I know...I know... I am not the first person to visit Lucknow (Awadh) to test it's most famous delicacy, The Gilawati Kabab but since I have done it, I must share my experience with you.
It was my friend's wedding in Kanpur and we decided to visit Lacknow first, on the way. We started from Kolkata with lots of disappointment as two of our friend cancelled their tickets and we became only three to be on a 16 hrs journey. With the inexperience of Journey to North India during winter, I forgot a blanket or even a shawl and I was literally shivering throughout the night. However we landed well next morning on Lucknow and found a suitable place to spend a night.
After having a hot bath, we left immediately for sight seeing and visited most famous Bade Imam Bara, Chhote Imam Bara and all but most importantly, we went to Aminabad at last. It's the place where you will find Tunday Kababi. You can call it Burrabazar of Lucknow. The busiest place I saw in Lucknow. It's a walking distance from Kesarbag.
The two-storey restaurant is having a floor under ground and one above. The underground one is little more clumsy than the top one and a little suffocating too. I could not find any AC facility anywhere and the get-up was not impressive at all. However several photographs of restaurant owner's family with top class bollywood stars (including Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and our Big B Mr. Amitabh Bachchan) can be seen on all over the wall. We ordered 3 Paranthas, a plate of Mutton Gilawati Kabab, one plate of Tunday Kabab (beef one), half Mutton Korma, 3 Shiramal and 3 Kheer. The taste of the kababs with paranthas was ecstatic. Specially the beef one. The gilawati supposed to be made of 160 types of spices and may be because of that the mutton got lost somewhere in taste and flavor. But the same could not beat the beef and was real mouth watering. Both were very soft and jucy and you will not find a pinch of meat under your teeth and that is guaranteed. Mutton Korma was really tasty and the mutton was good. The half korma cost us Rs.70/- with two small piece of mutton.
Do not ever try the Kheer and probably the shiramal. The shiramal was described as "Indian bread with lots of Saffron Flavor" on the menu and what we found was a highly colored (obviously saffron colored) parantha with no saffron flavor on the plate :( . Price-wise everything was cheap. The price of the Kababs can make your jaw dropped to your stomach; Mutton Gilawati Kabab costs Rs.55/- and the Beef Kabab was priced Rs.25/- a plate with 4 piece of kababs. Parantha and shiramal was Rs.8/- and Rs.9/- respectively and the filthy Kheer was Rs.10/- only (that was one reason why all of us tried it pretending it to be Firni from Alibaba in Kolkata).
So definitely it's a must visit place and the Tunday Kabab is a must try item, just be there at the right time of the year. In summer you may feel like a Kabab. (forgot to mention that paranthas were fried in very less oil. It was a Ulta Tawa parantha, i.e. it is prepared on the other side of the tawa or pan).
