Now, New York style eat-outs in Islamabad

The search for good food in Pakistan's federal capital ends right here.Secret restaurants peppered across Islamabad are what everyone is clamouring for.These New York-style clandestine haunts are a force to reckon with, especially when you know that it takes almost two weeks to get a table.Based out of homes where the address travels only by word of mouth, the gates are unmanned and the ambience unassuming.  But it is the story of their delicious food that is passed around like Chinese whispers.The cuisines are myriad - from French to Japanese, from Chinese to Lebanese, these clandestine restaurants offer you a complete experience: you can dine in a secluded part of the house or sit together at the communal dining room. Whatever you choose to do, the food is always, always a revelation.Take the Japanese restaurant Murasaki for example. Opened in June this year, it has possibly become one of the cities most popular restaurants riding high on the success of their uber fresh sushi and sashimi.The catch though? It has exactly one table they serve at for lunch and dinner, which means bookings sometimes run up to three weeks in advance.Dumpling Zhang, a Chinese restaurant which operates from an almost palatial house, however has a number of rooms you can choose to dine-in in.You can sit at the common room, or a foreigner's only room or in the private dining room.The food is cooked right out of their home kitchen, with little Chinese children running across trying to rescue their toys from the house.Lily's, another Chinese restaurant, however has a different USP.Every couple of weeks, this restaurant changes its location, and only those in their inner circle, know exactly where they go next.The newest kid on the block is a French restaurant, the brainchild of a French expat that initially began with an unsaid saying: "No Pakistanis allowed" because of the French style of cooking.They have however relaxed the rule a bit because of the great response.The oldest "secret" Chinese restaurant in Islamabad- Chen's, has a simple philosophy - if the food is good people will keep coming back for more.