To eat or not to eat ... at a place called "Sajjad's"

Being a food lover, it 's fun to go to different places to savor the food and enjoy the ambiance of the place with the subtle lights, light music (if any), the buzz of the crowd and the if you are at the famous "Du Dariya" area then the saltish sea air and the crash of the waves (depending on where your seated!). For some people food is serious business and they don't take matters lightly but not for me. I'm not that fussy as to whether my food is super hot or warm, liquidish or solidified (specially in the case of pastas).

For me what matters at the end of the day is the taste and the quality that you give. Now a recent trip to "Sajjads" (apologies if there is an error in the spelling) with two of my friends, (one a Lahori and a food lover like me and the other an amazing cook with her own well managed page by the name of Kay's House of treats"), turned out to be not what we had actually perceived it to be.

With all due fairness, when we entered the place merrily chatting away, we were greeted nicely and were given a nice canopied area overlooking the sea so sit in. As soon as we settled in the waiter came to take our order comprising of a mixed platter (waiter's recommendation), Chicken Paneer Reshmi handi (Chicken with white gravy and cheese) and garlic nans (bread main in a tandoor). While we chatted on the platter was bought in which comprised of chick strips, Deep fried shrimps, fried fish along with three different sauces and Hummus. My friend, I'll call her "Kay" asked the waiter to bring the main dish once we had polished off the plate, however, within the next few minutes our food was served. While eating we also had a visit from the insect world as a cockroach swiftly ran across the table.

To talk about the food...well, the platter was nice. But that's all it was. Nice. The chicken strips were good, however, the oil in which it had been deep fried had saturated through making it greasy and within a few minutes soggy as well.

The Nan was well made (for what it's worth) and the Handi was still hot by time we finished the appetizer and started the main, but the sauce, rather the white sauce, resembled as something that could easily pass off as being from a nice creamy pasta, thick and somewhat tasteless (only salt and slight masala). We cribbed our way through the food and ended the night with leaving that place with a clear resolution of never ordering the Handi again!

So the next time any of you like to visit Sajjad's keep away from the Shahi Chicken Handi unless you want white chicken pasta (minus the pasta) with a desi touch, as in, in a Handi.