DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF THE ORIGINS
For two Delhi restaurants, it is a fight for the chance to claim that the world’s first ever butter chicken was created by them.
It all started when two men, both named Kundan Lal, came to New Delhi from Peshawar — now part of Pakistan — in 1947.
The two partnered to set up a restaurant called Moti Mahal, which translates to the Palace of Pearls, an ode to the rich Mughlai food they serve.
That restaurant soon became a New Delhi institution, which served the likes of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former United States president John F Kennedy and celebrities from every walk of life.
Now the families of the two Kundan Lals, who have very different accounts of the origins, each claim they invented the butter chicken first.
The Moti Mahal chain of restaurants, owned by the family of Kundan Lal Gujral, has sued rival restaurant chain Daryaganj for claiming to be the inventors.
Moti Mahal owner Monish Gujral said: “It is actually our legacy, and we don’t want our legacy to be disrupted anyhow.”