KARACHI: Muhammad Taufeeq Lakhani stands amidst a dizzying display of nearly 60 spices as his hands move quickly to prepare a French fries order for a customer in the congested Moosa Lane street in Lyari, a neighborhood historically associated with gang violence and drugs in the Pakistan’s Karachi.
The 40-year-old, who once battled drug addiction, is rewriting his story, one heavily spiced potato strip at a time, and serves each batch, dusted with a complex mix of 20 or more ingredients, with a stern, yet necessary, disclaimer: “Eat it at your risk.”
Lakhani started working at a garments shop in 1997, when he was just 13. His life changed tragically in 2016 with the onset of mental health issues, following years of drug addiction, and residents of his area began calling him by cruel monikers such as ‘Psycho,’ ‘Charsi’ (drug addict) or ‘Nafsiati’ (mentally ill).
The 40-year-old underwent two years of rehabilitation and fully recovered in 2018, only to lose his general-item store made with three years of struggle to the urban floods in 2021. In Nov. 2022, he set up a small French fries stall, named after his daughter, Mahnoor, now 13.
While a fire gutted his ‘Mahnoor Fries Corner’ in July this year, Lakhani rebuilt and rebranded it as ‘MFC Shapatar Fries’, expanding his offerings. Today, his menu of around 60 flavors includes the very monikers that once defined the darkest period of his life.
“This is Shapatar Fries. Here you get Jungle spice, Psycho spice, Mental spice, Cocktail spice,” Lakhani told Arab News at his Moosa Lane stall this week.
“Besides that, there is Papa ki Pari, Chatpata Shapatar, Gol Mal.”
The list goes on with many funny and interesting names.
Lakhani says his specialty is unparalleled in the country.
“In all of Pakistan, you won’t find these spices anywhere, God willing,” he said, adding that his unique combinations of spices are the result of years of “painstaking effort.”
But he doesn’t forget his humble beginnings.
“I started with ten kilograms of potatoes. Today, God has given such a position that there is non-stop work, [potato] cutting is happening, peeling is happening, it’s going on,” he said.
“This is the shop where I used to sit, I didn’t even have 10 rupees in my pocket.”
He recounted how the 2016 tragedy had wiped off his identity.
“People had forgotten the name Muhammad Taufeeq, people had forgotten the name Lakhani. I had gotten [just] three names, Psycho, Charsi, Nafsiati,” he said.
“By my Lord’s grace, today I have spices with those same names... Now these are not my names, these are the names of the spices.”
Lakhani’s commitment to customer safety is as intense as his spices are.
“I take consent from them beforehand that it is their own responsibility,” he said, saying such intense flavors may not go down well with everyone.
Despite the intensity, his menu caters to all palates, ranging from the signature spicy blends to milder options like ‘Malai Boti,’ barbeque and even a ‘butter cheese’ flavor for those who don’t like it spicy at all.
“If you don’t like spicy and you ask me for fries, then I will feed you the butter cheese one, you will get the taste of butter,” he said.
Lakhani is a huge fan of Yunus Ameen, another social media sensation who accompanies local police during raids on drugs addicts and captions his anti-drug campaign videos as “Grand Operation.”
This name, along with another term Ameen frequently uses in his videos, “Software Update,” a Pakistani social media jargon that means improvement in one’s behavior out of the fear of punishment, has become part of Lakhani’s elaborate menu.
“In the same way, if someone tells me, ‘Bro, your spice didn’t do justice’,” then I do his ‘Software Update’ in the form of [more] spices,” he said, smiling.
Lakhani’s confidence in his spice mastery is absolute.
“I challenge the whole of Pakistan: these sixty spices are displayed here. If from the whole of Pakistan someone can match even three spices exactly, I will personally give them 5,000 rupees ($17.69),” he said.
Customers are drawn to Lakhani’s joint both by the novelty and the taste.
“The fries have a very unique flavor. It is possible that people may be coming because of the names, but I personally come because of the flavor,” Hashim Abbas, 22, told Arab News.
For Muhammad Taqi, an 18-year-old student, Lakhani’s fries have become part of his daily life.
“Their quality is also different, by God’s grace, the best,” Taqi remarked. “I don’t go anywhere else.”
But for Lakhani, these spices are not just ingredients. They are his shield against a painful past.
“Because these names will stay with me all my life,” he said. “Now I can tell them, ‘Nafsiati is my spice, Psycho is my spice’.”
