The question is whether any food seller earns money from the delicious dishes prepared through his culinary skills or just makes money off the name. Recently a very interesting news came. There is a restaurant in Paris which is about five hundred and fifty years old – Largent. It is right in front of the city’s famous cathedral Notre Dame and one can view the Eiffel Tower by sitting on its roof. This restaurant claims that the dish named Rata Tivul was invented by the chefs here. Louis XIV has also hosted his guests here and England’s ruler Henry IV has also enjoyed the dishes here. It is because of the dominance of its name that even today people from all over the world come to eat here, but an ordinary person can lose his senses after hearing the price of the unique flavours. The price of the three-dish tasting menu is above Rs 5,000, which includes a watery soup and a small dessert. If you want to try more than this, then the fixed price menu reaches sixteen-seventeen thousand rupees per person. Now the question is whether any food seller earns money from the delicious dishes prepared by his cooking skills or just makes money off the name.
There is another saying that the big philosophy of the name is small. Often the dishes from high end shops prove to be bland even after emptying our pockets. But it also cannot be ignored that many reputed restaurants make every effort to maintain the quality of their dishes so as not to tarnish their name. An example of this is ITC Maurya Hotel in Delhi. There are two famous restaurants here Bukhara and Dum Pukht. Bukhara sells dishes of the north-eastern frontier – tandoori and roast – in dhaba style. The dal here has become synonymous with Bukhara dal makhani. Even though the credit for its invention is taken by the owners of Moti Mahal located in Daryaganj after partition. The Raan made in this restaurant is also considered the best despite being expensive.
The glory of the name is that everyone from the American President to the Japanese Crown Prince have requested to eat here. On hearing the names of the guests, Uncle’s blind and lumpy customers all feel that there must be something in these unique flavors! In Dum Pukht, one gets Kakori kebab which melts as soon as it is placed in the mouth, which is miles ahead of the kebabs available in Lucknow. This kebab first appeared in Delhi in a restaurant called Al-Kausar in Chanakyapuri. Even today Al-Kausar sells this kebab, but food lovers consider the elite kebab of Dum Pukht as supreme. By invoking the magic of the name, this restaurant also sells Shahi Tukda and Dum Biryani very well.
The amazing impact of the name is not limited to five star hotels. In Old Delhi, Kareem and Al-Jawahar are called mousetraps for domestic and foreign tourists, because their names are associated with the fame of Delhi’s Nihari, Istu, Barra Kebab and the likes. Vegetarians turn to paratha street on hearing the name and are never able to evaluate parathas impartially. This also applies to chaat, kulfi and sweets. Not only in Delhi, there are many such restaurants in every city, big or small, whose name is famous and has become a record of unique taste.