E-Paper
City food: Kebab stalls, Urdu Bazaar
In pre-Partition Delhi, when the Walled City was home to educated and wealthy Muslims (who later went to Pakistan), Urdu Bazaar was a street lined with Urdu-language bookstores. Kebab destination
In pre-Partition Delhi, when the Walled City was home to educated and wealthy Muslims (who later went to Pakistan), Urdu Bazaar was a street lined with Urdu-language bookstores.
By 2010, most of them have given way to butcheries, chai-khanas and kebab stalls.
Fearing that they may give way to other kinds of establishments in the coming decades, The Delhi Walla made a record of the market's roadside kebab stands – for posterity's sake.
I wanted to find out what kebabs are on sale? What's the price? Who were the founders? I ate at every stall.
Urdu Bazaar faces Jama Masjid's gate number one.
I started from the stall next to Rizwan Book Depot and followed the direction of Kasturba Gandhi Hospital.
With bare hands, the kebabwallas were casually fiddling with their red-hot iron rods, used for skewering the meat.
One young man held a smouldering coal on his palm.
Every stand had a tables fan, which quickens the roasting time.
The kebabs were spicy, smoky, greasy and delicious. The stalls are open daily from 7 pm to 2 am.
