Restaurant Review: Coffee Tea & Company in Lahore, Pakistan

Coffee, Tea & Company, or CTC, as it's called by locals, is one of the most popular café restaurants among Lahore's upper class. With prices a bit higher than the mid-range restaurants, my husband and I saved this restaurant for a special treat. We were certainly not disappointed in choosing CTC as the spot to "go all out" for a nice meal.

CTC is located in Gulberg, not far from Hussain Chowk. It is across the street from the Xinhua Mall complex and the Arizona Grill. It is right next to the import store, Essa Jee's. Most people use CTC itself as a landmark, so you shouldn't have much trouble getting there by public transportation. If driving, go around Hussain chowk and turn off at the sign for "Heaven." You'll see CTC on your righthand side, and you'll need to do a u-turn to get over there and find some parking.

Parking is not the high point of CTC's location, as it can get quite crowded during lunch or dinner hours and you may have to spend a significant amount of time looking for a place along nearby side streets.

When you enter, the green and natural wood tones provide a soothing yet classy ambiance. Downstairs in the patisserie, where you can get delectable baked goods to go. The dining area upstairs offers seating in stylish leather couches or comfortable wicker chairs. Each table is adorned with fresh flowers, although the daisies at our table looked like they'd seen better days.

As most Pakistani restaurants, the menu was mind-bogglingly large. They serve breakfast from 7am to noon, and on Sunday until 2pm. After that you can choose from the extensive lunch and dinner menu. For starters there are soups (175 rupees), salads (275-320 rupees), and a variety of hot appetizers including Nachos with Chicken Chili (300 rupees), Buffalo Wings (265 rupees), or Shrimp & Calamari (325 rupees).

Main dishes include pastas, seafood, steaks, stir fries, burgers, sandwiches, and pizza slices. My husband decided to go with the Grilled Seafood Platter (680 rupees/$8.64) and I went with the Smoky BBQ Chicken Fillet sandwich (380 rupees/$4.80). We both ordered a Black Cow (an A&W root beer float) from their lengthy drink menu. As far as I know, this may be the only place in Lahore you can get authentic A&W root beer, so it was quite a treat for us Americans.

For starters we ordered the Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese. The dish was large, and it could have easily been a meal for me. In Pakistan, many times "buffalo wings" are actually just spicy wings, but these were battered and had the perfect amount of spice. The only complaint I had was that they were a bit wet and very messy to eat.

Our meals came right when we had finished our appetizer. My sandwich was huge and had a heaping side of fries, ranch dressing, and a delicious potato salad. There were three full chicken breasts inside, and they were grilled and smothered in tasty BBQ sauce. This dish alone could easily have been good for both of us. The potato salad was fresh, and the fries were thick and crispy.

My husband's seafood platter was also a hit. He had grilled fish, shrimp and calamari, with a side of grilled vegetables. It was a big plate, although if he hadn't chowed down on buffalo wings he probably could have eaten the whole thing. This was probably the most expensive dish we'd gotten since we came to Pakistan, and he said it was well worth it to have something fresh and different.

He was tempted to order dessert, but after finishing just half of my sandwich platter I felt ready to explode! Our total bill came to 1800 rupees ($23) including tax and tip. We both took half of our meals home.

As this was our holiday splurge meal, we ordered drinks, an appetizer and whatever meals we wanted. I'm sure that we could go there, split a large sandwich platter, and be satisfied for about 500 rupees ($6.30) combined. As the ambiance was great, the service quick and friendly, and the food delicious, I'm sure we'll be going back to CTC soon. It will just be hard not to tack on all those extra treats like chocolate mousse and A&W rootbeer floats! Not only is this a great place for a meal, you could also stop in for shakes and fries, or coffee and dessert. It's no wonder that this place is so popular, and that the parking lot always remains full.