Village Street Food & TRADITIONAL PAKISTAN BUFFET in Islamabad | ALL YOU CAN EAT!

Oh my goodness. Oh is that what I think it is? This morning we're going for a hike. It's going to be a workout. We're here at Takhtabai, one of the UNESCO sites here in Pakistan and it's a Buddhist ruin. A lot of you guys might be surprised by that because you wouldn't think there'd be Buddhists. A lot of Buddhist temples were ruins here in Pakistan but back in the first century BC this was created because Buddhists did exist in this region and this place we're at is called Takhtabai. Takhta means throne or high up and bai means water so they assume that there's a couple streams down here as well. Also this is crazy but this place is only about 30% excavated so what we're going to see, the ruins, the structures, that's only 30%. The other 70% are hidden still in the mountains like the iceberg of archaeological sites. We're still in the stairs before we even reach the ruins and even this area it's just so serene just surrounded by trees and the mountains. If you're into serenity, philosophy, spirituality or really like stairmasters this is the place for you. So we got to the main ruins here. You can see like this combination of huge stones and little slabs of stones put together to make these walls and those areas in the mountains you can see little bits of the sites poking through the ground and those are the places that haven't been excavated yet so it's just all over the mountaintop. It gives you a sense of how big this place is and how much there's still to be discovered. So this is the main section of the ruins. If you see these nooks on the wall these are places where the monks used to sit in and recite prayer and meditate. So this is the kitchen area and this whole section is where the living took place. So if you look at these little rooms here this is where they lived and they each would have a window and this is where they would put their oil lamps and books. I mean just imagine someone from 2,000 years ago slept here, window, oil lamp and this is how they lived back then. So amazing right? Just came down from the monastery. That was an amazing experience. Now we're all hungry. I'm gonna go for some local regional food and that's gonna be chapati kebab. Oh my goodness. Oh is that what I think it is? There is bone marrow inside the kebab patties. Remember what we said about bone marrow. Any dish with it is gonna be amazing. Look at this. I mean I've never even thought this was possible. Like this is a feat of food engineering that has never crossed my mind. I mean we eat a lot of patties and I've eaten a lot of this kebab here in this country. I just never thought like bone marrow could be inside this. I mean look how pretty. So this is one of the most traditional. Sorry I'm just salivating so much right now. This is one of the most traditional dishes in Peshawar. Only in this region can you find it so authentic as this. And these are like monster size burger size patties with at least two pieces of bone marrow stuck in the middle. Usually it's minced beef or minced mutton. This is beef. It's minced. All the spices and herbs ground up, put together and shaped into like a burger patty. And it's fried nice and toasty on the outside and the inside. Check this out. Beautifully tender. Oh they got tomatoes in here too. All these great ingredients inside this kebab. Look at the chilies and the color. A little green, a little orange. There's garlic in here. I can see the coriander seeds. I feel like my nose just got a whiff of an uppercut because my senses just got knocked back by how good this smells. And it's so tender and juicy inside with just a marvelous crunch on the outside. I cannot wait to try this. This is like the thing you gotta have in this region is this. Oh my gosh. I don't even know how to start. Let me just take a piece without the without the marrow first. And look at this. Look at that. Tomato, chilies, herbs, garlic. All that great stuff. It's minced inside the kebab. And you make a little taco with it. Add a bit of yogurt and mint. Wow. I've never had this kebab taste this good in this country. I've had this plenty of times in this country. Nothing comes close to how good this tastes. I'm shook right now. What's crazy is the different textures in here. Really, really, really tender inside. But the outside is such a startling crunch. Every single bite, you get a little bit of the crunchy exterior. And the whole thing has all that spices and herbs and a little sweet flavor of the tomatoes mixed in. I mean, we say flavor bomb a lot. And as you chew it more and more, you hit like little spice pockets, you know? They're like little fragrant crevices residing inside this kebab. And then it's just like your mouth is filled with wonderful spicy aroma all over again. I'm going in for the marrow. Oh, I can't believe this. Look at that. Massive chunks of marrow. And this is what I'm talking about. It's so crusty and nice and crunchy here. And look at it. It's so tender and juicy and soft here. It's just such a textural delight. Next bite, we're hitting the gym. Excuse me while I cry a little bit. When I bit into that marrow and when that fat just rivered all over my taste buds, it just brought like a whole different sensation to this dish. I mean, just when you think you're falling in love with the spices and the crunch, all of a sudden it's just this intense, fatty, creamy flavor just floods everything. And it doesn't overpower any of the other flavor. It just enhances everything. It just creates a mammoth, fatty tsunami of flavor. And at the end of the day, all you want is just have that sensation all over again. This is the best version of this dish I've had so far in this country. Words cannot express how much I will miss this when I leave here. And no other patties might ever look the same to me again. It's just something so wondrous about sitting here, being like in this local community, eating what everyone else is eating and just enjoying this pace of life. And it's something I wish all you guys could experience at some point in your life. In a local environment, exploring the local culture. This is what I love about travel. This is what I love about exploring the world right here. We are in the area of Sua. And the dish they eat here is this. Check this out. This is called, oh my God, this is heavy. This is a good 20 pounds, I think. This is called war jelly. It is the most popular traditional dish in this region. It's so traditional and so ancient, like nobody really knows when it originated from. People just know that when you come here, this is what you gotta eat. It's a dish that's also pretty simple. It's a rice dish cooked with seven different types of spinach. And you got a little cream here, a little ghee that you put it on. Essentially, this is local Suat comfort food. And it's really different than a lot of the rice dishes that we've seen so far in this country. Mainly because, look at it. It's definitely more of a saucier, wetter, stickier rice dish than a lot of the rice dishes that we've seen so far in this country. So you put a little cream, a little ghee. When I took out the big spatula, look at this. It's like I made a war jelly smiley face. This should make this into a food emoji. Oh, wow. I feel more comforted already. Heck yes. I love me some war jelly. Wow. First thing that hits you is the texture of the rice. It's definitely a lot soggier and softer than a lot of the rice dishes we've had. It's almost got a creamy consistency to it. There's not a lot of seasoning in here. It's usually just the different types of spinach, a splash of lemon to kind of balance out the buttery flavor of the ghee. And when you start chewing it, the spinach flavor really rises. It's almost like eating cream of spinach rice. The flavor is so good. This thing is so buttery and spinach-y in the best way possible. One thing about this though, I'll tell you right now, this is definitely a heavy dish too. It's got that decadent quality where it's going to satisfy you and it's definitely very, very fulfilling. Add a splash of citrus. So much better. You need that splash of citrus just to cool off your taste buds a little bit and settle your stomach. This is something you can only find in this region here. You're not gonna find this in any major city in Pakistan unless you come to this region and you should. Just driving through the mountains, that was a feast for the eyes when you come here. You get a dish that's like, it ain't nothing fancy about it. It's just simple and delicious and that's what you want. And I've had rice, of course, all my life. Never had anything like this before. Again, simply delicious local fares like this. That's what I love. So we're heading in deeper into the mountains here in Swat and this region is called Madian. You can see the Swat River runs through here and there's a lot of trout farms here and rainbow trout is like one of the predominant things produced here seafood-wise. So we're gonna go get some of that. This is crazy. Snow-capped mountains in the background. Beautiful crystal clear river running through and this is where we're gonna go get the fish. I think fried fish is like the most popular way of eating fish in this country and this is the first time I'm having a fried trout probably ever in my life. But this thing, look at this. Again, lightly toasted on the outside and don't sleep on the skin. Crispy trout skin. Spicy crispy trout skin. Inside it's just all pure tenderness. Look at that juice. Like it's still swimming in the river. The flavor is so mild and delicate. If you want to eat fish without the fishy flavor, this is it for you. All that great chilies and cumin, coriander and nice Pakistan spice mixture all on the outside. They give you chili sauce but for me, splash of lime juice. I feel like coming to Swat. I mean food is important but the overall experience is where you should be eating up. Like the majestic mountains, the pristine river. Just being able to be here and breathe through the fresh air and eating fish that was swimming and kicking like 20 minutes ago. This is what I call experience of a lifetime and I'm sad to say this is the last day we're here in Pakistan. And after this we're heading back to Islamabad. There's one more restaurant we gotta go to before we hit to the airport. Supposedly it's one of the most beautiful restaurants in the city. I don't know how it can be more beautiful than this but we'll see. Hey welcome to Manal. Let me show you around. This is one of the most exclusive locations in Islamabad and it's home to probably the most posh restaurant. And check out the view. We're on top of the city. Well you can see a lot more if we actually got here on time but we got a little late so it's dark now. But it's a glittering sea of lights. So there's a couple of restaurants here. Actually multiple places. There's a coffee shop. There's a fancy restaurant called the Manal which is a great sedan place. It's supposed to be amazing. But we are going to Alamantina. It's a buffet. I picked it. And only $9.50 so around six dollars. This is a traditional Pakistani buffet with all my favorite foods making an encore appearance. Like all the street foods that I loved that I've had over the last week all represented here from kebabs to jaleeb puri to chicken karahi to egg fried rice. Nice to see you here. Didn't expect that. It's not huge but it is concentrated and there's a lot of stuff to munch on. Let's get started. There's so many live cooking stations. There's burgers. There's chow mein. Gotta get some chicken karahi. Mutton paya. I need like a little bit of everything. I'm a little homesick so I'm gonna get some chow mein. Oh my gosh they got my favorite dessert. Jaleeb all I want. All right I want to know what a chicken manchurian is. I'm really missing Chinese food so it looks like sweet and sour chicken. I'm gonna give me some of that. Let's eat. All right round one. Every place I go to every new country city if there is a local traditional buffet I am there and I am loving it. This is a delight. Seriously all the things I've had in the last few days in this country most of them are represented. There's new additions as well. If things are freshly cooked this atmosphere is lively. I'm literally sitting on top of the city. About to dig into some mutton hooves. This is a mutton paya and paya means leg. Oh man look at this. You can see a layer of fat already forming on top of this dish and I remember eating this dish a few days ago and I like the gelatinous texture of the goat hooves. Especially with a lemon juice. That familiar spice of Pakistani food. Here I got all sorts of assorted barbecue chicken wings to beef to chibli kebab. I'll call this first plate my barbecue plate. A little splash of lemon juice. Chicken kebab. Oh this country really knows how to dress up a chicken. Super spicy garlicky and ultra tender. All these things flame roasted with that great fiery flavor imprinted inside every single bite. Oh my god. Oh this is amazing. It's a chicken meatball with cheese. Soft chicken with a good amount of spice and heat with a bursting cheesy center. That thing has been away from my life for way too long. There's a condiment section. You can add your own spices. You can make it spicier if you want. Grilled chicken. Whenever I hear the words grilled chicken, I'm always afraid it's going to be a little dry or a little flavorless. This is neither of those two things. Incredibly tender pieces of chicken. Seasoned oh so well. And even though the similar motif of the different bites of food is that there's spice, there's garlic, but there is also a variety of seasoning just to keep the flavors unique. And also this thing. I don't know what this thing did. I think it actually needs to go on the patch because this thing's got so much great smoky flavor inside. More than any other barbecue item I've had so far. This, you take a bite, you taste the smoke. It's not the best barbecue chicken you'll find anywhere. 100% going back for this baby. Little chicken wing. Again, I can tell slightly toasty and charred on the outside. I can see the seasoning and spices on all these things. I'm telling you, a splash of lemon juice and hit on in. None of the barbecue items, especially the chicken, none of them is dry. And every one of them flavored perfectly. Chablis kebab. You can see ginger, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, all piled, squeezed inside this little beef patty. This buffet, I'm telling you, this is quality stuff. I mean, I've been eating all these street food items for the last week. This may not be, I'm sure it's not as good as the stuff you'll find on the street markets, but to me at least, it's pretty darn close. The kebabs got that familiar toasty char and just pure heaven. Have a gentle texture with the crunch of the spices inside and just a dab of sweetness from the tomatoes. Nothing here really needs any additional seasoning. This buffet to me is a pretty darn close good representation of local Pakistani food. I mean, when it comes to Chinese food, I mean, not so much. Actually, let me try the chow mein. Yeah, not so much, but local food, spot on. Spot on. Chicken karahi, another one of my favorite dishes here. Oh man, I love this dish just because that burst of delicious tomato flavor. You gotta eat with some naan. What can I say besides, I'm really gonna miss this place. All right, good for round two. The hawa. Hawa is probably one of my top three favorite things in this country. Told you we'll be back for that chicken. Okay, I think we pretty much moved through all the savory items except for all the international stuff. I really don't feel like eating a pasta or a chicken mexicana. That's really not my thing. Now we're gonna get to some of the saucier items. A little bit of dao, a little plak paneer. This is great. Chicken handi. These are the two chickens I had above the mosque. Two different flavors. One is more spicy than the other. Get a little bit of both. I think we have round two. Ooh, plate two. I feel like I should have got more bread. This is the sog. This is a little snack that they sell on the roadside. I really like this. This is like a little hors d'oeuvres, not even like, this thing doesn't really even count. So you can definitely eat as much of this as you want. It's so good. They put so much pepper on top. I wasn't expecting that. Hawa is one of my all-time favorite things. It's a sweet dish that's like basically the little black dress of food items. I mean, it'll go good with anything. Seriously, anything you put that thing on, it's gonna make it taste even better. Paneer sog. Oh man, I hope it's spicy. Oh, I hope it's spicy. Yeah, that's a spicy baby. The barbecue roasted chicken I love so much. I'm going back for thirds. When I go for dessert, this will be part of it. That's how much I love this chicken. Everything on this plate, deliciously authentic. I mean, it's such a fun experience because it's like I'm reliving my past week all over again. Through this one meal. I gotta make sure my second stomach is empty for the dessert because desserts in this country ain't no joke and it's gonna weigh on you. Trust me. We're jumping on to the dessert item already because we mistimed it and I gotta rush to the airport so we don't have. I just, so much food. This looks good. Even though this kind of looks like a one of them typical Chinese buffet cakes. Oh, that looks amazing. This is what they call sweet noodles. I had this in my ice cream the other day and definitely more halwa. Put that in the center. It's the star of the show. This country's desserts. There's a lot of milk, a lot of pudding, a lot of ice cream. And what I remember distinctly are these like sweet noodles because I remember coming here and I was like, do you guys have any noodles? And they showed me these sweet noodles and they gave me this. I'll tell you what, they may not be the noodles I'm used to, but this is pretty darn good. That's what I'm saying to you guys. Desserts in this country is delicious, but they're going to stay with you for a while. My favorite dessert. Typically, I would never have thought naan would be a fitting addition to any dessert plate, but when there's halwa, everybody's welcome. As I said, this is my last meal here in Pakistan. I'm on my way to the airport as soon as I clear my plate. In these past nine days has been fun, surprising, educational, just overwhelmingly a positive experience I've had in this country. I think I said this before, coming in here, there's so much negative notions attached to this place. A lot of people worried about me, chatted on me when I was here. And this is what I always say. If you really want to get to know a place, its people, a culture, something foreign to you, the best way to do that is to experience it and judge it for yourself. I'll say without any hesitation, the people I've met in Pakistan have been some of the warmest, most welcoming people I've ever met anywhere in the world. And I know I say this a lot about different cultures and places I've been to, and it's all true, but here especially, the people here has been almost almost too warm. I mean, people coming up to us all the time from everywhere asking for selfies, or just a simple handshake, or just a smile. You know, everywhere we walk into, whoever you smile at, nine out of ten, they're smiling right back at you. Three words I would use to describe the food, delicious, hearty, spicy. Those are words I would love all my foods to be associated with. So thank you so much to everybody we've met here in Pakistan. Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for the food. Thank you for taking care of us. I really do hope all of you guys get to see this country for what it really is. A place chock full of history, brimming with culture, overflowing with welcome, and if you ever do decide to come here, we'll stuff you up to here with food. And a big shout out to Find My Adventure, the biggest tourism portal here in Pakistan. They planned this trip for us, found these amazing people to show us along the way. You guys, Shabazz found the first video. He's been with us the entire way, and this guy's taking care of us, like, really, like, you're a rock star, my friend. Thank you, Mike. You're doing a great job, and I'm really glad that you came here. It was such a pleasure to meet you, seriously. There are people lining up to take photos, not because they saw me on YouTube, not because, well, mainly because I'm Chinese, right? But they love Chinese food, they're so friendly. Ni hao is everywhere, but again, thank you guys so much, everyone we met, all the places we went to listed down below. Thank you all so much for watching. That ends our Pakistan series. Until we eat again, see you later.