Two restaurants in Delhi, India, have declared a food battle over who created the country’s most famous dish: tandoori-baked butter chicken in tomato, butter and cream sauce.
Reporting on a lawsuit and a hearing scheduled for May, Reuters reported that the family behind the famous restaurant Moti Mahal claims its founder created the meaty curry in the 1930s.
In a 2,752-page court filing, it has sued rival chain Daryaganj, accusing the newly-opened restaurant – 2019 – of falsely claiming to have invented this dish as well as dal makhani, a popular Dal is makhani, rich in butter and cream. According to Reuters.
The family that runs Moti Mahal is seeking $240,000 in damages, also alleging that Daryaganj copied the layout of its website and the “look and feel” of its restaurants.
The managing director of Moti Mahal told a reporter, “You can’t take away someone’s heritage… This dish was invented when our grandfathers were in Pakistan.”
In turn, the operators of Daryaganj argued that a late member of the family had partnered with the founder of Moti Mahal when he opened the restaurant in 1947, and that the dish was invented there. It also gives him the right to claim creation of the dish, he said, providing Reuters with a faded, handwritten partnership document registered in 1949 as evidence to support his argument.
