Abid’s in Chetpet, a place that every other person raves about during Ramzan, for the tasty Haleem they serve! I’ve heard people say that it is supposed to be one of the best Haleems in Chennai. What I’ve also heard was they serve amazing Hyderabadi Biryani. Since then, I’ve had this place in the back of my mind, somehow never materialized. So when a sudden lunch plan with a couple of friends came up, decided to tick this place off my list.
As I’ve said earlier, I have no special affinity to one particular kind of biryani. I love to try different styles and Hyderabadi is one of the styles I love. We walked into this place on a really hot afternoon, we immediately got a table. The big glass of lemon juice as welcome drink was a wonderful gesture. It was definitely not just for namesake.
Quick look at the menu, we decided to order 1 Single Mutton Dum Biryani, 1 Single Chicken Biryani and 1 Single Egg Biryani. They have two portion sizes – Single and Regular. Single is good for one and Regular serves two people. We also ordered a Hyderabadi Chicken 65.
It took a while to get the biryani and we had to remind them once. Finally all of them came together. First look, unlike most places, it didn’t look like there was white rice along with masala, tucked in. It looked more like pre-mixed biryani.
As we started to eat, I found the biryani to be extremely bland. I have tasted Hyderabadi Biryani in a few places in Hyderabad and a few Hyderabadi restaurants in Chennai too. This was definitely not among the best I’ve eaten. The subtle flavor of saffron in the rice was good. Chicken pieces were soft and well cooked, but the rice itself lacked spice or the punch. It looked like the rice for all three biryanis were same, didnt see any significant difference between chicken and mutton biryanis and in fact the rice in the egg biryani had a small piece of mutton. The accompaniments for the biryani were Mirchi ka Salan and Raita. I have to mention that Mirchi ka Saalan was one of the best I’ve had, very tasty. Raita was good.
Coming to Chicken 65, again, wasn’t the best. It tasted good, not wow. Typical Hyderabadi chicken 65 is the deep fried pieces sauteed on spicy sauce with green chillies. This was also quite made like that, but didn’t have the punch.
Single portions were good for a good eater. I finished mine, but my friends struggled a bit. 🙂
Decided to try a couple of desserts and share between us. We ordered Ande ka Meeta and Double ka Meeta. Both the desserts were brilliant ! Loved every spoon of it, relished it! Not a big fan of Qubani ka Meeta, so didn’t opt for that. Would have loved to finish with a Sulaimani, sadly they didn’t have it.
Overall, pretty good food, and a good overall dining experience. Paid a little more than 1.1K, for a nice lunch!
Having said that, if I’d like to have Hyderabadi Biryani, this wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d try Rasavid or Paradise or Nammaa Kitchen. I’ve also been waiting to try Rama’s Hyderabadi Biryani and Zeeshan restaurant and I’ve heard great things about these places, can’t wait to try!
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