No more buffalo meat kebabs at Tundey now

The iconic ‘Tundey Kebabi’ of Lucknow has stopped selling kebabs made of buffalo meat. However, along with mutton kebabs, its outlets in old city and Nazirabad have now started offering chicken kebabs!

Mohammad Usman, whose grandfather established Tundey Kebabi in 1905, told HT that their kebab outlet in the old city was closed for a day on Wednesday after the Aditya Nath ‘Yogi’ government’s crackdown on illegal slaughter houses across the state led to shortage of buffalo meat.

Closure of illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses has been among the pre-poll commitments of the BJP. “There is a problem in procuring buffalo meat now and hence we had no option but to stop selling the kebabs that used to be our USP,” he said. “There isn’t any problem in procuring chicken and mutton,” he said. UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, “Our adversaries would like to raise the pitch against us but let’s be very clear. We are not against authorised and licensed slaughterhouses. But anything illegal cannot be justified and would certainly invite action.”

Buffalo meat preparations are sold the most not just in Tundey Kebabi’s outlets but across various other popular eateries like Rahim’s Kulcha Nahari shop, too. “These kebabs used to be among the most-sold, mainly because of their taste and easy affordability,” said Usman.

Lucknow is among the several districts where a comprehensive verification drive is underway to ascertain the number of illegal and legal slaughterhouses and meat shops.