The story of Karim’s supposedly dates back to the middle of the 19th century and a man called Mohd Aziz, who is said to have been a cook in the royal court and plied his trade in Delhi’s Red Fort, in what would turn out to be the last days of the Mughal empire. 

In 1911, the year the British authorities celebrated making Delhi the new capital of their empire, one of Aziz’s sons, Haji Karimuddin, came up with the idea of cashing in on the people celebrating the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. Setting up a simple stall outside the gates of the towering 17th-century Jama Masjid mosque, he offered just two dishes – mutton with potatoes and lentil curry. Two years later, he was able to open a small eatery in a nearby alleyway that could cater for 20 people, proclaiming, “I want to earn fame and money by serving the royal food to the common man”.

The restaurant opened its first branch, Karim’s Hotel in Old Delhi. Karim’s Hotel or Karim’s has been described as “synonymous with this area and arguably the city’s most famous culinary destination.” A fully open-plan kitchen , make-shift  grill  slowly  roasting  away Seekh Kabab, a tandoori  oven built into the ground. Everything in this little alley tugging away at my heart, it felt like I was a little boy again, running around  with far too  much to see and question.

What is incredible to know is that the spice mix, or masala, originally devised by Haji Karimuddin, is the one still used today. It is a closely guarded secret where every evening, a member of the family takes a series of wooden boxes upstairs to an office where they are filled with a carefully measured mix of spices. In the morning, these boxes are taken downstairs and handed to the cooks to prepare the various dishes.