Authentic PAKISTAN STREET FOOD Breakfast in Islamabad!! Thali & Attractions in Pakistan

What I'm going to do is I'm going to grab a little bit of this, add that pickle on top. I don't know exactly what that is. Spicy. I really enjoy spicy in the morning though. Assalamualaikum everyone, I hope you're all doing amazing. This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here coming at you from beautiful Islamabad, Pakistan, the capital of the country in partnership with my friends at Manaki. It's bright and early, 8 in the morning, and we're starting off with some traditional Paki breakfast. We're going to have some Halwa Puri at the Chata restaurant. We're also going to have some chai and a few other things. And then after this, we're going to go explore the city. We're going to see the main attractions. Let's go in. I'm hungry. And right here we have a Halwa Puri, right? So we have a Halwa Puri. We have some chana, some chickpeas, right? And nastia. Let's go. So guys, everything good? Everything great? Hungry! We're in the kitchen watching how they make the puris. Look at this. Huge puris. So he gets the dough, he flies it, throws in the oil, literally 10 seconds later, they take it out, and this is it. Wow. Oh, it's still hot. Alright, let's go eat. Rooftop, right? Rooftop? Let's do it. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. Shukriya, shukriya, shukriya. Obviously, indoor dining is closed. So they have a first level, a second level, and then the rooftop. Oh, beautiful. Loving this place. So it's more like a diner setting, right? So they have Pakistani street food from 7.30 to 11 p.m. They have all-day nashta. And we're gonna have Halwa Puri. So it's basically halwa, which is like sugar, super sweet, with a savory puri. And here's my breakfast. Awesome. So, incredible. So we have here the puri. We have here chana. So we have chickpeas, we have aloos, potatoes, and then here we have the halwa. Incredible. Wow, love it. It's like a little thali. And here we go, guys. Gonna break off a piece of this. Use one hand. Oh, I love this puri. It's nice and crumbly. Crispy. Oh, and this is chai? Perfect. So I'm gonna get some halwa. Starting off with this. Then get some of this, right? The chana. Love it. Nice and oily. Little bit of spices. Mmm. Sweet and savory. Thank you, my friends. Shukriya. Remember that word, shukriya. Look at that. This thing is crumbly. It's flaky as heck. Wow. Loving the halwa. Mmm, nice and sweet. So much sugar in there. Wow. So this is traditional breakfast you have on the street. I had it a bunch of times in Karachi. Loved it. And the cool thing here is that, you know, they give you this nice plate, right? Mmm-hmm. Mmm. This is more of a plain halwa. They didn't add any extra flavors there. But now I'm gonna try right here some aloo. Wow, look at the oil. Mmm-hmm. Mmm. Very nice. Actually has little pickles in there. And aside here, we have pickles. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna grab a little bit of this, add that pickle on top. I don't know exactly what that is. Mmm. Spicy. I really enjoy spice in the morning, though. What a good breakfast. Exactly what I needed. Wakes me up. Nice and spice. And obviously, if you want to, you can use a fork or a spoon. I personally like using my hands. It's traditional style, right? Always. You have to adapt to the country. Try to enjoy it the way they do it. And you'll understand why, right? And last night, I learned that the fingertips breaks down the food, right? The enzymes in the fingertips. Mmm-hmm. What an incredible meal, man. Wow. So tasty. Now some tea. Mmm. Even this one's, like, super hot. Oh. Oh, what a difference. Because this time, they didn't put any sugar. I'm going to add a little bit of sugar. I don't like to add too much. I don't want it to be too sweet. Just right. So you got to finish everything, right? It's very light, though. The puri is, like, very, very flaky. Look at this. A little hard, right? And then over here, like I said before, it's pickled, but I didn't know what it was. So it's green mango, right? So it's, like, it's not ripe yet. And it also has, this is some carrot, right? And some green chili. Mmm. Don't have too much of that. Too spicy. So I'm going to mix some with the chana. Put it right there. Go in. Grab a bunch. And you know what? Get some of this halva. Sweet, spicy, savory. What a great way to start a day. This is delicious food. Delicious. Can't tell you enough how good the food is. Obviously, because of the spice, the best thing to do is flush it all down with some chai. You know, milky. Mmm. That's good. It needs sugar. Yeah, if it gets too spicy for you, ask for some more halva. Mmm-hmm. Mmm. Last bite, my friends. This is so good. My favorite is the chana mixed with the halva and the puri. Mmm. So now I'm mixing in basically everything. Grab the rest of the halva, the rest of the adhun. Make a nice ball. Remember, never leave anything. Never. I mean, you shouldn't, right? Hey, what a way to start a day. Have some halva puri. And some spice. Let's go. Alright, let's go explore the city. You ready? Yes. Thank you. Shukriya, shukriya. Shukriya. Take care, man. Shukriya. Bye-bye. The sector that we're in is called F10. And I'm guessing this is more of a posh area, right? Yes. Because the houses here are massive. They're mansions. And we ate in a food area last night, which is in this section, right? And it's like literally two blocks away from here. So you have that, you have houses, like food vendor complexes, right? You have restaurants, you have some guys selling fruits outside, some fruit stands. And this is a really, really green city. The capital of the country when they separated from India was Karachi. And it was the capital from 47 until 74. And then it moved to here in the year 1974. And this is more of a planned city. So it's like a rectangle. There's very little buildings, like skyscrapers. It's more like houses and small communities. Lots of green, though. Love it. Lots of good air. Feels incredible. On the other side, we have nice hills. And a beautiful day again. Blue skies. I can't wait. We're currently driving on the Kashmir Highway, which is one of the main highways that goes through Islamabad. Obviously, planned city. Four-lane highway. And where we're going next is the Pakistan Monument, which is basically a monument dedicated to the heroes of the country. So we just turned onto the National Highway. And then from here, going through a lot more green space. It's basically a forest. And there it is. Right here is the Pakistan Monument. When you arrive to the Pakistan Monument, you park your car, walk over to the ticketing booth. You pay for your ticket. 250 rupees for a foreigner, 20 for a Pakistani. And, yeah, it's open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Let's go inside. The Pakistan Monument was found in the year 2004 on a hill looking over the entire city of Islamabad. As you can see, it looks like a flower. It's four bending minarets, right? And inside, there's carvings of the founder of Pakistan, a few different historical figures, right? And also the main monuments of the country or historical spots, right? Khyber Pass. You have Lahore. What else do we have here? And by the way, the best time to come here is at 9 in the morning because there's no one here. Not a single soul. This is perfect. The only thing is, though, it's really hot already, right? And the sun, there's no shade here. I love it, though. I love the carvings. Really high, right? Beautiful. So, it reminds me of almost like a lotus flower. I wouldn't say a lotus flower exactly. Whoa. I think because March 23rd is like a special day here. So, that's why they're practicing, they're preparing for that day, right? March 23rd is basically a resolution day. In 1940, the resolution has been passed to like actually how to get separate from India. So, this is called the resolution day. So, this is the man, Allama Iqbal, who passed the resolution. So, if you're ever in Islamabad on March 23rd, there's like military show, right? Fighter jets, fireworks, everything. That's why right now they're practicing. So, during the day, we're going to hear the planes. We might see some. Basically, the army show their power in that day. Okay. So, once you're done checking out the entire monument, walk behind it and check out the view. You have a few flags. And you have all of Islamabad. So, you see mountains. Oh, a few buildings, right? A few skyscrapers. Beautiful lush, right? Nice air. So, that is like more downtown, I'm guessing, right? And also, you'll see here the minaret. The minaret of the Faisal Mosque. And these three buildings called Sejores. It's a shopping mall. All right, guys. We are done with the monument. Now, we're going to go. Whoa. Over to the heritage museum to see basically like what local life is like in the villages, right? Your heritage. Okay. It's like a two-minute drive to it. It's like right down there. Yeah. Also, there's a museum here in the complex. It's the Pakistan Monument Museum. If you have time, check it out. And also, to the left, there's a monument souvenir tuk shop. Tuk shop. So, basically, they have souvenirs of the monument. Wow, the fighter jet. That was awesome. We keep hearing, but we can't see it because it's very cloudy, very foggy, right? But that one I saw. Man, that was incredible. Incredible. Yeah? The F-16s? Here it comes again. As I told you before, March 23rd is the resolution day. And that's why the army is currently practicing with fighter jets, you know, going around the skies. And because of that, there's a lot of military at the heritage museum. So, unfortunately, I couldn't film in and around it because of that. But it's definitely a must visit when you come to Islamabad to see the heritage and culture of Pakistan. And now we're going to the Faisal Mosque, which is the fifth largest mosque in the world. We're going to be there in about five minutes. As soon as we left the hill where the monument was, we got onto the Kashmir Highway. Then we exited onto the Islamabad Highway. As you can see, another really wide highway. It's like three lanes. Then it's four lanes. Then it converts again to three lanes. And in front of us, we have the Faisal Mosque. As you can see, beautiful minarets. And right there, we have the mountains. Gorgeous. I love it. So, obviously, like every single mosque in the world, you have to take off your shoes to enter. If you guys don't know, the Faisal Mosque is named after the Saudi king who donated $28 million. So, imagine, in 1976, he donated $28 million. Today, that's probably like $280 million. Ten times, I'm sure. And over here, as you're walking into the mosque, they have a mini bookshop, right? And they have books related to Islam, right? So, Islamic law, Islam today. This mosque complex is huge. As soon as you walk in, bookshop. Then you have a massive fountain. It's not working right now. I'm guessing because of COVID times. And keep walking up. And this is the front of the mosque. Man, it's gorgeous. So, you said it's a different style, right? It's like a Turkish style mosque? It's a Turkish style mosque. Darker texture. Yeah, mostly you'll see here, the mosque, the style is different. Like, you'll see the dome. But here, you'll never see the dome. And this is Turkish style. So, it's four minarets. And then in the top, you have the moon, right? Upside down? Yeah, it's upside down. It's 260 feet tall. Each minaret? Yes. Beautiful. So, can we actually get inside? Yes. Is that possible? We'll try. It's never easy with the camera. Fifth largest mosque in the world. I think this is the biggest one I've ever been to. I've been to so many mosques in my lifetime. In Malaysia, Turkey. I haven't been to the ones in Egypt yet. But I will. And, wow. It's closed? The door is closed. So, only the prayer time, the door is open. Prayers five times a day? Five times a day. So, the next time is one o'clock. And that's when you can go in, take some photos and go. But I mean, definitely come here, even if you can't go in. Just to get the marvel that is outside. You know, it's so huge. Beautiful white. It's gorgeous. Well? That's it. That's it? So, this gentleman has some dry chickpeas. Mmm. Nice crunchy snack. Yeah. What did you sell it for? I think it's a little spicy. A little bit. Probably 10 rupees each, right? Yeah. Yes. Mmm. Delicious. But I'm good. We have to go to lunch. Thank you. So, we did it. We had an incredible breakfast. Halwa puri. With chana, pickles. What else did I have there? Potatoes. And chai. Chai all day. Great place. Chata. Chatas. Yeah. Chatas. If you're in Islamabad, definitely head out to Chatas. It's like a Pakistani diner. They have Pakistani street food. And they have that delicious halwa puri. Then from there, we went to the Pakistan Monument. Incredible spot. You have to go there. That is like the number one attraction in Islamabad. It is, you know, shows you the heroes of Pakistan. Some of the historical places. And then you get epic views from there. Also, go into the souvenir shop. They have some incredible stuff there. Went in there for like two minutes. Saw great stuff. And then after that, we passed by the museum. Unfortunately, we couldn't go through the heritage museum because of the, you know, the situation right now with the military on March 23rd. They're doing a lot of demonstrations. And after that, we came here to the Faisal Mosque. Fifth largest mosque in the world. You have to visit this. So, these are the two sites you must visit. Well, guys, I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, give me a thumbs up. Leave a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Pakistan. Mask on.