By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: This Ramadan the people of Guwahati is having a taste of Awadhi cuisine all the way from Lucknow in the heart of the city. All thanks to Imtiaz Ahmed and his brothers for setting up a ‘Mini Lucknow’ in Guwahati for food in the form of Madina Sweet House at Machkhowa.
Even if you are not a die-hard foodie, the mesmerizing smell and the colour of the items will definitely enforce your way towards Madina Sweet House. For Younis Ali, a local, it’s an opportunity to grab the mouth watering taste of Lucknow dishes during the Ramadan. “It’s a blessing for me to have such kind of taste here at my home town. My parents too like it a lot,” said Ali who often collect the food for Iftar at his home.
The menu includes the famed Mughlai Paratha, Chiken Biriyani, various types of Halwa, kheer, Gulabjamun and plenty others. Imtiaz and his six other relatives have landed in Guwahati on the eve of Ramadan to serve the people of Guwahati or rather northeast with royal food from the city of the Nawabs.
“We are also enjoying here seeing the interest of the people here for our food. The demand is very high especially for non-vegetable items. Besides, halwa and paratha are also most sought after food items. We also feel bad for failing to meet the ever increasing demand of the food items which happens very often,” Imtiaz who hails from Aminabad in Lucknow said as customers throng his stall on Thursday evening.
It was Aftab Ahmed, Imtiaz’s father started his venture in Guwahati five years back though they have been travelling in various parts of the states with their makeshift stalls at religious programmes or others. The Ahmed family which have a stall – Sweet House in Lucknow carry spices for biriyani, mewa for kheer and food colours form their native town.
Even the hike in the essential commodities has not deterred people from visiting their stall. And for the outsides especially who are from Utter Pradesh it’s a great opportunity to feel home far away from home. “This is really nice. I also enjoy the local food. But there is vast difference in the way the food is prepared. We people use more oil than Assamese people,” said Javed Alam, a native of Kanpur who has been living in Guwahati for quite some time.
Link:
TCN Ramadan series: http://twocircles.net/Special_Reports/ramadan_1434.html