Hungry in Hyderabad: Dialogue in the Dark at inOrbit

Yes that's how it looks

This is my best shot of a restaurant ever, actually its just black color image. But that's exactly what is Dialogue in the Dark all about. Its a dining experience in absolute darkness, and a unique experience it is. You absolutely cannot see anything. All you have to guide you are your other senses touch, sound, smell and would you believe - taste.

Unlike a usual restaurant you pre-pay for your meal from the combos on offer, check in your phones (I like this a lot, I hate phones during meals), your watches and basically any light emitting device. You also get frisked by a guard for good measure. Past thick curtains you meet your server, a very capable and warm blind person who leads you to your table and looks after you for the meal.

You constantly remain amazed at the lack of sight in the new, almost alien environment where even discovering there is a plate and fork, spoon placed in front of you and how you and your friends sound. Those senses are highly amplified. I couldnt wait for my meal.

The server serves your meal deftly, and its a complete surrender to the food. Despite my unwashed hand, I had to dig in to feel what I am eating and taste it and know it minutely. As I said - amplified. I could really taste how good the various items on my plate were. Very nice experience to have.

Outside,  some of the staff leaving for the day in the background

And I really liked the fact that this idea benefits the blind, gives some of them a role in such an experience and some of the funds go for their welfare.

Its also a very good corporate team building activity I came to know, so I might get my future colleagues to a similar place later.

Whats for lunch?

'So how did it go?' I asked a A friend of mine who had just got back from an interview. 'Aaah pretty OK, lets see, I am not too excited' he replied nonchalantly. 'But isn't it your target company and best fit job?' I asked. 'Yeah well it was until this afternoon'. 'So what changed?' I asked again now irritating this guy who was focusing on his Chhole Samosa. 'Arre yaar, unka cafeteria main khaana achha nahi thha, thhoda enthu kam ho gaya' (The food wasn't good in their cafeteria, I lost some enthusiasm for it ) he replied between breaths.

So after a few more minutes of pointless banter over jobs and the relation of food with it, we decided we should send a mail to career services to include the cafeteria menu of the recruiting company along with the job description. Though at the serious thought of pissing off the career services, I chickened out.

But food in a company or organization does come up in conversations. Company feedback from seniors end conversations with 'things are good...but the food sucks'. Hey but, I am going to work there and build a career, not check into a restaurant and comment on their idly vada sambar.

An army marches on its bulging stomach. Food comes as a break from stress and rigour. Taste is one of the senses which we can pamper and something which we can control and affect. and it needs to be pampered. Health of course is of course a big outcome of what we eat, and if we don't have healthy tasty choice, we are in a soup quite literally.

And blessed are the ones who get a delicious dabba (lunch box), once in a while. Prepared by a spouse who is in the exact stage of lateness to office or a dabba delivery service which drowns their veggies in copious unrefined oil.

Beggers cant be choosers most of the times, but when the opportune moment comes and I get asked 'so do you have any questions for us?' I shall probably reply 'khaan main kya hai?' (whats for lunch?)

Hungry in Hyderabad: Flavors of China at Madhapur

An empty restaurant on a Sunday afternoon is an ominous sign. Or an awesome opportunity. On a very strong recommendation from my well traveled pal, we moved our lunch plan to this place. After a scrumptious trip to Pondicherry, my tastebuds expected something really nice to get a blog post out of the experience.

This restaurant looks pretty well appointed with plenty of space and comfy seating. My pal, who literally lives across the street, had had food here several times so directed the course of the meal.

The jade chicken soup - a unique green soup was a very tasty way to start the meal. The starter was a taipei chicken which is OK, not that exciting. But the star was the Pan fried noodles, we had it with the black bean sauce though I strongly recommend the dragon sauce.

The reason why this place is worth a mention is cause the food is really good, the servings are generous, very reasonable (3 dishes + drink 650 bucks) and only incidentally and not to be taken into account, this is the first time I had the entire staff at my service. Plus complimentary ice cream for desert for my pal who is a loyal customer, can totally understand why she is loyal.

There are certain places which become good finds, cheap, less crowded , great for a meal, you might go there occasionally and recommend your friends to go and . I hope this turns out to be a good find.

Viva la Pondichery, seconde partie

'Sunburnt and pot bellied', apt description as I stepped back into campus for the remaining 5 terms of MBA from a wonderful break to Pondicherry (now officially called Puducherry). Still stuck with a ridiculous patch of un-tanned skin around my eyes due to sunglasses, currently making me like a comic book super hero, I aimed to write this article down before I lost the tan and the memories.

My second sojourn to Pondicherry, this time with a much more boisterous group bent on vacationing with a vengeance. We did a lot which cannot be accommodated (or should be mentioned) in one blog

So heres a quick write down:

Where we stayed:
L'ESCALE Pondicherry - a quaint and surprisingly affordable boutique hotel on the street parallel to the promenade. Superbly located in the french town (white town), very close to the best attractions in the town and well connected. That is, if you are looking for a Pondicherry experience and not a resort experience for which there are plenty of resorts along the coast. But thats no fun since you cant swim in the waters due to the dangerous currents and narrow beaches. L'escale  is definitely a worth stay and a worth revisit.

Where we ate and what did we eat:
As planned, all we did was eat, relax and ride bikes around town. So chronologically:

Baker Street: Ironic, its a french bakery named after a fictional english scene. Nicolas the hotel landlord recommended  as with all of his  accurate and helpful suggestions, for a quick lunch. It seems to be 

a popular boulangerie with a wide selection of baked goodies and snacks. In total, we visited this place 3 times.

Le Vietnam: A vietnamese joint, my pals tried while I napped - pretty decent for a bit of the variety. The 'Chaiyo' - fried vietnamese snacks got good reviews here.

Rendezvous Cafe Restaurant: This was one of the highlights of our food journey. Very good and wide selection of food. A bit on the expensive side though really good food, service. Unfortunately, as with several things in Pondi, this place closes early so make sure you reach early.

Satsanga Restaurant: Its a big open air restaurant with ultra slow service, bad food and loads of mosquitoes for company. Though it seemed to attract a lot of foreign crowd, I guess the place appealed to a different crowd from us perhaps, though this place I feel was a mistake.

Le Cafe

Le Cafe: The Historic cafe located on the promenade, I made up for missing this must do in my last visit. Its a cafe situated at a wonderful location built a rustic way. The place was run tardily though which was a shame. We had the usual breakfast and though breakfast over looking the sea in a french cafe was pretty unique.

La Terrase: This was the best food I had in Pondicherry and the last meal of the visit, which was lunch. Diagonal to our hotel, right next to the iconic Le Club - which we skipped, something for another visit perhaps.Tasty, quick food and great service from this place. I wished we had heard of this place before. What was especially good was the offerings for the vegetarians, the freshness of the food, the juice and the taste again worth mentioning. Though there is a difference of opinion with a few of my friends, the desserts for example didnt match up to the other courses that we had.

While not eating:
Apart from earning the tan on our two wheelers, the compulsory visit to auroville was accomplished. Auroville is an impressive achievement for the followers and I feel a visit inside the Matrimandir (the meditation dome) might be worth experiencing.

Surfing - was sorely missed. I wanted a go at round 2 after my initiation to surfing in Manipal. The Surf school was closed due to a surfing competition which was quite a spectacle. It was held near the pier close to the rocks off the promenade which made for a thrilling photo opp.

The french style architecture of houses with wide doors set against bright and long pastel colored walls with framed windows, the prevalence of artsy nooks, almost cobbled streets and stylish cafes  makes for a great photo essay. The above picture captured by Pranay, one of many good ones.

There are probably other activities to be done, all aimed at leisure and variety. Though expecting a lot of action and excitement in this town might be a bad idea. So with the right expectation, time and right amount of Sun screen lotion , this is a great place for a weekend.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Chutney's at InOrbit

All smiles, thats how Amit smiles

 Hype can be a bad thing. Too much and I get turned off about going there. Chutney's is a classic case till today. The waiting hall was always packed, I had never felt like going there. The food had looked mundane from outside peering into its glass enclosure. Its a South Indian cuisine restaurant in the mall with staid ambience full of the usual & boring families.


Well don't judge a book by its hype, this place is really good, which makes the people in the waiting hall come here again and again; like I said in my previous Hyderabad blogs, food in this city is taken seriously. The quality and output is more often proportional to the price in this city.

Obviously the place has a lot of Chutney's on offer. There were 6 of them on the table, each of which were unique and wonderful were the cynosure of our meal; everything that we had were just a means to getting the Chutneys to our stomach's end. The Guntur idly -idlis patted with ghee and dusted with yummy chutney and slightly toasted was really good, didnt know this variation of eating idlis and its something I will go back for. Dosa, mini Uttappams were great.

Special mention was the rassam. Potent, tasty and a great upper for the meal, the Rassam was refreshing. Buttermilk was presented in milkshake type glasses, pretty imaginative and damn tasty. The Biryani was authentic Hyderabad, meaning I didnt like it much cause of my inclination to the more spicy Bangalore version. Honorary mention, the Jeera rice and Dal tadka were decent.

Formidable Khubani ka Meetha

Desserts - Gulab Jamoon - really great and the local Khubani ka meetha - rich, very sweet and perhaps excessive.

There's a sale going at the Mall, have to take a guntur idli break,

Hungry in Hyderabad: Hotel Sitara Grand

Unfocused on Paaya and Haleem

Its a common dilemna when it comes to entertaining new comers to your city. You would like to take them out to lunch or dinner to a reputed place representative of what the local unique and delicious.

My gracious host, Deviprasad took me to the classically renowned Hotel Sitara Grand lunch. The offering here encompasses much of what Hyderabad is famous for. I especially was looking out for the Paaya and Haleem.

Straight of the bat, the first thing we saw when we entered the dining room were the superstars Haleen, Paaya and Biryani. The Haleem is an interesting super tenderised lamb cooked with lentils and wheat. I was surprised by its unique taste and texture. I liked it quite a bit, but Devi told me its not upto the mark as compared to what is during Ramazan. The Paaya is a spicy lamb soup which is had for breakfast. Again a new experience, it was really hearty and meaty. Since I go easy on the meat, I had a bowl but Devi was tucking into it full on. Paaya & Haleem, check. The Biryani is authentic Hyderabadi, it comes mildly spiced. I realized a bit late I have to go heavy on the Mirchi Ka Salaan to spice it up. Though the cynosure were the Paaya and Haleem.

The rest of the fare was usual Mughalai and Indo Western, tasty though. The Chinese dishes were boring. Deserts were great and several. I was delighted with the Double ka Meetha, another local specialty.

So next time, I have to entertain someone who comes to this city, I know where to take them.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Biryani Challenge

Fruit Salad after a cleaned out plate of Biryani at Bawarchi

I have been in Hyderabad more than 2 months and I have pretty much given up on the Biryani dream. Blasphemous, perhaps. Not due to the lack of Biryani, but due to lack of good Biryani. I am sure I am endangering myself by declaring this, but Bangalore had better Biryani than what I had so far. Sorry.

I have given it a good shot at that, I have had the Bawarchi biryani, the legendary Paradise Biryani, Hotel, Sitara Grand Biryani  and several others many times over. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, my taste buds and of a few non Hyderabadis I know still cant believe the Hype that was afforded to the Biryani here as compared to Biryani from other places. Localites share my opinion about the falling quality of Biryani in many older reputed joints.

My take on the best so far has been Meghana Biryani in Bangalore, not authentic but a version nevertheless.

So the challenge remains, find a good Biryani, or a version of this in the Nizam's city so I enjoy its due. Perhaps Ramazan, as always, might provide a delicious answer in Hyderabad.

Hungry in Hyderabad: Ohri Rubaiyat, Hi Tech City

Imagine a place with food so good, it makes you come out of your blogging semi retirement, past bad memories of pre - carpel tunnel syndrome to  write about it. Past few months have been eventful, so anything average pales in comparison most of the time. Tonight's dinner made me write about it promptly, which is unusual.

My comrade in fork and spoon, Kartik the localite took us to his 'Number1' place for food in Hyderabad - Ohri Rubaiyat at Hi Tech City. I have always enjoyed the food here in Hyderabad everytime I have been here. Now that I am a resident atleast for the next 8 months, I have been discovering this city is so consistent with its food.

Bangalore may have a lot of variety, though Hyderabad has its quality. I have had countless Paneer Tikkas at innumerable restaurants in 2 countries including once made by a chef who once served Bill Clinton. I know the build up is a tad too excessive, but the Paneer Sufiyan here was really really good. Never had Paneer of such an amazing texture and taste. Definitely top notch.

We ordered a Peshawari murgi, Bhara Tamatar which of course after the wonderful starter were also great. The Murg was superb, the Bhara Tamatar even better.

Rotis. Had them everywhere. Never had them like here before. Flaky, soft, flavorful and of a unique consistency, I enjoyed this simple component of the meal a lot.

2 Mocktails. I am tired of saying awesome. A mint masala cooler and a orange twist were remarkable.

I feel the bench mark has gone way up when it comes to Mughlai cuisine.

Hungry in Bangalore: Madras Central JP Nagar

Jitain vs food

Its Saturday evening in super cool Bangalore and it can mean only one thing. Temple Hopping! Terribly short on cash and tremendously large on pot bellies, we roomies decided the evening was perfect to pay homage to the gods and try out some great vegetarian food. I read an article somewhere that Indian IT males are aging prematurely, I feel that's nonsense.

So we headed to the beautiful Balaji temple in JP Nagar which was decked up in all its electrical finery. As with most Balaji temples, this one too is opulent, beautiful and attracts a lot of devotees. I dont have much patience for standing in lines, but the darshan took hardly 5 minutes in all.

Photo captured with a potato

Right opposite the temple is the Madras Central which is very unlike a lot of South Indian eating joints at least in the evenings. We could sit down a welcome change unlike the usual eating grub standing up like horses. The waiter quickly took our orders which were for this place obviously Pongal Vade.

Pongal is a kind of Khichadi (kedgeree) spiced with peppercorns and  soaked in Ghee. A nice comfort food from Tamil Nadu which is light, filling and also curative. So I learnt today. All these years I have been having an insult to this dish. As Jitain, who hails from Tamil Nadu, explained Madras Central served a good example of a Pongal. Served with different kinds of Sambars and Chutneys and in our order a crispy Vada to make things more interesting. The Vada nice crisp and fluffy went like a duet with the white coconut chutney. The entire combination of Pongal Vada makes an excellent breakfast choice which I was very happy having at 7 PM.

So often we fail to acknowledge some dishes just because we have been eating the wrong versions. Now I feel the need to seek out great renditions of everyday food to make everyday a great day.

Jitain as usual knew the fellows at this joint, who were warm attentive and really enthused to serve their customers. I was shocked. In Bangalore getting a smiling service is truly rare.

Coffee the right way

 
A Madrasi restaurant worth its salt should have good coffee and this place does a killer coffee. Served in the traditional 2 tumbler system, with sugar at the bottom, this coffee is fueling this blogging fury. Doctor Jitain showed me how to deftly decant and drink this coffee which would make even 007 have his Martini decanted not stirred.

Hungry in Bangalore: Variety Dosa at Koramanagala Park

This weekend also turned out to be fortuitous. After another great session at Writer's club, the ride back to my end of Bangalore is usually pretty painful in Saturday evenings given that people head out all at once to Carpe Diem the weekend. It took a small accident to stop and smell the dosas.

I wrote a big paragraph to explain how an idiot on a Honda Dio (no surprise at the choice of vehicle) executed a minor hit and run on my bike ironically right in front of the Koramangala police station. I think this should suffice. Good thing we have gun control in India, otherwise guys like these would get lit like Diwali.

I stopped near the Koramangala park to asses the damage on my left foot, which was negligible since I was wearing some sturdy shoes. The park was full of evening walkers, kids and few conscious couples - supposedly a prosaic sight but hardly acknowledged by me or most of us. I dont remember the last time I went to a park like this, choosing the confines of my cold apartment. Partly because of the lack of good parks my side of town.

But what enthralled was the food. It was 6 pm and the vendors had just started to gear up for the weekend evening rush. I remembered I was hungry all of a sudden. I had had a brunch which was long digested. I was thinking of mounting up and going home, my stomach didnt let me.

I had heard a lot of this place, Koramangala Park for its amazing street food, but majorly for its variety dosas (not dosa varieties). Basically dosa varieties, simple. But this here was special, this stuff I havent found in the tens of restaurants I have been in Bangalore. But surprisingly last in Mumbai. I can guess back in 2000 in Borivali, we have a varieties dosa guy who gets swamped with customers to try out his chinese, pav bhaji and other tasty varieties.

Fortuitous, as I mentioned I parked right in front of the 99 varieties lip smacking dosas. They have 6 charcoal fired tavas to craft the dosas which were fired up in anticipation for the rush. I remembered I had attempted eating here but the rush was unbelievable and had quit.

'Chinese, Mushroom, Paneer, Masala, Mysore Masala...' , definitely not 99 man. More like a figure of speech. But the offerings exceeded more I could remember, which I didnt care cause I was ravenous. The aroma, oh man. Imagine a smorgasbord of aromas from chineese, south indian, pav bhaji, spicy and savory.  'I dont care just give me anything' I said. Still he demanded' 'no choose we have chinese, mysore masala, paneer..'. 'Aah Paneer and make it quick'.

I found a plastic stool and with my back against the park boundary I observed the two cooks work deftly with the dosas. Its a modified rickshaw with a long cargo bed decked with charcoal stoves, containers and cubby holes for condiments. A boy was constantly shredding veggies and ingredients on the foot path and I saw Paneer getting grated for my dosas. 'Is it clean' I asked the boy. He just smiled at me. Good enough.

I got served within minutes. I tried to dig in, but my fingers got burnt. Burnt meaning painful for the next 2 hours burned, it was that hot. The filling seemed tomato curry based , with a load of veggies and paneer added to it. They were using bricks of Amul butter and generously at that. I have noticed many a times people add cheese, or butter or 'chinese' up any dish the flavors dont gel, dont harmonize. This dosa got it just right. The flavors were synchronized perfectly and yet you could taste everything. The Paneer was nicely distributed, the veggie base perfectly spicy and the butter was like a great bass player in a rock concert. A green coconut chutney and a mint chutney were good. However a red sweet and savory Hyderabad style chutney could have been a better accompaniment for this particular dosa, but since it was my first variety I am not the expert.

The sweet spot is when the dosa cools down just enough for you to access its masala innards. It took me merely a minute or so to finish the rest.

At the start I thought I would eat 2 varieties, but it was very filling. For 50 bucks, it was more than worth it. And looking at the crowd that had suddenly assembled, I was lucky I came in at the right time.

Darjeeling style Momos were next stall which I heard were pretty decent. So were chaat, fruit salads, ice creams and juice. But enough for today since I had to a waiting matters.

All this and not a drop of sweat, enjoyed in the shade of a park tree in a relatively clean place. I think Bangalore scores really well in these aspects as compared to other cities. Street food is more enjoyable with the weather being so great and city being clean in many places. I wish it stays the same or gets better if possible.