Restaurant Review : Chote Nawab, Lucknow, India

The Awadh region of India has long been known for its sumptuous cuisine. It is considered the birthplace of Kababs and Biryani. It is said that in Lucknow you can have 108 kinds of kababs! Take your pick from Kakori, Galawati, Seekh, Shami, Boti, Ghutwa kababs and the list goes on. Many of these varieties originated from Lucknow under the patronage of indulgent kings like Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah and Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (who was also a great patron of music and arts aside from royal cuisine). Present day Lucknow has not only kept its culinary tradition alive, the food scene in Lucknow is actually a thriving one where centuries old recipes are found side by side with their new age cousins like Broccoli kababs. The challenge is only to find a clean, comfortable place where you can enjoy this cuisine without having to worry about what meat am I really eating or how fresh in fact is the food? For these reasons, I am not a fan of Tundey or Royal Cafe. They are good but I've found a better place.

In the world of Indian cuisine, chef Imtiaz Qureshi is a name to reckon with - a Lucknow boy whom ITC hotels spotted and gave an opportunity to launch the much revered Dum Pukht and Bukhara restaurants. Now his nephew Ishtiyaque Qureshi is keeping the family legacy alive by making these timeless authentic dishes available to the wider public with his Kakori House and Kebab Corner brand of restaurants and take-aways apart from his flagship outlet - Chote Nawab at Hotel Sagar International in Lucknow. It is to this Chote Nawab that I return to time and again knowing fully well that I will be satiated here with no complaints.

Launched as a fine dining restaurant, this 100 seater outlet is Plain Jane in looks. Dull furniture placed in a dimly lit restaurant would give an unfavourable first impression but wait for the food to arrive. The menu is exhaustive and since last year also includes plenty of prawn and fish kababs. The must-order items are but of course the kababs and biryani. Start off with the very succulent Kakori kababs (INR 350) which are so soft that it is considered a feat if you are able to lift one kabab as a whole. Move on to the super soft Galawati kababs (INR 295) which are my personal favourite here. Literally, ' Galawati' means 'melt in your mouth.' Legend has it that the kabab was created for an ageing Nawab Wajid Ali Shah who lost his teeth, but not his passion for meat dishes! The meat for Galawati and Kakori kababs is traditionally tenderized with green papaya and the technique is a secret I would love to discover. Another favourite is the Murg Makhmali kabab (INR 330) which is skewered to just the right degree every time. If you have appetite for more kababs, I can vouch whatever you'll order even with your eyes closed will be better than what 5 star hotels and deluxe restaurants in Delhi / Mumbai / elsewhere peddle in the name of Awadhi cuisine. 

Move on to the Lakhnawi biryani which is another gem from the Qureshi kitchen. Biryani is ideally had with lamb meat ('gosht') though a chicken variant is also available. A word of caution here : lovers of Hyderabadi Biryani style will be disappointed with Lakhnawi style because it is not as dry and has more oil. But for someone like me who is used to the Lakhnawi school of cooking, this is simply divine. Keep room for the 'rotis' and ideally order a basket to share. The 'Warq-e-Sada' or roomali roti (flat bread made with finely milled and refined flour) has to be one of the softest you would have eaten anywhere. You can see them being flipped into the air by master chefs in the glass-paneled kitchen in front of you. Pair the roomali rotis with another of Chote Nawab's epic offerings : Akbari Makhani Murg (butter chicken). This is the best butter chicken I've had and I should know having had a lot of them! 

And now onto the desserts. I don't have a very sweet tooth but it is at Chote Nawab where I let myself go. It is a problem of plenty here. The Shahi Tukda (saffron bread pudding), Zafrani Malai Phirni (rice set in milk), Kesar Kulfi are all to die for. On an aside, in case you are wondering about the quantum of our food order, let me mention here : I have been a Chote Nawab regular from the time it opened and have had all these dishes over a period of many years. 

Chef Ishtiyaque Qureshi is not seen regularly at Chote Nawab since he resides in Delhi and travels a lot. He has catered for most of the big fat celebrity weddings of recent times (Hrithik Roshan, Karishma Kapoor etc) and it is not surprising that he is a much sought after chef cum caterer. What really appeals to me is the fact that this hitherto 5 star cuisine has been taken out of those deluxe premises and made available to the public at far less punitive prices to the credit of this man. Three portions of Kababs alongwith a Biryani and one gravy dish accompanied with a bread basket and couple of desserts will set you back by no more than INR 2500 (USD 50) including taxes and service charge but excluding alcohol. Show me another place where you can get the same value for this kind of avant garde cuisine? This kind of pricing is all the more attractive considering Awadhi cuisine requires painstaking preparation and the right mix of ingredients which is known only to the chefs themselves and rarely disclosed to the outside world. The utensils used at Chote Nawab are also reminders of the precious legacy they protect - all are made of pure copper and tinned just like they used to be 200 years ago.

If you are a history buff or a connoisseur of Lucknow's age old hand embroidery works of Zardozi and Chikankari or even just a tourist to India , chances are you'll find yourself in one of the world's most refined cultural cities sooner or later. Take out time to sample its superlative cuisine or better still, let the cuisine be the magnet that attracts you to Lucknow. Once here, don't bother going anywhere else. Chote Nawab is the real McCoy.

UPDATE : Chote Nawab has unfortunately ceased operations out of Hotel Sagar International w.e.f. 2013. A new restaurant (not an Ishtiyaque Qureshi outlet) has opened in its place. If you want to sample Chote Nawab delicacies, only home delivery service is now available via their 'Kakori House' outlet. Food items are priced considerably lower than Chote Nawab but the food is terrible. I ordered Chote Nawab's specialties like Kakori Kabab, Galawati Kabab etc which were priced at about INR 100 each. None of the items left an impression on me and Kakori House is now on my 'strictly avoid' list. What have you done Ishtiyaque Qureshi? Slaughtered your hard earned reputation with this mediocre food. A real loss indeed.