Haji Karimuddin established the famous restaurant Karim’s is now a mecca for any grumbling tummy in Delhi. But did you know the street on which it falls is called as Matia Mahal? Sounds interesting?
The moment you hear about Matia Mahal, tummy starts rumbling for delicious chicken stew, flavourful Nahari for breakfast. When you actually visit the street, except the smell of delicious food throughout the long street, bearded mullahs, kaftan clad beggars, fat goats and veiled women roam around the street. The chaos of Matia Mahal is what makes up the charm of the place, but once you come dine for a night, you will be in absolute awe of it.
Welcome to the Dill of Walled City, a city where you would find delicious food after 11 stretching till post midnight, the charm of Matia Mahal is the crowd puller of food that it serves for hungry tummies like ours.
Matia Mahal bazaar is towards the principal entrance to Jama Masjid. The place was named after an actual Mahal which once existed in the area. A popular belief around the Mahal was, when the Red Fort was under construction, Matia Mahal was the temporary residence of Emperor Shahjahan. The Mahal was also known as Azizabaadi Haveli, named later after Begum Azizabad, wife of a Mughal Prince. Under Bahadur Shah II, his grandson had inherited the palace. The busy streets of Matia Mahal might not lead you towards the haveli, as the traces of Haveli been diminishing with the over growth of populations.
The darkest days for Matia Mahal recorded in history can be the Mutiny of 1857, when it was seized along with several other royal residences. As the British loosened the control over the walled city, the spaces were repopulated by locals, when it soon became a cluster of houses with its old new charm intact, with grim guest houses, claiming to give class apart services.
An absolute treat for non vegetarians, Matia Mahal serves fen and rusks, the classic breads and delicious sewai. A walk through the Urdu Bazaar, which is lined with Urdu books, grim guest houses, some of the book stalls having in-house calligraphy an absolute delight to watch, you can check out some Urdu authors who’s works are not available anywhere else, but in Urdu bazaar. Happy Browsing! The bazaar is lined with delicious eateries selling buffalo kebabs, keema Kaleji, ishtu and korma, which faces the magnificent Mughal mosque.
A kaleidoscopic view throughout: congested roads, boys on bikes, paving their way forward, kebabs on skewers and delicious smells of chicken, mutton tikkas.
Straight ahead the main road is Chitli Qabar chowk, which has a florish shop right in the centre. Famous for the old dilapidated yet charming to look at houses, they scream of lost heritage in the process of urbanization and trying to meet the needs of overpopulation every day. It is these narrow alleys who are keeping the culture and heritage intact!
