Iftar banquets in city line up sumptuous feasts

A normal day at Babajaan Chowk,Mominpura and Azam Campus progresses with people busy shopping.

A normal day at Babajaan Chowk,Mominpura and Azam Campus progresses with people busy shopping. Once it is past 4 pm,the area transforms into a veritable mela of food,music and celebrations. Ramadan the month of fasting is in full swing. The festival is a time for piety,fasting for the whole day and charity. In the evening,the time for Iftar or breaking the daily fast,hundreds of families come together at Iftar banquets in the city open from 4 pm. It will go on till the end of Ramadan,on August 19.

The city has its fair share of such banquets,some organized by Muslim charitable organisations and others by local restaurants. The most famous of these however,are concentrated in the Camp area. We have been organizing Ramadan feasts for over two decades now and we have people coming all the way from Lonavla for our food, says Shakeel Shaikh,organizing member,Imdadi Banquet Hall at Babajaan Chowk. The banquet is perhaps the largest in the city,with over a thousand people visiting it everyday. It is a temporary structure built for the month of Ramadan,by the Imdadi Trust and employs more than 50 people who prepare ingredients,cook and serve the food. From their extensive menu running up to 70 items,their most popular offerings include tandoori chicken,chicken handi,biryanis and the chicken roll.

Agra Hotel at Azam Campus has been organizing an Iftar stall for over 12 years now and the owner Riyaaz Meethal is proud of their signature offering – fried whole chicken. Azim Gudakuwala,who is a director at the Muslim Co-operative Bank enjoys cooking fried chicken during Ramadan for customers who are fasting. Claiming to be the first one to introduce Kadhai Chicken to the city,he says,Earlier people did not know that chicken could also be eaten fried but now it has become quite popular.

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Meethal says that despite 400 to 500 people visiting the stall on a daily basis,the business is down by at least 10 per cent compared to previous years because Ramadan has coincided with the Hindu month of Shraavan. We always get a lot of Hindu customers,but this year their count has gone down because they are observing the month of Shravan in which they do not take non-vegetarian food. This has affected our business, he said.

Shaikh Saeed Ahmed,a shopkeeper at Mominpura says his favourite places to break the fast are Madina Hotel and Bismillah Hotel. Mominpura used to be the busiest area during Ramadan,but in the last few years,fewer stalls are being set up because of traffic restrictions and safety concerns after the Malegaon unrest. Stalls by Madina,Bismillah and Sahil are still favourites in this area though, he said.

Established 18 years ago,Madina Hotel is one of the few places that serves vegetarian cuisines such as vegetarian kebabs and Kabuli chana and Bengal gram. Those who do not eat non-vegetarian food can try out our vegetarian fare, says Rauf Sheikh,the owner. We are known for Chicken Russian Kebabs,made of chicken,maida and French beans,which sell like hot cakes,he added.

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Ramadan