After having gone through all the food in the past days, I
thought that I should slow down but that lasted for exactly 5 minutes till my
wife reminded me of Al-Jawahar.
To recap (this is a very important) Al-Jawahar is where I discovered
true mughai food last year. Food that confirmed once and for all that there
isn’t any competition to Delhi when it comes to north Indian/Mughlai food. So
you can imagine why my thoughts of slowing down vanished at the mention of the
name.
We started off with a visit to Safdarjang’s tomb, one of the
many tombs that are scattered all over the capital. This isn’t a great example
though, so it’s worth a miss unless you have a week and have visited all the
other famous ones. Enough, this isn’t a travel blog
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| Safdarjang's tomb |
We also visited the Sisganj-saheb gurudwaara in Chandni
chowk, my first in Delhi. You get halwa as prasad here, it’s tasty but seems
as if it’s made for diabetics and people suffering from high BP.
Ok, enough background, lets get to the food.
We left the gurudwara to walk to Al-Jawahar which is about a
km away. On the way we came across a shop which sells only jalebi and samosa.
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| He missed the "heavenly" |
We bought a plate of their jalebis and to put it in one sentence. “It’s the
best jalebi that I have ever eaten”. It was just too good to be true, it was so
tasty that I wanted to kiss the cook. I could fall at his feet and marry his
daughter if he taught me how to cook it, but sadly I am married already so
decided to make sure to let everyone know about it and also to make more trips
to Delhi. Yeah, it’s that awesome.
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| Drool maal! |
I tried to find words to explain what it is that makes it so
tasty but I can’t find any that is good enough. You bite into it and there is
the slight crunch (just perfect) followed by the sweet and then comes the taste
overdose, that mellow taste which takes you to sweet heaven. And then
realization dawns, this is the best jalebi ever. Sigh! I miss it already.
As per my guide (also called wife) this store has been
around for more than a hundred years, Thank you God!
Going back to our earlier destination, Al-Jawahar, which was
interrupted by the tasty jalebis. We reached there, all the way discussing the
jalebi that we had just consumed. Man! That was tasty. I will stop now, raving
about the jalebi.
Jawahar is situated in a by-lane of Chandni chowk, right
opposite gate no 1 of Jama masjid. Trip advisory: Club the visit to both
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| Al-Jawahar is the red board, amidst the hustle-bustle of Chandni Chowk |
Anyways, it’s a simple clean restaurant which doesn’t have
anything special to show off, except of course what matters, THE FOOD.
We ordered the shammi kabab, mutton/chicken seekh kabab and
chicken burra.
Like I said earlier, I love the food at this place and
that’s the reason I went again. I was proven right once again.
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| Shammi kabab |
The shammi kabab were like two pillows each containing meat
as soft as candy-floss. Can you imagine a shammi kabab as a pillow…no more
problem of a midnight snack J
. When it came to taste, they need to be given an award for spicing it
perfectly, everything as needed but nothing overwhelmes you. The meat is the hero. Oh yeah, I forgot to
mention the light crust. So when you bite into it, you are welcomed by that
slight crunch before the soft-pillowy-perfectly spice-meat takes over. Perfect! is the word.
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| Seekh kabab |
Coming to the seekh kabab, I had visited another restaurant
a day before and had seekh kababs. I had decided then that it would be
difficult to beat that but the next day I had this at Jawahar and it beat it
hands-down. It was better spiced, more soft and melted-in-the-mouth better.
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| Chicken burra |
I also had chicken burra which is a version of tandoori
chicken: A really good one. If it had been ordered on a day when the kababs were not, I would be going ga-ga
over it but once you have the kababs on the plate this pales in comparison,
much like Dravid whose 10000 runs in cricket would make him a hero except he
played along-with Sachin Tendulkar (who I considered an avatar of God sent to
the world to destroy everything that is wrong in cricket).
It’s with a heavy heart that I left the restaurant,
promising myself to make this my personal pilgrimage, one to be done at least
once a year.
On the way back we had two more plates of the yummy jalebis
and I went into a sweet-induced coma. It can happen to anyone who has more than
300 gms of that sinful dessert. I know it’s not really healthy but I am on a
gastric adventure anyways J
P.S. :
The Jalebi-waala is on the road from the gurudwaara to red-fort, on the right-hand side.
Al-Jawahar is in the lane opposite Gate 1 of Jama masjid.
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