One of the heavy weight restaurants in Hyderabad is the Bawarchi. It goes highly recommended by all the food lovers in the City of pearls. Infact we travelled from Jubliee hills all the way to RTC cross road wading through heavy traffic just to dine here.






The first to reach the table was the Chicken Lollypop. Eight pieces in all, which were crispy fried and tasty. The next to be served was the Grilled Chicken. This was a bit out of heaven. It was spicy as such,  if that was not sufficient, it had a chili powder as an accompaniment. This definitely is the right dish for the weather at Hyderabad which dips all the way to 19 degrees during the night.

Finally the famous Hyderabadi Biryani  which many of my  Chennai friends used to scoff as being more of white rice with masala was not so. It was quite simply stunning. I had both the Mutton and the Chicken Biryani, the taste was quite similar, but the mutton just had a slight edge with the extra bit of aroma. In-fact we were not able to finish the entire lot of biryani, in-spite of a large gang present.

Ambiance:
Very simple place, looked more like the Coronet at Chennai.

Service:
The place was jam packed in-spite of it being a thursday and the waiters were running around, but they definitely did not mind explaining to us the quantity.

Price:
I am pretty sure such a meal in Chennai would cost above Rs 3000/-, but this meal cost us Rs 1800/-. This just surprised us. I highly recommend Bawarchi to chennaites who are planning a trip to Hyderabad.

Food : 8/10
Ambiance : 6.5/10
Service : 7/10
Price : 9/10

Bawarchi is located in RTC Cross road in Hyderabad.

I loved my previous visit to Ayna. So when I recieved an invite to Blog about the Hyderabadi Food Festival which is on upto 10 November at Ayna, I had no second thoughts. The restaurant had wooed me, with amazing ambiance and fine attention to detail and how could I miss out on the spectacular Indian food.
On my previous visit I was awe struck with the number of mirrors in the restaurant. This time around I examined the finer things. The thing which stood out, was the petal formation by light translumination through the glasses in which we were served with water. A very unique touch.




At this juncture we were served with the welcome drink named Serbet -e- Shahi. I was hoping it to be a Gulkand Mojito, but this was one better. The drink was a mixture of almonds, cashewnuts, dates and gulkand with a dose of crushed ice. The drink was superb, but if you decide to drink it slowly, it is better that you ask for the drink without the ice in it. Since the ice melts and dilutes the drink.


Next we were served with Lal Mirch ka Jingha. It was a de-shelled prawn, with a little bit of shell present in the tail portion. The prawn had a good marinade of garlic and red chili flakes and cooked to perfection.


Next we were served with Hyderabadi Murgh Tikki. The chicken was really tender and the assortment of spices and herbs imparted a nice taste to it.




Then came the blow away Sami Kebab. Soft mutton texture, just delicious. After that we had Hyderabadi Mirchi Pakoda and Ambara Paneer Tikka which were good.


Finally came the amazing Goluti Kebab which was served with a small parotta. It would have been better, if it was served with a bigger parotta. Nevertheless this is the best Goluti I have ever had.




We took a small breather after the starters. For main course we were served with Hyderabadi Kache Gosht Biryani and an assortment of rotis. The biryani though not very authentic, tasted good. Also the mutton pieces were a little raw. We were served with a variety of roti such as Lal Mirchi paratha which was a paratha with drizzle of red chili flakes. But the chili flakes imparted only the flavor and not the heat. The other variety of paratha which I liked was Bhkarkhani. This was a paratha was made of soft dough and a nice helping of pista on it. A very royal dish!! As sides we served with Ambara Murgh which was not great in my opinion. Also a Dalcha Gosht was served. This was your very familiar Dal Makani instead it had a overload of Mutton in it. It reminded me of the Thalsa which is served in my Dad's native village along with the Biryani. Did try some of the vegetarian gravies, but somehow felt they could not match the taste of the non-veg. Overall the main course felt a notch below after the delicious starters.