The chai dhaba trend started ages ago and the topic is pretty much done and dusted, but no one has really appreciated nor brought to light the unique names each chai dhaba has tried to come up with to differentiate itself. In Karachi specifically, there are hundreds of modern chai dhabas that have come about besides the traditional ones like Cafe Clifton that have been around for years.
Here is our little attempt at visiting as many dhabas as we could. Let us know your favourite ones and if we missed out any:
It all started with the strip of dhabas on Chota Bokhari in Defence
Chai Walla
Chai Shai
Chai Studio
Oops. Guess we caught them at a bad time… looks like they’re renovating.
Dhabay Ji
But word has it that it was actually Chai Master that started the whole trend tbh…
Chai Master
And then there was Bara Bokhari that needed to be tapped into… hence came about not another ‘Chai wala‘ but
Chotu Chai Wala
Lollywood Cafe
Then there’s this cute little dhaba called
Tea 4 You
We also came across a fancy shmancy one called
Tea De Lis
Islamabad may have the famous Chai Khana, but Karachi has it’s very own little Chai Khana too
We have a Thela Wala too
Then dhabas started expanding to offering chais from a different origin, like;
Arabian Shai
Chai Square
Chai Shack
Chainak
Then somewhere near Seaview we came across:
Chacha Chai Cafe
AND FINALLY… Feminists brace yourselves… WE HAVE A
CHAI WALI!!!!
We found a dhaba being a little creative with the world of chai and named their dhaba
Kaitlee
We tried searching for a few modern chai dhabas in other parts of Karachi too, like in Mohammad Ali Society and we caught a glimpse of
Chai Pani Food Point
And
Desi Chai Baithak
BUT THEN SUDDENLY… WE Came across this random modern chai dhaba with an electro feel to it in the middle of phase 8 in DHA
ENIGMA
And this brought our hunt for modern chai dhabas to an end. Which one of these have you visited? Which one’s your favorite? And which ones have we missed?! Do let us know.