Kausarbaug, a modest area off NIBM is the place to be during the auspicious month of Ramzan, if you love non-vegetarian food. With many food stalls doting both the sides of the road, what attracts one is the longest board, ‘Star Banquet hall’ glittering all gold and shiny against the stark black evening.
Sharif Shaikh, a chef who came from Lucknow and is now a successful caterer running his business Sharif Caterers has been in the business of preparing delicious meat snacks since 2000 in this space.
“The first time I put up a stall here (next to the Badi Masjid) was a small one table thing where I introduced Russian Kebabs (tiny fried chicken pieces in white pepper sauce), which are still the fastest-selling item on my list of snacks for Iftari,” said Sharif as he orders his cook to fry a new batch.
This caterer is now spread across 5 stalls and offers more than 50 varieties of snacks made with chicken for breaking the fast. Team Urbanly decided to try their luck at eating as many as they could. Here is the verdict.
We managed to hardly make a dent in the snacking journey ending up trying around ten snacks, but each of them is drool-worthy and fantastic in taste.
Of course, any iftari should open with the speciality Russian kebab and follow it with chicken karara if you love the crunch in your snack.
If you love experimenting and believe us, Sharif makes an excellent snack using Chinese masala for its Chakori Chicken Kebab or his take on Italian kebab which uses fine chicken mince with green sauce as its filling.
The Jodhpuri Kebabs are filled with this delicious aromatic kheema and sesame, while the piece de résistance is the Kohinoor Kebab which is a solid big chunk of chicken breast stuffed with mince and fried with egg. The stall also has the usual, chicken on a stick and his version of chicken on a stick with garlic sauce.
Since we were on a roll, we also tried the mutton samosas and the fried Quail, which is delicate in its taste.
This year, there is a lot of demand for Southern aka Andhra style food, whereupon this stall is offering fried chicken legs with spicy masala and also introducing Andhra Biryani as well as the chef’s special Lucknowi Pulao.
The day for the caterer begins at 8 am with 30 chefs preparing the snacks, biryani and rotis, using 50 kgs of fresh chicken and 100 quails daily. 100 waiters wait over the divided family and general sitting area which see crowds immediately post the fasting time.
Sharif also offers a full package if you want to try a variety. For Rs 699/-, he offers five starters, including 1 fish, 2 mutton and 3 chicken options, three gravies (one mutton and two chicken gravies), roti to choose from, Biryani and a sweet dish of the day.
