Meals, books & biscuits behind Partition-era businesses that became part of Delhi’s story

Delhi has a way of turning everyday places into part of its own story. A meal at Moti Mahal, a book picked up at Bahrisons or a packet of Frontier Biscuits can feel like an ordinary part of life in the capital.

But behind these familiar names are stories that go back to the Partition of 1947 — and to families who arrived in a changing Delhi and built businesses that would go on to become part of the city’s identity.

As India approaches its 80th Independence Day, these businesses offer a different way to look at the country’s journey since 1947: Through food, books and the small everyday things that have stayed with generations of Delhiites.


The stories are different, but the underlying thread is strikingly similar: Partition took away a home and a livelihood, but it did not take away the ability to build again.

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Restaurant that brought Peshawar to Daryaganj

Before Moti Mahal became a Delhi institution, its history was tied to Peshawar in undivided India.

Kundan Lal Gujral, a foundational figure long synonymous with the brand, began his culinary journey there in 1920.

Then came 1947.

Like millions of others, the Gujral family was forced to leave their home. In Delhi, Moti Mahal found a new base in Daryaganj, carrying forward the culinary traditions brought over from Peshawar.

“Delhi is much more than the birthplace of our modern business — it is the city that gave Moti Mahal its second life,” Monish Gujral, managing director at Moti Mahal Management Services Pvt Ltd, told ET Online.

Over the decades, Moti Mahal became part of the social life of the capital. Politicians, diplomats, artists, business leaders and generations of families passed through its doors. In that sense, the restaurant’s history became intertwined with Delhi’s own evolution.

For the enterprise, however, heritage is not supposed to mean keeping a business frozen in time.

The customer who walks into a restaurant today is more adventurous and demanding than the diner of earlier decades. Dining out is no longer restricted to special occasions, while provenance, authenticity, healthier options, convenience and experience have all become part of the decision.

Moti Mahal has responded by expanding beyond its signature dishes into newer concepts, cafes, catering and specialised formats.

The signature recipes, however, remain the anchor.

A bookshop that became a Delhi landmark

A few kilometres away, in Khan Market, another family business has built a different kind of legacy.

Bahrisons Booksellers was established in 1953 by Balraj Bahri Malhotra, with a personal collection of around 1,000 books. The shop began just years after the Partition and became part of the new Delhi that refugees were helping to build.

The story of its early years is as much about people as books.

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In a 2023 Instagram post marking the store’s 70th anniversary, Aanchal Malhotra, author, oral historian and daughter of Anuj Bahri Malhotra, recalled that her grandfather was a 25-year-old refugee from Malakwal when he bought the Khan Market shop. He was living in Kingsway Camp and would cycle to the store each morning, opening at 9.30 am.

Her grandmother, who had arrived in Delhi from Dera Ismail Khan, now in modern day Pakistan, was working at the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, created by the Government of India at the time. After the couple married in 1955, she would spend her lunch break at the shop while Balraj went to Janpath to get new stock.

That modest enterprise eventually became a fixture of Delhi’s literary and social landscape.

Thebusiness was not always solely a bookseller. In its earlier years, the family also worked as printers, binders and stationers.

The business was subsequently carried forward by the next generations. Anuj Bahri Malhotra began accompanying his father to the shop in 1979, joined full-time in 1981 and eventually took charge of the business.

An interview with The Hindu, from the same year, captures what has kept the store relevant even as Kindle, e-reading and online shopping changed the book trade. Anuj told the newspaper that the shop continued to draw people who wanted to browse shelves, discover titles, discuss books and seek recommendations — experiences difficult to replicate through an online purchase.

The physical store itself remains intimate. The Khan Market shop, spread over about 800 sq ft, was established in 1953, and the family’s relationship with customers has been central to its survival.

Its customers have included political leaders, bureaucrats, diplomats, academics, authors and generations of ordinary readers.

But for the family, heritage has never been an excuse to stand still.

Anuj has expanded into publishing and literary representation, including Tara India Research Press and the RedInk literary agency. By 2023, Bahrisons had expanded to 10 stores across Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Gurugram and Noida.

But perhaps the enduring measure of the store’s legacy is not its footprint.

It is the stories people tell.

In her anniversary post, Aanchal noted customers returning across four generations, recounting memories of her grandfather nurturing their love for books, sharing chai with her grandmother, or meeting their partners at the shop.

Hoti Mardan to Sadar Bazar: Bakery that crossed borders

The next story unfolds at the household level.

Frontier Biscuits traces its beginnings to 1921 in Hoti Mardan, now in Pakistan. According to the company’s account of its history, 17-year-old Munshi Ram Sethi travelled to Delhi in the years around Partition, leaving behind the place where he had grown up and the small bakery where he had spent time with his father, Mangal Sain.

In Delhi, the family started again.

Production in the 1950s was tiny — around 10-15 kg of handmade biscuits, according to the company. The family eventually established a shop in Sadar Bazar, with Munshi Ram retaining the name “Frontier” for the enterprise.

The business grew by prioritising quality over scale and by relying heavily on direct sales through company-owned or exclusive franchise stores.

From a handful of recipes, Frontier eventually expanded into 48 varieties of biscuits, along with cakes and sugar-free offerings. The business passed to Munshi Ram’s sons, Pawan and Sanjeev, and is now being managed by the fourth generation.

Its product range has expanded far beyond biscuits, covering chips and namkeen, savouries, sweets and seasonal products such as gajjak, chikki and a winter-special biscuit.

But the company’s own description of its appeal repeatedly comes back to something less measurable: memory.

Biscuits, it says, are tied to childhood, family reunions, tea-time conversations and small moments of comfort. That nostalgia has become part of Frontier’s brand identity.

A new chapter

For Frontier as for Moti Mahal and Bahrisons, Delhi was not simply where the business happened to land. It was where the next chapter began.

They were built in a Delhi that was still absorbing the enormous human shock of Partition. The stories of these three offer only a glimpse into the many displaced families who rebuilt their lives and livelihoods in the city.

Some started with restaurants, some with shops, some with small manufacturing ventures.

What followed was not simply economic recovery. It was the creation of neighbourhood identities and institutions that would eventually become inseparable from Delhi itself.

In the process, they helped build the Delhi that exists today.