The UAE runs on a one dirham cup of tea. There are more karak stops in this country than almost anything else, and the price has barely moved in years.
Ours is AED 1, from half past seven in the morning until midnight. Here is what is actually in it, and what to eat with it.
What makes chai karak
Karak means strong, and the strength does not come from using more tea leaves. It comes from the method.
Karak is boiled, not steeped. A normal cup of tea is leaves sitting in hot water for a few minutes. Karak is tea, milk, sugar and usually cardamom brought to a hard boil together and kept there, which pushes it past brewing into something thicker, darker and faintly caramelised.
The milk is evaporated or condensed, not fresh. This is the part people miss. Fresh milk gives you a pale, light tea — a fine drink, but it is not karak. Evaporated milk has had water removed, so it brings body and sweetness and it survives being boiled without splitting.
Boiled hard, with tinned milk. That is the whole secret, and it is why a one dirham cup from a counter in the Sanaiya is frequently better than something four times the price in a cafe.
When the Sanaiya drinks it
Two peaks, and they are different drinks occasionally.
7:30 to 9 in the morning. The busiest hour in the industrial area. Chai with a paratha before a shift, drunk fast and standing up as often as sitting down. At AED 1 with a sada paratha at AED 1, that is a two dirham start to a day and a large number of people in this area have exactly that.
After about 8 in the evening. Slower. This is chai as the reason to be somewhere rather than fuel, usually with something fried next to it, usually outside if the weather allows.
And right through to midnight, which matters more than it sounds. Most places in the Sanaiya stop serving well before they shut. The question after ten at night is not what is open but what is still making things, and there is more on that here.
What to eat with it
The short, cheap list that actually goes with tea.
| AED | |
|---|---|
| Samosa, single, fried to order | 2 |
| Shami kabab, single patty, shallow fried | 2 |
| Samosa chat, small | 5 |
| Samosa chat, large | 8 |
| Anda shami burger | 6 |
| Pakistani shawarma | 7 |
| Sada paratha | 1 |
| Desi paratha | 2 |
A samosa at AED 2 is the correct answer and has been for about a century. Fried to order, which is the only way it is worth eating.
Samosa chat at AED 5 is the one to order if you are sitting down properly. The samosa is broken into channa, dahi, imli and chaat masala, so you get hot, cold, sour, crisp and soft all in one bowl. It is a considerably more interesting thing than a samosa and it is three dirhams more.
The shami kabab at AED 2 is the quiet one — a soft lentil and meat patty, shallow fried. Two of those and a chai is AED 5.
On Fridays, the curry pakora from the weekly menu at AED 5 small is the best thing to have with tea all week. It is a yoghurt based curry with pakora in it, and it is only on that one day. The weekly menu is here.
There is more on the whole snacks section.
Chai in winter, outside
Worth a paragraph because it is the best version of this.
Late November to mid March, highs in the mid twenties, and an outdoor table becomes the obvious place to be rather than something to endure. Chai at AED 1 and a samosa at AED 2 at an outside table on a cool evening is a three dirham hour and it is genuinely one of the better cheap pleasures in this emirate.
Indoor and outdoor seating, families welcome at every table, and there is more on the Ajman winter season.
Finding us
Shop 8/1, ground floor, Amman Street, Ajman Industrial Area 2, beside Nesto Hypermarket. Free street parking directly outside, step free from the pavement.
Open 7:30 am to midnight, every day, including Fridays and public holidays. Call or message 050 720 8707. We answer in English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic, and cash and card are both accepted.
We do not deliver. You can drink it here or collect at the counter. The full menu with every price is on this site.
Common questions
- How much is karak chai in Ajman?
- AED 1 at Zafran Kitchen on Amman Street in Ajman Industrial Area 2. That is the standard industrial area rate for a cup and it is served from 7:30 am to midnight every day.
- What makes chai karak?
- Karak means strong. The tea is boiled rather than steeped, with evaporated or condensed milk rather than fresh, and boiled hard enough to go past brewing into something thicker and darker. Cardamom is usual. It is the boiling that makes it karak, not the quantity of tea.
- What is good to eat with karak chai?
- A samosa at AED 2 is the standard pairing. A shami kabab is also AED 2. Samosa chat at AED 5 small or AED 8 large is the bigger version, with the samosa broken into channa, dahi, imli and chaat masala. On a Friday the curry pakora from the weekly menu at AED 5 is the one to get.
- What time can I get chai in Ajman Industrial Area 2?
- From 7:30 am to midnight, continuously, every day including Fridays and public holidays. The two busy stretches are 7:30 to 9 in the morning as shifts start, and after about 8 in the evening.
- Is there outdoor seating for chai?
- Yes, indoor and outdoor both, and families are welcome at every table. The outdoor tables are genuinely comfortable from late November through to about mid March, which is the season when sitting outside with chai in the evening is the point rather than a compromise.
- Do you serve chai with fresh milk?
- Karak is made with evaporated or condensed milk, which is what gives it the colour and the body people expect from it. Fresh milk makes a lighter, paler tea that is a perfectly good drink but is not karak.
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The kitchen is open every day from half past seven in the morning until midnight.