Prior to its formal opening, two years ago, there was much deliberation on what this eclectic cafĆ©ā with parrot green glass tables and purple seated chairs should be called. His friends suggested CafĆ©ā Sikander or Sikki CafĆ©ā, however, Sikander (Alexander) Rizvi wanted something more original and modern so decided to use an extension of his French name, settling on āXanderāsā.
Ā Many thought it would be a junior mimicry of CafĆ©ā Flo, a French fine dine restaurant, in Karachi, run by Sikanderās mother, Florence Villiers, since 1998. Ā And many also thought it was āone of those restaurantsā which come around and die about without much noise. Yet many digested it with gastric caution as it opened its tall wooden door to the public in 2011.
Ā Born in a family of expert foodies, cradled in a gastronomical fusion of French and Punjabi influence and grown up eating gourmet dishes from CafĆ©ā Flo, Sikander was destined to manage peopleās palate.
Ā āWe used to have four-hour long lunches on our holidays and only talked about what was to follow at dinner time.ā recalls Sikander
Ā Based on experience from his holidays, home cooked food by his mother and work experience in Cape Town and Amsterdam, Sikander felt that Karachi needed casual, affordable and good quality āEuropeanizedā food. And thatās when Xanderās was born, a casual, family restaurant offering a mix of delectables to suit all ages.
Ā āI wanted to have lightly dressed salads, open faced sandwiches, pizza and definitely an all day breakfast on my menuā Says Sikander.
Ā Taste is insanely subjective and involves ridiculously complex physiological and psychological toings and froings. And Sikander went through the whole drill continuously for three months tasting, slurping and ingesting his food items before they finally sat under the customersā knife.
Ā āThere was so much tasting of food that I eventually became unwell,ā admits Sikander.
Ā Sometimes, flawed questions are worth asking just for fun, such as this one: When you are not eating at Flo or Xanderās which restaurants do you go to?
Ā And Sikander was quiet for a bit as he carefully chose his words and finally said, āI love to eat daal chawal and nihari, nothing beats home cooked nihariā
Ā A complete contrast to a meal of ādaal chawalā, Sikander shared the recipe of one of his most popular dish at the restaurant ā āGrilled Fishā. As I sipped my Mocha Frappucino, coming to the end of the interview, a seductively colorful plate was set before me with a lightly brown crusted fish, encircled with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sautĆ©ed French beans and glistening cherry tomatoes.
Ā āThis recipe was originally by Gordon Ramsey, but we had to tweak it a lot due to the unavailability of certain ingredients, here in Pakistanā explained Sikander as he dug his fork (before I could) into white moist, extremely appetizing fish.
Ā Ingredients (Serves 1 foodie)
1 tsp. Garlic Paste (Garlic happens to be the indispensable ingredient in Sikanderās kitchen)
1 tsp. fresh thyme (Dried can be used as an alternative)
Pinch of crushed red chilies
Salt and Pepper (According to taste)
Ā 1 spring onion (White end, finely chopped and sautĆ©ed)
1 cherry tomato (sautƩed)
Ā Combine all ingredients of the marinade in a bowl and sink in the piece of fish. Do not marinate for more than 2-3 minutes.
Cook the fish on a smoking grill for about 30-40 seconds on each side
Top with the sautƩed spring onion and cherry tomato
Combine the crust topping in a bowl, smother the grilled fish with the topping and stick it in a pre-heated oven 180 C (375 F) for about 30-40 seconds or until the top is golden brown
Serve immediately with your choice of vegetables.
Ā A bite of light salty crust on top and the moist flaky fish at the bottom and subtle aroma of fresh thyme was truly a āEuropeanizedā experience.
Ā When asked about future plans, Sikander does intend to branch out in Pakistan and eventually abroad. For all we know he might end up opening āSikki CafĆ©ā serving daal chawal and nihari.
