Garden Bistro review: A twist for your taste buds

Karachi's latest much-hyped eatery might be a little steeped with its pricing but trust us, it's worth the money!

KARACHI: The stigma attached to eating clean is that healthy food cannot be finger-licking good. But Karachi's new-fangled eatery vows to break this stereotypical belief.

Located on Khayaban-e-Seher, Garden Bistro seems to be perfect for those who want to sit back and relax after a long, tiring day. The owners of the resto, Azfar Ashary, Ali Azfar Naqvi and Azfar Mehdi, walked us through the menu this week, weighing in on their vision behind the restaurant.



"See, we've been in the healthy eating business for some time now," Ashary told The Express Tribune as he talked about Health Act, another one of the trio's ventures. "So, the idea was pretty much there all the time but with our own individual jobs and hectic work hours, we never thought we'd take this up as a full time job."

Ashary feels it important to convey the message that healthy eating can actually be really delicious if done right.



Skimming through the items, we saw a number of dishes that are unheard of. The first thing that caught the eye was how everything is made from scratch including wholewheat breads and baguettes. The owners revealed how they don't use any sort of preservatives, artificial flavours, cream, cheese or sugar in their recipes, leaving us intrigued. Because what is life without any of these ingredients?

We had to taste it to believe it! And so, we asked the owners to order for us.

For starters, Ashary suggested we try the Shrimp Salad Bites and Beetroot Tacos. We'd be lying if we said that the latter didn't make our mouths water before even arriving on the table.

Served in spoons, the Shrimp Salad Bites weren't exactly what we had in our minds but boy, was it delicious. The actual surprise came in with the Beetroot Tacos. The greek youghurt filling with pan seared beetroot had us taking seconds.

For mains, Ashary and Mehdi suggested we opt for the Quinoa and Bell Pepper Pasta (with an option to add chicken), Wasabi Honey Mustard Chicken (Served alongside a homemade wholewheat baguette) and finally the Miso Chilli Glazed Prawns with wasabi, lime sauce and sesame spinach.



The star of the evening was clearly the pasta! The dish (which can also be ordered as a vegetarian option) was light and the quinoa perfectly complemented the tangy sauce. It was served with green beans and we cannot stress enough on how much we appreciated this.



The Miso Chilli Glazed Prawns were served on a bed of brown rice with different sauces. It was an instant hit. The prawns were perfectly cooked as was the brown rice. However, we felt the sauces could have been a bit more in terms of quantity. Nonetheless, it's an item we would order again.



Lastly, the grilled chicken. Sadly, it didn't live up to our expectations when compared to the first two mains.



We were full up to our throats when it was time to order the dessert. Now, one thing people have been raving about is the Orange and Dark Chocolate French Toast. Two others that were recommended to us were the Berry Splash Cheesecake and Date Toffee Pudding with Banana Protein Ice Cream.



We were first served the french toast. Now, we would choose savoury breakfast over sweet any day but Garden Bistro's Orange and Dark Chocolate French Toast might just have changed that for us.



It was quite hard to believe that the Berry Splash Cheesecake was made sans any cream. The deconstructed presentation of the cheesecake actually worked in the favour of the whole dish.



The ice cream wasn't made from protein powder but from actual protein itself, informed Ashary. And the proof was in the taste. One couldn't differentiate it from our quintessential one. And that's definitely a win. The date puddings, however, were too dense for our liking.

The dishes might have been a little on the pricier side but trust us, it's worth the money!

Verdict: Garden Bistro seems to be heading in the right direction when it comes to healthy eating but they still need to evolve with their menu. That being said, we can't wait to go back and try their much-hyped greek youghurt-based Alfredo!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.