Written by: Hurmat Majid
Posted on: January 26, 2023 | 
| 中文
Order place of Slamvich
The rise of burger joints has been slow and steady in Karachi, to the point where designer or specialty burgers are not hard to find. Sandwiches, however, are a different story all together, and when Slamvich first opened its doors a couple of years ago, many thought the idea would fail. That hasn't been the case, instead Karachi has witnessed the rise of the sandwich in the past year, not only as a delectable grab-and-go meal, but also as a proper dine-out experience.
Outside Slamvich
While Slamvich has opened its doors in various parts of the city, we happened to visit their SMCHS branch. The little establishment has been set up as primarily a grab-and-go facility but has a limited number of seating available. The menu is pretty straightforward. You either choose a simple grilled cheese, or one that has toppings like meat, chicken, macaroni or a combination of the 3. We chose the Meat-n-Melt and the Smack n Cheese. We also ordered a serving of plain fries.
Cheese Fries
Since they have an open kitchen plan, we could tell that the food was being prepared fresh. It took them about 20 minutes to bring everything out, and during that time we looked around and admired the retro-chic vibe of the place. They have a mural depicting their logo on the wall, and most people use it as the background for their food photos or selfies. Even though the restaurant wasn't quite large, the way it was set up, showed they had Instagram content in mind. The mix of greys with yellows and the modern seating, all spoke to that Instagram aesthetic we see everyone emulating these days.
Retro Melt
Once our food was out and we were done with taking photos of it, we began to eat and started with the fries. At places with vast menus, fries are kind of a side dish, and they can be freezer fries that are prepared in big batches, that's not the case with smaller establishments. They don't have the luxury of serving up 'just okay' fries, especially when they are fast food joints. To our delight, Slamvich did not disappoint, the fries were piping hot, freshly made and cut and well seasoned. Our only criticism may be that they almost felt like they lacked something, almost like they were only intended to be served topped with cheese or meat.
Moving on to the Smack'n'Cheese, the sandwich had all the makings of a complete cheat meal. It was piping hot, oozing out cheese, had a thick layer of macaroni and a layer of the most succulent chicken, which had us oohing and aahing at the first bite. The star of the show was their house-made hot sauce, which gave the sandwich the right amount of tang and kick. Even though looking at the sandwich made us wonder if it would satisfy our hunger, we were barely able to finish the whole thing. In all honesty, we would have been happy with just half the sandwich.
Smack and Cheese
The other sandwich was then awaited. The Meat n Melt had a generous serving of cheddar, along with a delectable beef patty. The beef was well seasoned and well cooked, and here we could tell that the cheddar used was of premium quality. This too was a gigantic serving, and both my companion and I had a hard time getting through all our food.
Classic Club
The regular sized sandwiches at Slamvich go up to Rs. 667, and the Doubles go up to Rs. 983. They also have done this great thing by introducing junior sandwiches on the menu, which cost half the money, have the taste and aren't that hard to finish. The one critique we have about the food is that it was a tad bit messy to eat, but one kind of knows what they are signing up for when going in to have something like a burger or sandwich.
Overall, the lunch cost us somewhere around Rs.1600, and honestly that's a good price to pay for two full lunches plus a side of fries. The menu has a couple of fried chicken sandwich options that we are really interested in trying, and would be going back for really soon.
The verdict is that Slamvich has nothing to worry about, they have successfully established an identity in the food market that anyone will have a hard time outshining. Rest assured, they can call themselves the pioneers of designer sandwich shops in Pakistan, and will continue to give customers an alternative to the regular old burger.
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