Mouth-watering drinks, punches hit taste buds at Karachi beverage fest

Two student chefs prepare to showcase a pineapple and peach drink ahead of the judges’ arrival. —Fahim Siddiqi / White Star KARACHI: A drinks show at the Wok Hei restaurant on Saturday was a unique opportunity to beat the heat by tasting refreshing summer beverages prepared by student chefs and professionals. From lemonades, mint drinks, falsa juice and the timeless and traditional Rooh Afza and its new variations to milkshakes that included coconut milk too and the more adventurous of hydration supporting mocktails and punch drinks that included fruit chunks, citrus juices, sugar and salt, one was also treated to a cool iconic Southeast Asian dessert known as ‘cendol’, which seemed like a yummy twist on the good old Pakistani gola ganda. There were also a few drinks that one felt slightly afraid to taste such as the ‘Blue Thunder’ prepared by young Aseef Ayaz and the ‘Blue Lagoon’ prepared by Anum Yousuf. Both drinks were very unnaturally blue in colour, which reminded one of neela thotha also known as the dangerous and quite fatal copper sulfate. It took much urging from the student chef’s to at least take a sip of the concoctions though only the judges were brave and trusting enough to comply. The main judge, Chef Samreen Junaid, was the one who had to taste all the competition entries but then she was also looking at the presentation, innovation, creativity and nutritional value of each drink. Malaysian consul general serves as one of competition judges “Each drink must also have something which would make one stop and want to try it. I am also not looking for just a sugary syrup. It must also carry nutritional value,” she stressed. And there were plenty of drinks which fitted her criteria. ‘Pineapple Ginger Spark’ by Alishba Haroon and Misbah Saleem got its spark from a fizzy lemon drink and lots of pineapple juice with just a dash of ginger. There was also ‘Peach Sparkle’ by Ishrat Afshan, which was presented very well as the smart young chef first spruced up