Read earlier review of food by Osama Jalali & family here – pop up

In a NUtshell

After eating food from The Mughal Plate, I feel like the need to take my guests for a food walk to Jama Masjid area can be replaced by ordering food from here & taking them otherwise to purani Dilli to get a feel of the place. This Home cooked Food at the Mughal plate was surely way better than what’s available in the commercial houses of Jama Masjid area.

The beauty of food by Osama & his family is consistency, extreme attention to detail, sticking to traditional elaborate cooking methods, no shortcuts, settle for nothing but the best, use of best ingredients & passion to give only the best – be it at the pop ups in 5 star hotels, or at the Mughal plate.

Address & other details: the Mughal plate (Instagram) , the Mughal plate (Facebook)

Meal for 2: ₹1200 onwards

Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster

Short description- in case u r in a hurry

In the beginning of this decade, food blogger chowder singh had organised a Foodwalk in purani Dilli Jama Masjid area. That’s where we had met Osama Jalali who was to guide the group along the lanes & bylanes of the old city – we got to know that osama was a journalist by profession, belonged to Rampur in UP & most interestingly, grown up in purani Dilli. Needless to say he was a moving Wikipedia of the area, it’s stories, the food, the vendors.

Months later, we saw a post by Osama that he was doing a Pop up at a 5 star hotel with his mother & wife. When we went for dinner at the pop up & met Osama, he said that He, his mother & wife were actually Staying at the hotel, getting into the kitchen early morning & were preparing the food their way & that they did not leave much to the hotel staff. This was interesting piece of information as we were stunned after eating the food – everything in the long menu was fabulous.

Just by luck we have been to most of their pop ups therafter. While we were staying in mumbai, we had come to gurgaon for a weekend & we were pleasantly surprised to see that the hotel we were staying in, was hosting Osama. We have been to most of their mumbai pop ups.

The only thing common in all these pop ups were CONSISTENT BRILLIANCE of all dishes in a large menu. Unlike most other home chefs who do pop ups, Osama & family had mastered the art of delivering the best even from commercial hotel kitchens. This is contrary to our experience of many other excellent home chef’s food being quite less impressive at hotels than when they have cooked at home.

Every dish in a long menu card in their pop ups have been a hero. When we would eat at their pop ups & after food speak to Osama, we would notice –

1. Extreme attention to detail

2. Clinically obsessed with using the best ingredients

3. Not doing short cuts, minimal use of modern cooking tools & sticking to centuries old cooking process.

4. Even after eating a stomach full, one doesn’t feel heavy / bloated.

5. Osama would constantly be present at the dining hall taking feedback from the guests – big ears help in perfecting an art for sure.

Osama once told us that There are three kinds of food that he serves so far

• His Childhood memories – what he has grown up eating

• Travel – food that he has

• Research of traditional food

I remember the story of how he & lady Jalali had once Travelled in Pakistan in local buses, chatted with people, ate their food, understood their philosophy of cooking & later did a Pakistani food festival at le Meridien gurgaon in 2019.

I also remember once Osama had explained why they not only stick to Traditional processes but they follow it to the tee –

Traditionally 3 people were involved in creating new dishes for the royalty (excludes dishes created by serendipity).

1. Hakim – he used to keep a watch on the medicinal property / effect of the food on health

2. Masalchi- he would make the spice mixes & coordinate with the hakim till approved

3. Bawarchi – he would finally get to create the food based on inputs by the other two.

So with all these stories in our mind, when we heard that Osama had opened a delivery set up from their home in noida, we were excited to try the food. The food that is currently on the menu is from old delhi, Pakistani & Rampur..

We got to know the following about their food-

• All Ingredients are locally sourced daily & they do not usually need refrigeration of raw materials.

• The Ghee (only cooking medium) that they use comes from a particular person in Bulandshahar.

The jalalis know their meats really well – what kind of animal to choose, size, fat ratio, cuts & of course they are masters of cooking the meats just right.

Ordering process –

We ordered thru a WhatsApp number printed on the advertisement. Pretty smooth process. The delivery person called us only once , after he reached our house.

Delivery –

The food was delivered to us in good strong, sealed plastic containers. Since most of the options are Curries, reheating on stove is the best option. – for pulao & biryani of course microwave is easy.

The food –

Loved it as always. All 6 dishes we ordered, were very good to outstanding.

The food did not feel heavy (which usually is the case with most commercially available mughalai food). Food by the jalalis surely did not remind itself later – good spices, properly cooked spices & good ghee being the cooking medium probably ensured this.

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

We had requested for smaller portions. So we paid for standard portions & got smaller portions of those + 1 starter & 1 dessert extra.

Namak boti – this was undoubtedly the best in kabab category in india as far as I can remember – it beautifully celebrated the flavor & texture of the meat like no body else. Salt, meat. Perfect taste. Robust & rustic flavors. Super soft, falling off from bones, texture. Rate it 4.95/5

Mutton yakhni pulao had long, fiercely independent grains of rice that soften only with warmth (little bit of heating, before eating) – at room temperature this pulao rice had a suboptimal texture.

Robust Flavours of meat in the mutton pieces of yakhni pulao, the right textures & a fab overall balance of taste. Full spices & achari mirch made the pulao stand out.

Great flavor of whole spices (u find that in the rice) & also pickled chillies made a huge difference. Rate the Rice 4.25/5

The Meat was outstanding again – platinum class. The jalalis really know their meats well & they know how to cook it just right. Loved the way the pieces were bursting out with flavors of meat. rate the meats 4.95/5

Overall rating of the pulao averages out to 4.6/5

Arbi ka salan – I can bet you can’t get an arbi dish as good & as grounded as this in a commercial set up – obviously this was home cooked. The Salan was simply excellent. The slight sliminess of arbi was intact in the simple but absolutely lovable gravy (which did not have any extra oil floating around). Rate it 4.75

Taar gosht was outstanding again. The gravy was Bursting out with flavors – from as soon as we opened the box, to when we were heating it , to the last drop in our plate, when we were having it!!! The gravy cud beat olfactory illusion substantially!!!!

We got to know that the uniqueness of the gravy came from use of Kharbooza seeds & a paste made of fried makhana (foxnuts).

The meat was perfectly cooked. Loved the cuts. Loved the pieces. Rate the dish 4.75/5

For dessert we had Zarda ( rice was same as in the pulao) – warming made the texture of rice optimum. The zarda was a bit unidirectionally sweet, except when the chunks of reduced milk wud appear in a bite!!!

Full Spices, Thin slivers of dried coconut & nuts galore, ensured that the dish was flavorful & had a very good interplay of textures.

Rate it 3.5/5

The second dessert, Gur ki kheer was just Outstanding. It was Intense. The grainy texture, short grained rice, full fledged Flavors of milk & spices , Nuts on top, Thin slivers of dried coconut – all of this did magic to the texture & the flavor.

Rate it 4.75/5

Overall rating of food at the Mughal plate averages out to 4.55/5

Look forward to trying more dishes from here in the months to come. Ordering this food for small home get together wud be fun for sure.