Food: Excellent
Packaging: Smart
Cost/Pocket-friendly

In the early 20th century, Haji Karimuddin, who was once a chef in the shahi dastarkhwan or royal kitchen of the then-exiled Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, would cycle from his Uttar Pradesh hometown to Delhi, carrying freshly cooked alu gosht. The chef — who had spent years dishing out delicacies for the Mughal emperor and his staff — would dock himself outside the Red Fort and sell the humble alu gosht, earning himself a growing band of loyalists among the aam admi too. "He then decided to sell some of the rewards that the Mughals had given him, and purchased a property in front of Jama Masjid in Old Delhi [in 1913]. He called the dhaba Karim's — after himself, and one of the 99 names of Allah," Karimuddin's great great great grandson, Aivaz Asif, tells us over a call from Delhi. And the rest, as they say, is history — Karim's is on every to-do list of the Capital's visitors, and stands tall in the bustling gullies of kebab joints as the OG Mughlai restaurant.

Chicken biryani and mutton Jahangiri