A Quick Bite : Garden Bistro

Trying a bit at Garden Bistro

­ 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 eatery, Azfar Ashary, Ali Azfar Naqvi and Azfar Mehdi, walked us through the menu this week, weighing in on their vision behind the restaurant. Skimming through the items, we saw a number of dishes that are unheard of. The first thing that caught our eye was how everything is made from scratch including whole-wheat 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?

Shrimp Salad Bites and Beetroot Tacos



For starters, we tried 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 at 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 yoghurt filling with pan seared beetroot had us asking for more.

Miso Chilli Glazed Prawns



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.

Quinoa and Bell Pepper Pasta



For mains, we opted for the Quinoa and Bell Pepper Pasta (with an option to add chicken), Wasabi Honey Mustard Chicken (served alongside a homemade whole wheat 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.

Orange and Dark Chocolate French Toast



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.

Berry Splash Cheesecake



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 favour of the whole dish.

Baked Chocolate Mousse



The chocolate mousse was baked to perfection! Completely sugar free, the desert comes with home-made protein ice cream and scrumptious berry compote and it was definitely a winner in our books!