Mughlai hub Jama Masjid area getting a continental makeover

NEW DELHI: It is a cold, smoggy evening and a group of youngsters are sitting under the awning of Ebony Cafe near Jama Masjid, sipping Americano. Inside, the Parisian-style café, opened earlier this year, a couple is sitting on a high stool by the glass window that gives a clear view of the 17th-century mosque.

Today, the café is one of the hottest hangouts in the walled city for well-heeled locals as well as youngsters visiting the walled city from all across Delhi and NCR. The owner Saddam Khan, 31, who has studied in England says the European ambience of his café is intentional.

“Europe’s café culture, especially the cafes in historic districts, fascinated me a lot. So, when I returned [to Delhi], I wanted to open the first European-style café near Jama Masjid, with foreign tourists in mind. Locals have more than made up for the lack of tourists during the pandemic. Our café is a hit and we are making decent profits, ” says Khan.

Jama Masjid area, known for hundreds of outlets offering Mughlai food such as kebabs and Nihari, is undergoing a quiet, invisible transformation as a food destination, thanks to many upwardly mobile youngsters who are opening new fine dining restaurants and European-style cafés.

Their trendy outlets offer not traditional nihari or kebabs, but a variety of pasta, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas and waffles, coffee and shakes.

Interestingly, Aarish Khan, 21, who in September started The Delhiites Café , another bistrostyle café, in the crowded motor market in front of Jama Masjid, says 70% of his clients are locals, many of them elderly, who are now addicted to his Mojito and Italian sodas. “The elderly here have never savoured these drinks before. Now, they simply relish them and have become our repeat customers. In our café, the elderly and the young can be seen enjoying a mocktail together late into the night, ” says Khan, 21, who is studying law at Jamia Millia Islamia.

The outlet opens after nine in the night. “That is when the motor market shuts and the locals hang out with their friends and families,” Khan says.

In fact, not just cafes, but several new fine dining restaurants with a focus on ambience, quality of services and cultural events are also coming up in the area. Shahi Mehfil, opened in October, has the look and the feel of a grand walled city haveli, its walls boasting information panels and photographs of Jama Masjid and poetry of Ghalib and Iqbal — and the restaurant’s co-founder, Mehtab Raahi . A map of the walled city showing all its gates is built into the ceiling design.

The new addition to the Jama Masjid food hub also offers small cabins with floor-sitting, Afghan style. “Visitors here often complained about a lack of comfort, hygiene and quality of services. We wanted to change that,” says Mehtab Raahi, managing partner of the restaurant, who used to run the heritage walks in the walled city before he decided to open a restaurant.

Raahi, also an aspiring poet, says he wants to make his restaurant a hub of cultural sits in, starting with one on Ghalib’s on the poet’s birth anniversary on December 27.

“I believe that time has come for the Jama Masjid restaurants to reinvent themselves. Many youngsters of the walled city who are opening new eateries and cafes are well- travelled and educated, and they realize this,” says Raahi.

The area is witnessing not just new restaurants, but many old restaurants are either redeveloping themselves or opening their new outlets, with focus on décor. Aslam Chicken, famed for its chicken tikka all over Delhi, for exampling, is building its new restaurant in the area with a trendy ambience.

Besides, Arshad Ali Fehmi, who started the famed The Walled City, a rooftop café and restaurant is now is opening another restaurant. “We are opening a new contemporary multi-cuisine restaurant, where you can relish both the Mughlai and the Mexican dishes in great comfort and convenience,” says Fehmi. “I believe that Jama Masjid has a great potential to become a restaurant and café hub. The government should now clean up and decongest the area like they did Chandni Chowk.” Abu Sufiyan, who runs Purani Dilli Walo Ki Baatein, a digital platform that promotes the history, culture and cuisine of the walled city, says the redevelopment of Chandni Chowk has made local youngsters change their perception about the area. “It has promoted a sense of belonging and pride and opened up new hospitality and tourism-related business opportunities. They believe cafes have strong social and cultural connect and are a good business opportunity, too. At least about a dozen new cafés and restaurants are set to open in the coming few months,” says Sufiyan.

He adds that the new cafes are marking a shift in the social life of the walled city.