A friend from US was craving for Indian food and after a lot of debate, we decided on Bombay Brasserie. The idea was to go in quick, get her food, get us some nibbles and then head out to meet every one else for dessert.

Quick didn't happen!

The order was simple. A Galouti kebab, 2 Garlic naans, one almond kofta gravy and one biriyani! The galouti had so much mixed reviews. I quite liked it. Both my other friends didn't. Our US friend is vegetarian! I don't know what they didn't like. I mean, it wasn't the greatest on earth, but certainly not bad enough for me to have to finish the plate. It was super soft, creamy, yummy and had a small bread. Maybe the bread, not being great did not add to the flavour, but the kebab it self was nice.

But the reason for this blog post is the gravy. I don't know we all loved, but the almond kofta gravy was fabulous! I mean, I could have just drunk the gravy without the garlic naan! Loved it, really loved it! The biriyani was white when the dough was removed, but when mixed, it took the colours. It was a good biriyani!

We headed out for dessert and the above cost us Rs. 1650! 

From the streets of Bangalore to the opulence of the Grand Chola.

Last year, I don't think I visited any 5 star hotels for Iftar. The year before that, every hotel had got it wrong in some form or the other and this year I have only seen ads from Grand Chola and Crowne Plaza. Fingers crossed!

Started in Opulence. A very nicely refreshing rose sherbet with super soft dates. The dates were melt in the mouth, but weren't stuffed with anything, just natural but very high quality dates. I think what I saw on top was the gold leaf! This was followed by a nice platter of fruits.

The special stuff started! The Haleem. This could possibly be the best haleem in Chennai. If you tell them to add some onions, they bring it without any onions on top. And a big plate of condiments with ginger, fried onions, chillies, ghee and other stuff. Do it yourself, they seem to tell me which was just perfect!!! My friend didn't say anything and his came with condiments pre set! Not to say that he did not dig into my condiments plate for more onions. The flavour was fantastic. It is sad I have to mention that there were no bones in the haleem. That is how haleem should be, but in so many places, they are filled with bones which ruins the haleem experience. So a place that serves without bones is actually a stand out.

The next was even better than the haleem. A Nihari. Rather, the ITC take on Nihari. It was medium thick with a stunning flavour and two pieces of mutton which simply fell of the bone! The super soft bread served with it was the only thing better. It was slightly sour with loads of seasoning on top and soaked the gravy really well!

The biriyani, though super flavourful, stood no chance against the haleem and the stunning nihari!

We finished with kheer which was good, but again stood no chance against the haleem and the nihari.

If I was to pick on something, I would have been extremely happy to see the chef do a 5 star version of the humble kanji to showcase the really local hero. But the local hero has not been marketed and I am afraid that the nombu kanji will be extinct and the haleem will eventually take over Chennai. The kanji needs to be branded!!!!

Priced at Rs. 1250 plus tax, your damages will be Rs. 1510! The portions are unlimited and you can ask for refills of any of the above, but I doubt you will have space after a 14 hour fast for more. If you are not fasting and don't fancy the buffet, this is the perfect way to get the best of ITC for about Rs. 1510!

I am yet to try a lot of haleem in Chennai, but I doubt it is going to get better than this! 

Doing business while eating is nothing new. Asking the host to take you to Hyderabad House may not be old. But driving around for 30 minutes and not finding a Hyderabad House in Hyderabad is definitely new. We ended in Sarvi with my host promising me that their food is great, while I've not heard of them before. But any new place and as usual I am game to try. P.S. I have not been to Hyderabad House before and thus the craving.

He said he will be happy to place the order on my behalf and I let him. Mutton Biriyani. Chicken Bhadshai (I believe I got the name, or at least the phonetics right). Galouti Kebab. He did not even blink before ordering any of these. He was as confident as ever. We restarted our discussions and waited about 15 minutes for the food to arrive.

I was appalled when I saw the biriyani, white in colour. The Galouti was blood red. The Chicken Bhadshai was the only one that looked half way appealing. Reluctantly, with the image of Hyderabad House in my brain, I took a spoonful of the biriyani and immediately stopped. I don't know if it was because my expectations were dropped or because of whatever, there was a flavour explosion in my mouth. The biriyani was fabulous. I will no longer judge a biriyani by its colour. The chicken bhadshai was fantastic. It was rich, full of flavour with I think some almonds and saffron adding to the rainbow of flavours. While the galouti was nice, I believe there was added colour to it, but otherwise I missed the little roti to smear it on. It wasn't great, but certainly not bad. The quantity was amazing. "We eat a lot around here," my host joked.

I was a satisfied man. While in Hyderabad twice earlier, I missed having great biriyani and this time I got it. No chicken 65 with biriyani, but no regrets.....when in Rome, eat what the Romans eat. Its better that way. Hyderabad House will have to wait, but I wasn't too unhappy with Sarvi. Oh yeah, on your way out, take some Irani Chai from the ground floor!!! 

"Yemma"

The same look that was on the guy who acted in the Tata Indica ad! If you are still gaping, you are forgiven! And yes, that was 1 plate!

5 minutes back, the same mountain that arrived in our neibour's table had us laughing! Why did they order a family pack for three people was our thoughts! Till the same mountain landed on our table.

There are some things in life that are not important. Cleanliness. Politeness. Etc.

Green Bawarchi is a place that gives you only what is important in life - Biriyani!

"1 plate chicken 65 and half plate mutton biriyani," was my order seating in a table for four and sharing it with my friend and two strangers. The place was packed!

"No chicken 65," was the first part of the curt reply, followed by "half plate for two people. No. 1 plate. Chicken kebab, same taste. 1 plate," he wrote and walked off. Did I want chicken kebab? No. Did that matter? No.

The chicken kebab came first. We started eating that succulent kebab and realized that maybe the lack of service got us this nice juicy kebab. And then the biriyani came! I mean the mountain. Hyderabadi Biriyani has that unique taste and this had a hint of it too.

I guess this place is all about the serving size! If you look past the cleanliness and service and if you're a girl, the oogles and stares that you will get, this is enjoyable. If is the operative word here! Next time we play Truth or Dare, dare me to take my DSLR here and shoot photos! You can consider yourself the winner!

Biriyani is priced around Rs. 250! And yes, this is Hyderabad, not Chennai!

When my colleague walked into my room with a full box of sweets, I was surprised.

"Why is the box full?"

"Employees are striking."

"What?"

"Yeah." A junior walked in.

"Why nobody took sweets?"

"We don't want sweets sir. We want only Biriyani."

"Oh."

"Yes, sir," he said, smiled and left my room.

"Dude, we need to serve biriyani,"my colleague said.

"We served it for our company day, a few months back."

"But apparently both of us did not serve it for many Ramzans and Bakrids and for a lot of our personal stuffs. We better serve it quickly or else it is going to be trouble."

"I don't really celebrate Bakrid. Even I didn't have biriyani."

"Do you think they care about that?"

The junior walked in.

"Dey. Shall we get biriyani Bismi?"

"That we can go there and eat, sir. We want something that is home made or made in bulk. Nice chicken biriyani."

"Idhellam too much."

"No, sir. Not too much."

"But why chicken biriyani man? That is like vegetarian sushi. Biriyani has to be mutton."

"Lots of us don't eat mutton, sir. Get chicken biriyani and most of us here can eat. Most vegetarians in our place eat chicken biriyani alone."

"Ada paavigala. OK, we will get you the biriyani. Now take the sweet that he brought from his hometown."

"No, sir. Biriyani first," as he left my room.

My colleague smiled. I was flummoxed. In our 5 year history, this has never happened.  And that is how and why, I had to call Nigar Sultana. Frantically. Urgently. "Do you do short notice biriyani, Nigar?"

"For tonight, no. For tomorrow, yes," she said. Confirmations within an hour and we were all set!

Biriyani arrived in her famed buckets. Smell was heavenly. Office was buzzing. One bucket was set aside for the the field guys. My college and me had to eat a portion from that. My partner was fasting. And cursing us. And immediately asking God for forgiveness. Curse. Forgiveness. Curse. Forgiveness. An hour later, a smiling junior walked into my room wiping both his mouth and his smirk.

"Thanks, sir." Smirk.

"How was the biriyani?"

"Very different, sir. But very tasty. All buckets empty." Smile. Smile then broadened. He knew he had to leave or risk me making fun of him, so he left with the smile.

For 6 buckets that served almost 50 people, my colleague and me shared the total damage of Rs. 6k. We only wished, some sweet was a part of it, even if it meant paying a little more.

End of story!

So, the cup cake queen who graduated to home baking all cake queen has now further post graduated to guru level! Maaria from Cafe Adoniya who started (ok, started marketing it perfectly) the designer cup cakes has taken the Adoniya brand, added Adoniya Academy to it and has started imparting baking lessons to those who want to learn! Not surprising, considering that this is a natural forward move for any enterprising home baker, but when I heard that she was teaching Biriyani making, I was more than just intrigued. And then, I found that another home cook, Tasneem Ayub, whom I fondly call, Tasneem Aunty and whose Biriyani and Zafrani Sweet is to die for, is doing the teaching! Whoa, the academy is now having guest teachers!

I was late for the event, but of course, just in time to taste the biriyani made in front of a 19 keen women and 1 man! OK, two men, me included, but I was clicking away and tasting away! The chicken biriyani was outstanding, but the shami kebab that she made out did the biriyani! Outdo a biriyani? Really? Is that even possible? Yes, it did. And then she taught the crowd to make Haleem!

There was one thing on everybody's mind - how to make perfect mutton biriyani? So, the next workshop, this Sunday, 17th November, is going to be on The Art of Making Mutton Biriyani! I don't know what it is officially titled, but thats the title for me. After I posted picture of the giant cup with me and the haleem, 3 seats have been taken by the wives of my friends! Sorry, but 3 down and a few more to go, so if you want to learn to make Mutton Biriyani, you know where to go!

Call Maaria - 9840285950
Call Tasneem Aunty - 9884078631

This is not advertiser's feature! If there are other interesting cooking things that you want to make public through this blog, write to me. If the first time is successful and you are having a second batch (or nth batch), I will be happy to announce it.

What so special about a bunch of 10 people waiting outside a 'Potti Kadai' (Local tea shop)  to get their biriyani? Nothing right? Then you are told that biriyani there is available only on Sundays, and then there is something special attached to it. A biriyani available only once a week? And then your watch reminds you that it is 830 AM!!!!! Whoa, 830 AM and people waiting to get biriyani!?!

The Arcot belt, including Ambur and Vaniyambadi is famous for their biriyani! Some time back, I would have called it a 'Slightly better tomato rice', but yeah, now that I am trying to understand biriyani, I realize that biriyani in this belt is one that is made with lesser of the spices and more of the masala! That is how the natives there like their biriyani and therefore that is how you will get it there. What happens when, in a place where biriyani is a home dish, waits every week to get their biriyani? Apparently people in this town get this biriyani and they call it 'Breakfast Biriyani'. WOW!!!

And that is how I discovered the 'Naatu Kozhi Biriyani', a weekly special made in a small tea shop, every Sunday and gets sold between 7 AM and 9 AM! Yep, AM!!!! My preparations started a day earlier - no Saturday night out with friends or late dinner,  but skipped dinner totally! The fact that one bloke in the group had his anniversary that Saturday and another one stayed back in Bangalore made matters easier! Woke up at 5 AM, prayed to God for a safe journey of gluttony, and left Chennai at 545 AM. Reached Vaniyambadi at about 830 (Vaniyambadi is a small town, about 20 km beyond Ambur, when you go from Chennai), and landed ourself at a friend's home there! My friend, his cousin and me then took the 2 km ride within the town to reach this potti kadai and we saw the crowd waiting already. We blocked a table, asked the man there for 3 biriyanis and waited. The biriyani's arrived and (yeah, after taking only 3 photos during which time, those two already started), I ate the biriyani. And as expected, it was under spiced, though my plate had a large cinnamon and two yelachis in it, higher in masala, but the country chicken was AMAZING!!!!! Just AMAZING!!!!  No chicken 65, no brinjal, no seating, no nothing to distract you from the biriyani, but just biriyani and a little onion raita.

It put us to sleep like we were sloshed!!!! Woke up at 330 in the afternoon and on the way back, we HAD to eat at Ambur. I know that Star and Star Original and others are famous there, but I have had biriyani in almost all of those shops and for me if it is Ambur, it has to be Khaja Biriyani and boneless chicken 65 (which they call boneless fry). If you are on there on any day, then Khaja is the biriyani to head to. Slightly more flavourful than the Vaniyambadi biriyani but this was the regular mutton biriyani, with super soft mutton pieces, a rather bad brinjal gravy, but greasy and tasty chicken 65 to go with it.

And if you are in this belt, especially Ambur, you must try their local adaptation of the gulab jamun, called the Makkan Peda - a really sweet dish, but unlike gulab jamun, you can either have it hot and fresh, or let it dry for a few days and then eat it. It is different both ways, almost like the soft and hard Mysore paak.

I have no way to tell you directions for this weekly special biriyani at Vaniyambadi, if you are there at the right time, enter the town and ask for Naatu Kozhi Biriyani Kadai and hope to get directions from the locals.

As for Khaja, it is on the highway, when heading from Chennai to Bangalore, it is on the left as soon as you enter the Ambur part of the highway. Khaja also has the country chicken biriyani on select days and is supposed to be popular among the locals!!!

Keep watching this space for more on Biriyanis!!! And if you liked reading this, please share!!! 

I'll admit - I have been unfair to most biriyanis in town (or out of town), sometimes going to the extent of calling it Tomato rice - which most believe is the biggest disgrace to a biriyani or the dirtiest word in the dictionary to call a biriyani. Yes, sometimes, some of them deserved it and other times may be not, but yes, unfair would be an understatement! So I am out to discover the biriyani in its various forms. Let us accept the fact that biriyani has been around for so long that it is only natural that it gets localised, retaining just its essence! So what distinguishes the good ones from the bad? Which ones deserve to be called Biriyani and which ones deserve to be called Tomato Rice?

After looking around at most possible sources, Biriyani seems to have originated from around Iran (modern day Persia)! Biriyani comes from the Persian word 'birian' or 'beriyan' which literally means 'fried or roasted before cooking'. However there is always a reference from our Tamilian sources taking some credit for whatever is done wherever in the world and this time it is 'Oon Soru' a reference from as early as 2 AD, in a number of Tamil Literature and Oon soru was supposed to be made with rice, ghee, coriander, pepper and bay leaf. There are also references of biriyani being created to feed soldiers which had the rice to provide energy and also the meat and vegetables to balance nutrition and the spiced to make it tasty enough to make them eat. There are also references to biriyani being created for the poor man who one day decided to mix the rice, gravy meat and vegetables to make it easier to eat it all quickly and go to work, but in general all this seems to have happened some where around Iran.

But, I guess, for all practical purposes, the Biriyani's migration to India can be credited to the Mughals.

The best way to try and make out all those difference is to know how a biriyani is made! Yes, there are many variations, but the basics of making a good biriyani needs to understood! And so, my journey started from the one place where I could see it being done from scratch - home! The biriyani made at home is one that I grew up eating a lot (I am pretty sure you knew that information) and one that my friends love to come home for. The biriyani at home has always been a hit, which is why I am starting from here. It gave me important insights which I am sure will come in handy when I try to differentiate biriyani from tomato rice! Over the next couple of months, I intend to understand this wonderful dish inside out - Join me!

So here is how biriyani is done at home!

Ingredients

1 kg Basmati Rice
300 gm of ghee
1.25 kg of cut chicken or mutton
1 kg tomato quartered
1 kg onion thinly sliced
5 teaspoons of ginger garlic paste
7 cloves
5 pieces of cardamom
1 cinnamon stick (about 6 cm)
2 green chillies
1 cup of curd
5 teaspoon red chilly powder (a little more if you want it spicier)
A bunch of mint and coriander leaves
You will need a large vessel that can accomodate all of this.

The pictures below were not designed to look good but to show you the exact colour of the cooking process and almost represent it the way it looked when it was being cooked.

So take the large vessel and put in on the source of heat - a gas stove or wood fire or whatever! Once it is completely dry, the ghee can go in and wait till it get nice and warm. Now add the sliced onion and cook till they become transparent and slightly roasted. Depending on the heat, this process might take anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes. "The thinner the onion is sliced the better - you know the surface area is more and the onions add a lot of flavour to the biriyani, so make it very thin" says the mom, the chief cook! "See this colour, wait till it gets to this" she says as she points out the onion in the vessel. On a rough estimate, the onions became almost half the quantity when the colour she was looking out for surfaced. Now she put the rice in water and left it to soak. "For this much rice, it must soak for about 15-20 minutes" she said.

"Now you have to add the spices" she says as she drops the cinnamon, cardamom and the cloves inside the vessel. "See, once you add these, the onions will stop cooking, so the onions have to be perfect before you add this. If you add this before the onions, then the onions will also have the flavour of these spices and the flavour of onion will be less" she explains as she stirred what was inside the vessel! After a couple of minutes, she put the ginger garlic paste in and continued stirring and after another couple of minutes the tomatoes went in. "Maybe some of these hotels add tomatoes first or don't put the spices before the tomatoes which is why it might taste like tomato rice" was her explanation of tomato rice biriyanis. How much of this technicality affects those biriyanis, I am not sure, but it was good to know. And so the tomatoes kept cooking and cooking till they started reducing. "This is when the meat must go in" she said put the 1.25 kg of cut chicken.  "If you put mutton, then the gravy has to cook for longer, so you can keep the heat a little lower. Also for mutton, if you are making at home, then you could cook it in a pressure cooker and then put it in this gravy" she said.

In a separate vessel, she put the soaked rice into boiling water. After about 15 minutes of stirring, the uncut chillies and the red chilly powder went in with the curd. "Some how home made ginger garlic paste and home made red chilly powder seems to affect the biriyani. If I use the ready made ones, all of you complain about the biriyani." she said with a smile. "Curd is optional, but I always add it" she added. This is also the time the mint leaves and the coriander leaves went into the vessel.

"If you made it correctly, then by this time, the chicken would have cooked perfectly. If you did not follow time correctly or quantity, then the chicken would not have cooked and gravy will start to reduce too much. If that happens, pour little water, but right now it is perfect" she showed the vessel with the cooked chicken in a greatly reduced gravy with a sense of pride. The gravy was a dark orange. "By this time the rice is also cooked. You must time it correctly so that the rice is cooked just when the biriyani gravy is ready. If you leave the rice to rest and get even little cold, then the biriyani will not taste as good." It was time to now place the cooked rice on top of the gravy and keep it warm to prevent it from overcooking and giving the "dhum".  For that at home, she took a tawa, put it on the fire and then kept this biriyani vessel on top of it. The rice was placed on the gravy and kept on the tava for a little while till we were ready to eat.

The vessel was now removed from the stove and placed on the floor where the mixing process began. "Put the spoon to the base and mix from down to up, not in a stirring movement" she said and I was not sure how much of a difference it made, but once the biriyani was mixed and served with the Chicken 65, the brinjal gravy and the cucumber raita, it was heavenly!!!! After all the hard work (yeah watching biriyani being made with all the brilliant smell and not able to eat that smell IS HARD WORK), we ate! I ate 3 full servings and was stuffed to the nose!!!!

Let me know if you need the recipe for the chicken 65 and brinjal because both of them turned out to be great as well, but is not very difficult to make and the recipes are available on the net. The chicken was not dry like it happens in most places but was juicy! The curd makes a load of difference.

But this is the anatomy of a biriyani, the basis of this wonderful dish. So now that the base is covered, variations (and poor imitations) can now be identified.

Keep checking out this space for the next biriyani recipe coming from another home cook, this time Urdu Muslim style!


* For the research on the origins of biriyani, similar information was found on a number of blogs, websites all of them taken from other websites and blogs, so there is no one particular blog or website to give credit to. Thanks to everyone who helped me get this information.

I am slowly beginning to appreciate the taste of biriyani that is not made at the Muslim weddings. I have been someone who never likes biriyani outside of home or where there is no weddings involved. But I am trying to like the other types of biriyanis as well.

A friend told me about the biriyani at Le chocolate pattieseri and I was shocked to hear that biriyani is found at a place named like that. That same day, me and my collegue (who ate 1.2 kg of biriyani at my house not so long ago) headed there to see what the fuss was all about. We asked for two biriyanis and one chilli chicken. The biriyani was the tri colored pulao that I normally refer it to as. It tasted very nice and I would have liked it if it was named anything else, but as biriyani, no. The chilly chicken was excellent. The friend who is used to our types of biriyani, was sulking that we drove all the way from T. Nagar to eat this. Its good but not worth the drive was his opinion.

Bottom line is, I think I have to evaluate my definition of biriyani. Non Muslim friends who have eaten it have loved it, some Muslim friends who have eaten it and are used to the other types have also really liked it. So though I call it the pulao, you might really like it, so that's why I thought I must write this post. The three dishes cost us Rs. 380 by the way and service is not the best in the world.

Food 8/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 7/10
Price 7/10



- And hey people, if you enjoyed reading this, please share it.

Ah, its been almost 10 years since I ate at a Buhari's, so when we had the chance for a quite Sunday night dinner, off we went to the outlet opp the Central Railway Station for some Biriyani and some rendezvous for the mother - who just could not stop keep recalling all the times she ate there and the wife countering it with how her mom has always had food there! God knows, but maybe the two have eaten there a few decades back not knowing that their offspring will one day be man and wife!

Anyway, we chose to eat in the A/C section, which had a little more sanity to it and once settled down, had a look at the menu. I have no idea why people order fried rice and noodles at Buhari - does not make sense to me, but I saw a few of those being served. We just stuck to what is expected to be good - Chicken Biriyani, Chicken 65, Gobi 65 (wife loves Gobi), Butter Chicken and Naan! The chicken Biriyani was outstanding - I thoroughly enjoyed it - something that happens very rarely for me with Biriyani. The chicken 65 was equally outstanding - Legend goes that this was the 65th item on the Buhari's menu and hence the name - I have no way of confirming or rejecting that hypothesis, but it was great! Always mention Chicken 65 boneless, because its bone counterpart is certainly not good!!! The gobi was alright, the naan was nice and the butter chicken was neat! We finished with Falooda which was pretty ordinary, there was Semia inside instead of the original falooda. Mom had to get herself half a kg of Buharis Muscat - a halwa that is a specialty here and it was superb!

Prices are higher if you sit in the A/C, the chicken biriyani was Rs 130, the Chicken 65 Rs 90, the naan Rs 20 and the Butter Chicken Rs 90! Service is average, but nothing to complain about! Nothing much to speak about as far as ambiance goes!

Yes, I will go back here for some biriyani next time I feel like it!

Food 9/10
Price 7/10
Service 6/10
Ambiance 6/10

There are a number of outlets, but I went to the one opp Central Station!

Noted to be a great place for North West Frontier food, the service in recent times, especially during weekends, when they run full, leaves much to be desired. For example you might find that something you ordered might not be served at all, but worse, claimed that it was definitely served. We did bring it to the notice of the manager, but how would you complain about waiters not assigned to your table conveniently ‘not looking’ at you, rather than excusing themselves and asking ‘your’ waiter to come over? So you have to wait till ‘your’ waiter sees you waving your hand.

But that said, the food at Kabul is still one of the best in its cuisine. Do not let a plain menu fool you, the food being served is definitely worth more than the simple printed 2 page menu and the prices. Both vegetarian and non vegetarian are equally good and close to authentic. You have a choice of fruit drinks served in decent sizes, my favourite however is the jal jeera-a great appetizer.

The signature dishes are probably the biriyani varieties- they have 5 different varieties and they are not just different names or the same tomato rice served in different colours. They are actually different biriyanis. The chicken zafarani biriyani is the less spicier version with a tinge of sweetness to it and if made well, will blow your mind. The murgh mutton biriyani is quite as nice and there is one version that has potatoes in it, the name of which I cannot recall, however the description on the menu will tell you that you hit the right dish. I must say that all the 5 varieties are decent, one better than the other, next to a well made muslim marriage biriyani!

The Thanghdi kabab was decent, though the flavouring could have been richer, while the Raan (which by the way is a whole lamb leg cooked to your choice) is way tastier. Their paneer dishes are very very good and will also tempt a hard core non veg guy. The gravies are of decent portions and most of them give out the aura of being made somewhere in the North West region itself. Naans, kulchas and stuffed parathas are a standard and are not anything extraordinary (and you don’t expect it to be).

The choice of desserts are very minimal and more often than not ,you will be offered a choice between strawberry ice cream and kulfi. The kulfi is served in the earthen pot and is probably the same as any good road side kulfi (which is by no means inferior), so I suggest you have your desserts elsewhere.

All in all, a nice place for the specific cuisine. Its expensive for a couple but will work out to be very comfortable on the pocket for a large group of people and will make you feel you got what you paid for (if the service is not pathetic on that particular day). The ambience is unassuming and very northy and the waiters are dressed in kurthas to give you that feel, not a bad job overall.

Food- 7/10

Service- 2/10

Ambience- 5/10

Kabul is located on TTK Salai right after the adidas showroom.

Thirumana biriyani...

I must say that after a long time, I had biriyani close to the ones we make at home and close enough to the Muslim wedding biriyani...the biriyani with the brinjal curry was VERY GOOD!!!! It will cost your Rs 65 a plate and the chicken 65 ,Rs.50. They serve brinjal, onion raitha and sweet on the house and its unlimited. The serve pineapple kesari or pineapple halwa on most days and both taste extremely good. Though its on the house, its also unlimited so make the most of it! Rs. 115 seemed decent for a plate of good food.....Its crowded and you might find a stranger sharing your table if you are a group of 5. They seat 6 people on every table immaterial of the size of the group, so prepared to lose your privacy. Anyway, its not a place for business discussions. Its a place to eat and get out!

They also serve pepper chicken, fried prawns and plain biriyani amongst other side dishes.

Vegies, dont even think of entering this place!!!

Thirumana Biriyani is located on Greme's Road, Egmore, bang opposite the Seashells restaurant.