Going back to roots and classics is a process, that helps you understand the magic of legacy and that is what Daryaganj has been doing over a period of time. Daryaganj celebrates the iconic flavours of Butter Chicken & Dal Makhani that was introduced by Kundan Lal Jaggi and with time became the 
identity of North Indian cuisine. In conversation with TMM, Amit Bagga, co-founder, Daryaganj, talks about the journey of the brand and the changes brought in the dining scenario and F&B industry at large in the post-covid time.
Give us a glimpse of your brand Daryaganj.
Daryaganj is a North Indian cuisine restaurant brand, which is a tribute to Late Kundan Lal Jaggi, the inventor of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani by his grandson Raghav Jaggi, and Amit Bagga. This brand celebrates the legacy of Tandoori cuisine. The culinary legacy goes back to the era of Indian Independence, when Kundan Lal Jaggi, a refugee from Peshawar of undivided India came to Delhi with nothing but the skills of Tandoori cuisine. Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani are arguably the most popular dishes in any North Indian restaurant. Daryaganj showcases the history of Tandoori cuisine and its evolution, serving all dishes invented by Kundan Lal Jaggi. With valuable inputs from Kundan Lal Jaggi and his family, the secret recipes of that era are being re-created. It is a celebration of robust Indian flavours from the northwest frontier, brought to life using fresh local produce.
Which are the 5 best dishes and their stories at Daryaganj?
There is a lot to talk about, but some of the memorable ones are:
Butter Chicken: The dish was made “By Chance”. One fine night few minutes before calling it a day for the restaurant, Kundan Lal Jaggi had a truckload of refugees come in who were hungry and wanted to have a bite. In the kitchen there wasn’t enough food left and only a few portions of tandoori chicken was available, That’s when Kundan Lal Jaggi came up with the idea to cook the tandoori chicken in a curry, made of tomatoes and fresh dairy butter to make sure it suffices for everyone.
Dal Makhani: There was a gentleman by the name of Sucha Singh who was the manager of firestone tyres and a big food lover he suggested to the owners to make a version of urad dal with their signature makhani sauce to give a choice to vegetarians as well and that’s how it was invented.
Chicken Pakora: Once during the monsoon, Kundan Lal Jaggi was enjoying regular vegetable pakodas with masala chai, a combination that is popular in Delhi during monsoons even today. But being a hardcore meat lover from Peshawar, he thought of creating a non-vegetarian version of the Pakoda for himself and his friends. He used some marinated tandoori chicken lying in the kitchen and fried the pieces coated with gram flour batter, and called it Chicken Pakora. It was a big success and was soon added to the menu permanently.
Tandoori Chicken: Almost a century ago in 1920, there was a restaurant owned by Mocha Singh in Peshawar in pre-partition India, a gentleman came to the restaurant and asked for a dish lighter on the palate because of his illness as that time trend was to serve Mughal influence curries made with rich dry fruits and clarified butter, and that’s how for the first-time tandoor was used by someone to make something other than bread and a chicken was put into the tandoor with marination of spices and yogurt meant for only breads and “Tandoori Chicken” was served for the first time.
Lockdown Haldi Chicken: After the lockdown happened, we at Daryaganj shut down our premises temporarily. When we were re-opening we decided to innovate on creating some new dishes and started trials for the same. We wanted to create immunity-boosting dishes because it’s the need of an hour to elevate the immunity quotient of our guests. We decided to create a dish with turmeric, as it is a well-known spice of our country that is medically proven for its antioxidant and immunity imparting properties. We wanted to curate a curry-based dish around this. Our chefs started experimenting to create a new dish around these lines. During the middle of trials, an idea struck us drawing inspiration from Late Mr. Kundan Lal Jaggi. We thought about following the same principle where K L Jaggi had created gravy to put in the cooked Tandoori Chicken as a need of the hour when refugees had come to his restaurants. So we took the cooked Tandoori Kebab and added it to a curry with fresh turmeric as the main ingredient. Our R&D team gave us the input to make a curry base with a combination of seeds and nuts. This would enrich the gravy with good fat that would aid in the absorption of curcumin found in turmeric. Hence, making it a great immunity dish, we decided to name it as 2020 Lockdown Turmeric Chicken, on the lines of what we call our Original 1947 Tandoori Chicken. This is the dish Daryaganj as a restaurant has introduced and we hope it becomes as popular as Butter Chicken in the future.
What are your major accomplishments so far?
Our major accomplishment is all the love and loyalty we have won from our patrons. Their encouragement is our biggest achievement. In less than one year, we have opened four outlets of Daryaganj, which shows people’s faith in us. They have loved our food and have accepted the trend of going back to classics.
What’s the difference between Butter chicken 1947 and Butter chicken 2020?
The 1947 Butter Chicken is made with the original recipe, which consists of chunky tomatoes as during those years there were no mixers or grinders. Whereas Butter chicken of 2020 is made with tomatoes which are well pureed to make a smooth velvety gravy, dairy cream, and boneless chicken tikka are added to this curry.
What are the changes in the industry post-Covid pandemic?
The first and foremost change is the deduction of 50% seating capacity. Restaurants have very well adapted to the culture of social distancing as the business had to restart, and now it’s become a part of the process. The biggest challenge is the lesser capacity of seats. Because of that, we can’t hire all our employees back to keep it viable to operate the restaurant. We divide our slots to spread out the flow of customers at peak timings. We have completely changed the way we work and we are extremely particular about all the safety measures.
Are you planning anything new for the festive season?
We are launching a new concept of delivery, where we are trying to recreate the restaurant experience at the guest’s home. It will be a first-of-its-kind concept in India. We are also working on our Mithai Segment and are hopeful of launching it soon. For dine-in customers, we have specially made Baileys Kulfi at Daryaganj. Bailey’s Kulfi is one of the dedicated experiments in-house at Daryaganj. It is a fusion of a traditional dessert but experimented with a modern twist.
Any plans for 2021?
We are planning our expansion in June 2021, and we plan to expand nationwide and internationally as well.
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