Saddar Food Guide: Old Karachi Cafes, Bakeries and Biryani

The best Saddar food is the old kind: tea and spicy pulao at Cafe Durakhshan and Pehlvi, the last Irani cafes on Zaibunnisa Street, biryani at the original Student Biryani, and hot cross buns and plum cake from the old Christian bakeries. Go in daylight or early evening, park at the Empress Market lot, and keep your phone out of sight in the crowds.

Saddar was Karachi's commercial heart for a century, and much of what made it famous for eating out has closed. What survives is worth a visit if you know where to look.

Why is Saddar famous for food?

Saddar grew in the 19th century as Karachi's commercial and military quarter, and for decades it was where the city went to eat out. In the 1970s Karachi had more than a hundred Irani cafes, and several of the best known were in Saddar, Dawn reported in 2016. Café George, at the corner of Abdullah Haroon Road and Shahrah-e-Liaquat, was known for mutton patties. Eastern Coffee House was where writers and student leaders spent their afternoons. Many of Karachi's first Chinese restaurants, such as Hong Kong Restaurant and South China Café, were here too.

Almost all of those have gone, closed by rising rents, families leaving the trade and the city's nightlife moving south to Clifton and Defence. The names survive only in places such as Café Liberty, which is still what Karachiites call the junction where that cafe stood.

Where can you still eat at an Irani cafe in Saddar?

Two cafes side by side, at the junction of M.A. Jinnah Road and Zaibunnisa Street, are the ones left in Saddar. Both belong to the same family.

• Cafe Durakhshan keeps the old look and the old service. Tea comes in a pot with sugar and a small jug of milk, and the best-selling dish is the spicy pulao.
• Pehlvi Restaurant has turned into something closer to a fast-food place, but it still serves tea, including from a small stall that pours it from chainak, the small metal teapots.

Order a pot of tea and a plate of pulao at Durakhshan and you have the closest thing left to the Saddar of the 1960s.

In the old business district nearby, Khairabad Tea Shop, opened in 1932, and Cafe Victory are the other survivors. Our Karachi heritage walk covers the old city around Saddar.

Is the original Student Biryani in Saddar?

Yes. In 1969 Haji Muhammad Ali started selling biryani from a food cart called Cafe Student in Saddar, and it became a lunchtime favourite with students. The biryani sold out by the end of each lunch hour, and he replaced it with a restaurant on the same streets, which grew into a multi-storey building. After his death in 2007 his sons took the brand abroad. The Saddar branch is the original. Our Student Biryani guide covers what to order.

Which Saddar bakeries are worth a stop?

Saddar's bakeries serve the old Christian neighbourhoods around them as much as anyone, which is why they are busiest at Christmas and Easter.

• Misquita Bakery, in the middle of Saddar, is one of the oldest names for Christmas plum cake with raisins and cinnamon, and for hot cross buns at Easter.
• United Bakery sits near several Christian neighbourhoods, so it is busy at Easter and Christmas as well as Eid. Its staff told Dawn they are used to the rush.
• Parisian Bakery on Zaibunnisa Street has outlived the old Café Parisian nearby. Dawn called the bakery septuagenarian in 2016.

If you want plum cake, go in December and order ahead.

What newer places to eat are there in Saddar?

KBC Courtyard opened in late 2025 on the ground floor of the Ideal Life Assurance Building on Zaibunnisa Street, a stone building with arches and balconies completed in 1892. State Life rented the space to the restaurant in November 2025 for one year, so check it is still open. It is the easiest way to sit inside one of Saddar's colonial buildings.

For a quick lunch, Red Apple in Atrium Mall makes a chicken chutney roll that was one of the favourites in a Dawn taste test in May 2026, at PKR 370.

Is there still street food in Saddar?

Less than there used to be. The 2018 anti-encroachment drive cleared more than 1,000 shops around Empress Market. In late 2025 and January 2026 the city sealed eateries across Karachi for putting tables and chairs on footpaths and removed carts from Saddar streets such as Mansfield Street, Dr Daud Pota Road and Shahrah-e-Iraq.

Tea stalls, juice sellers and snack carts still appear, but they move and change. For a planned evening of street food, Burns Road next door is a better bet; our Karachi food tour links the two.

Where can you park in Saddar, and is it safe?

Parking is the hardest part. The two options:

1. Empress Market parking, opened by the KMC in April 2025 on half of the market's front lawn, holds about 300 cars and 300 motorcycles. It is the most central.
2. The Saddar parking plaza, built in 2006 for about 300 cars, is underused and some cars there have been left for years. The city has talked about reviving it.

Ride-hailing or a rickshaw is often easier than driving. Our Empress Market guide covers the market itself.

Saddar is crowded, and crowded parts of Karachi are where phones and wallets go missing. Keep valuables in a front pocket, don't walk along the road with your phone in your hand, and leave nothing on show in a parked car. For the wider picture, see is Karachi safe for tourists.

Is Saddar worth visiting for food?

It suits people who like old places, history and simple food: a pot of tea at Durakhshan, a plate of biryani at the original Student, and a box of buns to take home. It is less suited to a polished evening out: seating is basic and the streets are loud and congested. If you want a long evening of street food, choose Burns Road or Boat Basin and give Saddar a late-morning slot instead. More ideas are on our experiences page.

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