Pak Tea House is the literary cafe of Pakistan — the closest thing the country has to the Café de Flore. Tucked off the Mall near the Anarkali end, the long, narrow room is still scattered with poets, journalists, professors, and the occasional bewildered tourist.
The menu is basic — tea (cardamom or plain), parathas, samosas — but that is not why you come. Saturday afternoon mushaira (poetry readings) and weekly literary salons happen here; even outside scheduled events, the conversation around the next table is likely to be worth eavesdropping on.