Lucknow

The grand finale Ramzan Food walk on Saturday night in old Lucknow.After couple of Ramzan outings, we,a group of friends decided to explore the streets,food,lights,people,shops and festivities as Ramzan is coming to finale and Eid about to come.As Navratri is starting so we decided to go on Saturday night. We started the walk with newly constructed Hussainabad Food Court near Clock Tower.The Food court had newly placed shops like Wahid Biryani,Kabeers but the highlight was legendary Haleem from Hyderabad famed Pista House.The mutton Haleem was lip smacking with chunks of meat,hearty mixture of spices, pulsed and also had few small bones in it.A bit spicy as compared to the Haleems available by other online restaurants here,yet I can safely say the Haleem was excellent and was available only for Ramzan.The Hussainabad street was lighted with Food shops,some temporary stalls,loads of people,vehicles and all making the festivities look grand. There was a festival mela also going on next to Ghanta Ghar with giant wheel and other rides. Our next destination was Paatnala at the famous Lucknow Idrees Biryani where we had the Pulav and mutton qorma, they were also baking fresh kulchas and the crowd there ensured that there was no sitting place available so we finished the yum dish standing. The entire street till Nakhaas was full of people,restricted traffic and several temporary shops selling clothes,footwear and other stuff. Even the regular shops were open in late night and customers were doing last minute purchasing for Eid. The lovely weather added to the walk mood and we headed to Mandu Shikanji towards Raja Bazaar from Paatnala lanes.This famous shop in tiny lane served excellent Pudina Shikanji ,though there were several flavours available and hordes of youth quenching thirst post midnight. As we headed more towards Nakhaas,the newly grand Mubeen with all Tikkas,Tandoori items looked great but we were full till that time. The walk continued in Akbari Gate where more crowd was there shopping and eating at legendary Raheems,old Mubeens and also some temporary shops selling Biryani and other. We took the inside lane from there which heads towards Gol Darwaza and entire shopping area had shops of caps,kurtis and others with people enjoying Ramzan mood. As we reached Gol Darwaza we saw the preparations starting for Chaitra Navratri with the decor.There were stalls of Kulfi open till late and we had the Makhan Malai milk to end this beautiful journey. The overall walk till late night was a complete one not only Food wise, but also capturing the entire essence of festivities and our city and will be long remembered!!!