delhi eats: karim's

after so many vegetarian meals, i was craving some meat. decided to stray a bit further afield and hop into a taxi for karim's near the white marble hazrat nizamuddin dargh mosque, which i hoped would be a little like going to my favorite tayyab's on fieldgate street off brick lane just behind the mosque in london.

karim dates back to 1913, founded in the very same alleyway by a man whose ancestors had fed india's mughal kings and queens. ha - and now they're feeding the likes of me.

with the low, mirrored ceilings, colored glass chandeliers, patterned carpeting and tables with armchairs, it felt a bit like being in a 70s era rec room. all the dishes, from a lamb biryani to the chicken tandoori, sounded delicious but i finally settled on the lazeez murgh saag and naan. the naan was warm and buoyant, nothing like the dense baseball mitts you sometimes get in the West. the chicken was tender and swimming in spinach. i overate.

afterward, the rickshaw drivers jostled to take me back to my hotel. i got into the back of one; another came over, ostensibly to help translate, but plucked the hotel business card from the other man's fingers and tried to get me to follow. driver no. 1 nimbly blocked me from leaving his rickshaw as he gave driver no. 2 a dressing down. and off we were, rattling along the road with no lights, no working meter and with the rickshaw distinctly listing to one side.

perhaps i should have gone with driver no. 2...