About Tunday Kababi (Chowk Original)
Tunday Kababi opened in 1905 in the Chowk quarter near Akbari Gate to serve the old Nawab Wajid Ali Shah who had lost his teeth and could no longer chew the standard Awadhi kebab styles. The founder Haji Murad Ali — known as 'Tunday' (one-handed) for an arm injury sustained in his youth — created the galouti kebab specifically for the Nawab: a finely-minced buffalo-and-spice mixture tenderised with raw papaya, blended with a 160-spice Nawabi masala that the Murad family has kept secret for one hundred and twenty years, formed into small flat patties, fried over a hot iron tava in clarified butter, and served with sheermal saffron bread.
The signature is the Galouti Kebab Plate at ₹120 — six small patties on a steel plate with two sheermal pieces, a small portion of mint-chutney, and sliced raw onion-and-lemon. The premium Mutton Galouti Set runs ₹180 (using mutton instead of buffalo); a tasting plate with galouti, shami kebab, and a small biryani portion is ₹280. Most diners order just the galouti and eat by tearing the sheermal bread, wrapping a piece around the kebab, and eating with onion-and-chutney.
The room is functional — twelve seats at a long marble counter, the open kitchen visible at the back where the kebab cook (a Murad family member) flips the patties on the hot tava in continuous batches, fluorescent lighting, framed photographs of celebrities and politicians who've eaten here over the decades. The kitchen has been operating from the same address since 1905 and the recipe has not changed.
Walk-ins reliably have a fifteen-to-thirty-minute queue from 5pm-9pm; lunch service (12-3pm) is calmer. Cash is preferred (cards accepted at the newer Aminabad branch but not always at Chowk). The original Chowk address is a small Old-Lucknow alley three blocks from Akbari Gate — most Western visitors arrive by taxi or the more authentic local rickshaw. The newer Aminabad branch is more accessible and serves the same kebabs, but the Chowk original is the verifiable invention site of galouti and is unambiguously the address for the genuine experience.
Best Occasion Fit
Solo travellers — this is the Lucknow food experience. Counter seat, twenty-minute meal, ₹120 bill, the dish in its 120-year-old original form. For team dinners with food-curious colleagues, the queue gives the meal a built-in story. As a first date with someone unfamiliar with Awadhi cuisine, the simplicity of the format (one-bite kebabs, small flat-bread, share-plate eating) makes it low-stakes.
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