With the drop in temperature, hundreds of food lovers have started thronging Melody Food Park to enjoy variety of cuisine available here. A large number of people in the park most of them residents of the twin cities have been seen enjoying the weather.
The best thing about the Melody Food Park is that once you enter the place, you will be confronted with an assortment of exotic aromas, which will simply compel you to sit down and taste the variety of food offered, regardless of whether you are hungry or not.
Foods like Pai, Saag, Nihari, Haleem, Barbeque items, Chappli Kabab, Pulao, sweets and ice creams available at the park. The idea of the Food Street was first initiated from Lahore, which is one of the best cities of the world so far as richness of food variety is concerned.
In Lahore the Food Street was established in Gwalmandi Chowk where you would find a dozens of different food items to choose from. The various delights of the Lahore Food Street are Afghani tikka, raan roast, fry chaanp, Lebanese tandoori fish, phajjay ke paye, fried batair, chargha fry masala, kali mirch wali handi, taka tak (kata kat in karachi).
Later the idea of Food Street descended to the other cities including Islamabad. A visitor of the food park, Azmat Ali Khan said that different Pakistani dishes range from Peshawari fried fish to Balochi sajji, Italian and Chinese favourites dishes are also available.
For Rs 120, you can get a lunch pack containing a sufficient portion of chicken fried rice, chicken manchurian and a drumstick, he added. He said the more traditional balti gosht and chicken handi are also popular items along with the regular tikka kebab.
On arriving at the Food Park, one of the worries a person may have is to get a table, as it is packed and many visitors stand waiting for preceding customers to vacate seats.
Shabbir Hussain another visitor said, "The main attraction here is that you can eat in a relaxed atmosphere because of the friendly crowd". "I often come here with my family as all the popular dishes like chicken Karahi, kababs of different types and fried fish are available here," said Muhammad Ilyas a government employee.
He said more food parks like this one should be established in every city so that people could savour the dishes of other provinces. "It is a place where you can find a lot of famous food caterers grouped together, said his wife Zanib Ali.
"I enjoyed the food a lot particularly when songs are being played in the background," she said. There is a lot of variety to choose from and we all like the idea of a family outing, she added.
Some, however, are of the view that the branches of the main restaurants set up at park, don't match the original and now their standard is gradually on the fall.
"Hundreds of customers come here daily but on Saturday night, the rush is enormous and one has to wait for some time to get a seat," a cook said. He said 10pm to 11pm were the peak hours and the parks are jam-packed. Besides, he added that a large number of customers take cooked food homes as well.