A trip to City of Nizams — Hyderabad
Hyderabad — the pearl city of India, high tech capital , City of Nizams — a city that doesn't require much of an introduction. This city is a treat for the lovers of history, architecture, ornaments, and food. If you ask an Hyderabadi what had you for breakfast ? for lunch ? for dinner ? Well,the answer obviously would be — Biriyani. Wait, before you judge the city’s culinary culture based solely on its world-famous biryani, Irani Chai, Hyderbadi Haleem, Kheema Roti, Mutton Paaya and then there is this host of sweets which are all equally scrumptious.
For a long time we have been looking for an opportunity to visit Hyderabad. Finally our colleague Bala took the extreme step of getting married in Hyderabad. We had a packed schedule and we proudly take you through our gastronomical tour. We left no stone unturned to achieve the enlightenment.
We boarded 4.40 PM Hyderabad Express from Chennai Central. Our first delicacies of food was delivered to us by our colleague Naveen at Nellore. Dhabha style Rambha Chicken(nothing to do with any actresses I guess). It was over in a flash.
Saturday early morning we alighted at Secunderabad. Bala’s friend, Dinesh, picked us up and took us around Hyderabad. The first place we made a stop was at Hussain Sagar lake, the largest man made lake in the world.The beauty of Hussain Sagar lake is unmatched and is enhanced by a 16 ft high statue of Buddha, situated right in the center of the lake. It is an amazing sight.
We started our food journey from Pragathi Tiffin Center,Hanuman Tekdi with soft idlies and lip smacking Special Butter Paneer Dosa’s. It was as if the entire city was having breakfast in this shop. Although it is an humble outlet you literally have to stand in queue to get the dosas.
That was perhaps the only encounter we had with vegetarian food. Vegetarians kindly excuse us as we have nothing to offer you other than this.
The next stop was of course at the Charminar. Do you know who built it and why? Dont worry, none of us knew. Built in 1591 by Hyderabad’s founder, Quli Quebec Shah, to mark the end of the plague in the city, Charminar is the iconic symbol and center piece of Hyderabad . It is beautifully designed from inside. It is of Indo-Islamic architecture style, incorporating Persian architectural elements.From the second floor you get grand views of streets with zillions of shoppers and selfie-taking tourists. But it is sad to see that our romeos has inscribed on the walls of Charminar to declare their undying love.
For the first time I saw a benefit from digital India. For the entry ticket if you pay by card its 20/- and if you pay by cash its 25/-.
Birla Temple located on top of the hill of 280 ft is something that you cannot miss when you go around Hyderabad. Our next stop was at the hill top. The temple is magnificently built in white rocks. You can have the view of the entire city with cold breeze embracing you all the time. Birla Mandir is almost 40 years old but felt like recently built confirming the difference between a privately maintained and publicly maintained assets.
Continuing our food trail we reached Cafe Bahar for lunch which is supposed to serve authentic Hyderabad Biriyani. At 12.45 pm we had to be in the waiting zone and the restaurant was bursting with people. Trust me ,these people take their Biriyani’s very seriously.
We ordered a family pack of Bahar special mutton biriyani with double masala and a chicken dum biriyani for me.
At night, we met our colleague Satish who was in the city from US for his personal visit. We met at Prost, Jubilee Hills, the affluent suburban side of Hyderabad.
It is said that Charminar looks even more beautiful when you see at the night. At 1 am the place was still crowded and it was amazing to gaze at it.
We were told that Mutton Paaya is very famous . But the decision to roam around the city to get it at 3 am was a disastrous one. Better not to mention it.
It was important that we had a good start the next day. There was nothing that could beat the Kheema- Roti breakfast at Paradise.This place was famous for being famous. The bus stop, the metro station , fly overs are all named after Paradise. For vegetarians , egg-chicken-iterians the only choice was roti with aloo curry.
Again we had to wait here and the wait was worth every paisa. Ask Kalai, he was sweating while eating the Kheema.
And then Bala reminded us that he was getting married. The picture is a proof that we did attend and graced the occasion. The couples were beautiful and we were happy that Bala was no more a bachelor.
We ate the desserts at the function as we had other plans for the main course and the time was running.
Shah Ghouse Biriyani ,well this one is a must try. The A/C section of the restaurant was full. The waiter not even bothered to ask us to wait. We moved to the general section which was in total chaos. More than the guests it was crowded with swiggy delivery boys. We were not ready to leave the place because the aroma of Biriyani was enticing . We somehow managed a table. We ordered Special Mutton and Chicken Biriyani. This was one of the best biriyani‘s’ I ever tasted and we ended up buying to large packs of chicken Biriyani for our dinner.
It was time for train but how could we miss the Karachi and Osmania biscuits. Cafe Nilofer the legendary traditional Hyderabadi café is the best place to get it .What stands out here are is the buttery soft Osmania Biscuits that go perfectly well with Irani chai.We grabbed boxes of them on your way out to savour them at home.
Finally we had to say adieu to the city. While the heart was still yearning for more stomach was not in a mood to accept. We haven’t explored even 1 percent of Hyderabad cuisines and we were sure we will be back again to the food capital.
