June 30, 2007 ☼ Aside ☼ Foreign Affairs
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
Writing a couple of explanatory lines below names of the dishes on restaurant menu cards always required talent. A humble plate of dal could become “imported lentils cooked on a slow fire in a traditional blend of exotic spices and garnished with fresh cilantro”, while the roti is often only “traditional Indian bread”. But as mesocosm’s Sophia Furber found out, the menu at Islamabad’s Civil Junction Restaurant is a class apart.
American Democracy – a greatly good-looking dish; its taste varies to suit taste buds across the globe. Weaker eggs beaten beyond recognition, mixed with maverick chicken from Texas, cooked in oil of national interest.
Deep Fried Opposition – the most popular dish in Pakistan (a.k.a chicken Karrahi). It’s slaughtered; cut-into-as-many pieces as possible; battered, salted, spiced and what-not. Your best chance is to take your bite too (though long live the opposition!)
Underdevelopment juices – local, fresh, raw fruits squeezed without foreign assistance. Served without industrial pretentions, modern paradoxes or sophisticated contradictions. Never mind development, mind your juices
Musharaf Guespresso – our best bet – Not old; anybody’s guess. Seasoned and intensely mature! Khaki, softly firm, brewed under high pressure of discipline. It’s base is very, very strong, and the real kick is in the aftertaste!
The menu had a surprisingly pro-India feel:
Vajpayee’s cup of coffee – our hot favourite – Old, poetically smooth, chronically alone, mythologically smooth….. there is no foreign hand in its making!The Hindustan Times’ Vinod Sharma reported (via MicroPakistan) a dish called Military Intervention—“a beefy main course. Some like it, some hate it, but all take it”.
And we are told that there is ISI Visitation—it’s not on the menu, but regulars are aware of its existence. It is said to arrive at around 10pm.
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