3614 Daryaganj (Netaji Subhash Marg), Delhi
When a restaurant is named for its most famous offering, the eponymous dish is usually the must-try. And so it is at Daryaganj’s Changezi Chicken. Don’t get put off by the shopfront—it’s little more than a door. But the space inside is cavernous, and one of the nicest places in the walled city for a sit-down meal.
Three people are involved in making Changezi Chicken. A cook throws a quarter (Rs 70), half (Rs 140) or full chicken (Rs 280) onto a huge, sizzling hot tawa. Immediately, two others cover it with ladlefuls of oil, smother it in a tomato gravy, throw on ginger juliennes, chopped green chillies and dhania, and stir with a vengeance. They never let the meat stop moving, and within just five minutes your Changezi chicken is ready. It sounds like it could be a frontier dish, but all three cooks insisted that it is a speciality of Delhi. Along with the butter chicken a few doors down at Moti Mahal, Changezi is the best chicken dish the walled city offers. There are other Changezi chicken joints near Jama Masjid and in Chawri Bazaar, but this one is the ultimate.
