ISLAMABAD: After 10 p.m., much of F-6 Markaz, an upscale commercial district in Pakistan’s capital, begins to fall quiet, with shops shuttered and traffic thinning. Outside one of its Quetta tea cafes, however, the evening is only getting started.

Cooks slap dough onto hot griddles, turning out crisp, layered parathas as steam rises from pots of milky tea. Customers crowd outdoor tables, talking over cups of chai, playing cards or scrolling through their phones, often lingering late into the night.

The scene reflects the spread across Islamabad of a distinctive Pakistani teashop culture rooted in Balochistan and popularized over decades in cities including Karachi. Typically inexpensive, informal and open late, these so-called Quetta cafes have become ubiquitous gathering places despite having no single owner or conventional franchise behind them.

The cafes can be traced largely to Pashtun entrepreneurs from Balochistan, particularly the districts of Pishin and Qila Abdullah, who took the model to other Pakistani cities. The first such cafe in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area was established in Rawalpindi in 2007.

In Islamabad, their proliferation is particularly striking in a purpose-built capital long associated with quiet evenings and an early-to-bed rhythm, offering residents inexpensive spaces to meet outside homes, offices and more costly restaurants and coffee shops.

“There are a lot of hotels like this, quite a lot, actually. Here in F-6 Markaz alone, there are around four Quetta hotels,” said Jalaluddin Khan, a teashop owner from Balochistan’s Qila Abdullah who now has a cafe in Islamabad.

“And these days, there are at least four, five or six such hotels in almost every sector… I would say there are at least 100 to 200 across the city.”

There are no official figures for Islamabad, but Quetta cafes are now visible across many of the capital’s commercial districts, their signboards frequently combining “Quetta” with references to Karachi, where the format became deeply embedded in the city’s street culture.

Khan said their appeal rested partly on long opening hours and menus built around two Pakistani staples: tea and parathas, the pan-fried flatbreads eaten across the country.

“We offer tea and parathas. We have around 20 to 25 varieties of tea and 20 to 25 types of parathas,” Khan told Arab News.

Online menus for Quetta cafes in Islamabad show tea starting at around Rs100 ($0.36), with more elaborate varieties such as almond milk tea, clay-pot tea and dry-fruit Kashmiri tea costing up to around Rs350 ($1.25).

Parathas similarly range from simple layered flatbreads costing around Rs100-130 ($0.36-$0.46) to versions filled with potato, chicken and cheese or sweet ingredients such as honey, cream and chocolate.

Even at the upper end, prices generally remain well below those at the capital’s modern coffee shops, helping the cafes attract students, workers and professionals looking for somewhere inexpensive to sit for extended periods.

For Muhammad Ayub, a lawyer who arrived at a cafe with six friends earlier this week, that space is as important as the tea.

“We all sit together over a cup of tea and talk about our lives,” Ayub said. “We revisit and relive some of our childhood memories and stories, while some people discuss their work, jobs or businesses. So, it’s basically the kind of general interaction that friends have with one another.”

“But there is something special about sitting around tea and enjoying each other’s company. And especially when it’s Quetta-style tea, it makes the whole experience even more enjoyable.”

FROM BALOCHISTAN TO THE CAPITAL

The cafes’ spread tells a broader story of internal migration and small-scale entrepreneurship in Pakistan.

Research by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) describes Quetta cafes as an indigenous business model that expanded from Balochistan to Karachi and subsequently to other major cities, with businesses frequently drawing workers and owners from the same Pashtun communities. Rather than expanding through a centralized corporation, the model has been reproduced through family, community and business networks.

Karachi became particularly associated with the culture, where inexpensive roadside tea shops have for decades provided late-night gathering places in a sprawling metropolis whose social life often continues well after midnight.

Islamabad has traditionally offered a stark contrast. Built from the 1960s as Pakistan’s administrative capital, its planned residential sectors and government-heavy population gave it a reputation for becoming quiet relatively early.

Residents say that is beginning to change.

“I’ve been living in Islamabad for about 20 or 21 years and this change has happened over the last three or four years,” said Talha Naeem, a chartered accountant and businessman. “Before that, we didn’t really have places where we could sit and hang out like this.”

“We come to Quetta Café, where all our friends gather. I have a bit of a passion for playing cards so we play cards and enjoy some tea together,” he said, adding that he and his friends often stayed late into the night.

The cafes also offer an alternative to the more expensive restaurants and international-style coffee shops that have proliferated in Islamabad’s affluent commercial districts, preserving the informality of the roadside teashop while attracting a broader urban clientele.

Their late hours have recently collided with government efforts to conserve energy amid the continuing Middle East conflict. Authorities in Islamabad have imposed restrictions on late-night dine-in operations as part of conservation measures.

At some Quetta cafes, lights are dimmed and shutters partially lowered around the official closing time, while takeaway business continues and customers remain around outdoor tables.

“They drive around at night, come here, order tea, pick it up and leave,” Naeem said.