ISLAMABAD - Recent intermittent rainfall in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad has increased the demand of winter delights particularly barbeque (BBQ) fish. People throng to the restaurants and fish selling points of twin cities on Friday to enjoy the nutritious food. The menu of any restaurant in winter was considered incomplete without fish as it was in high demand during rainy and cold weather, a customer Mujahid Ali told APP while enjoy fist at a restaurant. A slight shift in the choices of the residents of the twin-cities has been witnessed this winter, he said adding, “They are preferring barbeque fish over the traditionally fried fish or tawa-machi”, said a fish shop owner at Aabpara. Momin Ali, an online food delivery service provider said almost every order included fish items especially during rain. He said the restaurants of Karachi Company, Melody Market,  Jinnah Super Market, Aabpara, Super Market, F-10, F-11, G-10 Markaz, Committee Chowk, Commercial Market, Raja Bazaar, Saddar, and Sadiqabad were over crowded and most of the orders were fish items.
  “The fish varieties high in demand are Heera, Mushka, Surmai, Dawan, Rohu, silver pomfret, Dambra, Mahasher, Thela, Salmon, and Common Carp but now the customers are asking to get their fish cooked on coals instead of getting it deep fried in the oil,” Manager of Al-Mustafa Mahigeer, Saddar told APP. 
   Arslan Akhtar, a 45-year old foodie said he preferred to eat grilled fish as fried 
fish was unhealthy. “Grilled fish offers more healthy nutrients,” he added. 
  When contacted, the management of Wajid Fish House, a popular eatery in Islamabad, he said they were offering almost every variety of fried and BBQ fish, but majority customers were demanding BBQ fish than fried fish.
  “We even replaced our cooking oil. Now we fry our fish in mustard oil to facilitate our health-conscious customers, but we couldn’t raise its demand,” the manager said. 
  Another chef of a famous fish point said grilled and BBQ fish took more time to cook due to which they face difficulty to handle rush, adding, “We have installed 
new setup for BBQ fish due to its increased demand.” 
   Sardar Iqbal, an Islamabad-based Nutritionist was of the view that grilled food 
was better than fried food as it was more nutritious.   
   “Fish absorbs more fat when fried, which may increase the risks of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke by increasing blood cholesterol level in human body,” he added. 
   “While grill fish has lower calories and more nutritious value that help decrease bad cholesterol levels and keep humans safe from obesity, heart disease, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, and stroke.”