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Mohd. Sageer Nahari Wale

                                                   Mohd. Sageer Nahari Wale

By Anubhav Sapra

The temperature of Delhi has further plummeted to a five year low at 4.2 degrees. There are expectations that the record of coldest December in 50 years might broke soon. Sometimes I wonder that the current generation is going to witness all the records. To keep warm, some prefer sipping a hot cup of tea with Samosa and few like me find solace in a plate of hot Nehari or haleem.

Although Nehari is traditionally cooked overnight and eaten as a breakfast, it is now easily available in the evenings as well. Infact, both the famous Nahari walas in Ballimaran – Manzoor Hotel and Mohd. Sageer Nahari wale sells the delicacy in the evenings.

WP_20141117_112Mohd. Sageer Nahari Wale, a 67 years old shop, located in Baradari, Ballimaran, shop number 2461 and 2462. A half plate buff nahari costs Rs 60. A plate of Bheja is Rs 50 and Nalli is Rs 30. Typically Nahari is made of trotters or knuckles or goat’s head, and known as Paye ki Nehari. However, to cater to the modern taste, different varieties are available. Many still prefer mixing a proportionate quantity of Nalli and bheja in Nahari.

The preparations for Nahari at Mohd Sageer’s shop starts everyday at 8 am in the morning and by 6 pm , Nahari is ready to be served. In the day time, between 12 noon to 3 pm, korma and kofta is available at Rs 20 a plate. I straightaway ordered a half plate of Nahari. I got it fried in yellow Amul butter, garnished it with finely cut ginger slices and green chillies. And on the top of thick gravy, evenly squeezed the lemon juice. The meat was tender after hours of cooking and the aroma of spices was intact. The yellow butter with a tinge of lemon mellowed down the spices but added a nice flavor to the nahari and made it simply delicious.

I cleaned up the plate of Sageer’s Nahari without worrying about the forecast made by IMD about the cold spell that is likely to continue over the week as it is believed the remedy for cold.

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Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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CBTL: Making your Christmas Delicious

 

CBTL: Making your Christmas Delicious

By Priyali Prakash

Christmas celebrations are on in full swing and restaurants are coming up with various novelties to make this occasion memorable for their customers. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, a well known chain with multiple outlets across Delhi, has come up with a special limited edition holiday special menu that is available till 31st December and goes perfectly with the spirit of the festive season.

Plum Cake, the classic Christmas dish, is available during the celebration period here. It comes with a twist of a dominant cardamom flavour. If you like that, you will surely enjoy this cake.

Other Christmas delicacies here include the Yule Log cake, a delicious chocolate cake for all chocolate lovers and the Stollen Bread, which though comes topped with icing sugar, is a little sour in flavour.

altAkV3EMV6xLWFXmYGTfEpu6CIgt_aU-TsGCrSVhD1Q3sCLiving up to the name of the place, CBTL has introduced new flavours in their coffee. Cinnamon mocha cappuccino and Spiced honey cappuccino come with a dusting of cinnamon powder with chocolate and honey respectively and, of course, strong coffee. All coffees at CBTL are conventionally served with brown sugar on the side and the tea comes with white sugar.

Apart from the Christmas menu, CBTL has also introduced new dishes in its regular menu which is a practice every six months. This time, the new dishes are quesadillas and wraps. The cheese and corn quesadillas have a lightly seasoned filling and are served with sour cream, pickled veggies and salsa on the side. The salsa is amazingly flavourful. The chicken wraps come with the same salsa and have a filling that tastes like any spicy Indian curry.

altAp6o1xPrhokcAbO6iI3tQeNCp9Xh6IcZlgJDaQum1jRpOther desserts introduced in the regular menu are baked mascarpone cheesecake that comes with cherry compote on the top and a bottom that isn’t quite crunchy for a regular cheesecake. The hazelnut mousse cake is a little on the dense side but is full of flavours.

Apart from the new introductions in the menu, CBTL has come up with gift hampers for sale and these are quite popular with the corporates. These hampers are priced at Rs. 450 plus taxes and CBTL offers discounts on bulk bookings. Hampers are available at all CBTL outlets across Delhi till the end of this month.

CBTL is putting up a good show to make the festive season delicious for its customers. Kudos to the team!

Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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Yahya Tea Stall

Yahya Tea Stall

Everyone always ignores the small tea stall on the side of the road or at the corner of a street. No one knows the history behind a small tea stall. Even Shah Rukh Khan’s father had a tea stall and served tea at a very well known drama company in Delhi, and if it was not for the star, we would probably never have known that such a tea stall existed.

WP_20141117_037Likewise, there is an old tea stall in the lane of Gali Qasmijan, right at the entrance of Phatak Luharu in Ballimaran. This tea stall was started by the late Haji Mohammed Farooq in 1969, carried on by his son the late Mohammed Yahya. It has been forty-five years since the pouring and serving of tea has been going on here. Now, the grandchildren, Mr. Farhan and Mr. Faizan, who are reporters with a newspaper, are still taking care of their family business. Their father, the late Mohammed Yahya, also owned a dairy shop named after his wife, Sabra and a hotel where the tea famously known as “Haji ki Chai” was served. Since the grandchildren did not have the same aspirations as their father, they gave up the place for rent and but have still kept the touch and name of their father through the tea stall.

When I looked at the boys preparing the tea, I was completely amazed at how it was being prepared. It was nothing like the way we prepare it at home.

WP_20141117_049The tea leaves are boiled in water in an aluminum kettle for a long time and on the other side, the milk is kept boiling, letting it form a layer of cream, commonly known as malai. The first step is to put a spoonful of sugar, a teaspoon of milk and boiled tea, and a spoon of malai. It is then stirred well and served hot. If you desire for a strong cup of tea, they add a spoon of fresh tea leaves, while pouring the boiled tea, in the strainer to give it that dark look and a strong kick. Mostly it would look like filtered tea that is served at a fancy tea shop.

There is a lively history behind this tea stall. Believe it or not a hundred and fifty cups of tea were made and served at a time which impressed me so much since there are so many different steps to get a perfect cup of tea. It definitely did not taste like the regular tea that one drinks every morning.

Nearby the tea stall, there was once a college named Tibbia College which has been shifted to Karol Bagh. This college offers education in medicine, and therefore, numerous and frequent doctors, professors, and students would be attending this college. Now a morning without a tea would not be complete and Yahya Tea Stall completed the mornings of a lot of people in the college and around. Tibbia College ordered six hundred teas almost every day, and without fail they were served with the same quality and standard.

WP_20141117_041For a couple of days, the tea stall had been shut down but by popular demand of the people living there and expressing their love for the tea and the family, the stall was back with a bang, serving tea with as much as dedication as it did when it first started.

The grandchildren besides being modernized and familiar with the media profession did not leave their ancestral house and believed that living there would keep the culture and history of the place alive. Surprisingly, the haveli that they reside in was once the haveli of Ghalib Mirza’s second wife. It definitely must be exciting to live in a house with intricate Mughal style designed pillars, doors, windows, and houses. Farhan Yahya said that the love and the respect of the people could not make him leave the place where he spent his childhood.

A must visit if you want to have a perfectly made hot cup of tea.

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Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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Shahjahanabad ki Sair

Shahjahanabad ki Sair

By Anubhav Sapra

I met Osama Jalali, the famous food critic, a few days back in the alleys of Chitli Qabar, where he shared about the Shahjahanabad ki Sair Food Festival at Ssence, The Suryaa Hotel, from the 19th of December to the 21st of December.

There are many reasons to go to Shahjahanabad ki Sair at Suryaa Hotel, the first being that the food is cooked by Nazish Jalali, mother of Osama Jalali, who hails from Rampur and knows all the ins and outs of Rampur and Old Delhi cuisines. Secondly, Osama Jalali, who himself was born in Old Delhi, has curated the food festival. Thirdly, the spices and ingredients have been picked straight from Old Delhi; fourthly, to interact with Nazish Jalali and Osama Jalali, to understand the food preparations; fifthly, the food is served in copper utensils, which has its own charm of the old city. Sixthly, not much oil and ghee has been used in the cooking, keeping in mind the clientele of the hotel. Seventhly, the sair (literally, the journey, of Old Delhi food) can be enjoyed at one place in the cold winter of Delhi. Lastly, the best food cooked in the world is always by mothers in the home kitchen and has to be exceptionally good.

WP_20141214_20_27_14_ProThe sair at Shahjahanabad started with chicken seekh kebab and kache keeme ke kebab. In the main course, I was served aloo gosht, chicken korma, saag kofta, mutton nahari, hari mirch ka keema, and mutton biryani. All of them were excellent in taste, especially hari mirch ka keema, which has a nice flavour of green chillis but can be handled easily even if one does not like the spicy food preparations. The mutton biryani is cooked in the dum style and served with red chillis chutney. Most of the biryani sellers in Old Delhi use a special kind of rice called “sella” (par boiled) rice. I have seen the most famous biryani seller in Haveli Azam Khan draining out the excess water from the rice on a piece of cloth. That shows the rice will always retain its shape even if it is over cooked and water can be added if it is undercooked. The art of cooking biryani is in basmati rice, neither overcooked nor undercooked. Nazish has done justice to the biryani by retaining the shape, texture, flavours of the spices and tenderness of the meat.

WP_20141214_20_36_36_ProI rounded off my meal with Zarda, sweet flavourful rice with khoya, raisins, cashews, cherries and ghee. Throughout the sair, I never felt like I was sitting in a fine dining, high end place, as the interaction with Osama Jalali about the bawarchis, khansamas, and the food revolved around Shahjahanabad.

The menu works on a rotational basis with different kebabs and curries every day. So, if you want to get the feel of the home cooked style food of Shahjahanabad, visit Suryaa hotel before the 21st of December between 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The price per person is Rs. 1950 for the entire buffet.

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Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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Manzoor Hotel

Manzoor Hotel

WP_20141117_029As I strolled around the streets of Ballimaran, relishing the delicious taste of Habshi Halwa, I came across an old restaurant by the name Manzoor Hotel, giving us the feel of a dhabha. This hotel was established by a man named Zahoor Ahmed, who like us fancied about food to such an extreme that he made it his passion to start his own hotel sixty-seven years back. He was a cook by profession before, and his love for food made him start his own little restaurant which is very famous in Ballimaran.

The initial years of Manzoor Hotel saw them serving only nahari, nali and bheja (all buff dishes), but in the last ten years, there has been an assortment in the menu by including chicken, fish, and vegetarian options as well.

The Hotel has opened a branch in the same lane, in fact very much opposite to the main restaurant, serving a range of delectable and appetizing lunch and dinner to the people around.

Manzoor Hotel is now managed by Zahoor Ahmed’s two sons, Saim and Sarim. Sarim has been helping his father and elder brother in the business for the past three years. The restaurant is famously known for all its dishes which are served with khamiri roti, which is made with white flour mixed with yeast and baking soda.

During the day, you will get a wide variety of dishes to choose from, which include: buff korma, chhole keema, bheja, dal fry, egg curry, chicken stew, aloo matar paneer, chicken keema, fish curry, chicken kofta, chicken korma, and chicken rizala (cooked in milk and cream). These are mouth-watering and exquisite dishes that one can order and treat and savor their palate with piquancy, all ranging from Rs. 25 to Rs. 40 per quarter plate. You can easily have a meal within Rs.250.

In the evenings, they serve the most famous dish – nahari, nali, and bheja which can be mixed and fried together in Amul butter on demand. The shop timings are from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Located at the entrance of Gali Qasim Jan, opposite Hamdard Gali, Manzoor hotel is a must-visit place for nahari, nali and bheja.

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Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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SBARRO

SBARRO

By Nikita Saxena

Nestled cosily in a warm corner of N Block, Connaught Place, Sbarro is set to delight all kinds of pizza lovers alike with its varied, sumptuous menu of pizzas, other Italian dishes and desserts. I recently had the opportunity to visit its most recent outlet in the National Capital Region of Delhi, and was warmly given a tour of the place by Jayant, Sbarro’s manager of marketing of the North and East regions of the country. Sbarro currently has one more outlet in HUDA City Centre, Gurgaon, which opened on the 4th of October this same year.

Sbarro dates back to as far as 1956, beginning as the brainchild of Italian immigrants Genarro and Carmela Sbarro, who journeyed from Naples, Italy to New York, U.S.A. The two established their first Italian restaurant, “Salumeria”, in the locale of Brooklyn. Now, Sbarro, currently headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the leading international pizza quick serving restaurants, with a thousand outlets worldwide in more than thirty-four countries. In India, Sbarro is franchised by Jyoti International Foods Private Limited, which is headed by Mr. Akhil Puri.

I soon sat down with Rahul Gladwin Massey, the head chef, who wasted no time in giving me the veritable walkthrough through the elaborate menu, and little unknown interesting facts that are otherwise unknown to most. The menu, which like in all other Sbarro branches all over the world, follows 60% of the original menu with a few modifications made in order to suit the Indian palate. Such modifications include inclusion of ethnic flavours, such as tandoori and tikka, and the replacement of beef and pork by chicken in most pizza variants, the exception being pepperoni pizza. Rahul also told me that Sbarro believes that an excellent pizza must always be served fresh and piping hot, and then explained all the rigorous rules they followed to maintain this standard.

Fresh dough is made every day in the store, adhering to the strict guidelines of shelf life, as well as fresh sauce, which is manufactured from imported tomatoes. A major distinguishing feature that sets Sbarro apart is their use of 100% dairy cheese, which leads their products to have a lesser shelf life, but more flavour, as opposed to other pizza chains that use 40% dairy cheese with a mix of other chemical and cooking substitutes. The menu at this outlet has a huge range of pizza slices, with nine New York style pizzas (thin-crusted, but sturdy enough to hold its toppings; a novel way to eat it is by folding it from the middle) that Sbarro is known to specialize in, four pan pizzas (thicker crusts with more bread to appeal to the Indian user), two Chicago deep dish pizzas, eight pastas (which use both spaghetti and penne), three amazing desserts and a plethora of hot and cold beverages to deliciously wrap it up.

The white pizza is an absolute must-have for the cheese lover, with ricotta and mozzarella cheese lavishly spread over a thin crust, and no tomato sauce base, making it a novel one-of-a-kind eating experience. As someone who does not have a natural affinity towards pineapple, the ham and pineapple pizza completely won me over with its perfect blend of minutely diced pineapple and ham pieces wrapped in oodles of melting cheese. A similarly themed offering to watch out for is the cheese pizza, which includes Sbarro’s signature tomato sauce blend.

The mushroom olive pizza is yet another specialty one can find only at Sbarro, with cheesy slices decked heavily only with the aforementioned toppings, for the more exotic and variant pizza eater. According to Rahul, the pepperoni pizza has been a hit with the other NCR outlet as well. Other thin crust pizzas (starting from Rs. 49 onwards a slice) include chicken tikka, which has a classic Mughlai twist to it, supreme, spicy paneer, and vegetable supreme.

sb lq supreme sliceThe four pan pizzas include veggie delight, paneer supreme, super supreme, and sausage jalapeno. But what really will make you have a wholesome, stuffed-to-the-brim meal, is the new variety of stuffed pizzas Sbarro has introduced here (priced at Rs. 179 a slice, and Rs.1199 a whole pan), which includes vegetable extravaganza, paneer makhani, sausage & pepperoni, and garden style. I had the chicken makhani stuffed pizza, and needless to say, I was blown away by the seamless blend of popular Indian curry flavours and Italian herbs and spices.

DSC_0541_Next came the breads, which are bound to fill you right up and leave you rubbing your belly in satisfaction. The garlic bread (priced at Rs. 59) was freshly baked with a light garnishing of finely chopped garlic pieces on the top. Apart from this, I had the sausage & cheese stromboli (priced at Rs. 149), which are pieces of bread stuffed liberally with cheese and in this case, a non-vegetarian filling of chicken sausage pieces. This was followed by a quick tasting of the wide array of Sbarro’s pastas (priced at Rs. 159, and Rs. 179) which are traditionally served with a piece of garlic bread. The saucy sausage pasta was a brilliant gastronomic experience, with light, natural tomato flavours that will make your taste buds reach cloud nine with its sausage pieces of chicken ham dipped in tangy red spaghetti. I also had the arrabiata pasta, which in a surprising but flavourful take, had pieces of corn within the whole dish. Among the white sauce types of pastas, the alfredo parmesan was a wonderful pick, with liberal amounts of dairy cheese and mushrooms that will knock one right off their seats.

Among the beverages, I tasted both the orange and cucumber lemonades (both priced at Rs. 50), each with a refreshing and unique flavour of its own, with the former having a tangy, tantalizing, and sweet taste to it, and the latter having an offbeat, relaxed taste, which would prove to be a hit in the harsh Delhi summer months. The dessert menu was otherworldly, with three dishes to satisfy your sweet tooth. The New York cheesecake was firm, filling, and made with Philadelphia cream cheese. The frosted carrot cake was something to be truly relished, consisting of a soft pastry with a hint of cinnamon and a sizeable frosting of cream cheese. The fudge nut brownies were served hot, and with a dash of hot chocolate sauce, and melted right in the mouth.

SpaghettiApart from the food, the other best parts of eating at Sbarro were its ambience and its open air kitchen in full view of every customer. With a minimalist theme in black, red, green, and white colours, Sbarro has a setting that will not bear down on you, but only serve to give you the Italian rustic feeling when you sit down to eat. Another bonus point to this outlet was its fire safety standardizations, with many extinguishers and pipelines located at different strategic points in the restaurant area, which is exceptional to find in a restaurant.

Sbarro plans to expand to home delivery soon, as it is expecting a huge turnout in its Connaught Place outlet, as it is in a prime location in the heart of the city. However, I highly recommend everyone to visit Sbarro soon, and have an unforgettable time eating out your favourite Italian dishes.

Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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Dunkin’ Donuts

At Dunkin’ Donuts, Wicked is the New Awesome

By Priyali Prakash

Come 10th of December and the CP outlet of much loved Dunkin’ Donuts will throw open its doors to customers with an all new revamped menu and renovated decor at their store. Most of the redesigning has been done keeping in mind the ‘young evolved consumer with the mental age of around 25’. DD attempts to reflect the struggles, complexes, comforts and celebrations of today’s youth in its food and does that quite successfully to an extent!

WP_20141209_14_17_52_ProThe classic donuts get a twist this season and come with unusual flavours like chilli guava and peppermint. The chilli guava flavour, named ‘It’s a mistake’, doesn’t seem to be much of a mistake but a tasteful invention. A white chocolate layer with red guava compote and sprinkled with red chilli flakes that leave an aftertaste seems to be a weird combination but it is a must try! We can place our bets on it becoming the hot favourite of the town in a few days!

While DD has always been famous for its burgers, they now have the ‘Naughty Lucy Burger’ for us with white cheddar cheese oozing out from its patty and the ‘Tough Guy Burger’ that comes with the chewy Bagel bread, hint of kasundi mustard, veggies, chicken salami and patty.

DD has also come up with something amazing for the Indian palate- the much adored masala cha in the iced tea version! Yes, they have on their menu, the ‘Spiked Iced Tea’ which is infused with cloves, cinnamon, star anise and cardamom and tastes fabulous. It is definitely a must have for all tea lovers. Meanwhile, the iced green tea is a bit of a letdown and classic lemon iced tea is just regular, with perhaps a stronger hint of actual ‘tea’ in it.

WP_20141209_13_23_45_ProDD also brings to us the ‘Wicked Wrap’ which, mind you, is very, very hot. It comes with spicy chicken, veggies, jalapenos and surprisingly, nachos inside it. It also has a green mango relish which tastes perfect to Indians of course, but overall the wrap may seem a bit dry. They also have the ‘Not-so-Wicked’ wrap which is for the faint-hearted (read: cannot stand chillies).

WP_20141209_13_59_20_ProWhen talking of Dunkin Donuts, how can we leave coffee behind! The new ‘Dunkaccino’ the cold coffee at DD, comes with Jamaican rum flavouring and almonds. It is a decent tasting coffee while many people might not appreciate almonds in it. The ‘Stirr’accino’, a new invention by the DD chefs, is a true coffee lover’s delight. It is strong and aromatic, and the coffee comes with suspended layers of Dunkin Original and Dunkin Espresso which looks s beautiful as it tastes.

All in all, the revamped menu at Dunkin Donuts is a must try! And hey, did you hear about the early bird freebies you can get if you visit the CP store early morning on 13th of this month? There’s a lot on stake, make sure you get your share of gifts!

Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.
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Chacha Di Hatti

Chacha Di Hatti

By Simran kaur Kainth

JpegWhat could be better than eating spicy Punjabi chhole bhature for breakfast on Sunday? Most houses in Model Town enjoy this delicious breakfast freshly prepared by Chacha Di Hatti. Located in Model Town Main Market, Chacha Di Hatti serves the most delicious and unmatched chhole bhature. Once you visit this place, your hunt for the best chhole bhature in North Delhi will come to an end.

This place gets very crowded in the morning, especially on the weekends. As the stall opens in the early hours of the morning, one can notice a huge queue of foodies quickly grabbing their portions of these yummy chhole bhature, before the stock finishes for the day. Nominally priced at Rs. 40 per plate, Chacha Di Hatti serves huge, non-greasy bhature with superbly spiced pindi chhole cooked to perfection. Sizzling golden spongy bhaturas are freshly prepared right in front of your eyes, and this makes the dish seem even more irresistible; surely one cannot wait to dig into his or her plate. The chhole are soaked and boiled overnight, moreover, the addition of Chacha Di Hatti’s signature secret spices redefine the quality of chhole and make it more appetizing. Not only this, the amount of dedication and love that goes in its preparation is worth a hearty amount of applause, and has fetched Chacha Di Hatti an unbeatable reputation in the area.

IMG_20141203_231755The imli chutney and the onion salad served with pickled green chillies is the show stealer on the plate. Chacha Di Hatti has been serving the locals for more than a decade. However, it was shut down for a short period of time for some undisclosed reasons. But it made a successful comeback with more variety to spice up the morning breakfast of the localities. Now, it also serves paneer bhatura for Rs. 50, and chhole kulche garnished with thinly sliced onions and fresh coriander.

So, whenever your belly craves for tasty bhaturas, Chacha Di Hatti can be a safe bet.

Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.