This way to Netaji Subhas Marg
As part of our ‘Walled City dictionary’ series, chronicling every Old Delhi street.
It stretches from Dilli Gate to Lothian Road. Netaji Subhas Marg is named after freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose. During the angrezo ke time, it was Elgin Road, after a British viceroy. The long road goes past the Red Fort ramparts. In the 1940s, a treason trial behind those red walls put members of Bose’s Indian National Army in the dock. The road houses the elegant all-white Daryaganj Police Station of 1930 vintage. It also exercised the privilege of hosting the mile-long Sunday Book Bazar, which shifted to nearby Mahila Haat some years ago.
These information capsules swallowed and circulated into the bloodstream, jump straight into the road’s pulsating heart. From Dilli Gate to Lohe Wala Pul (the iron bridge that no longer exists), the trafficheavy artery commands a prominent position in the Walled City’s culinary map—thanks to Moti Mahal, the restaurant where butter chicken is said by some to have originated. Other eateries, other loyalists. South Indian Food has been making dosas for 40 years, the scent of its sambhar frequently streams out onto the pave, triggering sudden hunger pangs among passers-by. Mehta’s, since 1973, is known for its chhole bhature. Saini Sweets is a simple kiosk that has been dishing out lassi since 1948; recently it introduced pasta but took that back within days. Changezi Chicken, since 1994, has “separate area for family”. Zaika Food, which lately inserted momos into its Mughlai menu, has existed for 30 years. It makes the Arabian dessert kunafa.
It would have been so nice if the Royal Afghanistan Restaurant was still traceable. Such a romantic place it was! The walls were decked with posters of pre-taliban Kabul of the 1970s, and dishes had evocative place-names like bhindi bamiya, kabuli pulao and Afghani lassi.
Not many remember Mithas chaat shop. It stood close to Golcha Cinema, and gave way to Burger Girl, which gave way to Nazeer, which lately become a novelty among the Walled City chicken afficiandos when four months ago it introduced a special thali containing chicken seekh kebab, tandoori chicken, afghan tikka, chicken lollipop, chicken biryani, tawa chicken, butter chicken, kadhai chicken and khamiri roti.
Some of the eating spots have fun names. Shake Saheb, obviously a play on sheikh saheb, came up a year ago, and serves 15 kinds of shakes including rose shake and paan shake. The adjacent Smash Burgers (see photo) is a two-month-baby, serving burgers including the grandly named All Mighty Smash burger.
Opened last year, Al-yamin, mostly serving Mughlai cuisine, is the most formal of the new eateries, with glossy interiors and aloof dining spaces. The big handle on the glass door is in the shape of a chicken.