through Pakistan takes a pit stop here and leaves something special behind, that the city is an amalgamation of the uniqueness everyone brings here, that And that is what makes this city so interesting.

The most recent addition to the city is a very unique pop-up menu introduced by a young girl named Deenah Deen of Caribbean origins. She moved to Islamabad recently, and like all others who add a bit of their own individuality to the city, she also brought in her talent.

The pop-up menu is offered at Baithak at Saidpur Village every Saturday from 3pm onwards. It features a different cuisine every week. They cover the Caribbean, Mexican and New Orleans pop-ups, and there are lot more to come in the future with a Rustic Italian menu scheduled for next Saturday.

A lawyer by profession, Deenah calls herself a foodie who is passionate about cooking. Over the years, she has had the opportunity to travel and that has helped her self-learn dishes from different cuisines across the globe.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Deen, the mastermind behind this interesting addition to the city, said that she always wanted to try her food in a commercial setting.

“In the time I’ve spent in Islamabad, I have found out that food seems to feature as a central theme in most people’s entertainment and leisure time here, so I decided to use my Caribbean origin to bring some diversity to the food culture here,” she said.

Deen is from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, who recently moved to Islamabad with her husband Umar, who she met while studying at Warwick University.

“My knowledge of the Islamabad food scene and its preferences is still being developed, and therefore I have tried to keep the experimental element alive in the pop-up menus. Based on the response we’ve gotten so far, I’d say people are definitely receptive to the concept and the different tastes that have been introduced,” she said.

The most interesting part of the menu is that it features three items every week, making the meal a three-course meal. However, people can grab one course as a light snack too and pay just for that. The prices are affordable, and Deen makes everything herself.

“I get help from the Baithak team and my husband, Umar, who has been the most wonderful support for this venture. He is a behavioural consultant and PhD researcher, and I do a bit of consulting myself, so our venture is really a more intimate offering for people who love food and are open to new experiences. We’re not trying to establish a high-end fine dining restaurant but we do try to keep as much authenticity and quality control as we can,” she told The Express Tribune.

The response to the pop-up has been positive. It opened with a fixed price menu only, but has since been readjusted to a more flexible, itemised menu. For the last two weeks, they have been completely sold out.

Clearly, there’s one more reason to look forward to Saturdays in Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2016.