Best Biryani in Delhi

There is no one way of making a huge pot of delicious mouth watering, flavorful Biryani. Every zone of India has given their regional touch to this dish, that makes it more widely popular of all over the nation. No matter where you go, Delhi, Lucknow, Chennai, Kerala, Hyderabad or any other state, you will find number of different ways of making Biryani. This blog will help you get to know this dish even better and also where you can get to eat different types of biryani in the city. Basically it's an authentic Mughlai dish, it is also being prepared in several other cuisines according to their regional culture. Although the basic way of preparing this dish is the same, all the spices along with a poultry item, mixed with special long grain rice quality, being covered completely, so that all the aroma and flavors would stay inside, also that helps the rice to cook better, and the poultry items as well.
If you're living in Delhi, you can find number of outlets to try different types of biryani, but if you're one of those people who are already familiar with normal North Indian type biryanis and wanted to taste some different variety of it, then this time you might want to try South Indian biryani. Where one can find it? The answer is "Andhra Bhavan " . It's a huge restaurant, more of a canteen, in connaught place , Ashoka road, its an ultimate destination where one can find number of south Indian delicacies, vegetarian or non vegetarian. But as we are looking for biryani, you might want to note that this place serves authentic Hyderabadi biryani on Sundays, and also very important thing to know beforehand, that this place survives crowd the most on Sundays, now you know the reason. And if you are still thinking of this place as a regular South Indian restaurant serving dosas and idli, then no! its more than that, especially non veg lovers must try their other dishes, namely, chicken fry, prawns curry, mutton fry. They also deals in take ways order. The best thing about this place is that meals are served at cheaper rates. for both vegetarian and non vegetarian range.
If you want to try some authentic mughlai type biryani, there are some famous names, Haji Noor Mohammed biryani wale, the Golconda bowl, Nasir Iqbal, biryani blues. Although my all time favorite is the one in Uttam Nagar, named " Delhi Darbar" . While you will enter in the small streets of this place, you will find number of such shops, but keep in mind your destination is Delhi Darbar. They at first, were specialized in serving only two types of biryani, chicken and beef, but now they also serve many other dishes both veg and non veg. I have only tried chicken biryani and also mutton korma and kameeri roti once. That was amazing though, especially, the biryani had everything, all the spices, complete cooked chicken, and rice cooked to the perfection with some pieces of dry fruits like almonds and cashew nuts as well. Do try these places, they have amazing range of biryani. Delhi is a city where you find variety in different dishes.

Sarvana Bhavan, Connaught place

One of the most popular cuisines served in this city has to be the South Indian delicacies, in every food corner, whether giant food chains or small food stops, South Indian cuisine is been served all over the city, everywhere. South Indian cuisine have a lot of variations, whether in snacks, side dishes, main course , sweets, chutneys and much more. In this blog you'll be able to find the way to the best South Indian restaurant of the city, and might get hungry while reading as well, so lets get started to know this place better.
I believe delhiite would be familiar with this name, " Sarvana Bhavan". yes, this is the place that serves one of the best South Indian meals, not just in India but also, all over the world. This place can only be described by the person who have been here, and luckily, i did, four times. In the heart of delhi, this restaurant is located in connaught place, near connaught circus, block P. My first encounter to this place was a long time back, which i do not remember correctly, but i do remember my last visit, with my uncle and my mother. That day we decided to visit Hanuman mandir, then roam inside the popular Palika bazaar, and then the finally headed to our beloved lunch destination, Sarvana Bhavan. If you haven't been here yet, then you should know this place is always full, and you have to wait in line outside the restaurant. As, we reach there around three in the afternoon, and waited for like 10- 15 minutes, we head upstairs, and reached our table. One of the best things about this place is, calm and relaxed environment, though its always full of people, and waiters busy roaming around taking orders and serving food like any other restaurant, this keeps me fascinated on how they maintain such a healthy environment. Another thing that you will notice is that, the place is all nicely cleaned up all the time. This adds up to the goodwill of any food chain. Also, the staff of the restaurant is very cooperative, well mannered and well dressed. They have the skills to provide great services to the people, whether they are taking your orders, serving you the ordered meal, and also understanding and clearing your queries regarding the food or other services as well.
As soon as we got the menus, We skimmed our eyes through it, and order for two masala dosa, for me and my uncle and one onion uttampam for my mother. The best part about this restaurant working is that, you don't have to wait too long for your order either. In next 10 mins our delicious order finally arrived. The aroma of our food was heart melting, three of us started to eat. The plate in which they serve the food, is covered with banana leaf( kele ka patta), this shows their respect and devotion to their culture and originality. And the food, that was amazing, the dosa sheet was nicely prepared and filing of potatoes tasted just perfect, with three different types of chutney they served in the same plate, one was the authentic coconut chutney, second was the green chutney, and the third was the onion chutney. All the three chutneys was full with exotic flavors, accompanied by the most important Sambhar, which was perfect, just the way it should be. We enjoyed the lunch for about another 15- 20 mins, and then left.
This restaurant was basically founded in 1981, has more than 20 outlets in Chennai and around 47 in the world. They are world famous in maintaining consistency of taste and texture, great service and authentic South Indian experience and pocket friendly rates always. They deal in several products like Food, Sweets, Bakery, Ice creams, and services like Fast food, Take away, home delivery and outdoor catering facilities. Some of the specials you must try there would be, Onion Rava masala dosa, Sambhar vadai, Rava kesari, Panchavarna Uttampam, Rava khichdi and flitered coffee for sure. This place will surely steal your heart away.

Food trucks

Food trucks are becoming the most popular in the city these days, especially around the market places, shopping complexes and other such crowded areas. I found this idea great to serve people food in a truck, that to so styled up with variety of delicious fast food. I vividly remember I saw one of these food trucks near M2k, Rohini, we used to visit that place very often, as it was quite close to where I live. In last four or five years that food truck has become so popular that after 8 pm in the evening, you literally got to wait for like 10 to 15 mins or more than that, for your order to receive. But that does not really matters to delhiite, the delicious hot and spicy food that they serve makes us forget everything. So, back in like 3 years ago or something, we were coming out of the theater, and decide to order some take away's and head towards home. But we were kind of bored of regulars that we order from Mc'donalds or subways or any other restaurants, and just that instant we saw that food truck named "hot pot", where a middle aged woman was sitting on the counter, and two boys were the cook, who were so busy with their orders, they didn't have time to turn around, also their was a man standing outside the truck to take orders from the people who arrives there in cars.
From a rectangle three folded paper menu, i ordered half plate veg chowmein, chilly potatoes and veg fried rice. Although, there was numerous things on the menu, categorized into soups, veg snacks, non veg snacks, rice pot, burgers, momos and so on. We waited for like 15 minutes or so, and our order was ready. And now the food describing part, veg chowmein was really good, and hot spicy as I mentioned them to do so, chilly potatoes were amazing, we finished it at once, and lastly fried rice were also good, though they were little dry, no extra oil in the food, that really impressed us. The best thing about such food trucks are they cook the order in bulk, though I ordered all my meals half plate but still it was enough to fill our tummies to complete satisfaction to our taste buds.
They are open from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm everyday. If you notice they arrive around 10 in the morning, and prepare for the day, you could see the workers cutting vegetables, pouring chutneys and sauces in little pouches & cleaning the truck.
In last three or two years I've seen these trucks in many other corners of Delhi as well. One can order food and get home delivery also. Although some where I've seen such trucks not so popular too, due to their services, but almost where ever you will see these trucks, they will be covered with crowd all the time, especially around lunch hours or evening, but the most hectic hours are after 8 pm.
They mostly prepare Chinese, and you can make changes in your order, as how much spicy you want it, or which ingredient or vegetable you don't want. I love the way the cook the order so fast and delicious as well. And also the prices are tax exclusive, so that is not a big issue, you can buy your meal in 100-200 rs. and that will be enough for you. One should definitely try momos of food trucks in C4E market of Janakpuri, but not the fried or tandoori ones, the simple one "steamed momos", chilly potatoes or any range of burgers of M2k Rohini also, I've tried the ones in NSP( netaji subash place) they're are food trucks that serve one of the best meals, both pocket friendly and tasty as well.
I feel that this great idea of food trucks will increase more and more in next few years, people in Delhi are liking it a lot, especially among office employees and students.

Lajpat nagar market

It's a human nature, we love options in our life, no matter what it is, we never get tired of roaming from one shop to other, well for one good reason that we want the best, and its also a saying that, "Never agree for the first thing they show you". And yes,my mother is just the same, she will never get tired while shopping, she is going to hunt down for the best and buy it. In this city there are some ultimate shopping destinations one would love to shop from. And one of them is the very old, "Lajpat nagar market",as here you can find the best of everything, in any kind of stuff, clothing's, jewelry, car accessories, footwear and much more. Once you get into this market, you will find hundred of shops, also if you love to walk along the streets side shops and bargain, then yes you'll definitely have some good time here, plus you should also know that here I loved the varieties of earnings, handbags and of course the best part shoes! A woman can spend her entire day without complaining, she can roam around the streets, find wide range of clothes, casual and formal both, plus this place is quite convenient to reach due to its own metro station. In this place you will also find wide range of variety in textiles, garments and bed sheets.
There are some of the best stores that I've came across, in fact while I was there, looking for some kurtis, I could find number of shops, which also includes unstitched three piece suits. I also found some sellers with this amazing idea of selling mix and match, in fact the price range of suits was starting from just Rs. 150 on wards and so on, and i was even able to find different colors and patterns, lace and without lace, heavy work, or in simple cotton one as well. I was personally looking for kurtis that could wear for daily use though, so cotton kurtis were best for me, and the range was not much high so I could easily brought 2 of them. I didn't go for churidar or patiala salwar, but one can find numerous variety in it. Lajpat nagar market is a place where you can also find the best of artificial jewelry, I could find number of roadside vendors, who were having large varity of earings, jhumke, and other girlish accessories like colorful hair clips, nails polishes, hair bands and so much more. If you're looking for some articial gold jwelry, you can also find such material in these roadside pannel of vendors, which are not even so expensive, plus they look really nice. There were some small earings as well, in different designs and color, they have such a cute collection of these items, and also big jhumke, which could be wore in a wedding or some other big occasion.
After looking for clothes and accessories, now it was time to shop for footwear. As you are waling along the sideways of the road, you will be able to find number of footwear shops and stores. having so many stylish range of shoes, like, wedges, flats, slip on and stilettos.The range was wide and also the choice, you can also select from various collections of bags and clutches.
If you are looking for some desent formal ethnic dresses, you may like,Ghoonghat, Ramjisons, Kavita saare Emporium, the very famous Meena bazaar, Westside. And also to mention, lajpat nagar owns the best jewelry street lane.

There are certain stores, like, Luxmi amba jewellers, Rubina jewellers, kalyan jewellers, Durga Abhushan bhandar and so on. And lastly, as its an open market, one should be prepared to face the sun, and dilemma of car parking also. Its very crowded around the weekends but weekdays are good to go, after 11am. Also the street side food is amazing, one can get a bit hungry while shopping so much, so I suggest, Chaat pakori, chinese food, or some Mc'donalds and other food chains hub around. One can spend a whole day, walking along the street side walks, and window shop or buy various items as well.

Tilak Nagar market, Janakpuri

Living in the west district of the city for last so many years, there are some particular shopping destinations I have on my list. No matter what the occasion is, Tilak nagar market of janakpuri, is one of my all time favorite shopping point. It's a huge market place, with hundred of big and small shops and stores, even mall. I shop for all kinds  of stuff from here, from clothes to footwear, accessories and many other fancy materials. For a woman, this type of shopping place is heaven, you can get anything and everything, especially for wedding ceremonies, as this place is famous for punjabi marriage rituals items. This place is mostly covered by Pindi and Pishori Sikhs, and there are some popular near by areas, Fateh nagar, Ashok nagar, Shahpura, Sant nagar.
When you'll enter this place, you might notice that here there are number of small galis(road) and many shops are assorted in lines within each of the gali, and all of these galis are fully crowded, especially around some festive area or wedding seasons. Also this market is closed on every Wednesdays. I remember around the wedding season I bought a very elegant black coloured, low floor anarkali suit, from a shop named "Manbhawan", and from that shop itself we had bought three to four anarkali suits as well for my sister. They have the best collections. By the time the suit was gone for alternation, I headed towards the shops where I could find some nice jewelry as well.
There are some shops that are very old, and they sell the best products. I do remember another saree store, named, Chandan saree private limited, this store has the best sarees i've ever came across. You just have to explain what kind of saree you prefer, and they will show you the best of their collections. We bought three saree from there till now, and other than that, the sarees we didn't picked, they are pretty as well. You can find sarees for girls, woman whom just got married, even for daily used, in number of cloth and designs. I personally love this place, I don't have to rush for any other market.
There are number of branded stores, for instance, Raymond, Indian Terrain and Cotton county, Dass saree Emporium, Mousam , Roop fashion. In case you are looking for some beautiful and trusted jewelry stores, Lovely jewelry and R.K. jewelry would be the one you might want to check out. And not only the big stores and shops, you also might notice clothes sellers on the sideways of the market, these sellers provide clothing's for daily use basically, also the mehendiwala's sitting in the sideways of the main market area, they are always found there, everyday, and to my surprise I see a lot of woman and girls sitting there, even if there is no festive season or the wedding season, but mostly around such time, they don't have a single minute to spare either.
This market located in janakpuri, has got everything you wanted, from clothings to household items, and much more, one should come around 5 or 6 in the evening, roam around, in the sideways of the market, but as soon as the day turns into night, this place gets even crowded than before. 

Taste of Old Delhi

Delhiites are fond of food, any cuisine, we are always ready to have a plate full of spicy delicious dishes. Delhi is a state which belongs to all kinds of castes, religions and people from other different states and even other countries. I was brought up in a state where one can find all type food to satisfy their taste buds. I love those people who came up with this idea of giving every foreign dish an Indian touch, also those who came up with this food vans.They serves best of spicy street food, that I almost always crave for. Here, no matter from where you belong we always have one typical dish that you must have tried at least once, "chole bhature". This dish is one which is served in almost every corner of the city, well why not, most of us eats it in our lunch hours. So, basically one of the major reasons why you might have put on some weight ever since you reached the city, is because its filled with diverse food hubs.

You might wonder what type of food we are really comfortable with, well there is no answer for that, but i can sum up three best cuisines that we love to order from the menu, Chinese, South Indian & North Indian. Only these three cuisine can save us from starving. Now you might wonder the best places to eat in, in this blog you won't be able to find a nice elegant restaurants, although you might feel to visit Old Delhi, for one good reason that this place owns the best non-vegetarian you can ever have. Let me tell you that I belong to Old Delhi, so we visit there often, and most probably around navratri's in october. After visiting that place for like 6 to 7 times now, I can perfectly reach my ultimate culinary destination, near Jama Mazjid area. If after reading this blog, you might want to visit this place, then yes, that area will treat your tummy the best, as the best of Mughali restaurants are found in the area.
All over the world, this name is popularly heard, especially among the people who belongs to Indian society. This restaurant at first was just a Dhaba that served Aloo gosht, Dal and Rumali roti, in the late
19th century. And today the fourth generation is running this very famous restaurant named, "karim's". I do remember how hard it was for us to wait in line for like 40-45 minutes, and then we got our chance to finally sit down and order some delicious food. Basically if you are a diet conscious, or usually stays away from oily food, then you should know that this place owns this type of food. But still,this place has bunch of people,everyday, who liked to be served with such orders. If you're well known to a North Indian or mughlai cuisine, you can end up having amazing time there, enjoying the meal, experiencing the taste of their special kebabs, Mutton biryani and of course the must try dish Chicken mughlai and Mutton Qorma. Well, being a delhiite and orginally from old delhi, I cannot think of feeding myself in any other restaurant, no matter how long I have to wait, the food they serve at last is worth waiting for. It is located just near Jama Mazjid, Gali kababian.
And lets be practical now, experiencing karim's is ultimate, but you should know, its not just them who can serve you the best, there is another very famous, yet not that much chosen among people as compared to karim's. Around 4 years back, we were getting antsy waiting in line at karim's, when my father asked about the restaurant just aside of karim's, as till now we were so hungry, we decided to move out and try that restaurant named, Al Jawahar Restaurant. It was a nice spacious place, which was to my surprise, was really cleaned up. I don't remember sitting there having lunch but we ordered some take aways, which was mutton qorma and khameeri roti. This is a great combination as well, and was so delicious. The Qorma was not so much oily either, and I don't know how to exactly describe khameeri roti, it was simply perfect. And ever since then, we have been there several times, and ordered many other dishes one might want to try, Mutton biryani, Chicken Changezi, Shami kebabs. This place is always the best in regarding their quality terms and of course in cleanliness as well.
Both of these restaurants are the most essential parts of Old Delhi. One may wonder what could be the difference between these two ultimate restaurants, then I would say, you should experience both of them, and decide yourself, if you could!

About East Delhi

Bounded by the Yamuna river on the west, and Ghaziabad district on east, this region of Delhi is subdivided into, Gandhi Nagar, Preet vihar and Vivek vihar. This area of Delhi is mostly populated by the Gurjars gotra of Dedhar, that is consisted of 24 villages in east Delhi. Here, in east Delhi, you can find number of visitor attractions to explore, like, Akshardham Temple, Gandhi Nagar market, V3S Mall, Yamuna Sports Complex, East Delhi Mall.
Mayur Vihar, a posh residential area of east Delhi, and is a well connected by high frequency buses and has its own metro station as well. This area is owned by many popular shopping complexes and Malls also. Mayur vihar is basically subdivided further into three more phases(I,II,III), and third phase being the most popular one, also nearest to Noida, sector 18.If you are wandering near Mayur vihar, no matter what phase it is, there are a lot of places you might want to visit, Sanjay Lake,which is situated in the area Trilokpuri, Patparganj Road, Mayur ViharII, its a beautiful place where one can relax in the shiny mornings, or go for an evening walk. You will always find this place clean and green, but a little crowded sometimes. There are many regilious places that one can add to the list, Shree balaji temple, Shree Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir, Raghunath Temple, Peer baba ki mazar. A lot of exciting food corners to satisfy your taste buds in Mayur vihar are, Angithi, Sameer's Restraunts. Sagar ratna, Indian curry and Mitran Di Chaap, 
Another famous district that comes under east Delhi is Dilshad garden, also known as DG. There are several transportation facilities adjoining the region with Noida and Ghaziabad. This place is also connected with Delhi metro. There are many sports and recreational places one can spend time in, like, Snookers club near F block, Billiards centre and The pool point. Whereas, if one wants try out some food joints around the place, then they might like to order delicious and outstanding chaaps of Urban punjabi, B & E market, or the signature dish of Tandoor point, that's keema meat, in R block, Chowk market, and one of my favorites is, Mathur's kitchen, near GTB enclave.
East Delhi has two main markets, Gandhi Nagar market and Laxmi Nagar market. Being a commercial-cum-residential area, Gandhi nagar is mostly the over crowded type of area, with number of shops and factories spread all over. This is Asia's biggest ready made garment/textile market. Also surrounded by Geeta colony, seelampur and Krishan Nagar. Laxmi nagar market is another bustling local market of East Delhi, widespread with items like clothes, electronics and much more. Laxmi nagar is situated near vikas marg, also well known for number of student that comes from all over India,and nepal, as the student for chartered accountant course.