ISLAMABAD:Callthem`monster shakes`, `freak shakes` or `crazy shakes`, it was high time Islamabad caught up with the rest of the world and gave the humble milkshake an up-do.

With Canapé, the mother-daughter duo, Rafia Aamer Kiani and Abeer Wahaj, have set out to do just that.

Canapé is located in F-11`s new Liberty Square Plaza, the first floor of which is fast becoming a food court of sorts. With an open floor plan and not even a door to demarcate its premises, Canapé has a welcoming environment, which the soft lighting and comfortable seating adds to.

The eatery specialises in extravagant, over the top milkshakes best described as a combination of a beverage and dessert.

These cake incorporating indulgences are named af ter popular social media tags, are suitable for any time of the day and are very Instagram worthy.

The Berry Tweet is a strawberry shake which comes buried under a slice of cheesecake, marshmallows, wafers and a red velvet cupcake topped with sprinkles.

The Hashtag is a chocolate shake garnished with Oreos, wafers, cupcakes, a drizzle of chocolate sauce and cream and a side of chocolate sponge cake.

The Blue Blogger is a blueberry milkshake fenced in by a ring of marshmallows, chocolate wafers, cupcakes and cream. Cookies and Cream is an Oreo milkshake with an extra helping of Oreos and then more Oreos stuck to the side of the mug. No Filter is a vanilla shake topped with lollipops, sprinkles and wafers.

Also on the menu are the more humble in comparison chocolate shakes, for which a chocolate of your choice is blended with milk, including Toblerone, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Mars, Snickers, Bounty, Galaxy, Maltesers, Twix andKitkat.

The milkshakes come at a steep price for just under Rs700 each.

`Think about what goes into the milkshakes. Even just a slice of cake is served [elsewhere] for more than Rs200 at least,` said Ms Wahaj when asked about the prices.

The cakes and cupcakes are baked by the mother and daughter at home every day. Ms Wahaj said they had thought about getting the cake from elsewhere `but we did not want to compromise on the taste and freshness`.Ms Wahaj said the shakes take about 15 to 20 minutes to make.

`That is one complaint we get a lot. People order a milkshake and then expect it to arrive within minutes. These milkshakes take a lot of work to prepare, and making the shakes is the easiest part of the process. It takes precision to balance all the toppings on top of a mug,` she said.

Experimenting with and getting the recipes for the shakes right was very exhausting and time consuming, she added.

`We would both be trying out different recipes and would spend hours making little alterations,` she said.The drinks section which makes for more than half the menu also include various lemonades which, Ms Wahaj said, are also a product of extensive experimentation. Made from concentrate, the flavours that stand out are green apple, peach, mint and pomegranate.

Although they serve typical food items including burgers, sandwiches, wings and other variants of chicken and fish, Canapé does get points for trying to be creative with the recipes, which customers will be able to see in the making when they start their live kitchen.

One of the results of their manyexperiments is the nacho burger, the patty of which is layered with Doritos, jalapeños and olives, as is the crispy chicken, the name for which is somewhat deceiving.

While the chicken itself is crispy, it is drizzled with the restaurant`s own red sauce, white sauce and cheese and is served with pasta. One of the other variants of the run-of-the-mill chicken fillet is the chicken on a stick, which comes in a bunch of four and is served with the usual coleslaw and fries. The chicken is skewered with a wooden BBQ stick and rubbed with various spices and sauces before being fried.The restaurant gets brownie points for including a whole section for `the love for potatoes` which include variants of fries, including the Thousand Island fries and crumb fried potato cakes, just in case you were not full from the enormous milkshakes.

All in all, Canapé makes for a great dining experience and is a good place to spend time with friends and family. The motherdaughter team`s efforts of trying to make everything just a bit different do come across. They even sell plain milk with a twist: it comes laced with honey or stirred with almonds, dates or coconut.