Street Food · Karachi Classic

Bun Kebab

📷 Closely related photo — Photo: FALHakaFalLin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Karachi's favorite handheld meal was born outside a movie theater in the 1950s — decades before any Western burger chain reached Pakistan.

A spiced lentil-and-meat patty is fried on a flat griddle alongside a cracked egg, then stacked into a soft bun with tamarind-mint chutney, onions and tomato. Wheeled carts sell it on nearly every Karachi street corner.

Why it's made this way: It emerged in the 1950s near Karachi's cinemas as an affordable, mess-free meal, blending recipes carried by Partition-era migrant families with fast, cheap street cooking.