Moradabad comes to Mayur Vihar

Popular eatery Shama brings some delectable dishes of the UP town to the table

November 20, 2015 10:07 pm | Updated 10:07 pm IST

A dish offered by Shama

A dish offered by Shama

I have written about an emerging food hub in my neighbourhood that’s been growing by leaps and bounds. Every now and then, I see a board announcing the arrival of the new kid on the block. Of course, the boards disappear, too. But while they are there, I am very happy for I am all in favour of local eateries.

Just before Durga Puja, I saw a small board called Shama Chicken Corner in the Mayur VIhar Phase 2 Market, right next to the immensely successful Wah Ji Wah outlet. That was the Navratra season, when many go off meat, fish and eggs. Not surprisingly, I found the shop deserted. Alert readers will recall that there was nothing on offer barring a chicken dish. A few days later, I found the shutters down so I feared that they had shut shop even before they could open it!

I was mistaken. A few days ago, I saw the shutters open. So I walked down to the market (to build up a healthy appetite) and had a chat with the owner, Mohammed Shahid. He agreed that Navratri just wasn’t the right time to open a biryan-korma stall, and assured me that the shop had been temporarily closed only because there was a wedding in the family.

The food, he said, was Moradabadi. The family is from there though they live in Hauz Rani near Saket. I had a look at the menu (the last time I was there, the menu cards were still to come from the printers). I decided to ask for some chicken biryani (full plate for Rs.180), mutton korma (half plate for Rs.220), mutton kali mirch (half plate for Rs.260) and roomali rotis (Rs.7 each). They have a great many chicken dishes, but only these two mutton preparations.

The food was delivered shortly. The korma looked good with big, fat pieces in a nicely red curry. I dipped a piece of my roomali roti into the gravy, and thought it was rather nice. I opened the biryani container, and was surprised to find that it was full of plump and juicy pieces of chicken. The rice was long-grained, and had a nice fragrance of mild spices and green chillies. The biryani came with chutneys, but I had it with the gravy of the mutton korma, and enjoyed it immensely.

What I liked the most was the kali mirch mutton. I thought the gravy would be dark, but though thick, it was light in colour and just rightly spiced (they had called me up to ask if I wanted the dish to be spicy or normal and I opted for the latter). The meat was soft, and the curry had a very nice sweetish taste to it. Again, it went very well with the roomali roti.

The food is freshly cooked, right behind the eatery by a few bawarchis. And fresh food makes all the difference.

I have decided that I must patronise this place now. In the same market, a branch of Tunday kabab had opened and then shut. And I am not even going to mention the other dear departed souls like Nirula’s, Subway, Café Coffee Day and so on.

So here’s to Shama. Let the light shine on.

Address: Shop no. 4, Sachdeva Plaza

Mob: 9643749286)

(Rahul Verma is a seasoned street food connoisseur)

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