When in the town of the Mughals, one has to feast like the Mughals, certainly time for Daawat-e-Nawaab. As the name literally means “feast of the royals”, we knew we are in for a royal treat. The restaurant, keeping true to its name was designed to showcase grandeur. The large dome in the middle with hanging chandeliers, exquisite antique wall lamps, mughal style jaali work, engraved marble on the walls along with brass cutlery and uniquely designed table mats made you feel, you are the kings and queens of “Agra“. Like every royal court, even we had live music playing to further enhance our Nawabi experience
ABOUT THE FOOD
One can order ‘Choti Daawat’, which is a three course meal with limited servings or the ‘Badi Daawat’, which is a four course meal with unlimited servings. We went for the “Badi Dawaat”, at the price of INR 999 for vegetarian daawat and INR 1099 for non-vegetarian daawat, the daawat is quiet reasonably priced.
The service was prompt and the staff was very friendly. They described the menu to us and explained us the different courses. They also told us that their daawat is best enjoyed without the use of fork and spoon. I am a big fan of eating food with hands, somehow it always tastes better!
Fun Fact- How did the practice of eating by hands start? The practice of eating with one’s hands could be traced in the Vedic times when people used to believe and respect food. They believed that bodies are in sync with the elements of nature. Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. Through the thumb comes space; through the forefinger, air; through the mid-finger, fire; through the ring finger, water and through the little finger it is earth. Joining of all fingers while eating was believed to improve our consciousness of the taste of the food we eat.
The daawat began and the food was flowing on my table. From Seekh kebab to bedami tikki to paneer tikka, there was on overflow of food on table. For non-vegetarians, the daawat is quiet more elaborate, as they get servings of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Dishes started rolling one after the other- Chicken tikka, Mutton Seekh followed by Galouti Kebab. We were informed by the server, that he had saved the best for the last and sticking to his words Galouti kebab ruled our palette, it was super delicious.
And let the daawat begin!
We then had our share of soups, Tomato soup and Mutton shorba. It was served in tea cups with two handles, making it quiet easy to grab and sip it, without using a spoon. Quiet an interesting concept, I feel this concept should be adopted by all restaurants. It’s so convenient and makes the soup a wee bit more flavorful. I quiet enjoyed the Shorba, the flavors were quiet complex and on a monsoon night, it is definitely my type of comfort food.
Shorba!!
The non-vegetarian daawat comprised of Kalmi hara masala, Gosht ki Nihari, Aloo Anardana and Dal makhani/lehsuni with gosht biryani. Assorted rotis, burrani raita, vinegar onions were served on the side. For the vegetarians, there was Methi Chaman, tamatar ka bharta, aloo anardana and dal makhani/lehsuni. The food was well cooked and my friend just kept on raving how extremely tender mutton was. “The meat was just falling off the bone and it was quiet succulent!” his exact words on the description of the dish.
Daawat-e-Nawaab
Biryani was quiet flavorful, definitely not Hyderabadi but being a biryani person, I quiet enjoyed it. The daawat was actually a feast for the royalties. A plate full of so many flavors would definitely cater to different tastes and palates.
Desserts
No daawat is complete without the desserts and we were served gulab jamun and rabri. Classic Indian desserts and one can never ever go wrong with it. Overall a fabulous experience, quiet enjoyed feasting like a royalty!
