Minus the Eid ‘carnage’ of meat, the last week saw me twice break bread with my dear friends Tahir and Shaukat. On both occasions it was a game of chance and provided me into insights of two excellent dishes.

On Friday afternoon, I was dead tired and hungry and who better to visit than Tahir for a rundown of political discussions. As I was famished he offered me two pieces of ‘tawa’ fish from the famous Siddiq of Garhi Shahu. I used my hands to eat this delicacy. Siddiq fries his fish on a flat ‘tawa’ and does not use any flouring or eggs or any crust. The marination is just salt, a little pepper and a dash of lemon. This he allows marinating for an hour in which process the fish ‘loses’ some water and ‘dries’ a bit. In this state it is fried on not too hot a ‘tawa’, and the end result is a delicious piece of fish. But it has one aspect which concerns the manner in which ‘tawa’ fish is fried. Without the covering of ‘basan’ the oil tends to permeate the fish. By the time it is ready it is oily. The traditional method makes sure the oil never touches the fish. I recently baked some pink salmon using the same marination, and it was amazing.

If after cooking the fish is not allowed to drain oil, it becomes oily, and that is one thing Shaukat finds distasteful, and rightly so. But all said this is among the finest fried fish you can find in Lahore.

Sadly the Gowalmandi experts have declined in popularity and quality. They seem to miss the fact that only quality products keep selling, not a name alone. On Saturday I was back at the same stable and was offered ‘nihari’ from Muhammadi of Mozang Chungi. I have found this also to be a declining eatery, but to our luck a sleigh of hand found that an amazing pocketful of ‘nihari’ loaded with ‘magaz’ was given to our man instead of some other unlucky customer. Gosh, it was heavy going and full of ‘garam masalla’.

Handling ‘magaz’ remains a fine art that even good chefs miss out on. But we enjoyed ourselves and did not think much of the dish. I will not mark these two declining eateries and hope that they will pick up. But then as compensation Shaukat ordered ‘Walnut Halwa’ from the famous Salman of Ferozepur Road just near Mozang Chungi. This sweet shop from Gujranwala I have always rated as among the best in Lahore. The sweet was mild and the milk grain exact, in which excellent walnut pieces begged to be eaten. Amazing stuff. I will give it eight out of nine for quality. Highly recommended as winter approaches.

EID LUNCH: I had the pleasure of dining with probably Lahore’s favourite person, Mrs Mira Phailbus, the former principal of the Kinnaird College, Lahore. My dear friend Hasnain Almakky had invited me for lunch on Day Three, and what an amazing meal he had put on show.

This is one place where meat is treated as meat, taken care of with immense understanding. Few houses in Lahore host such wonderful lunches and dinners. The menu was roast lamb in a brown sauce, chicken ‘jalfarazi’, ‘saag goosht’, mutton ‘pilau’ loaded with fried almonds, ‘alloo bhujia’ and an array of other excellent creations. The sweets were also excellent. The lady of the house deserves my compliments and also Hasnain for making such a fine roast. It is always a pleasure to dine with fine educated people.

BAAKAR KHANI: After Eid I happened to pass by the famous Baking Versa ‘tandoor’ on Railway Road, off Gowalmandi Chowk, and found Sufi Sahib busy baking ‘baakar khanis’. He makes them on order and they keep well for almost six months.

After a chat about food – a Kashmiri favourite topic - he offered me a ‘baakar khani’ in a bowl of hot milk with honey. Excellent stuff. This is a complete Amritsari breakfast and one I love. But then the current price of a first rate ‘baakar khani’ is a howler. At Rs60 each it has become forbidding. But then that blue-blooded Kashmiri Khwaja Naseem Husain alias ‘Baba’ quipped: “It is bloody expensive I agree, but never to a Kashmiri.” — AMSHE