Life in the Land of the Pure, 2024-25 season, episode 2: my last night (?) at Monal

 If you’ve asked me about my past trips to Pakistan or why I wanted to go back, I’m sure you’ve heard me mention the restaurant Monal. (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293960-d1049378-Reviews-Monal_Islamabad-Islamabad_Islamabad_Capital_Territory.html). Maybe repeatedly. It opened in the early 2000s, and I’m pretty sure that I visited it during most of my short trips (2007, 09, 11, 16, 17, 18) and at least twice in 2019-20. It is massive, with over 1,000 staff and the space to seat several hundred at a time. It has a small parking lot, so some people park as far as a kilometer away. 

The food is quite good—Pakistani and Middle Eastern fare—but you go for the view.  It sits in the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, and overlooks the city at 3800 feet. 

I tell people it’s also the best lesson on political economy in Pakistan. On a warm summer night, you can see the lights of the city. Then, as air conditioners in town turn on (it’s much cooler in the hills in the open-air restaurant), the city’s electrical grid strains, and the utilities temporarily cut power to city sectors to manage the drain and avoid brownouts—these intentional cutbacks are called loadshedding, and we experienced them in Delhi too.  So you can see the city lights, then at the top of the hour, a sector goes dark.  Then, the wealthy houses light up (generators), until a percentage of that sector is light again. The dark parts are the poorer houses and neighborhoods.  At the top of the next hour, that sector lights up again and another goes dark, and the cycle repeats through the night.  

Monal is closing.  Pakistani courts deemed its business license had been improperly granted, because its a private business inside a national (public) park. There are not last acts in Pakistan so it may come back in some guise—one rumor is the army will take it over and may re-open it—but for now, it is set to close on 11 September.  I’m not sure if we’re supposed to read anything into that or not  

I went tonight with a few friends for one last night there.  The road is treacherous and twisty, and not for the faint of heart or stomach.  But I think it was worth it.  Our full meal—mixed grilled kebabs, cheesy fries, chicken handi, fruit drinks, and a light dessert, plus a takeaway for our driver, came to about $20 per person.  But as to the views:




















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