eveloping a taste for fancy desi cuisine can be a real journey, because it’s literally food you eat all the time, just with more masala and butter, maybe. Oh and garlic naan. Saying that, good Pakistani food had its place, but since our palates are already well-acquainted with the flavors, it usually takes some phenomenal magicking to impress.

Places like BBQ Tonite are now an institution, with branches all over. Zenose in Islamabad holds a similar status, while Cuckoo’s Café, Andaaz, and Spice Bazar in Lahore have their fans too. Honestly, if your local food delivery serves everything from 100-rupee biryani, and you now have an opinion on who does the best boti, who has the best nihari, and if daal makhni is something restaurants should charge high prices for, chances are, you’re familiar with the cuisine, and a little jaded too.

Okay, so what would you pay top dollar for then? If your mom makes better karahi than BBQ Tonite, and you’ve mastered the fine art of kunna, is going out to eat desi even a thing anymore?

Apparently, yes. We have had The East End in Karachi for a while now, and Chef’s Table has now stepped up to join the team. The place is small and whimsical, in the way the menu is constructed and plated and served, and you can’t help but feel affection for how earnestly everything is done.

That isn’t to say the food doesn’t live up to the drama. Yes, the most exciting thing to happen to me in the last month was that I was served some meat on an actual axe, but you know what? As Pakistanis, we’ve had amazing local food from every region, in every style and iteration possible. We know enough to tell you: this is good food, you won’t regret the money you drop on it. There are people who may talk about the tiny portions, but bro, you’re eating through a 10-course meal which concludes with a pretty spot-on biryani, stop complaining.

It’s nice to be able to sample small but adequate portions of whatever is on offer for each course, and if you’re more than two people, you can more or less share and taste the entire menu. Palate cleansers are offered midway, and a selection of desserts appears on a silver platter to polish off the meal. What’s for dessert? Why are you even asking? There’s three of them.

Each course is served most creatively, on a variety of objects that are not plates. You can find it annoying, or endearing. But your tastebuds will thank you and you might just be a smidge delighted if you allow yourself to be.

One of the things that jump out, flavor wise, are definitely the starters: a bit of chaat wrapped in crackers, crispy bhindi amuse-bouche in an extravagant tiny chest, and finally, the array of sauces and chutneys, which taste way better than anything you’ve had at home or out.

The meats are cooked just right, and the desserts hit all the right spots: the paan flavored ice cream sounds iffy but tastes good, the rabri personally for me is an ‘eh’ at best, but it’s done how it should be, and gulab jamans are life, so the set rounded off nicely.

Apart from the food, you have to stand up and acknowledge the very kind, courteous servers, who politely guide you through the ordering process, and accommodate any requests without hesitation, offering to add to what you have asked for.

If you’re in Karachi. Looking for some desi, and still want a bit of a change, Chef’s Table is going to hit all the right spots.