Deliciously Delhi

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That`s an interesting point. I remember a friend telling me a while back about a wedding she attended in India where the hosts served pure vegetarian fare, including rajma and chawal. As someone who is used to heavy-duty Pakistani wedding food (qorma, biryani, zarda) I found it delightful. Not too sure how well that menu would be received in Pakistan though. People would think sautelon ki shaadi hai . . .

I don`t have such pleasant memories of Delhi food. I was out for 3 days after eating a `hamburger` at Connaught Place (food poisoning). Fancy restaurants weren`t much better.

All the reccommended eateries turned out to be bore. Narula`s was the craze at that time. I was able to take only one bite of the ``best pizza`` in Delhi.

Lemon Wala, Ice Cream (kulfi wala), Biryani wala in Chandani Chowk turned out to me mediocre fare.

Delhi was twice as expensive as Chandigarh. and the fare half as good.

I think Amritsar has better food. The mithai in Amritsar is much better. And other dhabas and restaurants that dot the roads of India. And they are reasonable.

As far as `muslim` food, I remember going to this roadside dhaba like tandoor place in Delhi that was crowded. His rates were really high ....and the host got only a small portion....it was good.....but nothing that made me break into an impromtou Bhangra.

India has come a longways from the rajma/chholay chawal and tandoori chicken. I was surprised to see these small town hotels and restaurants on the outskirts of Chandigarh turning out excellent dishes in Indian, Chinese, and Italian fares. And they do smashing business. City folks throng to these eateries in droves. Even with `connections`, it is hard to get in sometimes.

``Essentially you have ended up describing purely Pakistani cuisine which is alien to Indians who mostly eat only vegetarian dishes. India is mostly a vegetarian culture to the extent that they religiously abstain from eating even eggs wheras our dishes which here you erroneously refer to as `Indian` are conspicuously made of meat and that too of beef.``

Gurujee, that is not Indian cuisine, It is Brahmin cuisine that you talk about. India is much bigger than the culinary horizon of Brahmis from Uttar Pradesh.

I have had excellent beef curry in Kerala. Bufallo kababs in Nizamuddin, pork momos in Chanakyapuri, butter chicken at Pindis`s and Gulati`s...all these places in Delhi, are paradise for non veggies. Only bore place which was largely veggie was Gujarat. And those guys put sugar in dal.

the fare at karim`s in chandni chowk is way better than the nizamuddin karim`s...the time we were there...

digression:

the best pizza i`ve ever had was from an old established bakery in connaught circle...everytime we`d be in delhi we`d detour to grab some:)

“A mini-Pakistan was very much alive and well here”

Hindu groups to deride Muslims in India use mini Pakistan and there is no need to repeat that. Muslims in India are Indian. Those are historical Muslim areas in Delhi way before Pakistan came into existence.
There are areas in Karachi and Lahore that resemble Delhi. If people start calling them Mini-India, Would you agree with them on that?

Now food! The delicacy of Delhi food is captured in Karachi not Lahore. Most of the food sold in Lahore streets is made up excess use of lard/ghee/Tallow etc the lack of or accurate proportion of spices is evident. Food does not become delicious by using lots of Lard/Ghee/tallow or intolerable amount of Red chili(lal mirch). Lahore food is an example of abuse of spices such as red chili and black pepper.
Authentic chefs/cooks of Delhi origin cooked food in Karachi at least in the Burns road area. It may have changed now. However, the food in Lahore is no way near authentic Delhi food.

Your write-up reminded me of my travels in Delhi and in the surrounding areas such as Aligarh, Deoband, Meerut etc. in a car and frequently stopping at dhabbas to eat food.

Thanks for bringing back old memories. I am looking forward to be in Delhi this summer.

food wise, dilli is very provincial. mumbai is the only truely cosmopolitan eating place.

you have your ``muhalla`` food places, e.g. gujju muhallas serving thalis with piping hot rotis, madrasi muhallas like matunga for south-inidian veg food more authentic than madras or mysore, sindhi colony for the grease and junk food, koliwada (guru teg-bahadur nagar) for panjabi fried fish, muslim eateries liek noor-mohamdi restaurant in mahim or dilli-darbar on Foras Road (where every one is called Hritik Roshan), pasee colony yazdiyaar, ghati places like Mama Kane ..

street food (many new inventions) like bhel-puri, pau-bhaji, kala-khatta, juices, sandwitches, kebabs, wada-pau.

cool-cat places for pizzas and extremely ugly and pink cocktails, hole-in-the wall thai places in bandra, and more Barista coffee places on every corner (more than in Seattle).

good value institutions like the mocambo for biryani+beer, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Hostel canteen called ``Majestic Hotel``, Mahesh Lunch home for phish.

new-trend speciality restaurants claiming bengali, keral, costal andra, goa-coastal marathi foods..

and offcourse daruu everywhere, and you can watch homely aunties dancing to latest item number for time-pass.

while dilli still competes with Lahore ;-)

Re: # 15
t - wengers? I dream of their apple strudel.

Yes but I think lhr is cleaner and thus food is more healthy.

Hi Ras:

It is obvious that you enjoyed your trip...at least the palatable stuff:) Glad you wrote about food, that is pretty much all that Delhi has to offer...and made sense to stick to the Muslim-Punjabi cuisine. Though it is pity Annapurna was closed. Instead of Haldiram`s, Nathu`s at Bengali Market would have been good for mithai and to grab a quick chaat...

I think there is some confusion about the two Karim`s, though you visited both. The Chandni Chowk one is downmarket, but the kebabs are great. However, the one at Nizamuddin offers more subtle flavours (in their yakhni and saalans) perhaps keeping the clientele in mind. I assume you did not catch the qawaali?

Did you eat anything at all at the Dilli Haat stalls? I like their South Indian stuff the most...

Did you do Paranthewalli galli?

For dessert, you should have tried the Shahi Tukda...but I guess a certain lady`s name took you in a different direction?! Kheer Benazir is not named after the Pakistani PM, but I would love to push for a post-meal Pervez paan...

Next time, do make it to Mumbai. There really is nothing quite like it!

- - -
Stuka, so what if Gujjus put sugar in the dal? Punjabis put malai in their chicken...and if one can have have spicy parathas with dahi, then problem kya hai?

Jang:

Dude, Bombay sucks ass as far as Non Veg food is concerned. I was taken to a much touted Badey Mian`s close to Taj. Crap!! Better kabas and Tikkas and botis available in New Jersey. Even the Chinese of China Garden was over-rated.

Bombay does well for vegie food like Bhel Puri and Vada Pao. The south indian food is not bad but I have had better in Mangalore and Udupi.

Farzana:

``Stuka, so what if Gujjus put sugar in the dal?``

Umm, is that even a serious question? Do you also put Thums Up in black label scotch? Hahaha!!

``Punjabis put malai in their chicken...``

So do the French. Cream and butter are essentials of good cooking as thickeners in all sophisticated cuisines such as Punjabi, French, Italian etc.

``and if one can have have spicy parathas with dahi, then problem kya hai?``

No problem eating Paranthas with Dahi. I also do that. We are in agreement here. (Thumbs Up Icon)

I`ve eaten excellent food in Manali (HP). Karahi chicken and paneer. One of the best ever Chicken I ate in my life is at the Queen`s palace (now a restaurant) in Mandi (HP). It was EXCELLENT!

stuka on kababs i agree. i prefer mahim dargah for kabab (shashliks marinated in papya jiuce) or foras road for mughlai. dilli is overall provincial in the sense of lack of veriety. also in the older times, dilli did not have any ``real`` upmarket restaurants..all they had were hotel restaurants (liek dum-pukht etc). us mumbaiyas found it very provincial. hopefully things have changed. offocourse in mumbai we have great views from sea-lounge..

other thing in dilli is that say you meet an old friend and want to get a cold beer (or 2 or 3), masala papad over a pack of wills navy-cut, you would have to think of where to go, whereas in mumbai you would need to walk for about 3 minutes at most.

mumbai also lacks those tibetan dhabas .. but then mumbai does not get compared to Lahore ;-)