Many a times I have driven past these hole-in-the-wall eating joints with ‘Karak Chai’ written in bold, never to be missed font size. From past experience, I know for a fact that these places tend to be a treasure trove of flavours.
I always start my weekends with a hot cup of tea, true Indian style. Not doing so depresses me to the core.
My friends and I stayed over at my Omani friends place on one of the weekend and I was craving for my morning cup of chai. That’s when they introduced to me the world of Karak Chai.
A hole-in-the-wall store that serves more than 10 different types of tea, made with tea leaves and flavouring of our choice. Saffron tea, mint tea, ginger tea, cardamom tea so on and so forth.
‘Karak chai’ is derived from the Indian chai called ‘Kadak Chai’. The latter is very different from the English tea and tastes splendid and has an international fan following. It came to Oman from India and is yet another example of the historic camaraderie between the two nations. Omanis, fondly rechristened it as Karak.
Enough of the history. Next time you visit Oman, or if you live here and drive past this joint. Stop and enjoy the tea of your choice. You also get a tasty snack here that goes by the Omani name Rakhel and is a crepe like snack. It also resembles the south Indian delight Dosa.
foodishly in love 