Best Food in Rawalpindi
Unlike Lahore and Karachi Rawalpindi is not so much famous for food, although people love to eat good food here. This is why there are many quality restaurants and food chains open here. Pindi is famous for mutton karahi and shinwari karahi, you can get the best karahi in Saddar as well as in Tarnol area.
Rawalpindi Food Street
Food lovers in Pindi love to visit Food Streets established especially for food restaurants and outlets. These food streets gave people a wide range of choices to select from the best restaurants in town. From Savour Foods to Shinwari Karahi, and from Chicken Makahni Karahi to BBQ Platters everything is available here.
Rawalpindi has two renowned and well-established food streets in the city. Both food streets observed huge visitors and food lovers throughout the year. Here is a brief introduction to these food streets;
Pindi Stadium Food Street
Located at the Stadium Road also known as Double Road, this is the first-ever food street established in Rawalpindi in 2005. The food street was built under the stands of Pindi Cricket Stadium. People from Rawalpindi and Islamabad often visit and enjoy their food, tourists from other cities of Pakistan and from abroad also visit this place.
Kartarpura Food Street
Kartarpura is an old and congested area in Rawalpindi where famous eateries were present long before Food Street was established. Later in 2015, it was established as Food Street, as mentioned earlier it is located in inner Rawalpindi near the Banni area which is a busy business hub. If you want to visit here you have to park your vehicle outside because cars are not allowed inside the food street.
It is so busy and congested you can barely walk here. During the Holy month of Ramadan, a huge influx of public from Rawalpindi and Islamabad visit this food street especially for Sehri, making it more chaotic.
Here are some iconic foods in Rawalpindi which became a famous and integral part of the city.
Gratto Jalebi:
Gratto jalebi is a famous sweet snack in Rawalpindi. It is made by frying batter into spiral shapes which are then coated or dipped in sugar syrup, it’s full of sweetness and crunch when you take a bite. You can find it at Murree Road near Committee Chowk. People wait in lines for their turn to get the Gratto Jalebi. If you ever visit Rawalpindi do not miss this special snack.
Savour Foods:
Another famous food in Rawalpindi is Savour Foods, which is a full-course meal consisting of Rice with Chicken and kebabs served with Raita (Curd). It is not a traditional dish of Rawalpindi but a migrant from Punjab started it in Rawalpindi almost 50 years ago on a cart at College Road, Rawalpindi. Now Savour Foods has more than 10 branches in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, and other cities as well. It is so popular that, you can hardly find a spot to sit and eat during lunch/dinner time.
Aziz Tikka Shop:
Aziz Tikka Shop (Bar B. Que) at Babu Muhalla, Saddar is one of the oldest and most famous eateries for meat lovers. You can enjoy juicy and tasty mutton/beef tikkas and karahi at the Aziz Tikka shop. It’s so famous that VIP personalities used to come here to eat mutton tikka. President of Pakistan Mr. Arif Alvi visited the shop in 2020 with heavy protocol.
Al Mustafa Dar ul Mahi:
If you love to eat fish, go visit Al Mustafa Dar ul Mahi. The best fry and BBQ fish in Rawalpindi. It’s in Saddar Bazar and got so much rush that you have to wait for your order. They offer different kinds of fish Rahu, Simon, Pamplhet, Silver fry, or BBQ.
Fry Channy (Cholay):
Fry Channy (Cholay) is also famous in Rawalpindi. There are many fry channy stalls/shops in Pindi but the one is at Tipu Road Sir Syed Chowk.