Monday, April 6, 2015

Filandering Forker sets to make a video, finds Fish instead

Delhi's traffic is horrendous, absolutely mad, frenetic, the air choked with pollution and dust. A gigantic parking lot moving with the frustrating grace of a glacier. Who in their right mind would voluntarily decide to spend the better part of a day and night driving from one end to another, and repeat it again and again ?
  
Bollywood beats, thumping base, familiar tunes from those innocent years, new dance numbers fresh in the cortex from a recent wedding, all pretensions of high culture, requiems and amise buches now slowly washed over with a warm nape of Old Monk rum.... Adrenaline pumping, childhood memories edging us on, we set on a task, perhaps too tall an order but the mood was just right and a food adventure was in the making.

There is a reason I went with name Filandering Forker, among the other short listed choices, It's all about mucking about the city finding that perfect bite, that hidden gem in some forgotten alley.
A few clinks of glasses, a few Dunhills smoked, we set a future mission of finding what we thought would be the 10 best Seekh Kebab spots in Delhi. Just Seekh kebabs, hunted down live on camera, drinks in hand in all in one day. I wanted it raw, gonzo style, unfettered, real, no glossing over, no soft peddled bullshit. This was going to be the first video for a series that I want done around the cities and countries I travel and live. What better place to start where I spent my childhood, than Delhi. 

That was the plan, and we were ready to roll on a future date with all the logistics almost in place...almost... In the end I couldn't get the necessary time and technical resources together to get this pilot going. The dream lives on, and will probably happen first in China somewhere or Hong Kong, because stuff just happens faster here.

That settled, the boys were not going to give up, so we decided ad hoc to check out this fish shop that chief enthusiast and all around awesome dude Pawan had been raving about. From there on it turned into a memorable evening chasing down some favorite haunts supported by a cast that included Pawan's cuz, a fellow foodie and Delhi expert and my old friend, Nishit, Asterix to my Obelix.
I did realize over the course of the evening that to cover 10 places spread around Delhi we would atleast require two full days of shooting, This realization came about when hours in I had managed to cover just two spots for an actual review. The copious amounts of whiskey was not helping either. That said it is far harder to write a dining report than have shenanigans and drunken rumblings caught on camera.

Perhaps this introduction is longer than the actual review, but I had to share how we got here.

Paramjit Fish Wala 011 33106586
Moti Nagar › WZ 1, Opposite Metro Station, Basai Darapur Road, Moti Nagar, New Delhi

Front view of the famous Paramjit Fish Wala


Paramjit Fish Shop, has all the trappings of a Delhi Institution. Started post partition by a family that made their way from Peshawar via Amritsar. The food reflects the journey they took with local influences evident to the knowledgable. The history of these historical subcontinental cities is reflected in the food and its owners making for a winning combination.

The ultimate Paramjit fan, the awesome Pawan
who arranged the logistics and is a man in the
the know for some of Delhi's best eats. 



Talking about surroundings and influences, the Paramjit family has created an entire ecosystem that supports the take out only shop with a liquor shop, soda shop and amenities shop all serving the multitude of patrons sitting quietly in their cars waiting for some of the freshest and choicest fish on offer in the city.

All the cars on the road here are waiting
to get served before the stock runs out,
which is almost a daily thing. They shut
shop when they run out of fish.
There are no tables, there are car hoods served by waiters who's phone numbers the patrons know by heart and call to reserve a plate before they run out, which is almost daily. There is a parking usherer who takes his vocation very seriously guiding your car to one of the few spots, stretching a cool 100 meters along an extremely busy road. Like a crawling centipede this busy road is full of cars trying to get to Paramjit or wishing they were in for a fix of their favorite fish kebabs. 

Paramjit excels at fish kebabs, I think it's one of the finest in the city and can hold its own against the big boys. The fish procured daily from the same source as the Oberois, is cooked to a moist finish in the tandoor, glazed ever so often with what I was told was pure ghee from the country side. 

Fish Kebab cooked to perfection by masters of their trade


Served with a ubiquitous green chutney and some onions it worth a trip to this far end of delhi. The spice is just right, light to let the fresh fish and the mastery of the cooks shine through and enough to keep you salivating for more.

Fish Kebab Served with Green Chutney
& Onions

The journey is purely for the fish kebab, there is a small menu peppered with the usual tandoori fare, but it's purely for the kebabs that I recommend this treasured joint. A online name search highlights a sizeable following for their Amritsari Fish Pakodas. In fact to many in this part of Delhi they are known as, THE Pakoda wallas, which I mustvsay are quite good, but the kebabs are far superior in the opinion of this  reviewer and his friends. 

It is critical to note that these kebabs and pakodas do not travel well and the optimal cooking to your tongue time is really short. 



The menu is fairly small, but the fish is king
and I would suggest sticking to the
Fish Kebabs 

Mutton Seekh and Tandoori Chicken in the Tandoor


This is how most people get down to the business of eating
at paramjit, served right on the car.

Filandering & Forking around Model Town for some Fish Kebabs

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