It's not easy looking for a restaurant when you have the name allwrong. I was under the impression that the place I was in search of inbustling Zakir Nagar was called New Delhi. It turned out that it wasactually called Purani Dilli.A friend had told me about the restaurant. Then one day last week Igot a call from Feroze Bakht Ahmed, a columnist, social worker and afellow-foodie. Ferozebhai was all praise for the food, and urged me totry it out. I said I would, and landed up there one evening. All thatI knew was that it was somewhere near the Rehmani Masjid, a well-knownlandmark in the area. I took the road to Zakir Nagar, but I wouldsuggest that if you are going by car, park at the New Friends' Colonyend. From there, take a rickshaw to Zakir Nagar. And do what I did –ask everybody you meet on the way for directions. It's somewherebetween Rehmani and Jama Masjid, another mosque in the area. Andremember the name.Purani Dilli, which is open only in the evenings, is run by a familyfrom Matia Mahal. I was happy to meet Hannan and his two nephews,Salman and Shakeel. It's a nice looking restaurant, well-lit andfunctional. There are special cabins for family, and I could tell thatquite a few people there were regulars. The chicken changezi of PuraniDilli is apparently rather famous, though I could also see a lot ofdiners digging into fried chicken. The restaurant uses only goat meat,apart from chicken.I, of course, didn't go anywhere near the chicken when I saw that themenu had such delicacies as haleem and nahari. The haleem wasdelicious – an aromatic gruel of mashed meat, lentils, cereals andspices. The haleem was brought to my table in a small bowl. Crispyfried onion slices were sprinkled on top, along with small bits of
green chillies and slivers of ginger. I added a wee bit of lemon juiceto my haleem and ate it with relish.Then came my nahari, which is a dish of shanks cooked over slow heatfor long hours. The meat was tender and the gravy thick and rich. Ihad this with some fluffy and soft khamiri rotis. The kheer at the endof the meal was not bad, but I have had better in Old Delhi.The prices are reasonable. A full chicken changezi is for Rs 240,the mutton haleem and the nahari are for Rs 130 a plate. Chickenbiryani and mutton korma are for Rs 120 a plate. They have aninteresting dish called haleem biryani – which is a nice mix of riceand halim. Khamiri and rumali rotis are for Rs 3 a piece. For thevegetarians, there is shahi paneer (Rs 80 for a full plate) and dalmakhani (Rs 70).It's a good food, feel-good restaurant. Uniformed waiters bustlearound carrying hot rotis from the kitchen, and in one corner of therestaurant I could see the chefs frying chicken on a big tawa. Next tothem were shiny containers with meat dishes. The aroma was appetizing.I had a good meal, and then ate some more when I reached home. That'scalled an encore.END