Lahore is undoubtedly the cultural hub and food capital of Pakistan. Lahore offers a wide variety of Street Foods and it is one of the quickest and authentic ways to get closer to the Lahori culture.
Lahore has seen a shift in its street food variety in the last 1 to 2 decades. This shift can broadly be categorized under 3 main categories
- New players in the game
The old authentic Lahori street food options such as Gol Gappay, Laddu Peethi, Shakar Qandi, Samosa, Naan Tikki and Challi have new friends now. These new friends range from the road side French fries stalls to the Pakistani version of Shawarma, from Anda Shami Burgers to Potato Spirals and the Chicken Corn Soup (once again the Pakistani version).
Lahori streets these days are full of such new street foods. Be it Anarkali Bazaar or Ichra Bazaar, Liberty Market or Shah Alam Market you can easily see the new players attracting a lot clientele.
- Saaf Suthra Street Food
While I disagree with the concept of establishing restaurant and eateries to sell ‘hygienic street food’ I must admit that a lot of such places have opened up in Lahore and they cater to the more hygiene conscious awaam out there. There is a considerable size of audience who are happy to have Gol Gappy, Paapri chaat and Laddu Peethi in an air conditioned restaurant with proper customer service but for me it is more than just the food. It’s more about the overall experience, its more about sitting on that wooden bench on the foot path where pakoras are served on a paper with the ambient sounds of Qingqi rickshaws and bike horns. While I value the importance of hygiene and the health related issues around that I would still vote for that raw and authentic Lahori Street Food experience. We now have a variety of restaurants offering Lahori street foods but I am not too sure if that brings the entire street food experience with it.
In the recent years, we have also seen a growth trend in restaurants offering international street food in Lahore. Be it some borrowed bhel puris and gujrati puri from our neighbors India or some Mexican/Spanish inspiration in the form of Tacos. Lahoris still have to adapt their taste buds for the international street food and this is the reason that every such new restaurant doesn’t survive down the line. There are certain success stories however. We have recently seen Restaurateurs bringing food and street food from other cities to Lahore. So if you want to try the ‘Karachi Bun Kababs’ in Lahore then MM Alam Road has options for you.
- Fusion/Contemporary Street Food
Another interesting trend these days is around the fusion of Lahori street food. We have seen our beloved samosas being transformed from being just chicken samosa to now Nutella Samosa, Pizza Samosa and even to the contemporary sweet apple pie samosas. There are some creative restaurateurs who are busy with their experiments with the authentic street food to make them more relevant to the current trends. One of the famous combos these days is the have ice cream with warm food items. It initially used to be freshly made cookie doughs and brownies but there are brave enough people out there who are proud to serve hot apple pie samosa with a scoop of ice cream on top. Lahori awaam is adventurous when it comes to food and this new combo has gained a lot of popularity amongst the younger generation. Having said that, such combinations and contemporary innovations yet have to impress the taste buds of the mature audience.
Some new places in Lahore revolve around such contemporary combinations. Lahore now has interesting options of street food going hand in hand with other food items. A very good example is ‘Meetha Paan Ice Cream’ served by a newly opened restaurant in the Food Street area of Lahore. This is an interesting dessert in which they use a freshly made meetha paan and convert it in to ice cream curls right in front of you. It’s a very different experience from the regular ice curl ice creams that we normally get.
Another recent entry in to the Fusion Street Food scene is authentic and famous paye of Lahore served in a bowl of freshly baked garlic fused buns. The buns is hollow for the shorba to stay there while you wreak havoc J You can call it Bun-Paye for better understanding of what it actually is.
Whatever the new trends of Lahori Street Food is Lahoris will always be up for any new adventures while not stopping themselves from enjoying the authentic road side street food which is still in its purest form.
Lahore minus the street food is not Lahore at all!
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Ali Rehman 