Tandoori Chai Experience in Islamabad

I am from Karachi and food is life, and tea is the fuel that keeps us going. As much as I am excited about desi food places, coffee shops, restaurants and fine dining, I am also always searching for good tea places. Tea is the lifeline for anyone who has worked in Pakistani corporate sector or lived in a desi household especially, in a joint family set up. Tea is served when you have guest, tea is served when the going gets tough, tea is even the solution to headaches in desi household. In short, tea is fantastic and tea is as much important as coffee. 

Well, me and my roommate are equally excited for tea. So, a few days ago after 09pm she proposed a mini adventure that is, to go out at this hour and explore tea in F7 markaz. I like adventures and I like tea so I agreed immediately and suggested to try the infamous Matka Chai, as we call it in Karachi. In Islamabad, it is known as tandoori chai. Well, the craze went viral in Karachi and has seeped into Islamabad and I have been wanting to try Tandoori Chai for such a long time. Due to Covid the dream of experiencing Tandoori Chai in Karachi remained just a dream. Who knew I would have the experience in Islamabad? 

The most important part for this experience was to set aside the skepticism regarding the taste difference between the two cities but ever since I have embarked on the venture of breaking the taboo that Islamabad has tasteless food, I am more and more excited to try new eateries, and new food here. This should be counted as personal growth lol! So, good thing about this plan was that it was a winter's night, it was cold and tandoori chai was definitely the food of the mood.

Dress up is the second most important part of our venture, of course the first most important part of it is food. So, we dressed up within 5 minutes. Believe it or not, whenever we girls can dress up this quickly! We hit the cab and landed swiftly in F7 markaz. We had one more friend with us, who is a diehard foodie too. We explored the place and kept asking for people about tandoori chai wala and luckily, we found the place with minimum search efforts. 

I liked the set up which was humble, desi style, open air, table, and chair sitting experience. The problem with every desi food place is they do not have a specific specialty or niche which they should capitalize on. We were there for the tea experience, but the waiter insisted on selling us dinner items such as bbq, sandwiches, pasta and karahi etc. We insisted for just tea. Their tea menu has three types of tandoori tea.

1.    Simple Tandori Chai (no nuts)

2.    Shehan Shahi Tandoori Chai (almond and pistachio only)

3.    Qalandari Tandori Chai (served with all nuts)

We chose Qalandari because well the mood was such lol. The waiter asked if we need any side with tea and he offered some desert options as well. Well, at that moment hot and sweet Gulab Jamun with Qalandari Tandori Chai felt like a romance to enjoy, therefore that is what we ended up ordering.

Now the main question is, was the tea fantastic? It was good. I think it was a blend of pink Kahmiri Chai. It was delicious and hot, and we felt the cup lasted too quickly for the moment. The tea was served hot with hot Gulab Jamuns which were fresh and mouthwatering. The place was humble with fairy lights and live music, and we all know I am a big, big fan for these two things. The place is a family place, and it was fairly crowded for that hour. We were happily fed, and we loved our mini adventure. We ended up sitting longer than we expected and I even took live audience to show them the place. The Tandori Chai in F7 markaz is definitely something to experience if you are in Islamabad. Give it a try!