Letter From New Delhi

India’s butter chicken spat throws light on South Asia as a pot that simmers with many culinary disputes

The "Original 1947 Butter Chicken" served at Daryaganj Restaurant (left) and the one served at Moti Mahal Delux, a chain launched in 2003. PHOTO: DARYAGANJ RESTAURANT, MOTI MAHAL DELUX
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NEW DELHI – It would be fair to say that most customers at the Moti Mahal Delux restaurant in Delhi know what they are going to order even before they look at the menu.

For those who do not, signs proclaiming the restaurant’s legacy as the “inventors” of butter chicken are all over the premises, whipping their taste buds into a frenzy as they walk up to the first-floor eatery.

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