Who rules the rooster: Moti Mahal and Daryaganj Hospitality in legal battle

Moti Mahal or Daryaganj Hospitality? The two restaurants walk on eggshells as the Delhi High Court hears the butter chicken invention case to decide what came first

The historic Old Delhi is known for all kinds of culinary delights, several of them ladled out in gullies from holes-in-the-walls or makeshift shops run by pheriwallas (Hindi for wandering salespeople). But one structure, on the main Daryaganj Road, has always stood out.

This structure, Moti Mahal, was for a long time the only restaurant in the post-Independence Old Delhi. It counted India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, among its regulars. Of course, some marquee mithai shops dotted the Chandni Chowk area and its surroundings, as they do now, but no sit-down restaurant had been established in the area until Moti Mahal was set up in Daryaganj in the late 1940s. (Darya, which means river, refers to the Yamuna, which used to flow just on the other side of the walled city.) The area is also known for its  publishing houses, and chaat. 

Old timers in Daryaganj say Moti Mahal has been synonymous with two signature North Indian dishes: Butter chicken and dal makhani. Both apparently come from across the border. Kundan Lal Gujral, who founded the restaurant, had first started it in Peshawar. Over the years, Moti Mahal has expanded, in India and overseas, and currently has 103 outlets.

But butter chicken remains a claim to fame for Moti Mahal. The story goes that Gujraj Gujral desperate to make use of the leftover chicken, came up with a recipe that resulted in a rich gravy infused with tomato, butter, and cream, and tender chicken pieces roasted in a tandoor before being dunked into the gravy.

But there is another version of the invention story.

Adding spice to the gravy

A new company, Daryaganj Hospitality, entered the fray in 2019 with the tagline, “By the Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani”. Not only was the new entrant claiming the name for the two signature dishes, it had also named itself after the street where the first Moti Mahal restaurant had been set up.

Owners of Daryaganj Hospitality say their ancestor, Kundan Lal Jaggi — do note the common first name — had worked with Gujral when Moti Mahal moved from Peshawar to Delhi. Apparently, butter chicken was created in Daryaganj, not Peshawar, and that is the foundation of their claim that they were home to the first serving of the dish.

In November last year, the owners of Moti Mahal, Rupa Gujral and her son Monish, took Daryaganj Hospitality to court over who could rightfully claim to be the inventor of butter chicken and dal makhani. This is a spicy story that has a mix of nostalgia, cuisine, and the use of Daryaganj — as a place and as the name of a hospitality business.

According to an order issued by the Delhi High Court on the Gujrals’ plea last month, the plaintiffs have alleged that the defendants misled the public into believing that the Daryaganj restaurants were connected with the plaintiffs’ predecessors’ first Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryaganj. Monish Gujral told Business Standard the case was about “infringement, passing off and unfair competition. It is our legacy and will be always ours only”.

But why has the case been filed now? And does it really matter who truly invented the iconic dishes, as long as the recipes remain secret and people continue to enjoy the food at either restaurant?

But sources in the know say a spate of interviews and claims made on a popular television show by the founders of Daryaganj Hospitality led the Gujrals to court. 

Does it really matter?

The fight is about claiming the legacy of the much-loved food.

“We are seeking to restrain them from claiming that Mr Kundan Lal Jaggi was the inventor of the dishes, butter chicken and dal makhani, and that Kundan Lal Gujaral was simply the face of the restaurant, responsible for front-end management. We are also seeking to restrain them from making statements, giving any interviews with regard to the same. Also, they should be restrained from using the tagline ‘By the Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani'. We do not want to seek closure of the Daryaganj chain of restaurants,” says Shreya Sethi, a counsel for Moti Mahal.

The defendant, Daryaganj Hospitality’s co-founder and CEO Amit Bagga, said in a statement the brand was launched in April 2019 as a tribute to the legacy of the late Kundan Lal Jaggi. Jaggi’s grandson, Raghav, is the founder of Daryaganj Hospitality and, according to Bagga, the owner of the registered trademark, “Daryaganj - By the Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani”. Bagga further said the trademark had been registered “unopposed” since 2018.

“Raghav Jaggi’s family are the inventors of butter chicken and dal makhani and [that is] why we have used and registered the tag line,” he said.

Sethi says her client also possesses “trademark registrations in various classes for ‘Moti Mahal’ in India and abroad.” She adds: “His (Kundal Lal Gujral’s) invention was the ‘makhani’, or butter sauce, that led to the creation of the world-famous dish butter chicken… simmering the chicken in a luscious gravy with tomatoes, butter, cream and some spices to help them retain moisture… The invention of dal makhani is closely linked with the invention of butter chicken. He applied the same recipe with black lentils and gave birth to dal makhani around the same time”. 

Ironically, as the battle rages, a well-known chef, requesting anonymity, says nobody eating at either restaurant cares about the authenticity of the claims. “I will go to a place where I like my butter chicken, not caring about who invented it. Whoever did, did a fantastic job. But food is a very subjective thing, liking or not liking a dish depends on the individual’s palette. If a chef from Naples were to rustle up a nice Margherita Pizza in India, where people are used to Amul cheese paneer tikka pizza, they will probably hate it. Taste is supreme.” 

Even “authentic” Chinese cuisine, he says, does not really fly in India.

Chickens are not known to fly much either, but the battle over butter chicken is soaring.

Food wars

Where did the rosogolla originate? West Bengal got a GI tag for this famous sweet in 2017 for Banglar rosogolla, but neighbouring Odisha could not stomach this recognition. Odiyas claimed that rosogolla originated in their state, with mentions in several ancient texts. According to folklore, Lord Jagannath offered rosogolla to Goddess Lakshmi to appease her. The matter came to rest in 2019 when Odisha also got a GI tag for its own variety of the sweet.

In the Starbucks Corporation versus Sardarbuksh Coffee case, the Delhi High Court in 2018 granted interim relief in favour of Starbucks and directed the defendant to use the name Sardarji-Bakhsh for their 20 new outlets until the final hearing. The final result was that the defendant had to change the name of all its outlets to ‘Sardarji-Bakhsh Coffee & Co’ from Sardarbuksh Coffee.

In 2018, a dispute arose over the famous tunday kebab of Lucknow. The dispute was between two descendents of Haji Murad Ali Tunday, one who owned the M I Eating Point and the other owned Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi. The former won this fight.