Here we are... starting from Peshawar, The Land Of Hospitality, Green Tea, Guns, that love-able pushtoon attitude and Guns ;) . It seemed sensible enough to start from here, from whence it all began.
Seeing that there are countless food joints opening up in Peshawar, (and by countless i mean like four) There's a dire need for someone to put their arses on the line and check them out, you'll see what i mean by looking at the intimidatingly gay looking guard they have at the main entrance.
To decipher a food joint by just one visit would be wrong, so when we thought that we had eaten there enough and were never going to back there, twas time to blog :p.
Jan's deli is supposed to be that little cafe where you can indulge in your guilty pleasures, it has exotic cakes, sandwiches, burgers and pizzas....basically what a deli needs. Entering the place i would caution you not to look the guard in the eyes...otherwise he may do this...
The place is small, but runs successfully enough, currently the second story is under construction. Entering the place the first thing you will notice is that the place is a little congested, especially after office hours or in the evening when it is packed, I for one would advise you against going there in the afternoon if you're not a big fan of under arm stench.
The environment and the feel of the place has been kept in mind by the person who did the decor, but for me it was not complementing the overall aura, so we give a 7/10 to that one...
Now we come to the service, dear God the service. From my experience either I'm very ugly or the waiters and manager just hate me for the heck of it, from what I've seen you are ignored. Not neglected, simply ignored, you look up and make a sad puppy face *please feed mee* and they just look at you as if you're their Ex wife, give you a disgusted look and turn away, its really hard to get their attention, 5/10 is courteous enough.
Sitting in the deli, looking at the pamphlet type menu was I with my friends, there was stuff there i hadn't heard of, and lets face it, We're not really the "elite" type. I know what coffee is but never really appreciated it. Placing the order would be a teenie prob, we decided the typical way of closing our eyes and seeing where our finger landed and chose to order that, and thankfully the manager was kind enough to help us out with the drinks (cause a frappucino and weird names i do not recall are coffee flavored and can get pretty yuckie.)
Starting from the cakes, two things which seemed quite eye catching was the Blackberry Cheese cake and The Kit Kat cake (or whatever) The price ranges from 75/- to 130/- a slice.
Both cakes were nice, a sign of consistency. They were heavy yet creamy and you would want another bite, yet, the Kit Kat cake has a tiny problem that the Kit Kat portion of the cake and the icing have different melting points, and well if you start talking alot you'll be left with plate of chocolaty cornflakes...
The drink that will really pop out of the menu is the Blue Lady, (cool name, of course) which is disappointing and social suicide at the same time, it tastes like Mountain Dew, Its blue, according to the manager only 40 year old single women have it and well it costs about 5 times your average mountain dew does, so that would be a No-No. I would recommend the apricot smoothie, its a customer favorite and very delicious.
The pizzas are not very appealing except for "The Jan's Deli Special" which isn't half bad, (provided its fresh- yes you have to watch out for that) The large version is about 600/- and is suitable for two hungry teens.
Looking at the two girls entering the place I became self conscious and ordered something "scopy"... "Lasagna"
I will regret that decision for a while, because apart from being expensive, it consists of melted cheese with two microscopic pieces of chicken meat. (and we all know, There are no vegetarians in Pakistan, if they say they are. Trust me, they're lying, its as simple as that.) well, the oily and Gooey-ness of the Lasagna restricted me to eating nothing and well wasting my money, so stay away from that till it gets a reputation.
The Club sandwich is normal, served with a side of chips, its taste is subtle and its filling (basically what its supposed to be like) so if you're a fan of clubs, Dig in.
Jan's Deli is located in Betthani Plaza, Park Avenue, University Town Peshawar...
Final Verdict: Although Jan's Deli may seem lacking at places it is a very good attempt at bringing a new style of cafe cuisine to Peshawar, A place where teens and adults (old people) can go, relax and pamper themselves for once, the place is not very expensive and you get value for money. Although the waiters start screaming Thank you Sir! the moment you get up ( Maybe they saw it on TV or something) they need to work on their service. Because the place isn't really big at all and you can almost touch the opposite walls with your outstretched arms...so we should be expecting top notch service.
Coming soon will be a review of "Central Perk" which has become quite the talk of the town...
Ciao
