Biryani Trail: Hyderabad

I was back in Hyderabad, this time for medical reasons, but that didn't deter me to eat my heart out on the streets of the biryani capital.

The last time i had come to Hyderabad, i went back dissapointed by how mediocre the biryanis were (I had it at Cafe Bahar, at Azizia and at the World famous Paradise; where i enjoyed, i struggled and i surrendered).

Instead, i marvelled at the robust Andhra cuisine, gorging on spice-heavy fish curries, crab masala, gongura mutton and Andhra style biryanis at such places as Rayalaseema Ruchulu, Ulavacharu and The Spicy Venue.

This time around, i resolved to look hard for the real thing the city is famous for.

We all know by now that the kachchi biryani tradition of Hyderabad, which is to say the raw meat and rice are dum-cooked together, is distinctly different from the pakki biryani tradition of Lucknow in which the meat and rice are cooked separately and then assembled before being finished on dum.

In Lucknow, they tend to depend on kewda, rosewater and saffron to flavour the rice. In Hyderabad, they rely on spices and herbs, and as the meat cooks, it imparts its flavour to the rice.

According to purists, the only real biryani is a kachchi biryani!

My first stop was at the ever-popular Bawarchi, so popular that imposters have sprung up all over the city and of course, it is hard to get a table here. The biryani arrived in minutes as i settled in. The portion, like all Hyderabad places, was huge even for a heavy-eater like me. 

The biryani was spicy and moist, with a bit of heat at the end of every mouthful. The rice and meat were incredibly flavoursome. But the generous layer of masala at the base of the biryani left me on slow burn for quite sometime. Khubani ka meetha i had for dessert was a fitting conclusion.

The second place i went to was the famous Shah Ghouse Hotel, at Shah Ali Banda in the old city. The place looked grim and like most other popular Hyderabad eateries, has a cafe on the ground floor and restaurant.

The biryani was hot and packed quite a punch. The rice was long grained and flavourful and the meat was generous and tender. The kebabs and tala hua gosht i tried were less successful.

Next i headed to Nayaab, which is close to Shadab in the Charminar area. The biryani here had a lot of masala and was okay but the rest of the food was excellent. I had an outstanding Paya nihari, a wonderful Malai Paya masala (in which the gelatinous trotters just melted in your mouth) and a very nice Bheja fry masala (unctuous and smokey). This is certainly a heaven for offal lovers.

And the final stop was of course Shadab,which  has become an institution now in the Charminar city. There were huge queues and i had to wait for over 30 mins for a table. I tried Nihari, Biryani and a dish they call Pakistani Chicken.

 The biryani was milder in comparison, well spiced and scrumptious. The meat was succulent and full of flavours. The nihari had strong flavours, unlike the subtler purani dilli ones. And Pakistani chicken was greenish, appeared like the hyderabadi version of the punjabi saag meat but was delicious.

This was a more satisfying repast.

So here's the point: in all the seemingly authentic biryanis i have had at some of the famous/popular/legendary places in Hyderabad, none were subtle or had any usage of kewda, ittar, rosewater to perfume the rice we are so used to in Lucknow and Calcutta (and made to believe that this is the aroma of a biryani).

The flavours of Hyderabadi food are robust and derived from the culinary intercourse that have had happened when the Mughal court cuisine met the flavours of Deccan.

So do not go to Hyderabad expecting an aromatic biryani to hit your senses, instead, be prepared to get hit by spices and robust flavours of the grand cuisine of Nizam's court.

And it's always worth to make a trip to Hyderabad just for the food.

[REPOST from 2016]