Moti Mahal or Daryaganj? Delhi High Court to examine which restaurant invented Butter Chicken, Dal Makhani

Who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani? The Delhi High Court may well answer this mouth-watering question in the coming days as it adjudicates a dispute between the Moti Mahal and Daryaganj restaurants [Rupa Gujral & Ors v Daryaganj Hospitality Private Limited & Ors].The proprietors of Moti Mahal have sued owners of Daryaganj restaurant over the use of the tagline “Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani” . Moti Mahal claims that Daryaganj restaurant is “misleading people into believing” that there is a relation between Daryaganj restaurants and Moti Mahal whose first branch was opened in Daryaganj neighbourhood of Delhi..The case came up for hearing before Justice Sanjeev Narula on January 16 when the Court issued summons and asked Daryaganj restaurant owners to file their written response to the suit in a month.Justice Narula also issued notice on Moti Mahal’s application for interim injunction and kept it for hearing on May 29..For years, the two restaurant chains have claimed that they invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani. While Moti Mahal owners say that it was their predecessor, Late Kundal Lal Gujral who came up with the dishes that now define Indian cuisine across the globe, Daryaganj restaurant says it was Late Kundan Lal Jaggi who came up with the idea..In its suit, Moti Mahal has claimed that it was their predecessor Gujral who created the first Tandoori Chicken and later also went on to create the Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani and brought it to India after partition. They claim that in the early days, the unsold leftovers of chicken could not be stored in the refrigeration and Gujral began worrying about his cooked chicken drying out. He thus invented a sauce with which he could rehydrate them.His invention was ‘the makhani’ or butter sauce (a gravy with tomatoes, butter, cream, and some spices) that now gives the dish a tangy and delectable taste, the claim goes. “The invention of Dal Makhani is closely linked with the invention of Butter Chicken. He [Gujaral] applied the same recipe with Black lentils and gave birth to Dal Makhani around the same time,” Moti Mahal has said in suit..While Daryaganj is yet to file its response to the suit, its lawyers appeared before the Court on January 16 and strongly contested the allegations labelling the whole suit as “baseless and lacking a cause of action”.It was their argument that they have not engaged in any false representation and the allegations made in the suit are far from truth.They said that the first Moti Mahal restaurant was jointly established by predecessors of both parties (Gujral of Moti Mahal and Jaggi of Daryaganj restaurants) in Peshawar..Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi and Chander M Lall along with advocate Shreya Sethi appeared for the proprietors of Moti Mahal.Senior Advocate Amit Sibal along with advocates Pravin Anand, Dhruv Anand, Udita, Revanta Mathur, Nimrat Singh and D Khanna represented the owners of Daryaganj restaurant..[Read Order]