Every time there is some or the other reason to order food from a restaurant, and when we are anyway ordering from a restaurant, why not a biriyani 😛 was the logic that we applied today .I have heard about Nawaab Sheikh’s biriyani quite a few times and have been quite impressed by their website and drool-worthy pictures in it. So I finalized this is where it is going to be from, called their number but was disappointed to hear that they would not deliver to Velachery for orders less than Rs. 1500. I wrote a message to them on their facebook page saying it was not fair to deny a ‘normal lunch’ order for a family of two adults and two children which would most likely be less than Rs. 1500. Instead, they should deliver with a minimum delivery charge. Surprisingly, someone responded and took my number and called immediately. They agreed to deliver for a ‘minimum’ delivery charge and confirmed my order. That person also suggested that we warm the biriyani before we eat as it might get cold, as they had to travel all the way from Ramapuram. Fair enough, I said I would.
While I was waiting for my biriyanis to arrive, I was actually surprised that the person called sooner than expected. He was there in about 30 minutes with hot hot biriyani. It was perfect ! I looked at the bill and realized that they had charged me Rs. 150 for delivery to Velachery which, in my opinion, is a rip-off. Of course, I heard from someone that they delivered to Navalur for a delivery charge of Rs 100. Velachery is roughly half-way to Navalur. Anyway, I didn’t want to start an argument with the delivery guy, so quietly paid and he left.
Now coming to the food, I ordered three biriyanis, all chicken – Nawaab Sheikh’s Special Biriyani, Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani and Iraqi Biriyani. Also ordered chicken 65 boneless as starters. Chicken 65 was good. Started with Nawaab Sheikh special biriyani and there was a lot of nuts, fried onions and slices of tomato on the top and it looked inviting. It tasted good. Small boneless chicken pieces, soft and cooked well, tasted wonderful. All of us relished this biriyani. Let me tell you something – I am not a traditional biriyani eater, I mean not the type to devour the chicken in a chettinad biriyani. In fact, I prefer more of kuskaa or just the egg in it. Normally chicken in small pieces works for me, chicken tikka, 65 boneless and similar stuff. So I was pretty impressed with the chicken in the biriyani and I loved it in particular. Next, we opened the Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani. This was tasty, but really really hot (as in hot because of chillies). Had to have two glasses of water and then struggle to finish what I served myself. My son left it half way and refused to have anymore of it. This is when the sweet that came along with the biriyani was a saviour. We had the gulab jamun in one mouth and felt much better. Of course couldn’t relish it, but it was good. After we settled down a bit, opened the Iraqi biriyani and this was topped with raisins (kissmiss) and cashews and a little silver foil, most of which was stuck to the lid. This had a distinct flavor of saffron and it was very good. This was generally a little sweet because of the raisins and I loved it. Felt so much better eating this after the Hyderabadi Biriyani. However I wish to mention that it would have been even better if there was less oil in the biriyanis. I thought oil was on the higher side in all of them. Overall, the food was good, nothing even close to being labelled as bad.
The lunch set us back by Rs 890. Taking the delivery charge of RS 150 out of it, it was okay for the quality and the quantity offered.
Will I order again? That depends 🙂 If they deliver free to Velachery, I would. 😉
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