Lucknow's Legendary Melt-in-the-Mouth Kebab Made for a Toothless King

This Indian kebab is supposed to be so soft, you don't need teeth to eat it! Day two of food paradise in Lucknow, India. And today we're eating some of the most legendary food in this city. The action and energy here is on another level! There's so many things going on. Starting with a few of Lucknow's most essential breakfasts, and working our way up to one of the most famous meat institutions in all of India. Tunday Kababi. That is a bite you will never forget! A kebab so soft, the story goes it was made for a king who couldn't chew. More on that later. And I thought that would be the highlight of my day. But what I didn't know, was that at the very end,

there'd be one more kebab, and even if this goes against everyone else's opinion, it might have been my favorite bite of the entire day. We have a lot of incredibly delicious food to try, and we're going to be hanging out with my friend Abhishek. Hey, Abhishek. How are you? Very good, very good. From Flavors of Lucknow. Yeah Hi, Mark. So Abhishek, tell us about this first spot. Yes. Now we are rushing to Ratti Lal's, which is a very famous khasta spot of Lucknow since 1937.

And we'll see inside what all they serve, like they serve chickpea curry, pickles, onion. So let's go inside and I'm, I'm super excited. Awesome, me too! Yeah. Oh, we're meeting up with the owner first. Hello, nice to meet you. Thank you, same. Nice to meet you. Family-run, historical fourth-generation institution in Lucknow, and I think before we eat though, we gotta see a little bit of the process of how they make their. special dish that they serve here, that everyone comes for.

Yeah. And we got here at the perfect time. He's making a fresh batch of the khastas. It's a unique fried bread. So they take the ball of dough, they grab a little scoop of a dal paste mixture, so it's like a lentil paste mixture. They put it into the center of the dough, then they ball it up into the ball so it's surrounding. Then they roll it out flat, and then it goes into the oil to deep fry. This pan here, can hold a hundred of them in one batch. It's huge! Okay, so it's famously served on a leaf. Okay, so it starts with the chickpeas.

Masala potatoes, spicy potatoes, masala potatoes go on. Onions, and oh, and these green chilies look incredible. And then not forgetting the. the fried kachori. Which goes on the side, which you eat together. Oh, what a meal! Oh yeah, outside is nice. This looks absolutely amazing! Abhishek, let's dig in. It looks so good! So. we'll be starting with breaking the khasta. The mixture, man. Yeah. Okay, so go for the khasta first. Oh, so you break it, you sink your thumbs into. Oh, it's so crispy!

Yeah, it's really crisp. Oh, sink your thumbs into it. There's lentils on the inside, but it's so crispy and puffy on the outside. Oh, and you can see the lentils from the way it's fried, it's kind of, like, coated the. inside of the Yeah. the khasta. Yeah. Then we'll have some chickpea on top. Chickpeas and onions. Yeah. Some. potato on top. Oh, you mix a little bit. We'll start with the masala potatoes, get a little of everything.

Yeah. We'll have some onion. And then put the onions. And if you love lemon, we can squeeze lemon also. Oh, yeah. Thank you. What a bite. Okay, cheers, man. Cheers, yeah. Cheers, Mark. Mmm, mmm. Oh, wow! You are best to explain it. It's so crispy, that kachori. And it's not that oily either. Yeah. But it's so crispy and bready, thick with that, like, dal. coated on the inside.

The chickpeas are amazing. The masala potatoes are spiced, perfectly seasoned with the masala, and yeah, that little bit of lime. Yeah. That crunch of the onion. Mmm. We can uh, take the bite of chili in the next. Yeah, sure. Next bite. Yeah, for sure. Grab a piece of the kachori, mix and scoop in some of the chickpeas. I'm gonna go in for the spicy Yeah, red, red potato. spicy potato. The red potato, yeah. Yeah! Yeah. Some lemon. Yeah! Put the onions on top.

Mmm, mmm. Man, that combination is absolutely incredible. Incredibly wow. And with the extra green chili, fried and coated in masala, there's, like, so many dimensions of masala going on in your mouth all at the same time. Really is incredible. Good, good, good food to start the day. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And some buttermilk now, because it's very spicy. Yeah, I should. This will cool the mouth. Yeah.

Yeah, it's really refreshing. So satisfying right now. It's like a buttermilk, but it's not too thick, not too heavy. Nice and light and thin and just refreshing. Yeah. So next we have jalebi and dahi also. Okay. Ahhh! Oh, so you eat it together. Yeah, yeah. So. So another thing they have here are the. Yeah, so I'll tell you, all of it. Yeah, sure. The jalebis. You can take the jalebis like this. Okay. So these are little, small jalebis, yeah?

Yeah, these are coin jalebis. So we'll have it with dahi on top. Oh, man. Yeah, this is curd. Okay. So what curd does is, it balances the sweetness of the jalebi. Nice! Yeah. I've yeah, I've had jalebis quite a few times. I don't think I've ever had it with Curd. curd, though. Yeah. Let's go. Okay. Yeah. Mmm. Oh, that is really crispy! Oh, that's in. Yeah! Really crispy. These are like extra crispy jalebis soaked in syrup.

They are sweet, but, yeah, the. the curd definitely balances whoa, more things are coming to the table. The curd definitely balances the sweetness. Yeah. So they are like bringing a lot of things. They're bringing more things to the table. We have to, like, it's a long day and we have to eat a lot. That's true. Yeah. So this is how it's like the hospitality in India and hospitality in Lucknow. So people love, like, welcoming their guests with a lot of stuff. So we just ordered the khasta and they have brought uh,

lassi, they have brought sweet, they have brought jalebi from their self. Yeah, all sorts of. Upgrades, Mhm. all sorts of upgrades to this breakfast. This is uh, a breakfast of champions in UP, in Lucknow. Yeah, yeah. After that khasta, I thought breakfast was over. I was wrong. Abhishek insisted that there was another breakfast you'd regret missing. And this place has been serving it for 170 years. Abhishek, where are we at? Yeah. So we are at Netram Sweets, and the brand is really famous for its Bhojan Thali. So Bhojan Thali is basically a full meal, and it's a very, like, uh, delectable meal.

Wow! Okay. Step inside, it is packed. Well, thank you. Small spot, a lot of people getting takeaway. They're frying everything outside. Very good food. Oh, very good? Okay, great, great. Thank you! Thank you. Yeah. Oh, it's the morning rush, that's for sure. Awesome. this is how they're serving the Bhojan Thali. Okay. These are all the gravies of the day. Yeah. We have dry veggie, we have one gravy aloo, we have chutney, we have raita.

Okay, puris incoming. This looks amazing, Abhishek. Okay, so go in with one of the puris. Yeah. It's like ballooned up, it's puffy. Press it down. Oh, that's so satisfying. Pull it open. And similar to the khasta, there is the you can see on the inside, it is loaded with. Masala. Dal and dal on the inside. So it's stuffed.

Let's go. You can mix and match different dishes Yeah, you can mix and match. but go with the pumpkin first. And dip maybe into the Yeah, yeah, gravy. into the gravy of the potato gravy. Yeah. Dal. Mmm. Oh, the sweetness of the pumpkin. Yeah, it's very balanced, and the puris are very lighter. Mhm. Like, the khasta was heavy, but this is very light. Mmm. Right? And because they're also fried in pure desi ghee, so clarified butter. Desi ghee. Yeah. They're not that heavy.

Yeah, they're not, like, soaked in oiliness. Yeah, yeah. It's like that. that healthy, buttery flavor. Yeah. Mmm. That pumpkin is amazing. Let's go in for the next bite, the dry potatoes, but again, again, loaded in masala. And then pick up some of the, the gravy potato. Gravy. And you can have raita also, the white one. So you can just kind of mix and. go all together. A little bit of raita in there, the yogurt.

Let's go. Okay. Yeah. Mmm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm Totally different dish. Oh, again, that masala on the potatoes and the creaminess of the potatoes. Then with that cooling raita all together. Yeah. And uh, one thing you observed that the taste first we had with the pumpkin, and now the second taste we are having with the potato, it's totally different. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. I think that's one of the benefits of the thali as well. Yeah, yeah, the. Because you get so, such a variety of different dishes with all different flavors all on one plate. And then what about the sweet?

This one is more of a sweet chutney? You, you can have uh, gravy aloo and sweet chutney together. Okay. This is, this is, yeah. Mmm, mmm. Oh, the sweet chutney is nice, too. Like, fruity. This is altogether one, one another different taste, right? Mm-hmm. Nice! Because it's sweet, but it's, like, fruity at the same time. And it's acidic and sour as well, so it's, like, fruity.

I think the whole combo bite the, is where it's at. Yeah. And then, yeah, a little bit of the sweet. It's like a chaat. You've got all the flavors all in your mouth all at once. Mm-hmm. The everything bite. That's where it's at. Oh, so good. Also, one more thing I want to highlight that, when, in this thali, they are giving you four kachoris, but every other thing is unlimited. Mm-hmm. Refillable. Yeah, refillable. Awesome! Yeah, so if you finish off anything, you can ask for it again. Wow, incredible! So it's basically an all-you-can-eat breakfast.

Yeah. In Lucknow. Yeah. Two breakfasts in, and I was already sweating. So Abhishek took me to the one thing every local in Old Lucknow reaches for when it's this hot. A drink they've been making the same way since 1936. So we came here specifically to try something called a thandai, which they've been making here. So, thandai. It's made from milk? Yeah, it is thandai masala they are having, and they mix it with milk, they keep it chilled and there is a process via which. the final thandai comes.

They make it at home and they bring the. base material in their shop, and they serve it fresh here with mixing of some sugar syrup and everything at this place. Oh, okay. So, they finish it with gulab jal on top to give it a fragrance, a smell which make you have it more. Okay. Oh, okay. Man, this shop is so old school. Again, generations. I don't think anything's changed for, like decades at this shop. Thirty five different masala spices within this beverage. That's incredible.

Yeah. Cheers. Yeah, Abhishek. Okay. Wow! Mmm. It is so fragrant! It's like you're drinking a milky. patch of flowers within a cup, condensed into a cup. Oh, it's, like, very floral. Right. It is uh, tasting like outburst of flavors. Do you know the, like, the caraway seeds? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It kind of has that same kind of fragrance to it, like the caraway seeds.

It's sweet, but not too sweet. It's creamy, but not too creamy. So aromatic, and the rosewater finish. Mmm, mmm. Kind of want to just sip it and savor it. That's, like, a mind-blowing beverage. The combination, the balance is absolutely incredible. As good as everything had been so far, I still couldn't stop thinking about the Tunday Kebab still coming up. But we're not skipping anything on the way, including a one-bite dessert that people from all over India call a national treasure. I'll admit. I'm not really a sweets person. Would I like it? Well, that was a good, another refreshing stop, and we're moving on to the next place, walking because it's starting to get congested and packed! Lucknow starts to come

alive around 11:00 a.m., so things are picking up and we're, we're walking to the next spot. Oh, yeah, things are getting busy. Yes. Oh, so it's down the lane. Okay. Man, I just love exploring the maze of back alleys in cities across India, but Lucknow, just narrow lanes, just you have no idea the where you're going, but then you just smell delicious things, ancient shops, a entire communities within back lanes, and we should be getting there pretty soon. This is the shop tucked within here.

Oh, we've just arrived! So we have reached another spot which is very famous in Lucknow. It's called Ram Asrey, and we'll try their sweet, which is very famous, which is called Malai Gilori. And a lot of people have said that it should be named the national treasure of India. Wow! So, let's go and check out. Wow, those are big words: the national treasure of India! Let's see how it is. This is uh. milk, malai. Oh, okay. So that's like the milk skin. Yeah. They make it for you fresh, rolling up the milk skin, the malai, with like, a handful of sugar and nuts and seasonings.

Yeah. And then you eat it all. Like, he wraps it up into, like, a little it's like a paan, right? And then you take the whole thing in one bite? Yeah. Okay, this is what? Malai paan. One of the treasures of Lucknow is right here in our fingers right now, and we're about to try it. Here we go, here we go. Cheers, Abhishek. Cheers.

Oh! Oh, man! That is like. One of the creamiest, milkiest. Mouthfuls you can possibly have in your life. I have no words. It's like you want to just savor the flavor on your mouth. You get the crunch of the sugar plus the creaminess of that malai and that milkiness. It's a very enjoyable sweet. Very flavorful. And I think one bite is perfect. Like, it's just like one bite. It's sweet. It's like a shot.

Perfect. Again, it's so floral. Like a lot of the food in Lucknow is very fragrant. Fragrant, right. You were, they were not, not joking when you said it's one of the gems of Lucknow. True. Okay, I'll admit malai gilori is a national treasure of India, and it just takes one bite. But while we were in the area, Abhishek remembered one more place, where he's been eating since he was a kid. And he told me exactly why he wanted to bring me there. Because I love spicy! So we are at our next spot of food exploration in Lucknow, and we are at Shree Lassi Corner. So they're famous for lassi, but also for chola bhatura.

Okay, people come here for the chola bhatura. Come here more for chola bhatura. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay, tosses it into the, is it oil or ghee? Oil. Oil, okay. And he immediately just splashes it with that oil. It gets so puffy. Thin, puffy. There it is, like a balloon. Yes! Next one goes in, the frisbee toss. Yes. Never-ending puri. Ohh. hot, fresh puris. Yeah.

Over to the kitchen. These are the cholas. Oh, man. These are the chickpea, the chickpea! Spicy. Oh, that looks amazing. A fresh batch of bhaturas come, and immediately, directly onto the tray. Wow! That summer heat in Lucknow! We are drenched in sweat, and also standing by there while they're making the bhaturas.

It is stifling heat. Right. Like, we're just dripping in sweat. Look at my arm, look at my arm! That amount of sweat, but that does not take away from how delicious the food is. Yeah. Oh, and tops it with, actually, it looks like, paneer. Paneer, cottage cheese. Nice! There's a bit of paneer on top of that chole. All right, cool. So maybe we just try the bhature. Let's scoop in a bit of that paneer and coriander on top. Let's add a bit of that pickle.

We'll have some lemon. Squeeze of lemon. Yeah. And then you gotta have onions. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, to complete the bite. Mmm. Mmm, mmm. Oh, wow! Mm-hmm. Chickpea. Oh! Chickpea has done the magic. Yeah, the chola is incredible. The chola. Oh, and that pickle, that achar is. Out of mind. That's next level. So salty, so acidic, a little bit spicy, but the, like, burst of flavor you get is unbelievable.

Also, one, one fact is, I have been coming here since childhood with my grandfather. So when I was a kid. I couldn't eat the chole because it was very spicy that time. It is spicy, yeah. So I used to eat this bhatura with pickle only. Oh, okay! I loved it. And I loved it. Even that is good, yeah. Man, I need a bite of that chole. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The, the whole combination is so addictive. Also with that paneer. It gives it, like, it's just a little bit of paneer, but it gives it a nice little richness to it.

Scoop in. Oh-ho-ho, look at that chole! You cannot miss the achar. Yeah. You cannot miss the. Onions and lemon. Lime squeeze, the onions. You want it all in one bite. Once you taste that full bite, you need everything in every bite. Mmm, mmm. Okay. That is some spectacular chole bhature. The gravy we had in morning with khasta, that was matar. Matar gravy. And this is chola. So that's the difference between the two.

Mm-hmm. Okay, okay. People call it chickpea both because they look alike, but there is a difference in ingredient. Ahh. So these ones are actually chickpeas? Actually chickpeas. And those are uh, some other type of peas? Yeah, yeah. Okay. One of the best versions. Loved it. That chola is just on the next level. This one, the chickpeas are so soft. Very soft, very soft. Very, like, silky. They just melt in your mouth. And then that masala does taste, like, roasted like a toasted, smoky masala with all the spices.

Another excellent stop in Lucknow, but we still have a lot more food to eat. Did you notice we haven't had a single bite of meat so far today? Abhishek is vegetarian, and the next few spots are about as opposite as you can get. So he handed me over to one of his friends and we went straight to the place I'd been waiting for all day. Could this kebab be so soft you don't need teeth to eat it? We made it! Welcome to Tunday Kababi. It's downpouring now, but this is for sure the most legendary, the most famous, the most popular restaurant in all of Lucknow.

It is just crowds coming in here. They have multiple dining room sections. Huge families come here. It's like from the moment they open to the moment they close, it's just people pouring into this restaurant and they're cooking everything at the front. They're famous for a specific type of kebab that we came, the Tunday kebab, that they have been making here for decades, for generations, that has an amazing story to it. Uh, we're going to see the whole process of the cooking and all the action before we eat, but this place, you can just feel the energy here.

Oh, biryani is incoming! Whoa! Ohhh. Wow, that biryani is so aromatic! The action and energy here is on another level! There's so many things going on, and they just brought out a fresh pot of the biryani. It's so aromatic, so fragrant. That steam, bathing in that steam. Oh, whoa, mutton biryani. Look how fluffy it is. It never ends here, man. Oh, biryani. What a spot! It's just flying out of the pot, and we haven't even gotten to the main dish yet! This place is unbelievable.

The energy is on another level. Only in India! Oh, he's stacking it up. We're meeting with the owner now of Tunday Kabab. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, legendary. This is the most must-eat place in Lucknow. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Thank you. And how many, how many generations have you been? Thank you. Fourth generation. Okay, okay. So now moving over to the bread station where he is making non-stop what's called Mughlai paratha, which is a type of bread.

He slaps it out, he puts it onto the, the concave, oval-shaped frying iron griddle and then he bastes it with, I think that's ghee. Bastes it with ghee, then really presses it down so it doesn't bubble up, but just blisters till it's cooked. And that's so much heat coming off of there. And he flips it over until it's ready and then does the frisbee toss over onto the pan where it's ready to be served. What they specialize in here, is their very own kebab, which is called a Tunday kabab, but it is actually a version of a Galouti kebab, which is a Lucknowi specialty.

And as the story goes, this type of kebab was created, it's supposed to be a very smooth. meat. Actually, it's not even a ground meat mixture. It is like a pounded meat paste with masala, with spices in it. And the. kebab was created for a Nawab king who is said to have been toothless, and he still wanted to enjoy the incredible flavors of his favorite kebabs and all the spices. And so they made this, a pounded paste meat that melts in your mouth, that requires no. teeth to eat. And the Galouti kebab was created.

Now, Tunday Kabab has been around since 1905, and they took the recipe in their own hands and they made a meat mixture that supposedly contains over 100 different spices in their masala. And the way they make it is just turbo, non-stop. That never ends. They have the whole pan of the meat, and there's buffalo and there's mutton. And so one guy just continually grabs a handful of the mixture and then makes these little patties, puts it into the hot iron griddle. Another guy is in charge of, like, feeding it with oil or ghee and then just continually frying it and keeping it over a blazing hot fire so that it, like, it just continually roasts and crispifies in its own. Hello, hello!

Crispifies in its own fat and juices. Hello, hello! Hello, hello. Kebab. Tunday kebab. Tunday kebab! Tunday kebab. Yes, yes. Very good, very good. Head chef here, making the Tunday kebab. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay! Inside? Oh, they're so soft! Okay. Scrapes it in. Okay, okay. Wow! So from the outside, so we've moved inside to the dining room. The situation is pretty intense, pretty hectic.

There are massive crowds coming today. We are here on the weekend. Man, my mouth has never been watering so much. I cannot wait to try the softness, and the spices of these famous Tunday galouti kebabs. How is the, how is the food here, guys? Tunday kebab. It's good? Good, very good. Okay, here comes the food. Man, smells incredible. Yeah. Finally, we've come to the test to see if you can eat this toothless, because that's why it was created. Okay, and to eat this, we eat it with the uh.

Mughlai paratha. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Just take a bite. Okay. Just take a piece. Take a piece of it. Oh, you can feel. Oh, look at the smoothness of it already on the inside. It's so smooth. It's almost like. Oh, like a, like a paste. You put onions in it. You add in some raita as well. Just take a bite. Okay. Mmm. Mmm Oh. wow! Oh, that's incredible! It's so smooth. Just melt in the mouth. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they are famous for being melt in your mouth, and literally it does melt in your mouth.

It's like all the fiber and grains of the meat have been totally broken down. It's not a burger. It's not like ground meat. Yeah, it's like a paste. And the spices, 100 different spices in there. Like, it's like, has a nice kind of nutmeggy flavor to it. The mace in there. Okay, I'll pick up one of the kababs. Oh, they're still hot right out of the iron griddle. And that crust, that crispy part on the outside is part of the best part. But even picking it up, it almost like.

Look, it just almost squishes in your fingers. So tender. Look at that texture. Yeah, you almost can't hold it in your fingers without it, like, collapsing because it's so soft. Oh. wow! Oh, man. It's like one of a kind. It's so, so good. That's like. Yeah, it's such a smooth paste. So smooth. And then you've got that crusty. crunch from where it sizzles on the hot iron griddle. Okay, one more bite. Oh, and on that, that pure bite without the paratha. Okay, I can verify. I can guarantee you can eat this even if you're toothless.

Like, you just swallow. You can just swallow. You don't need, you don't need to chew. Okay, for the biryani next. This is the mutton biryani. Oh, it's so fluffy. You see whole cloves in there. Lucknow-style biryani. Oh, and there's, there's mutton in there as well. Mmm, mmm. The aromas, the rosewater, oh, the cardamom aroma, and the cloves. It's nice, and it's really, like, fluffy. Every grain of rice is a little bit oiled and rich. But of course, we need to try it with the mutton.

Oh, oh. Ohh. Have uh, have some mutton, man. You can just pull off the mutton from the bone. Oh, this one is going to be good. All right. Put some raita on it. Okay. Just take a bite. With the mutton, some of the raita. It's so rich. The mutton is tender. Well cooked. Mm-hmm. And infused with those aromatics, the fragrance. And the, the biryani is also rich.

Like you feel the, the oils. Every grain is absorbed with the oil, so it's like, it's quite rich and heavy. And so flavorful. But yeah, that's very tasty. Okay. But back over to the, the Tunday kebab. Oh, oh-ho-ho. Oh-ho, It will never get old, just sinking your fingers into that kebab. Okay, that green chutney. Thank you! Oh, yeah. Oh. with that coriander, with that green chili and the onion on top. Oh, thanks, man.

That is a bite you will never forget. When you eat Tunday kebab for the first time, it's kind of like you're unlocking this totally new flavor texture kabab that you never knew existed and you never knew you needed so badly. But yeah, it's totally unique. It's totally incredible. And the story behind it makes it even more memorable and even more like, awesome to eat. And to be at the source in Lucknow, I think it's even more special for sure as well. So good. This place, legendary for a reason. Wow! No wonder people from all over India come to Tunday Kababi. It's that good! But remember at the beginning when I said there'd be one more kabab that I may have liked even more? That's what's next. But really quickly,

with a hundred spices still brewing on my tongue, I needed something to tame it down. Right across the street is. another famous place we're trying for their kulfi. It's called Prakash, and they're the most well-known kulfi, ice cream, local Indian ice cream in all of Lucknow. And they keep the ice cream in this jug in the front, and he's gonna, he's gonna make us one right now. So they cut into two pieces. Oh, okay, then they cut it and put it on a plate? Okay. So here's the kulfi takes it out, then it goes over to the next station.

Kulfi gets emptied out onto your plate. They cut it in half, kind of slice it, and then put some vermicelli on it. But definitely the yellow is coming from saffron, so it's very aromatic with saffron, all the. creamy milk, pistachios, and almonds in here as well. Oh, it's kind of steaming in the humidity as well. And then all the, uh, different types of vermicelli, kind of like falooda style on top. Mmm, mmm. Whoa! That is insanely creamy. And it's loaded with nuts, pistachios and almond! And the fragrance of the saffron is so distinct.

It is really good. Really sweet, but really good. Oh, yeah, and it's frozen solid with those nuts. Yeah, look at that. And then the vermicelli just kind of melts in your mouth. You don't really notice them. They just kind of provide another texture with that cold kulfi. Look at the way it's steaming from that humidity. Mmm. Really rich, really sweet and really, really fragrant. Yeah. Another just absolutely classic, legendary spot in Lucknow. But the real mission was still ahead.

A restaurant that's been open since 1911, and the one kabab I said might have been my favorite bite of the whole day. We made it into an auto rickshaw, and we're on our way to the next spot! Oh, yeah. It's a little bit of a. a bumpy ride. Starting to rain again today, but we made it to the next spot. It's like a peaceful place compared to the last place, but this is a very popular restaurant. It's called Sakhawat's, tucked within the neighborhood. From what I understand, it's kind of like in a garage almost. But this is another legendary meat institution in Lucknow, for kababs, for stews, for masalas. Uh, we're gonna find out.

Okay, I absolutely love this place. It's so old school! And you walk in to the front here, they have all the different stews and masalas going, the different curries. But they're most famous for shami kebab. And shami kebab are these little patties made from mutton and also, I believe, uh, either dal or chickpea flour, plus some other uh. binding ingredients, but it's not completely meat. And then when they make it, they get that little patty, like that smooth mixture as well. They put in some onions and some coriander into the center and then smash it into a patty formation. And they're gonna griddle fry, similar to the, the other kebabs, in some ghee or oil over charcoal.

It's another meat-stitution in Lucknow. Look at how crispy they are. Oh, the shami kebab. It's like have a little bit of mutton biryani. This is a mutton boti kebab. Mutton boti? Yes. Mutton bhuna gosht. This place also is historical. It dates back to 1914. He was the owner, Sakhawat, Mr. Sakhawat. And I think those shami kebabs are coming right off the griddle to our plate. Oh, yeah.

The shami kebab. Oh, wow! Kakori kebab. This is the Mughlai paratha. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. This is the kind of place you can tell where, like, the true. meat lovers who really know what they, they want and what they're getting come. The local spot. We're gonna grab a piece of the, the Mughlai paratha. Man, they've taken the shami kebab to an art form. Look at how crispy it is! It's, like, shatteringly crispy. And again, that same soft texture, like a paste. But not all meat.

This one, this is a mixture of mutton, of like, some kind of beans, either dal or chickpeas, and then all the spices as well. Mmm. Oh. Oh, wow! The spice in there, the onions. Mmm. And you can tell that it has a bit more of a starchy texture to it than the galouti kebabs. It has, like, a bit more of a beany, yeah, starchy texture to it. But that nutmeggy, oniony chili flavor of this. Oh, that's amazing! And he kept feeding it with this oil that looked like it was infused with, like, a chili oil as well.

Oh, it has some nice spice to it. A hug of warmth inside of your stomach. So tasty. Okay. Yeah, look at the inside, the pepperiness. You can taste the black pepper. Look at the pastiness of it. Oh, it's so smooth and just, yeah, it's like a paste. And for this one, I will dab it into the chutney and the onion. stab. Oh, man! Now, that, is the definition of a shami kebab. It does not get better than that. That is phenomenal! Their spice blend, those onions pressed into the center as they fry. And so actually, the shami kebabs are fried in mustard oil.

Oh, it's phenomenal. Okay, now for the kakori, the best way to eat it is to just pick it up. No paratha, just the entire piece of meat. So a kakori kebab is another kebab in Lucknow that also has a unique story. Um, also has its roots in the Awadhi and the Nawabs as well. And it's another very soft, you can feel in your fingers how soft it is as well. But this one is different because it's, it's more, it's not a patty formation. It's also um, formed onto the skewers and then grilled. Oh! It's like soft, melt-in-your-mouth meat. This one too just completely disintegrates on your tongue.

It's so smooth, so soft. Yet it has the extra crust around the outside and the spices and the masalas, they just never keep on giving. Mmm. That is so rich! Look, you can just sink your finger into it and just like, oh, it's like a meat paste. Look at that. So smooth, like butter. It's like squeezable. Mmm. Okay, back over to these shamis. Mmm. Okay. That shami kebab, I'm not gonna say it's the most beautiful dish you'll ever eat.

It's this brown, smooth patty. But guaranteed, it's one of the most flavorful! My taste buds are actually zinging with so much flavor! But what a day of food! Legendary food in Lucknow! A huge thank you to my friend Abhishek from Flavors of Lucknow for taking us around. I'll have his information in the description box below. Oh, it's been an incredible day! I'm happy and full! And thank you for watching this video. Go check out the next video for more delicious food in Lucknow.