Moti Mahal vs Daryaganj: Delhi High Court to decide who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani

The battle between two iconic hotels in Delhi on who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani may finally be settled as the High Court has decided to adjudicate the years-long dispute.

The owners of Moti Mahal have sued Daryaganj restaurant proprietors for using the tagline 'Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani.

Judge Sanjeev Narula heard the case on January 16 after the owners of Daryaganj restaurants were served with a summons and instructed to respond in writing within 30 days.

Moti Mahal claims that it was their predecessor Late Kundal Lal Gujral who first brought Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani to India after partition.

“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, according to Bar and Bench.

Moti Mahal claims that Daryaganj restaurant is “misleading people into believing” that there is a relationship between Daryaganj restaurants and Moti Mahal.

However, lawyers of Daryaganj, which is yet to file its response to the suit, strongly contested the allegations labelling the whole suit as “baseless and lacking a cause of action”.

They argued that they had not engaged in any false representation and the allegations made in the suit were far from the truth.

The court will now hear the case on May 29.